AUBURN — The man serving life in jail for the grisly 1984 murder of a 4-year-old using an oven has asked for a new trial.

U.S. Magistrate John Nivison has recommended that John Lane, 66, be allowed the chance to argue he was too mentally ill to file an appeal for a new trial sooner, according to court records.

It would take many more steps and legal hurdles to actually get a new trial or sentence, said Elliott Epstein, an attorney who wrote a book about the events leading up to Angela Palmer’s horrific death on Oct. 27, 1984.

“All he’s been able to do at this point is just open the door a crack — this is far from any kind of decision on the merits,” Epstein said.

In a 1985 trial, Lane was found guilty of murder for placing Palmer in an oven in a Main Street apartment, turning up the heat and putting a chair under the handle of the oven door so it couldn’t be opened from the inside. He claimed the girl was a demon.

Epstein, representing a mental health agency that had counseled Lane years before, sat through the trial. He wrote the book “Lucifer’s Child” about the events leading up to the murder, about Angela’s mother’s history of abusive relationships and what Epstein described as Lane’s mental unravelling the week leading up to the crime.

Lane had been dating Cynthia Palmer, who was acquitted on a manslaughter charge, for less than two months.

“He claimed that Cynthia was possessed by the devil, that Angela was possessed by the devil, that (an older sister) was possessed by the devil, (but) primarily that Angela was possessed by the devil, that she was this green-purplish creature breathing fire who was going to kill everyone in the family unless he intervened,” Epstein said.

In his petition now, Lane claims he had ineffective counsel during his trial, that his lawyer failed “to investigate and develop facts regarding (his) experience with exorcism and rage,” failed to introduce records about Lane’s past traumatic brain injury and failed to object to a life sentence, according to the court records.

In his decision dated Thursday, Nivison ruled that it may not be too late to argue that Lane didn’t ask for a new trial sooner because of his mental illness. He denied the state’s request to dismiss Lane’s petition.

The ruling doesn’t address any of Lane’s allegations about his attorney, Epstein said.

The Maine Attorney General’s Office, representing the state, is now expected to respond to Nivison’s recommendation.

“I’m sure this will play out over many months,” Epstein said Saturday.

Lane is serving his sentence in the Maine Correctional Center in Windham.

kskelton@sunjournal.com

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