PORTLAND, Maine — The lawyer for Dennis Dechaine says he wants to use a new type of DNA testing on evidence that remains from Dechaine’s 1989 trial where he was convicted of murdering a 12-year-old girl in Maine.
Steve Peterson says he hopes to use “touch DNA” technology that can recover a DNA profile even if a person merely touches something. Peterson tells the Portland Press Herald that the results could be used in Dechaine’s efforts to get a new trial.
Dechaine is serving a life sentence for the 1988 murder and rape of Sarah Cherry, who was abducted while baby-sitting in her hometown of Bowdoin. Dechaine supporters say he was wrongly convicted and have been pressing for a new trial.