ROCKLAND (AP) — A Maine man serving a life sentence for the 1988 kidnapping and killing of a girl has been convicted of illegal drug possession in prison.
In a plea agreement, Dennis Dechaine pleaded no contest Tuesday in Knox County Superior Court to possession of morphine. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop the more serious charge of trafficking in prison contraband by an inmate.
Following his plea, Dechaine was sentenced to three months in prison, in addition to his life sentence.
Dechaine was charged after he was hospitalized after ingesting drugs at the Maine State Prison in 2010. He later said he tried to take his life because prison had sapped his will to live.
Dechaine has maintained he’s not guilty in the kidnapping and murder of 12-yearold Sarah Cherry of Bowdoin.
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