Trial and Error

Apr 9, 2009

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.

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— The Associated Press