PORTLAND – Chad Gurney, the Portland man who was convicted this month for the murder of 18-year-old Zoe Sarnacki in 2009, will be sentenced March 16 in Cumberland County Superior Court.
Gurney, 29, faces a minimum of 25 years and a maximum of life in prison with no chance of early release.
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Justice Roland Cole, who presided over Gurney’s two-week trial, will hear arguments from the lawyers at the sentencing.
Gurney pleaded not criminally responsible by reason of insanity. He elected not to have a jury for his trial, putting his legal fate in Cole’s hands.
Cole rejected claims by Gurney’s attorneys and a psychiatrist hired by the defense, who said Gurney was so delusional that he did not comprehend the wrongfulness of his actions on May 25, 2009.
Gurney, who met Sarnacki about six weeks before the murder, strangled her, mutilated her body and set it on fire in his apartment on Cumberland Avenue.
The prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese, argued during the trial that Gurney’s behavior and interactions with people before and after the crime showed that he had the mental capacity to understand he was killing Sarnacki, and he knew it was wrong.
If Cole had found Gurney not criminally responsible, Gurney would have been committed to the Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta until he could prove to the court that he was no longer a threat to society.
Marchese could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Robert LeBrasseur and Sarah Churchill, Gurney’s attorneys, said they have not decided what length of sentence they will recommend to Cole.
“Every case is different,” Churchill said. “You try to look at sentences in previous cases, at how they might be similar or different to the case you’re working on.”
She said Gurney’s mental health problems, intertwined with lingering health problems caused by a near-fatal van crash in 2005, make this case hard to compare with others.
“The particular circumstances of his mental health are very different than what you see in most inmates,” Churchill said.
LeBrasseur said he continues to work with the staff at the Cumberland County Jail to ensure that Gurney gets adequate psychiatric care and medication.
“Chad is doing the best that can be expected of someone who has just been convicted of murder. Right now we are focusing on sentencing and we will just go from there,” he said.
“As a team, we prepared him for a possible guilty verdict or (a not criminally responsible) verdict,” LeBrasseur said.
Members of Gurney’s family are writing statements on his behalf, seeking leniency from Cole, LeBrasseur said. Some of them will likely speak at the hearing on March 16.
“He has a good community support base,” LeBrasseur said. “His mom and his sister still support him.”
Staff Writer Trevor Maxwell can be contacted at 791-6451 or at:
tmaxwell@pressherald.com
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