Dennis Dechaine

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Dennis Dechaine was convicted of the abduction, sexual torture, and murder of Sarah Cherry, a 12-year-old girl. The crime happened on July 7, 1988 in Sagadahoc County, Maine. After a trial lasting eleven days, a 12-member jury decided unanimously that Dechaine was guilty. Dechaine is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.^[1]

The book Human Sacrifice by James P. Moore, a former ATF agent-in-charge for Maine and New Hampshire, contends that the evidence shows that Dechaine could not have committed the crime.

Dechaine's pickup truck was found parked 450 feet from Cherry's body. Rope from the truck apparently had been used to bind the girl. Dechaine's penknife was missing from his key ring. Dechaine's bandana had gagged the victim. In addition, two documents bearing Dechaine's name had been discovered in the driveway of the house where Cherry was baby-sitting before she was killed.

Dechaine has summarized his case as follows: "An unidentified man/men took four items from an unattended truck and used those items to kill Sarah Cherry and shift responsibility to the owner of the truck, Dennis Dechaine."

Moore argues that at the trial, the Maine medical examiner estimated that Cherry had died 30 to 36 hours before he examined the victim's body at 2 p.m. on July 8, 1988. The longest estimate, based on the onset of rigor mortis, would have put the time of death at 2 a.m., July 7. However, according to police evidence, Dechaine emerged from the woods before 8:45 p.m. on July 6, when a motorist stopped to pick him up, after which time he has a solid alibi.

Some proponents of Dechaine’s guilt cite ambiguity in the medical examiner's testimony. However, the timing of death, 30 to 36 hours prior to autopsy, is supported by pathology textbooks, and as such is recognized science. No proponent of Dechaine’s guilt has attempted to prove their case by conducting experiments that prove that currently accepted science is wrong.

Moore said, when he first began looking at the case in 1992, "I was going to prove that all the criticisms [of law enforcement] were unfounded. It just didn't work out that way."

On the other hand, despite extensive appeals and efforts by Dechaine and his supporters to retry the case, every federal and state trial and appeals court that has reviewed the evidence and the trial has upheld the conviction. A specially appointed review panel in 2006 also concluded that there was no wrongdoing on the part of prosecutors and police during the investigation and trial.

On his arrest, Dechaine consulted with an attorney, George Carlton, now deceased. During the search for Sarah Cherry, a state prosecutor contacted Carlton, after Carlton had interviewed Dechaine, to ask two questions: whether Sarah Cherry was dead and whether the search was concentrated in the right place. According to the prosecutor, Carlton gave affirmative answers to both questions and the answers proved accurate. Two other attorneys, including one who is now a judge, have stated under oath their hearsay testimony that Carlton told them Dechaine was guilty.