AUBURN — A Turner man convicted of murdering his wife is seeking a new trial claiming ineffective assistance of counsel.

He pleaded guilty in April 2012 to murder and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Brian Nichols, 49, wrote in his petition for post-conviction review that his attorneys failed to demonstrate that he was “not of (his) right mind” and that the attorney who argued his appeal before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court failed to address what Nichols considered to be a false statement of the findings in his case before the high court.

His sentence was affirmed by the law court in Portland in July 2013. His appellate attorney, Adam Sherman, had argued that the trial court judge had erred in setting the basic sentence for Nichols’ crime. Lewiston attorney Donald Hornblower represented Nichols at his April 2012 plea and sentencing in Androscoggin County Superior Court Law Library.

He told the judge that his client’s mental state was a mix of clinical problems, including paranoia, mania, delusions, personality disorder, anxiety and possibly schizophrenia.

Active-Retired Justice Robert Clifford sentenced Nichols to 40 years in prison for intentional or knowing murder, a charge punishable by 25 years to life in prison.

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Nichols and prosecutors had agreed to a 42-year cap. Nichols had argued for a sentence of 35 years, starting at a basic sentence of 30 to 35 years. Prosecutors urged the maximum.

In Nichols’ amended petition, his attorney, Maurice Porter, wrote that Nichols “should never have been allowed to plead guilty.”

Claiming that he suffered from “severe mental and emotional problems, which require medication and counseling,” Nichols said, “My counsel should have continued to pursue evidence that suggested that I could meet the burden of proof to use insanity as an affirmative defense.”

Nichols said that his wife’s murder wasn’t premeditated and that his attorneys “did not effectively argue against this accusation made by the prosecution.”

He said he was “pressured” into pleading guilty “when I fully believed that I would have been able to establish a strong case of mental disease or defect.”

Nichols is hoping for a new trial at which he would plead not criminally responsible by reason of insanity, he said in court papers.

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Deputy Attorney General Lisa Marchese responded to Nichols’ petition by arguing that it should be dismissed because his petition lacks specificity. Marchese also argued in her written response that Nichols had been not only examined by the State Forensic Service, he was actually committed for a period of time to Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta for evaluation. He also had undergone a neurological evaluation, Marchese wrote in court documents.

A Feb. 23 conference is scheduled in Androscoggin County Superior Court.

Nichols told authorities that he fatally shot his wife, Jane Tetreault, 38, in bed at close range at their house on May 8, 2010, because he suspected her of having an affair, an accusation police later said was unfounded.

cwilliams@sunjournal.com


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