AUBURN -Attorney Jim Howaniec painted a tragic picture of Francoise Gallant as he was awaiting sentencing Thursday in Androscoggin County Superior Court.

In foster care by age 4. Addicted to heroin by age 13. In and out of trouble with the law and addicted to a host of other drugs throughout his life.

It all contributed, Howaniec said, to the murder of his girlfriend, Cherie Ann Andrews, in her Park Street, Lewiston, apartment on Jan. 24.

Justice Thomas E. Delahanty II agreed. Gallant’s life was a tragic mess, but that wasn’t enough to lessen his sentence. Delahanty sentenced Gallant to 38 years in prison – 13 years more than the mandatory minimum 25 years for murder.

“In this case, ever since the trial has started, it has struck me that this really is a tragedy, not just because it ended in death,” Delahanty said. “It’s that two tragic lives have merged into one bad situation.”

That’s a life sentence for the 54-year-old former janitor, Howaniec said. Gallant suffers from Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B and cirrhosis and expects to die in prison.

“He doesn’t think he’ll make it to 60,” Howaniec said. “Abuse and disease have ravaged his body.”

Gallant was convicted on July 31 of strangling Andrews by wrapping a towel around her neck. Gallant testified that he and Andrews had spent the day drinking beer and taking pills.

The two argued later that night, and Gallant said he wrapped the towel around her neck to stop her from screaming.

Patterns

The drinking and drug use were part of Gallant’s life early on, Howaniec said. Both parents and a grandfather died alcohol-related deaths, he said. As a boy, he spent time in Auburn foster homes, where he suffered physical and mental abuse, Howaniec said.

Things got worse when he moved to Connecticut and fell in with a bad crowd. At 18, he was ordered to join the Marines or serve time in jail, Howaniec said. He chose the Marines, and served during the Vietnam War.

“So by the the time he was 18 or 19, he’d seen many people killed and many people damaged by violence,” Howaniec said.

He returned to the Lewiston-Auburn area in 1990 or 1991, Howaniec said, and attempted to settle down. But his drug use landed him in jail. He was released in 2001.

“It was there, at the party or celebration or whatever it is you do when you are released from prison, that he met Cherie,” Howaniec said.

He began to drink again, and his health got worse.

Howaniec didn’t talk about his client’s relationship with Andrews, but daughter Karrie Mitchell did. She berated the man for taking her mother from her, her aunts and her two children. She said she hoped he’d suffer for abusing her mother and stealing her prescription drugs.

“You’re not sorry for what you did,” Mitchell said. “You’re sorry you got caught. You’re sorry that you will die in prison for what you did.”

Although he agreed that Gallant’s life was tragic, Delahanty didn’t think it lessened the crime. If anything, it called for stricter punishment.

Delahanty noted that Gallant spent time in the hospital twice in 2002 after overdosing on Andrews’ prescription drugs. He had the chance to seek treatment for his addictions then, Delahanty said, and let that opportunity slip past.

Gallant’s attempt to sell Andrews necklace for beer money also drew Delahanty’s attention.

“I can’t help but think about your wasted life,” he said. “You had the opportunity to get help, and I know that it’s difficult. And I understand how these might mitigate your sentence. But, if anything, I think the aggravating factors far outweigh the mitigating factors.”

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