Trial and Error

Jul 9, 2009

Another 4th of July has come and gone and again, Dennis still sits behind bars.

Over the past several months Dennis’s legal team has been negotiating with the state regarding which of the surviving articles of physical evidence which the state has not destroyed should be tested by the Touch DNA process. These negotiations are not yet completed. Regarding the state’s objections to the testing of certain items, Dennis commented,

” If the state is so sure that I am guilty you would think that they would be the ones pushing to test everything.”

Well said, Dennis!

We are extremely encouraged by, and appreciative of, the invaluable assistance that F. Lee Bailey has been providing to Dennis’s legal team, entirely on a pro bono basis. F. Lee’s great experience, and close relationships with some of the nation’s leading expert witnesses, is already having a very positive result.

While we cannot provide additional details, we can tell you that we have never felt more certain about the positive outcome of a retrial, should Judge Bradford grant Dennis’s petition. Below you can click on the link to view the F Lee Bailey interview with Dennis.

F Lee Bailey meets with Dennis.

 WLBZ Link

http://www.wlbz2.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=103133

F. Lee Bailey agrees to aid Dechaine bid for new trial

The renowned lawyer will serve as a consultant to the convicted killer’s defense attorney.

The Associated Press April 9, 2009

Dennis Dechaine, left, thanks attorney F. Lee Bailey after meeting at the Maine State Prison in Warren on Wednesday. Dechaine is serving a life sentence for the murder of Sarah Cherry.

WARREN — Famed defense lawyer F. Lee Bailey met with convicted child killer Dennis Dechaine on Wednesday and agreed to help with his petition for a new trial. Bailey met Wednesday with Dechaine at the Maine State Prison, where he’s serving a life sentence for the 1988 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Sarah Cherry in Bowdoinham. “He’s basically going to be available as a consultant,” Steve Peterson, Dechaine’s lawyer, said of Bailey. He said he didn’t envision Bailey playing a role in the courtroom, but that’s subject to change. “We didn’t really define a role or anything like that,” Peterson said. Dechaine maintains his innocence. Last August he petitioned for a new trial based on DNA evidence that wasn’t available at his trial.

His petition is made possible by a 2006 change in state law that let prisoners seek new trials based on technological advances in DNA testing. Sarah Cherry disappeared on July 6, 1988, from a house where she was baby-sitting. Her body was found days later. She had been sexually assaulted, strangled with a scarf and stabbed repeatedly in the head, neck and chest.

The evidence against Dechaine was damning. He wandered out of the woods near where the girl’s body was eventually found. A car repair bill bearing his name was found outside the home where she disappeared. And rope used to bind her matched rope from his truck and barn. DNA technology was in its infancy when Dechaine was stood trial. Later tests of Cherry’s fingernail clippings showed the presence of the DNA of a man other than Dechaine.

Bailey, 75, has worked on a number of high-profile cases, including the trials of Sam Sheppard, Patty Hearst and O.J. Simpson. But he’s also run afoul of the law. In 2000, he was sent to prison for contempt after he refused to turn over profits from stock owned by a drug dealer he represented. Bailey was later disbarred in Florida and Massachusetts for his conduct related to that case. Peterson said he hoped to be ready for a hearing on his petition for a new trial later this summer. It will likely be heard by the trial judge, Justice Carl Bradford.