PORTLAND (AP) – A group seeking a retrial for convicted murderer Dennis Dechaine will not participate in the Bath Heritage Days festival and parade after withdrawing its request to place a parade float and a booth in next month’s event.

The decision by Trial and Error, a group in support of Dechaine, defuses the controversy over whether it was appropriate for the organization to participate in a traditional family event.

Trial and Error spokesman Morrison Bonpasse said the group withdrew its application for the festival because festival rules require participating groups to be certified as nonprofits, and that Trial and Error’s application to the Internal Revenue Service for nonprofit status is pending.

He declined further comment, instead referring to an e-mail statement.

“We have decided that participating in the parade would not be an effective way of communicating our messages about justice and the need for a retrial for Dennis Dechaine,” the statement said. “Having participated in other public events, including a parade, we believe that our entry would have enhanced Bath Heritage Days.”

Bath Heritage Days is a festival, parade and fireworks display that has been hosted by the city of Bath for 32 years. Its parade, held on July 4, is one of the largest in Maine.

Trial and Error argued that it has a right to express its views, but critics said the event was not the appropriate setting for a group whose aim is to free a man convicted of murdering 12-year-old Sarah Cherry of nearby Bowdoin in 1988.

Dechaine is serving a life sentence, but Trial and Error believes he is innocent and has been working for years to try to free him.

Parents were concerned about the message Trial and Error would send to their children. Sagadahoc County Sheriff Mark Westrum was so upset he informed festival organizers that his officers would not drive vehicles in the parade or have a presence at the festival if Trial and Error were allowed to participate.

“I think they (Trial and Error) are a group of renegades who can’t come to terms with Dechaine’s guilt,” said Westrum, who was involved with the 1988 murder investigation. “A parade where we are celebrating the birth of our nation and our families is not the time or place to celebrate a convicted murderer.”

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