PORTLAND — Maine’s highest court upheld the conviction of a Portland man who’s serving a 40-year sentence for fatally stabbing his girlfriend in 2009.
In a unanimous ruling today, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court rejected the appeal of William Hanaman, who was convicted of murder in the death of 47-year-old Marian Shea. Testimony revealed that Hanaman stabbed Shea eight times before a failed attempt to take his own life.
Additional Photos
In his appeal, Hanaman argued that the judge in his 2010 trial made a mistake when he refused to instruct jurors that they could find him guilty of manslaughter if they believed he killed Shea in the heat of passion after being provoked.
Supreme court justices disagreed, concluding that the evidence at trial didn’t support his claim.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.