SKOWHEGAN, Maine — The judge who convicted a Canaan man for murder in the beating death of his 38-year-old girlfriend won’t be sentencing him on Wednesday.
Superior Court Justice Nancy Mills recused herself from the sentencing of Shannon Atwood after a defense lawyer said her guilty verdict was tainted because she knew a woman Atwood was convicted of assaulting years earlier.
Mills found Atwood guilty in the bludgeoning death of his 38-year-old girlfriend, Cheryl Murdoch. An earlier charge of killing his wife was dismissed.
Atwood will be sentenced by Justice Thomas Delahanty II in Somerset County Superior Court.