Dennis Dechaine's Bid for New Trial Centers on Contested DNA Evidence
After decades of appeals, DNA results excluding Dechaine from key crime scene evidence prompt a new trial request, with the state challenging their validity.
- Dennis Dechaine, serving a life sentence for the 1988 murder of Sarah Cherry, seeks a new trial based on recent DNA tests.
- State prosecutors argue the DNA evidence, which excludes Dechaine from several crime scene items, might be contaminated.
- Despite the new DNA findings, no alternative suspects have been identified, complicating the push for a new trial.
- Cherry's family remains confident in Dechaine's conviction, expressing emotional fatigue over the prolonged legal proceedings.
- Experts debate the reliability of the DNA results, with some suggesting contamination and others supporting the potential for a different perpetrator.
Portland Press Herald 
CBS News 
Associated Press 