Attorney General Rowe Receives, Releases Independent Report On Allegations Of Misconduct In Dechaine

August 21, 2006

Attorney General Steve Rowe today released the report he received Saturday from Retired U.S. Magistrate Judge Eugene Beaulieu, Attorney Charles Abbott and Attorney Marvin Glazier in response to Rowe's request that they conduct an independent and impartial review of allegations of law enforcement and prosecutorial misconduct in the trial of Dennis Dechaine for the 1988 murder of Sarah Cherry. The report may be accessed at: http://www.maine.gov/ag/dynld/documents/glazierreport.pdf

The report to Rowe concludes, "[W]e find that none of the allegations set forth to us in your letter dated October 23, 2004, have any substantive merit." The report sets forth the reasons for this finding.

In his 2004 letter to the three requesting the review, Rowe said that his reason for requesting the review was "to ensure continued public confidence in the Office of the Attorney General as well as other law enforcement agencies in the State of Maine."

Today Rowe said, "I am satisfied and I hope that reasonable Maine people will be satisfied that Dechaine's conviction was not the result of police or prosecutorial misconduct."

Rowe added, "I would like to publicly thank Magistrate Judge Beaulieu and Attorneys Abbott and Glazier for the substantial time and effort that they devoted to conducting the independent review."

CHARLES DOW, DIRECTOR, COMMUNICATIONS & LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS, 207-626-8577