Superior Court Justice Daniel Billings speaks during Chanda Lilly’s sentencing in March at Sagadahoc County Superior Court in Bath. At the proceeding, Lilly agreed to testify against Tyon Shuron in the murder trial over which Billings is also presiding. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal file

BATH — Throughout hours of testimony Wednesday, Chanda Lilly insisted Tyon Shuron had killed Andrew Sherman in Richmond in September 2019.

“I do remember what I remember,” Lilly said more than once during her time on the stand this week. “I know what I know, and I saw what I saw.”

Lilly is testifying in Sagadahoc County Superior Court in Bath under an agreement she struck earlier this year. She was initially charged with murder in Sherman’s death, but in March, four years after she was arrested, Lilly pleaded guilty to a robbery charge and agreed to testify against Shuron.

Chanda Lilly during her initial court appearance in March 2020 at Sagadahoc County Superior Court in Bath. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal file

It is the longest outstanding murder case in Maine.

On Tuesday, she recounted how she had met Sherman, a photographer; her secret relationship with Shuron; Shuron’s anger at her for having posed for provocative photographs; and, finally, their fatal confrontation with him Sept. 29, 2019, over those images.

But lawyer Darrick X. Banda, who is representing Shuron at his murder trial, probed Lilly about the events she recounted — and her memory.

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Under questioning by Banda, Lilly said she has schizoaffective disorder bipolar type, for which she takes prescribed medication, and she has short- and long-term memory problems.

Banda asked whether it would be untrue if someone were to say Lilly was not taking her medication during a recent hospitalization at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston.

“And if someone from St. Mary’s reported that you had recently used cocaine, do you remember telling them that at St. Mary’s?” Banda asked.

“What? No,” Lilly said. “Definitely not. I never use cocaine.”

That drew an objection from Jen Ackerman, an assistant attorney general, and Justice Daniel Billings reminded the jury that statements and questions of counsel are not evidence.

“I did not use any cocaine at all, and did not admit or tell anyone I was using cocaine,” Lilly said. “That is not accurate information. It’s not true.”

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When Banda showed Lilly a document that indicated she had admitted to using drugs, she said she had used drugs in the past, but not recently.

Lawyer Darrick X. Banda during a 2017 hearing at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta. Banda is representing Tyon Shuron in Shuron’s murder trial that began this week in Sagadahoc County Superior Court in Bath. David Leaming/Morning Sentinel file

“Are you as sure about that as you are everything else you testified to to this jury?” Banda said.

“Yes, I am sure. I was there,” Lilly said. “I know what I know, and I saw what I saw and I understand that, yes.”

While people struggled to hear Lilly when she was testifying for the state, they had no trouble hearing her when she answered questions from Banda about the sequence of events, about details from the night of the murder and details during the investigation.

On Tuesday, the jury was dismissed while lawyers argued whether Lilly was capable and qualified to identify the author of notes that were found in Shuron’s cell at Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset after their 2020 arrests on murder and other charges.

Lilly said the notes contained instructions from Shuron to Lilly to recant the account she had given investigators on what happened the night Sherman was shot and killed, and directing her to contact Shuron’s lawyer, Ronald Bourget.

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“I’m not sure exactly what it means,” Lilly said, “but he asked me to ask his lawyer if I can recant the statement I had made.”

Tyon Shuron, left, on the first day of his murder trial Nov. 9, 2023, at Sagadahoc County Superior Court in Bath. Shuron is accused of killing Andrew Sherman in Richmond in 2019. Jessica Lowell/Kennebec Journal file

Billings said there was enough for Lilly to offer testimony.

“I think the contest is more important here. I readily admit this is thin,” Billings said of Lilly’s description of how many notes she had received from Shuron. “Credibility is the province of the jury.”

Banda pressed Lilly on Wednesday about whether she recognized Shuron’s handwriting, based on the number of unsigned notes she said he had left at her apartment, and questioned her about notes found inside Shuron’s cell.

He also highlighted instances where the accounts she gave in court did not match what she had told investigators before and after her arrest four years ago, playing audio clips of what she had said at the time.

Under the terms of her plea deal, Lilly is required to testify truthfully or risk returning to prison. She was sentenced to 18 years in prison, with all but four years suspended, and four years of probation. She has completed her sentence.

The trial continued Thursday.

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