AUBURN — The man convicted of murder in a 2005 double-slaying near railroad tracks in Lewiston was back in court Tuesday arguing his trial attorney was ineffective.

Gary Gauthier Jr., 28, is serving a 60-year sentence in the baseball bat killings of James Vining, 43, and John Graffam, 30.

He was in Androscoggin County Superior Court wearing a faded blue jail suit sitting with his new attorney, Justin Leary.

Gauthier had petitioned the court seeking review of his 2006 conviction in hopes of vacating his conviction.

He had stood trial with co-defendant Thomas Dyer, who ended up testifying against Gauthier and implicating him as instigator.

Leary said Tuesday during a hearing lasting several hours that Gauthier’s trial attorney, Robert Ruffner, shouldn’t have introduced at trial Dyer’s statements to police, which prompted Dyer to take the stand and testify against Gauthier. At the least, Leary said, Ruffner should have anticipated that Dyer would testify about Gauthier’s prior violent temper and ask the judge to limit Dyer’s testimony to exclude those types of incriminating statements.

Leary also said that Ruffner should have known that Dyer’s ex-girlfriend, whom Ruffner called as a witness, was going to testify that Gauthier told her he once beat a man with a baseball bat. And Ruffner should have done more to repair the damage, Leary said.

“This is a classic case of Monday-morning quarterbacking,” Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese said. “There was a mountain of evidence against Mr. Gauthier.”

Ruffner had tried to show the jury that Dyer couldn’t be believed because he had a history of lying and his testimony contradicted forensic evidence, Marchese said Tuesday. Regardless of Dyer’s testimony, the verdict for Gauthier would have been the same, she said.

Dyer’s attorney, Peter Rodway, had rested his case before Ruffner began his defense and Ruffner didn’t know that Rodway would call Dyer to take the stand, Ruffner said.

Marchese also pointed out that Ruffner had sought a separate trial for his client.

Justice Thomas Delahanty II said he would review Gauthier’s petition, the trial transcript and arguments from both sides before issuing a ruling on the matter.

Dyer, who also is seeking a post-conviction review, is scheduled for a similar hearing on Wednesday.

Gauthier’s conviction stems from a September 2005 incident near railroad tracks off Foss Road in Lewiston. Prosecutors said the two defendants have been drinking heavily that night. They lured the two victims into the wooded site with the promise of marijuana plants. There, they were beaten with a baseball bat and buried in a shallow grave; their wallets taken to hide their identities.

Police discovered evidence from the crime scene hidden in woods in Pownal. A caretaker found the stash and called police a couple of months after the crime.