AUBURN – A Lewiston man serving a prison sentence for beating a man to death and leaving him in a snowbank has petitioned for a new trial.

Ronald Drake, 44, was convicted in 1998 and sentenced to 39 years in the Maine State Prison for murder and 15 years for robbery in the slaying of 38-year-old Brad Burnell of Lewiston. Drake is serving the sentences concurrently.

Police said he and co-defendant Walter Hartford, also of Lewiston, beat Burnell for money and prescription drugs, leaving his battered body in a snowbank on Howe Street in February 1997.

Drake’s attorney, Jeffrey Parsons, said Friday his client is seeking a new trial under a state law enacted in 2001 that allows, in certain cases, physical evidence to be retested for DNA analysis using current technology.

In Drake’s case, the state destroyed that evidence, making retesting impossible, Parsons said. Because the state should not have destroyed the evidence, Drake must be granted a new trial, he said.

A hearing scheduled for Dec. 21 in Androscoggin County Superior Court is expected to take up the state’s motion to dismiss Drake’s petition, as well as Parsons’ motion against dismissal.

On Feb. 27, 1997, a boy taking a short cut to the Central Maine Civic Center (now the Colisee) found Burnell’s body partly covered by snow near a warehouse on Howe Street, police said.

Shortly afterward, police linked the slaying to Drake and Hartford and arrested the pair after questioning.

Police said Drake and Hartford had been drinking with the victim the night of Feb. 17. They learned Burnell was carrying drugs and cash, police said.

After beating Burnell unconscious, Drake threw a large chunk of ice onto the victim’s face, police said. Hartford then robbed Burnell, police said.

Burnell died from blunt force trauma to the head from the beating, an autopsy revealed. The medical report said his nose was smashed and he choked on his own blood.

Hartford and Drake claimed they didn’t know Burnell was dead when they left him in the snowbank. They said the incident was simply an altercation that turned physical.

Hartford, like Drake, was convicted of murder and robbery, and is incarcerated at the state prison in Warren.