PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday unanimously upheld the conviction of an Old Orchard Beach man in the brutal slaying of his grandmother in October 2012.
Derek S. Poulin, 27, is serving a life sentence at the Maine State Prison for murder and arson in the death of Patricia Noel, 62, who was found dead inside her home on Wesley Street in Old Orchard Beach. Poulin tried to cover up the crime by setting the house ablaze, according to a previously published report.
He was upset because she wanted him to move out, according to evidence presented at trial.
“This was a very vicious, brutal attack on Patty Noel by her grandson. There were multiple skull fractures as a result of being hit by a golf club and a wrench. She was stabbed 72 times,” Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea said at Poulin’s sentencing a year ago.
Justices of the state supreme court heard oral arguments in the appeal, based on how evidence was introduced during the trial, in June at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta.