A Massachusetts man convicted of an Oakfield murder and robbery is challenging his conviction in Houlton Superior Court on Thursday.
Marcus Asante, 30, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, was tried twice before the conviction he is now challenging. Originally found guilty by an Aroostook County jury in the 2016 death of an Oakfield man during a cannabis deal, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
However, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court overturned the conviction in 2020 because of faulty jury instructions and ordered that Asante be retried. It was the first time in a decade that Maine’s highest court set aside a murder conviction. He was ultimately convicted in a new trial.
An evidentiary hearing for Asante’s post-conviction review will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday in Houlton.
In 2016, Asante, along with others, drove to Maine to purchase $20,000 worth of cannabis from Douglas Morin Jr. of Oakfield, according to court documents.
In a drug deal gone bad, Asante shot Morin nine times, killing him, and took the cannabis, according to court records. Morin was found dead inside his car in Sherman.
Asante testified that Morin had pulled out a gun after the deal was called off and that he shot Morin in self-defense.
In his first trial, an Aroostook County Superior Court jury ruled against Asante, finding him guilty of murder and robbery in November 2018. He was sentenced in February 2019 to 35 years in prison.
The following year, Maine supreme court overturned the first conviction and Asante was granted a second trial in Androscoggin County to assure an unbiased jury. He again was found guilty of murder and robbery and the same 35 year sentence was imposed.
Asante appealed the second conviction, alleging that the court failed to give the jury self-defense instructions. The supreme court justices upheld the conviction.
He remains in the Maine State Prison in Warren.
