PORTLAND, Maine - The state supreme court on Thursday overturned the murder conviction of the accused trigger man in a drug-related killing, the first murder conviction to be set aside in more than a decade in Maine. The Supreme Judicial Court unanimously ruled that the trial judge erred in instructing the jury, handing a legal victory to Marcus Asante, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
But Assistant Attorney General Donald Macomber said Asante won't be released from custody while awaiting a new trial.
Asante is serving a 35-year sentence for shooting a man nine times during a drug deal in 2016 in northern Maine.