Trial and Error

Jul 11, 2010

In 1992, a retired federal agent from Brunswick saw a notice in a local newspaper.

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Trial and Error, the group of people who believe Dennis Dechaine was wrongfully convicted for a murder in 1988, was holding a meeting in town.

James P. Moore, a private investigator who had retired in 1985 from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, recalls thinking that the group was likely a “bunch of birdbrains.” Out of curiosity, though, he attended the meeting.

By the end of that evening, Moore agreed to look into the case, with one caveat.

“I told them if I found more evidence that he is guilty, I’m giving it to police,” Moore said.

He began by reviewing the 1,500-page trial transcript. Moore was initially struck by the testimony of the deputy state medical examiner, who could not rule out the possibility that Sarah Cherry was killed after Dechaine was in police custody.

Other elements of the case concerned Moore: the lack of physical evidence and the fact that police did not pursue leads on other suspects, including a known child rapist who lived down the road from the house where Sarah Cherry had been abducted.

For the next 15 years or so, Moore devoted a significant part of his life to the investigation of the case, and he became one of Dechaine’s fiercest advocates.

“You have some poor guy in jail that didn’t do anything,” Moore said in an April 26 interview. “I couldn’t let go of it.”

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By Trevor Maxwell 

Staff Writer

July 11 2010