Convicted child killer Dennis Dechaine lost another appeal Monday in his efforts for a new trial.
A three-judge panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston rejected Dechaine’s request for his appeal to be heard by the federal court.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court had rejected in July 2015 the fourth appeal before it by Dechaine who is serving a life sentence for the 1988 torture and murder of 12-year-old Sarah Cherry in Bowdoinham.
Judges Sandy Lynch, William Kayatta Jr. and David Barron concluded after reading voluminous submissions by Dechaine that he failed to meet the burden necessary for the federal court to hear his case.
The three judges also ruled that Dechaine, 58, cannot appeal this decision. The judges denied his request for an attorney to be appointed for him since the case was no longer being considered.
The federal appeals court had rejected a similar request by Dechaine in 2001.
Last year, the Maine high court ruled that Justice Carl Bradford, who presided over Dechaine’s trial and imposed the life sentence, did not abuse his discretion by refusing to recuse himself from hearing a request for a new trial. Bradford presided over the hearing in November 2013 and denied the request in April 2014. Dechaine appealed the denial of a new trial.
The high court also rejected Dechaine’s appeal of Bradford’s ruling, stating that even if DNA evidence had been available at the 1989 trial, it did not make it probable that a different verdict would have been rendered by the jury.
Attorney Steven Peterson, who had represented Dechaine on earlier appeals, said Tuesday he was not representing Dechaine on the federal filings. Peterson said he had not read Monday’s ruling but said he does not see any further appeal available to Dechaine.