PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) -- A trio of appellate court judges said no to claims by a Peoria man that he was wrongly convicted of killing his wife of 40 years by drowning her in a basement sink.

As such, Michael Vorrath's murder conviction and subsequent 45-year prison term will remain in place, according to a 16-page appellate court decision.

Vorrath, 69 and a former Journal Star advertising representative, faced first-degree murder charges in connection with the Nov. 23, 2019, death of his wife who was found headfirst in the basin.

He had claimed his attorney failed to submit a water sample, that his sentence was excessive and that prosecutors simply didn't prove their case.

The trio of judges from the 4th District Appellate Court in Springfield disagreed.

"Because testing the water for (t

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