PORTLAND (AP) – The state supreme court Friday reaffirmed a Danforth man’s murder conviction that was set aside by a judge on grounds that the defense lawyer was ineffective at the trial in Machias nearly six years ago.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruling erases the prospect of a new trial for Randy McGowan, who is serving 28 years for the shooting death of his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend, Bobby Brown, 43, of Orient, on Nov. 9, 1998.

McGowan maintained that he acted in self-defense when he shot Brown, who had accompanied Jamie Merrill to McGowan’s home on Route 169 to retrieve some of her personal belongings. McGowan testified that he fired the 9mm handgun as Brown lunged at him.

The court, which had previously upheld McGowan’s conviction, got the case again last year after the hearing judge found in McGowan’s favor on two of 17 grounds of ineffective counsel, prompting an appeal by the state.

At issue were the cross-examination of Merrill that sought to elicit ostensibly damaging responses and the failure to secure the testimony of a blood spatter expert who would support the defense theory that Brown was crouched in an aggressive position when he was shot.

In both instances, the supreme court concluded that any prejudice arising from the alleged ineffectiveness was insubstantial and did not deprive McGowan of a fair trial.

On the cross-examination question, the justices found that the lawyer’s strategy of asking Merrill if she remembered telling police that McGowan was a convicted felon and then intending to disprove it was obviously apparent to the jury.

Merrill responded “no” to that question and to another that suggested McGowan had been involved in prior homicides.

“The attorney’s failures to introduce follow-up evidence with respect to the two questions that Merrill had no memory of and, therefore, did not confirm the truth of, would not have led a reasonable jury to conclude that the statements were, in fact, true,” the court said.

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