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Trial and Error hopes to raise at least $50,000 to defray all the further costs associated with an analysis by experts of this latest round of DNA testing, the result of which could be a retrial, Dennis’s exoneration of the 1988 crime, and his release from Maine State Prison.
Still to be paid for: legal/DNA experts—their travel to, overnight accommodation, and testimony for a motion for a retrial or the resulting retrial itself. John Nale and Stuart Tisdale are working for Dennis pro bono. Dennis himself has pledged an additional $5,000 to Trial and Error’s donation total. |
You may have noticed that the GO FUND ME was shut down because they do not support convictions or legal issues.
So please share the new new link to all your contacts.
To all of you who sent donations through GFM, you can now process with Pay Pal.
Thank You all so very much for all your support. Let's keep it goin!!!!
Continuing to fight for justice
Thirty-four years of fighting a wrongful conviction suggests that Maine does not have a functional “justice system.” Instead, we suffer a flawed legal system.
What kind of legal system allows a prosecutor to argue successfully against DNA testing of any crime scene evidence prior to trial? What kind of system allows a prosecutor to order the incineration of an abundance of crime scene evidence not introduced at trial? What kind of system allows a prosecutor to argue against DNA testing thumbnail scrapings, then chastises a defense attorney who has the testing done anyway? What kind of system refuses to allow the testimony of experts to establish an exculpatory time of death?
The latest development in the murder case offers further proof, as though any more were needed, that our state's criminal justice system is broken.
By Jeffrey Evangelos Special to the Telegram
Jordan Andrews’ startling report in last week’s Maine Sunday Telegram, revealing that the latest DNA technology has excluded Dennis Dechaine from critical crime scene evidence, not only bolsters Dechaine’s longstanding claim of innocence but raises serious questions about the continuing misconduct and obstruction of justice in the Maine Attorney General’s Office.
Nov. 6—New, state-of-the-art DNA testing has failed to tie Dennis Dechaine to items used in the 1988 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old babysitter Sarah Cherry, prompting his defense team to say they will seek a new trial.
July 22, 2022 - Maine Superior Court Judge Bruce Mallonee has approved the request for the use of advanced DNA technology to test evidence from the crime scene and in the State’s possession.
Despite his reference (in graf 2, line 2) to Dennis’s “confession” to the crime, that there is no proof that Dennis ever confessed to anyone.
Getting this evidence admitted is another story
By Jordan Bailey | Courier Publications | Jul 14, 2016
This is the first of a three-part series. Part 2 will look at the legal options available in this case. In Part 3, we will publish an interview with Dennis Dechaine himself.
In perhaps the most notorious criminal case in Maine history, then-31-year-old Bowdoinham farmer Dennis Dechaine was convicted in 1989 of the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 12-year-old Sarah Cherry of Bowdoin.
Crucial Testimony a Jury will Never Hear in the Dennis Dechaine Case - Interview with Dr. Cyril Wecht
Letter to The Free Press, 11/24/20
In these days of contentious politics, it’s crucial for each of us to contemplate the bigger picture, that what we share in common dwarfs our differences. Take, for example, the fact that human beings are the only species on Earth with the intellectual capacity to appreciate that we are fortunate voyagers on a breathtakingly beautiful and fragile planet that orbits a long-lived star at 67,000 m.p.h., a star that is the very source of our existence.
It’s taken inconceivable happenstance to bring us to a place in time and space that allows us to benefit from and appreciate such common occurrences as sunrises and sunsets, blue skies, seas and land masses populated by myraid species, and lives blessed with the love of family and friends.