Trial and Error

Sep 27, 2012

PORTLAND — Further testing of evidence from the 1988 murder of 12-year-old Sarah Cherry has revealed male DNA on the girl’s T-shirt, her bra and the scarf that was used to strangle her.

Dennis Dechaine, convicted of murdering 12-year-old Sarah Cherry in 1988, is bidding for a new trial based on a change in state law that says the prisoner only needs to show that new DNA evidence likely would have led to an acquittal.

The DNA has not yet been compared with any other samples, including DNA from Dechaine, men who worked on the investigation or the felons in a state database.

“The thing we’re hoping for — of course, we could have it backfire on us — is that this could prove it’s not Dennis Dechaine,” said Steve Peterson, Dechaine’s court-appointed lawyer.

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Sept. 25, 2012…

By Ann S. Kim
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald