An Aroostook County man’s 60-year sentence for murder was upheld by the state’s highest court on Thursday.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the 60-year sentence for James Peaslee, 46, who, in 2019, was convicted of murder in the 2018 shooting death of his stepfather Paul Hilenski Sr., 79, on Boundary Line Road in Bridgewater.
The high court issued the decision through a memorandum on Thursday. It’s the second decision that the court has issued in Peaslee’s case. Justices upheld Peaslee’s conviction in 2020, ruling there was not improper bias to the jury.
Peaslee appealed to the state’s highest court, arguing the lower court abused its sentencing power when it sentenced him to 60 years in prison.
That is not accurate, the supreme court said. It added that Peaslee could have been sentenced to life in prison because the crime was premeditated and the sentence was not “unconstitutionally disproportionate.”
Multiple security cameras captured Peaslee arriving at Hilenski’s home and shooting at him numerous times. One of Peaslee’s shots hit Hilenski in the chest, killing him, according to previous reporting.
During the trial, the state said Peaslee’s motive for the shooting was because of a probate decision for the estate of his mother, Janet Hilenski. She died suddenly without a will, and Hilenski Sr. was allowed to continue living on the property while the case went through probate court.
Peaslee is in the Maine State Prison and his earliest release date is Oct. 14, 2069.