LISBON FALLS (AP) – Seventeen years after 12-year-old Sarah Cherry was found raped, strangled and stabbed to death in the woods in Bowdoin, her family is still trying to find peace – now in the face of determined efforts by supporters of the man convicted of her murder to clear him of the crime.

The campaign by Trial and Error, whose members say Dennis Dechaine, a Bowdoinham farmer who was sentenced to life in prison, was wrongfully found guilty at his 1989 trial, has brought the case back to prominence.

Legal issues have prompted the state attorney general’s office to commission an independent panel to review the trial. Next month, a Superior Court judge will take up a motion by Dechaine’s attorney for a new trial, based on DNA evidence not available in 1989.

Over the years, Cherry family members have shunned publicity even as advocates for Dechaine have energetically pressed his case at the Maine State House and across the state.

“We have chosen not to speak out that often because we are trying to get over this. We know he is guilty,” said Chris Crosman, Sarah’s stepfather, in an interview with the Maine Sunday Telegram.

Crosman, who retired from Bath Iron Works and became a home-repair contractor, lives in Bowdoin with Sarah’s mother, Debbie Crosman, a Sunday school teacher at the Lisbon Methodist Church.

Debbie Crosman said she and her husband avoid reading newspapers or watching television news because they might see a photograph of Dechaine.

Sarah’s younger sister, Hilary Cherry Crosman, says Trial and Error’s campaign has overshadowed the tragedy of her sister’s brutal killing.

“The Cherry family knows the truth. We are not convinced that Dennis Dechaine is innocent, and our family wants Trial and Error to leave us alone,” she said.

At the Lisbon Falls residence of Sarah’s grandparents, Peg and Bud Cherry, photographs of the slain girl fill the home.

“We do it to make her feel closer to us,” Peg Cherry said. “It’s not a matter of forgetting, because we will never forget Sarah.”

Eric Wright, a former assistant attorney general who prosecuted Dechaine, said Trial and Error has been relentless in its pursuit of a new trial. Wright recalled a 1992 court proceeding in Rockland at which Trial and Error bused in about 60 supporters, each wearing a Trial and Error T-shirt.

When bailiffs escorted Dechaine into the courtroom, the group stood and applauded.

“I was taken aback,” Wright said. “The Cherrys had to sit there and watch this. Talk about the glorification of a convicted murderer. I thought their actions were way out of bounds.”

Carol Waltman, Trial and Error’s president, attended the hearing – the first time in a courtroom for the woman from Madawaska, where Dechaine grew up.

“We were new at this, and it was not something that we planned,” she said. “Thinking about it now, I do regret what happened.”

Hilary Cherry Crosman said Morrison Bonpasse, who maintains Trial and Error’s Web site, approached her at work in an effort to win her support for a new trial. Bonpasse also visited Peg and Bud Cherry’s home this summer, arriving unannounced.

“As soon as he introduced himself I slammed the door,” said Bud Cherry. “I don’t have a clue as to what he wanted to talk about.”

Added Peg Cherry, who was in a wheelchair at the time, recovering from foot surgery: “He had to make a real effort to find us. If I hadn’t been in a wheelchair, I would have gone after him.”

Bonpasse also went three times to the Waldoboro home of the Rev. Robert Dorr, a longtime pastor for the family.

“I finally had to throw him out,” Dorr said of Bonpasse. “They (Trial and Error) have no boundaries.”

Bonpasse said in an interview last week that he was reaching out to the Cherrys about his belief that a new trial is justified.

“Our goal is to find the killer of Sarah Cherry so that we can all rest,” Bonpasse said.

Waltman, the group’s president, said that if she had known about Bonpasse’s intentions she would have discouraged him from making the visit. Waltman apologized to the Cherry family last week, saying that Bonpasse acted independently.

“We are very careful dealing with the Cherry family. We feel for them deeply,” she said.

The family tries to get together at least once a month.

“We don’t make a point of focusing on Sarah, but she is always in our conversations,” Peg Cherry said.

AP-ES-08-21-05 1216EDT

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