A Superior Court justice has denied a petition for post-conviction review from a man serving a life sentence for murder.

Superior Court Justice Thomas Warren, in a decision dated Wednesday, denied Michael Hutchinson’s sole claim that his trial counsel was ineffective for not soliciting a plea offer from the state for less than a life sentence.

Hutchinson was convicted in 2007 of the brutal murder of Crystal Perry at her Bridgton home in 1994.

The court also rejected Hutchinson’s testimony that he would have accepted a plea offer because he had always insisted he was innocent.

Warren’s decision came two days after an evidentiary hearing.

Hutchinson has 21 days to file a notice of appeal.
 

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