JOLIET, Ill. (NewsNation) — Drew Peterson returned to court Wednesday for a hearing as the convicted killer and ex-cop seeks to have his murder conviction overturned.

Peterson, from the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, is serving a 38-year prison sentence in the 2004 killing of Kathleen Savio. He will follow that sentence with 40 more years after he was convicted in 2016 of plotting to kill the Will County prosecutor who put him behind bars.

The 70-year-old wants his conviction of killing Savio to be reversed, telling NewsNation he doesn’t want his children to believe that he “killed their mothers.”

Peterson says his lead attorney, Joel Brodsky, did not allow him to testify on his own behalf during the 2012 trial. Brodsky faces contempt of court charges for allegedly violating a gag order while talking about the case on NewsNation.

Savio’s body was found in a dry bathtub in 2004, weeks before a scheduled hearing to determine money and child custody issues related to her divorce from Peterson. Her death was initially ruled an accident, but her remains were exhumed after the 2007 disappearance of Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy. Savio’s death was subsequently ruled a homicide.

Stacy Peterson is presumed dead, although her body has never been found. Drew Peterson is a suspect in her disappearance but has never been charged.