Opinion
CR-89-71
11-15-2013
STATE OF MAINE, Plaintiff, v. DENNIS J. DECHAINE, Defendant
ORDER ON MOTION TO RECONSIDER
Carl O. Bradford Justice
This matter comes before the court on Defendant's motion for the court to reconsider its ruling of October 1, 2010. The defendant had sought to present evidence of the time of death of the victim, Sarah Cherry, in addition to DNA evidence under 15 M.R.S.A. Section 2137, et seq. At that time, the court ruled that the scope of the evidence would be limited to DNA.
15 M.R.S.A §2137-2138, (10)(C): effective September 1, 2006 provides in relevant part:
"For purposes of this subsection, 'all the other evidence in the case, old and new', means the evidence admitted at trial; evidence admitted in any hearing on a motion for new trial pursuant to Rule 33 of the Maine Rules of Criminal Procedure; evidence admitted at any collateral proceeding, state or federal; evidence admitted at the hearing conducted under this section relevant to DNA testing and analysis conducted on the sample, and evidence relevant to the identity of the source of the DNA sample".
Evidence of the time of death was presented at trial. If the Defendant prevails in his motion new trial based upon DNA evidence in this proceeding and a new trial is granted, evidence of the time of death may be presented at that time, For the present however, evidence of the time of death may not be presented.
The Motion to Reconsider is DENIED.