SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — When the Maine Supreme Judicial Court convenes Wednesday at Marshwood High School, it will consider whether a man serving a 90-year prison sentence in connection with the slaying of three people whose bodies were set ablaze should be granted a new trial.
Nicholas Sexton, 35, of Warwick, Rhode Island, was found guilty by a Penobscot County jury in May 2014 of murder in the death of Nicolle Lugdon, 24, of Eddington and of arson in August 2012 in Bangor. After deliberating for nearly 45 hours over five days, jurors could not reach a verdict on the murder counts in connection with the deaths of Daniel Borders, 26, of Hermon and Lucas Tuscano, 28 of Bradford.
The jury found Randall Daluz, 38, of Brockton, Massachusetts, guilty on three counts of murder and one count of arson for what authorities described as a drug deal gone bad.
In July, the state’s high court unanimously upheld Daluz’s convictions. His
attorney unsuccessfully argued that repeated references to race made about Daluz, an African-American, by his co-defendant’s attorney at the men’s joint murder trial were so egregious that he should have been granted a new trial.
The justices also ruled that Superior Court Justice William Anderson’s decision to hold one trial rather than two was the proper one.
Jeremy Pratt, the Camden attorney who is representing Sexton in the appeal, argued in his brief that the defendants should have been tried separately because their defenses “were irreconcilable and antagonistic.”
“Also, the joint trial hampered Mr. Sexton’s ability to present alternative suspect evidence and evidence of prior incriminating statements by Mr. Daluz,” Pratt wrote.
Sexton’s attorney also has challenged the admission of a witness’ identification of two guns connected to the slayings, the denial of a motion to suppress cellphone location data obtained without a warrant and the admission of evidence of Sexton’s prior bad acts of violence in the drug trade.
Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin, who is handling the appeal for the state, said in her brief that Anderson did exactly what the Maine Supreme Judicial Court has told trial judges to do in previous decisions.
“The trial court also followed this court’s guidance on minimizing any risks of a joint trial by instructing the jury that it must consider the evidence against each defendant separately,” Robbin said in her brief. “Sexton’s claim that the joint trial denied him the opportunity to put in double hearsay (a witness relating what another witness may have heard Daluz say outside of court) is baseless.”
She also disputed Pratt’s other arguments as unfounded.
The justices also will hear arguments in two other cases before Marshwood students. One challenges the state’s authority to force a defendant to take antipsychotic medications in an effort to make him competent to stand trial.
In the second, a Freeport woman has challenged a Maine judge’s decision that the anonymous publishers of a local newsletter call “The Crow’s Nest” cannot be sued for libel.
In addition to the appeals it will consider at the high school, the justices will convene Tuesday and Thursday at the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland to hear arguments in 13 appeals.
All arguments will be live streamed on the court’s website.