PORTLAND, Maine (AP) Maine’s highest court has denied the appeal of a Bridgton man for the 1994 murder of a single mother who was stabbed repeatedly in her home while her 12-year-old daughter was in the next room.

The Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday upheld the life prison sentence given to 34-year-old Michael Hutchinson, who was arrested on the basis of DNA evidence 12 years after the murder of Crystal Perry.

The justices rejected Hutchinson’s argument that the collection of a DNA sample from people convicted of serious crimes violated constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.

The court also concluded that the trial judge acted within the law in imposing the maximum life sentence because of the heinous nature of the killing.


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