MADAWASKA (AP) – The Maine attorney general’s office Monday downplayed the results of a new analysis of DNA evidence from the 1988 slaying of Sarah Cherry, saying it had no bearing on the conviction of the man convicted of her murder.

“There’s no logical connection between this DNA and the perpetration of the crime,” said Deputy Attorney General Bill Stokes. “We don’t know what this is, you can’t make any conclusions from that. It doesn’t prove anything.”

The new test by Maine’s police crime laboratory confirms the results of a decade-old analysis that found DNA from two people in extracts from the fingernails of the 12-year-old baby sitter who was found murdered, mutilated and sexually assaulted in July 1988 in woods near Bowdoinham.

The tests agree that the second person’s DNA does not match Dennis Dechaine, who is serving a life sentence for Cherry’s death. But the results of the new test indicate that second person was male, something the prior analysis did not.

Supporters of Dechaine said the results confirmed their belief in his innocence.

“We knew it all along, but we still have to wait and see what the state will do,” said Carol Waltman, president of Madawaska-based Trial and Error, a group of about 2,000 people who have maintained Dechaine’s innocence for 12 years.

Cherry’s body was found not far from Dechaine’s pickup truck and receipts with Dechaine’s name on them were found in the driveway of the home from which she was taken. Police said pieces of rope used to tie Cherry came from Dechaine’s truck.

Dechaine and his supporters hope the test result will prompt the state to run the new DNA profile through a federal database and identify another suspect.

“To say that it’s not significant, given the way the girl died, is really ludicrous,” attorney Michaela Murphy said. “This is classic forensic evidence that has always been considered very significant and probative in strangulation homicides.”

Dechaine’s family expressed a sense of hope at the news.

“We are all happy, elated,” said Don Dechaine, who is Dennis Dechaine’s younger brother. “He’s been in jail 16 years on Thursday.”

AP-ES-07-12-04 1252EDT