PORTLAND, Maine — The lawyer for a Maine man convicted of killing a 12-year-old girl in 1988 is appealing to the state's highest court.
Steven Peterson, who represents Dennis Dechaine, tells WGME-TV that's he's preparing an appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court after a Superior Court judge in April rejected his client's request for a new trial.
Dechaine was convicted of killing 12-year-old Sarah Cherry of Bowdoin, but he has maintained his innocence.
Peterson says DNA evidence found under the girl's fingernails points to another male suspect. He says there are several other reasons his client could not have killed Sarah.
A judge in April rejected the new DNA evidence and said there was plenty of other evidence to convict Dechaine.
Prosecutors have called Dechaine's numerous appeals "a wild goose chase."