To the Editor:
If a little girl was tortured and murdered in Maine today would the state’s response be very different from that which followed the 1988 murder of Sarah Cherry?
Would an incomplete autopsy be performed and time-of-death evidence ignored?
Would fingerprints and a blood sample be lost?
Would the state block DNA testing?
Would untested biological evidence be incinerated without the court or the defense being notified?
Would exculpatory evidence regarding a targeted suspect be ignored, while other suspects were given a pass?
Would the state block the findings of their own psychologist from being heard by the jury?
Would police give testimony that contradicted their notes, and would those notes then be withheld?
Would the state’s case rest on circumstantial evidence and false testimony? Would the case files be sealed, and would irresponsible media reporting convict the defendant even before the jury did?
If such a case were to be handled so outrageously today would influential Mainers of good conscience loudly protest, or would they remain as silent as they are now as the state once again opposes a retrial for Dennis Dechaine, the victim of the procedural abuses listed above, and more?
William Bunting, Whitefield
