Maine legislators consider a new office to review criminal sentences

Success in other states

Conviction integrity units exist throughout the country at the state and local level. He First opened in 2007 In Dallas County, Texas, where in August 2024 he led to the exoneration of Ben Spencer. Spencer had turned 34 years in prison For a murder it was not committed.

In New England, A Connecticut unit He directed a judge to cancel the charges against George Gould, who had been convicted of murder for serious crime in 1995. In Boston, at least eight people previously convicted of murder have been exonerated after a unit was created in Suffolk County in Suffolk 2012, according to to the National Registry of Exemptions.

In Maine, Milliken said there are two men behind bars, who, according to her, could be innocent: Foster Bates and Dennis Dechaine. Both have exhausted numerous appeals while fulfilling life imprisonment. But these appeals have been limited by legal deadlines and strict restrictions on the type of new evidence they can introduce after trial.

“We have established statutes that make it very difficult for unjustly accused men and unjustly convicted,” Milliken said. “There are laws on the book in this state that make these men argue their innocence.”

Dechaine was convicted in 1989 of the murder and rape of Sarah Cherry, 9 years old. Has maintained its innocence and recently lost an effort to obtain a new testAfter new DNA test results he argued, he pointed to another suspect.

A jury found Bates guilty in 2002 of murder in the death of his neighbor, Tammy Dickson. He Lost his attempt to obtain a new test In December 2023, after a rare two -day audience focused on new evidence that was not aware of the trial.

Milliken read Bates’s testimony on Monday, pointing out a six -hour video of researchers who interview another suspect, exactly the type of incident that Bates said he hopes to be explored by an integrity unit of conviction.

“If the jury had heard this exculpatory evidence, of the admission of the alternative suspicious,” not guilty “guilt” would have been the result, “Bates wrote. “The judge of the Court of First Instance did nothing and my lawyers appointed by the Court did nothing.”

Is it necessary?

According to the proposal, the Office of the Attorney General would have to create a report for legislators every year on the work of the unit, including the many requests they receive, the facts of each conviction and what the unit thinks of them. They would also have to notify state regulators if they discover fiscal misconduct.

In a short testimony written on Monday, Attorney General Aaron Frey said he sees the value of establishing a condemnation integrity unit. As testified in 2021Frey said he is confident that his office can house a unit separately from his criminal division (which processes homicides and other serious crimes).

He Criminal Law Advisory Commissionwhich includes active and retired judges, defense and prosecutors and established to advise legislators on the changes proposed to their Criminal Code, opposed the bill on Monday.

The written testimony of the group said that the legislation was unnecessary and that “the current processes are adequate to identify and address potentially problematic sentences.”

They were discouraged by the fact that there seemed to be limit to the number of people who can request a review and how many times they can request. The bill requires that state misculars be sent to state regulators, but not for misconduct by defense lawyers.

Others supported the bill on Monday because it would hold public officials in the criminal legal system of Maine. Logan Perkins, a public defender who has represented persons in requests after conviction, said those interested parties may include not only prosecutors but also for the police, doctors and employees of the crime laboratory.

“There are bigger problems, and the patterns that take place would really be the advantage of having (a) ciu essentially lodged that could see and say ‘we hear, we continue to see problems that occur to this application officer of the law in particular’ “,” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “Perkins testified.

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