If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence and would like to talk with an advocate, call 866-834-4357, TRS 800-787-3224. This free, confidential service is available 24/7 and is accessible from anywhere in Maine.
Maine’s highest court upheld an Oxford County man’s murder conviction and 50-year sentence.
Rondon Athayde of Hartford beat his longtime girlfriend, 41-year-old Ana Cordero, to death while the couple’s children were inside the home in December 2018.
Athayde claimed the Oxford County court erred last year in denying his motion to suppress statements he made to police when they walked him through his home after he reported Cordero’s death, according to the Portland Press Herald.
He claimed the court erred in denying his motion for a judgment of acquittal “because a jury could not rationally find that his conduct was sufficient to cause the victim’s death.” He also claimed the court “abused its sentencing power in considering a history of domestic violence between Athayde and the victim in determining his base sentence,” according to the Press Herald.
In September 2021, Justice William Stokes, who imposed the sentence, called the domestic violence assault an “abomination,” adding that the images of Cordero and the crime scene “stayed with me for several weeks.”
The couple had moved from Brazil to Maine. Stokes found that the abuse had been occurring long before the fatal attack in 2018 at the couple’s home in Hartford.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court concluded there was no police coercion or misconduct and rejected Athayde’s other claims, according to the Press Herald.