PORTLAND (AP) – A Superior Court judge has taken under advisement a defense motion to throw out genetic evidence that led to the arrest of a Bridgton man in a 12-year-old murder case.

A four-hour hearing Friday focused on whether the DNA sampling that led to the indictment of Michael Hutchinson in April was taken illegally.

Hutchinson’s lawyer, Robert Andrews, said the DNA match is the only evidence linking his client to the May 12, 1994, slaying of Crystal Perry at her home in Bridgton.

Perry, 31, was sexually assaulted and stabbed as her 12-year-old daughter slept in the next room. Sarah Perry awoke to the sound of her mother pleading for her killer to stop, but never saw the attacker.

Hutchinson, a self-employed mason, lived a few miles from Perry at the time of her death but was not a suspect until a tip to investigators this year led them to the DNA match.

Andrews argued that Hutchinson was subjected to a “warrantless search” that raised questions about an invasion of his privacy.

Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese maintained that the DNA sample was obtained in accordance with Maine law four years ago after Hutchinson was convicted of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon.

The case now before Justice Thomas Warren is the first to test Maine’s decade-old law that calls for mandatory DNA sampling of convicted felons.

Similar laws have been upheld in other states, but a federal court ruling in Massachusetts that questions the constitutionality of DNA databases is under review by the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.

Much of the hearing Friday involved questioning of witnesses about the procedures used to obtain the DNA sample and make the match.

The hearing was one of several to be held before Hutchinson’s case can go to trial in April. Warren’s ruling on the use of DNA evidence could be months away.