CARIBOU, Maine — Attorneys for a 22-year-old man sentenced last month to three life terms in prison for killing three people in a rural home in Amity in June 2010 have filed paperwork to appeal the case.
The notice of appeal and application to allow an appeal of sentencing on behalf of Thayne Ormsby were filed on June 27 in Aroostook County Superior Court in Caribou, court clerks said Friday afternoon. The documents have been sent to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court for review.
Ormsby was convicted on April 13 in the stabbing deaths of Jeffrey Ryan, 55, Ryan’s son Jesse, 10, and Ryan family friend Jason Dehahn, 30, all of Amity, on June 22, 2010. They were found dead about 27 hours after the killings at the elder Ryan’s home on U.S. Route 1, according to police. All three died of multiple stab wounds.
Ormsby, an Ellsworth native who moved to Orient, a town just a mile from the crime scene, entered pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to the charges. Because of the dual pleas, Ormsby was tried in two phases before Justice E. Allen Hunter in Superior Court in Houlton. He was represented by attorneys James Dunleavy and Sarah LeClaire of Presque Isle and found guilty of the murders first on April 13 and then criminally responsible for his crimes on April 19.
Ormsby also was found guilty of arson for burning Jeff Ryan’s truck after he stole it from the murder scene, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the burning. That sentence is being served consecutively with the life sentences.
Ormsby moved to Orient in the weeks before the murders to live with Robert and Joy Strout. Court testimony revealed there was animosity between the Strout family and Jeff Ryan because Ryan had once had a relationship with Tamara Strout, Robert and Joy’s daughter. Tamara Strout eventually had a child with Ryan. Strout also told Ormsby that Ryan was a drug dealer, which there is no evidence to support.
Dunleavy told reporters immediately after the verdict that an appeal would be filed.
During the trial, Ormsby’s attorneys said he did not understand that what he was doing was wrong when he committed the murders. They characterized Ormsby as a young man who was abused and neglected by his mother and who thought it was his job to kill Jeff Ryan based on the drug-dealing accusations.
Dunleavy and LeClaire stressed testimony offered by Dr. Kathryn Thomas, a psychologist who interviewed the killer and also completed psychological tests on him. Thomas testified that Ormsby was suffering from a delusional disorder, a type of psychosis in which the sufferer feels that something is happening to them or around them when it really isn’t. She said that in his mind, the slayings would elevate his status as an assassin.
Deputy Attorney General William Stokes and Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson dismissed that argument, saying Ormsby was not psychotic because he knew what he was doing was wrong and that in order to get away with killing Jeff Ryan, he had to kill the other two victims to eliminate all witnesses. Ormsby also went to great lengths to try and evade capture by removing items from the home that he thought had his fingerprints on them, burning his bloody clothing and fleeing the state.
Prosecutors focused on the testimony of Dr. Debra Baeder, chief forensic psychologist at the State Forensic Service. She testified that while Ormsby was not mentally healthy, he did not have a delusional disorder and was not psychotic.
Last June, Dunleavy and LeClaire tried to suppress statements that Ormsby made to police in 2010, claiming that his Miranda rights were violated. Miranda rights are read to an individual by police to inform the person of his constitutional rights, such as the right to remain silent and to request an attorney.
Ormsby confessed to the killings during an interview with State Police Detectives Dale Keegan and Adam Stoutamyer, which was recorded on video.
Both men testified that any information about the homicides came from Ormsby voluntarily and that they gave the accused ample opportunity to obtain counsel. Justice Hunter denied the motion to suppress the statements.
Ormsby’s attorneys also sought a change of venue for the trial based on pretrial publicity in the case. They were unsuccessful.
Once the trial started, an alternate juror was dismissed after making comments about Stokes, who was prosecuting the case. The dismissed juror expressed his admiration for how Stokes was handling the case and asked to shake his hand. Stokes declined.
Hunter questioned each juror individually about the incident and all said the incident had not influenced them and they could remain impartial.
The defense requested a mistrial, a motion that Hunter denied.
A juror also was questioned after a relative of Jason Dehahn told him “I hope you hang the bastard,” referring to Ormsby, when the juror was entering the courthouse. Hunter and attorneys for both sides spoke to the juror. The man said he could remain impartial, and he remained on the jury.
