BANGOR — Attorneys for two convicted murderers are making arguments to Maine’s highest court on why their clients’ convictions should be overturned.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court is hearing arguments today in Bangor on the appeals of Joseph Dumas and Thomas Mitchell.

Mitchell is serving a life sentence for the 1983 rape and murder of a 23-year-old Fayette woman. He wasn’t charged until 2006, when testing of old evidence revealed his DNA. Among other things, he says the DNA evidence should have been excluded because the chain of custody was broken.

Dumas is serving a 30-year sentence for fatally shooting a friend in the back of the head in Prentiss. He claimed he was suffering from a cocaine-induced psychosis at the time.


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