BANGOR (AP) – Maine’s supreme court has upheld the life sentence of a Bangor man who attacked and suffocated a friend with cerebral palsy.

The court said the facts supported a finding of “extreme cruelty” necessary to impose the maximum sentence on 36-year-old Peter Tuller. There’s no death penalty in Maine.

Tuller was convicted of murdering 47-year-old Michael Demmons in June 2006.

Demmons’ body was found hog-tied with plastic trash bags over his head in an apartment he was sharing with a woman described as Tuller’s ex-girlfriend. The state medical examiner testified that Demmons’ skull was fractured more than 10 times and that 15 of his ribs had multiple fractures.

Police found Tuller hiding under a bed the night of the attack.

AP-ES-05-20-09 0721EDT