The law court has not yet established a date to review the appeal documents.
You did it,now pay the price.The world is made safer by putting people like you in prison.
I AGREE
I AGREE
Oh you mean killing 3 people is bad? I can go to jail for the rest of my life for it? Well, this changes everything, I want a do over, I didn’t know it wasn’t something society and the legal system thought highly of. Dude, you’re getting a cell.
Since we don’t have Capital punishment in Maine, lock up the POS for the rest of his miserable life.
He did it. He killed twice, then went for a 3rd. Then he ran and tried to burn evidence and had someone drive him to NH to try and escape. No, he did it, admitted to it to MSP twice even after he was read Miranda. He’s done and he’s gonna be Riverview’s longest serving patient. Choke on it !
He would have to be found NCR (Not Criminally Responsible) in order to go to Riverview’s forensic unit- they found him guilty not NCR. He’ll be spending the rest of his life behind bars which is where he belongs.
Unfortunately you can’t change what you did to 3 people like you changed your appearance.
Since he is now in state care, who pays the bill for filing frivolous appeals? Sure hope it isn’t the taxpayers!!
yes we do.
Now this is something that needs fixing. They appeal, they should foot the bill upfront in it’s entirity. They win we the taxpayers kick back $ and pick up the bill. They lose they pick up the entire bill including, court costs and the judges pay for their time spent without any recourse. If this individual has a lawyer that thinks an appeal is winnable, surely he would bank roll it, wouldn’t he?
So only people with money should be able to access the appeals process?
Why are they appealing this? Does his family really think he is innocent? If they don’t think he is innocent then what are they looking for a slap on the wrist and a don’t do it again ?!
Great writing by Jen Lynds.
Put him in general pop unsupervised for about 10 minutes had his appeals will be over!!
let your victims rest. shut up and pay your due
The fact that he murdered two adults is horrible enough. The fact that he chased a ten year old boy down a hallway that was begging for his life, and stabbed a CHILD to death, even with that child begging and crying for his life, this man doesn’t deserve to still be breathing. And I know I know a bunch of hippie loser Obama voters are going to cry ”Oh thats revenge, he will spend the rest of his life in prison…” If that little boy was a relation of mine, I’d a made sure he didn’t even get inside the court house, true story. This guy is a monster and DOES NOT deserve ANY appeals or even to be able to continue to live. This ”person” for lack of a better word is a horrible monster, hands down. You wouldn’t have heard about this 50 years ago, the rest of the family of the victims would have handled it with no cops at all. And I doubt anyone would have missed the vile piece of feces…
Cmon, enough taxpayer money on worthless people like this. Surely we can use our resources on much better causes
This was a “slam-dunk guilty” situation. Surely the Vampire defense attorneys are behind any “appeal”. I live in the County and know, that Leclaire and Dunleavy DROOL over the “public defender trough”. The dim bulb Ormsby didn’t think up this appeal up on his own..
He’s so dumb, he needed a knife to solve a perceived 1+1 =2 …. simple problem.
Supermax in Warren for Shane….. do not pass go. EVER! Three stabs and your out. ;-)
This is a waste of tax payers money. The jury found him guilty, we need to resepct the jury’s decision. Why should he get a second chance? All those he killed didn’t.
Unfortunately, I’m thinking there will be even more appeals if this one doesn’t succeed. It can go up the ladder to the US Supreme court. I’m not saying it will, just that it could. Waste of resources, but true.
Every week I ride by Jeff Ryan’s empty trailer, Bob Dehahn’s home and Jason (and Crystal) Dehahn’s empty trailer.
Every time I think of Ormsby, it gives me a cold feeling of dread … and I’m (somewhat) relieved by the sentence that was rendered.
I think all the appeals won’t matter. Nothing so far has indicated much (if any) chance of any different verdict. I think that (sentence) is a very good outcome, despite all the appeals costs and all the further drama that will continue to be smeared over everyone who’s been affected by this crud.
Each appeal will surely provide another worthy SLAP in that kid’s face. I hope he is slammed that way for decades and decades.
I regret that I will not live long enough to *water* (you know what I mean) on his grave.~ Rob
Spend the money to be spent in the farce of appeal on preventing more people like him from developing. Tho’- can you prevent evil from developing? The only ones to profit from this are the lawyers.