Corina Durkee, the Waldoboro woman convicted of murder in connection with the stabbing of two women in Waldoboro in April 2009 has filed for post-conviction review.
Durkee pleaded guilty to felony murder, attempted murder and burglary charges and received a 15-year sentence last spring.
According to documents filed in Lincoln County Superior Court early last month, Durkee is now petitioning the court to review her conviction and reduce her sentence on the grounds that she is innocent and only pleaded guilty because of inadequate legal representation.
Durkee and Earl “Buddy” Bieler, 25, also of Waldoboro, both pleaded guilty to the April 19, 2009, stabbing of Rachel Grindal, 27, and Tracey Neild, 32. Grindal died from her wounds. Neild’s throat was cut, but she survived.
Justice Andrew Horton sentenced Bieler to 55 years in prison. Bieler slit the throats of both victims in front of Neild’s home at 161 Controversy Lane in Waldoboro.
Durkee received a 15-year sentence for her involvement. Evidence shows that Durkee did not actually stab either of the victims, but her involvement was substantial enough to make her a knowing accomplice, Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea said at the time of Durkee’s sentencing.
Despite the evidence, Neild maintains that it was Durkee who stabbed her. In statements from the time of the murder through the sentencing, Neild repeatedly stated that she clearly remembers Durkee jumping on her back and slitting her throat.
At her sentencing, both the prosecution and Durkee’s attorney, Phillip Cohen, recommended the 15-year sentence as part of a plea bargain in which Durkee pleaded guilty to the lesser charges of felony murder, attempted murder and burglary.
Now, Durkee says she would not have taken the plea deal if she had known about the evidence implicating Bieler in both attacks.
“My attorney withheld [facts about the case] from me making me believe that it was my word against the victim,” Durkee wrote in the petition for review. “The victim alleged that I sliced her throat and I alleged that I did not. My attorney never advised me that some of the DNA and Forensic results proved that I did not. I never found this out until I had already taken the plea agreement, was in court to get sentencing…”
The petition goes on to make numerous allegations that Cohen did not work with her during her incarceration prior to trial and that he “convinced me to take the plea agreement by scaring me and withholding [evidence].”
Cohen did not return calls requesting comment.
In the petition, Durkee denies any part in the murders, writing, “I have never hurt anyone in any way ever, my entire life. I did not attempt, commit, solicit, command induce, procure, or aid anyone in the commission of murder, attempted murder or assault…”
Durkee’s petition will now come before a Superior Court Justice in the coming weeks prior to any review of her conviction or sentence.
