Clad in prison orange and ankle-shackled, John A. Okie, 22, of Newcastle, stood before Justice Joseph Jabar in Kennebec County Superior Court Jan. 30 and made his one and only public statement regarding the two homicides he was convicted for in Dec. 2008.
“I’m sorry,” Okie said. “This situation should never [have] happened. I’m truly sorry.”
After Okie’s statement, Judge Jabar made a lengthy statement culminating in sentencing Okie to 30 years in state prison time for the July 2007 murders of Alexandra (Aleigh) Mills, 19 of Wayne, and 30 years for the murder of his father, John S. Okie, 59, of Newcastle. The sentences will run consecutively.
Jabar said Okie would be eligible for consideration of release after serving 50 years, or when Okie is 72 years old.
Before the sentencing, Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson made his pre-sentencing argument, beginning with posing the question, “What do we do with John Okie?”
Recapping for the judge, Benson said Okie, while under the influence of marijuana and alcohol, went to visit his girlfriend, “takes what amounts to a small log, beats her in the head,” before taking a knife and repeatedly stabbing Mills.
Six days later, Benson said, Okie did essentially the same thing to his own father. “We are asking for 60 years, and consecutively 70 years in the other homicide,” Benson said.
Benson said he was asking for the 130 years first, to protect the public, given Okie’s violence and “ease of going into a homicidal rage,” and secondly, to send a message of the seriousness of conduct and the sorts of sentences that would be imposed when anyone causes death under similar circumstances.
In Okie’s case, Benson said there is justification for the length of sentence because of the existence of extreme cruelty in both murders. “Both murders are intensely cruel, and both call to mind a depraved defendant who has no regard to the value of human life.
Benson attributed Okie’s behavior to alcohol and rage. “There is no other understandable motive.” Benson also said Okie was completely without remorse.
Benson told the judge, Okie “…fabricated stories of his delusions…and is extremely dangerous.”
Following Benson’s statement, family and friends of Aleigh Mills’ made their solemn pleas to the judge.
Mills’ mother, Donna Mills said, “Aleigh was special because she was mine.” Of her funeral service, Mills had been stunned when between 700-800 people came together to, “…celebrate her life.”
“I have decided that the murderer and his cohorts have already taken up too much time and space in my life. From this moment forward, they will be less than nothing to me. I hold no hate in my heart and choose to eradicate them from my life.
“I believe I have learned the meaning of turn the other cheek. To me it means turning your face away, and moving forward with your life. In order to do this, the horrible crimes committed upon my daughter, I ask the court for the maximum allowable sentence so another human being need never fear that this man has a moment’s freedom to hurt again.”
In a letter read to the court from Mills’ University of Maine basketball coach Mike Zachow said, “I do wish you live out your sentence and every day of it.” Because Aleigh can no longer experience life, Zachow wrote, “I wish you never again get a good meal, [have] no laughs; no smiles.”
Tim Mills said he has boundless love toward his daughter and nothing but rage for Okie. Mills said in his short statement he was sad Okie had not also been charged with sexual assault, and was equally saddened Maine did not have capital punishment. “I trust you, to put him away so that he cannot potentially harm and ruin more lives,” ” Mills said to the judge
On Okie’s behalf, defense attorney Peter DeTroy called Okie, “…a sick young man.” He also said Benson’s argument of the marijuana, alcohol, and rage scenario, “doesn’t stand up as reasons [for the murders] unless fueled by mental illness.”
“I accept the jury’s decision, but I disagree that Johnny Okie made up his symptoms,” DeTroy said. DeTroy added many adult males suffer from schizophrenia, and Okie was not medication compliant. He asked the judge to give 30 years on each charge, to run concurrently.
The only person to speak on Okie’s behalf other than DeTroy was his mother, Karen Okie. Shaking and sobbing, Karen Okie quietly spoke of the “terrible loss for everyone one here, for Aleigh and my husband who were loved.”
“He’s a sick young man. We so wish we knew. We could have done something,” Karen Okie said.
Following her brief statement, John Okie addressed the judge with his three-sentence statement.
Judge Jabar made a lengthy sentencing statement, first expressing his condolences to the victims and families in the tragedy, and said, “There is no way any of us can understand the grief experienced by these families… Karen Okie is grieving the loss of her husband of many years, as well as the loss of her son.”
Jabar said Okie’s mental illness could not be ignored when considering the case, saying, “There is no doubt in this court’s mind that the defendant’s mental illness explains why this happened.”
The judge found disturbing the failure of the mental health system to recognize Okie as a high-risk patient and had not taken the necessary steps to deal with them. “Too often we have witnessed horrendous crimes committed by individuals who have failed to take their medication,” he said.
Jabar cited psychiatric testimony from 2004, when Okie made chilling and prophetic comments. The psychiatrist said the defendant was suffering from an emerging paranoid schizophrenic illness. The doctor reported the defendant said he might kill his mother to solve his problems, although he does not believe he would actually go for that, Jabar said.
Sentencing Okie to two consecutive 30-year terms, Jabar said, “To impose any longer sentence would in effect be imposing a life sentence. I am certain that this young man’s time at state prison with his delusional schizophrenic illness, his youth and his lack of any time previously spent in jail will make for a most difficult sentence to serve.”