When a person’s freedom – his or her very life – is at stake, the state is obligated to seek the truth, even if it’s ugly, uncomfortable and painful to others who have already suffered more than their fair share.

The Legislature is considering a bill that would rewrite the state’s restrictions on granting a new trial to a convicted criminal based on DNA evidence.

As the law now stands, it sets a barrier almost impossible to overcome.

The issue was brought to lawmakers by the supporters of Dennis Dechaine, who was convicted of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and murdering 12-year-old Sarah Cherry in 1988. He was sentenced to life in prison. DNA evidence found under the girl’s fingernails does not match Dechaine, at least according to private tests done by Dechaine’s supporters.

The Legislature’s Judiciary Committee heard testimony on the bill Wednesday and appears ready to relax the burden for obtaining a new trial based on DNA evidence. The current standard requires a defendant to prove someone else committed the crime, a burden that is too heavy.

The family of Sarah Cherry testified against changing the DNA rules. The horror of the girl’s death has haunted the family for almost two decades; every time Dechaine makes the news, they have to relive that terrible day.

For those of us who never knew Sarah, it’s difficult to divorce the face of that young girl from the man who was convicted of taking her life. But justice demands it.

Dechaine has developed a loyal and determined group of advocates who maintain he is innocent. One of them, Jim Moore, has written a book called “Human Sacrifice” that details what he considers mistakes, oversights and manipulations in the investigation and prosecution of Dechaine.

Certainly cases of wrongful conviction get a lot of attention. At Wednesday’s hearing, Dennis Maher, who spent almost 20 years in prison, told how he was wrongly imprisoned and eventually exonerated by DNA testing. But such cases are rare.

What happened this year in Virginia is more common. In 1992, Roger Keith Coleman was executed for rape and murder. Until the moment of his death at the hands of the state, Coleman said he was innocent. A lot of smart people, and a couple of major newspapers in the state, believed him. As one of his last acts before leaving office, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner ordered DNA from the crime scene retested. The tests confirmed Coleman’s guilt.

What does that have to do with Dechaine? Nothing, except that Coleman’s supporters were just as convinced as Dechaine’s that their man was innocent. It turned out they were wrong.

No matter what happens to Dennis Dechaine now, it will never repair the damage done to Sarah Cherry’s family. If he rots away in prison with nary another peep from his supporters, it won’t undo what happened to a young girl 17 years ago.

Maine doesn’t have a death penalty, but the stakes are still high. Putting a person in a cage for the rest of his or her life is serious business – and completely justified for violent, heinous criminals.

As difficult as the legal process can be for the families of the victims, the state must do everything it can to uncover the truth. That doesn’t mean endless trials and retrials. It means that the pursuit of the truth must take precedence over finality.

We can’t take for granted the awesome power of the state to arrest, try, convict and imprison. The rules – often called technicalities by a disgruntled public – are there to balance that power.

If the state’s rules on DNA evidence are eventually repaired, it still might not affect Dechaine’s case, but it could make a difference for someone else down the road – an innocent person put in prison by mistake.