AUBURN — One of two men convicted in the 1997 fatal beating of a man at a Lewiston motel presented witnesses Tuesday who said the convicted man’s co-defendant at trial had later admitted to committing the crime alone.
Brad Chesnel, who is serving a life sentence at the Maine State Prison, is seeking a new trial in his post-conviction review petition based on new evidence.
On Tuesday, Chesnel appeared in Androscoggin Count Superior Court dressed in an orange jail suit, his hands cuffed, his ankles shackled.
Defense attorney Donald Hornblower, who represented Chesnel in a 2012 post-conviction petition, testified Tuesday that he had spoken at that time to Leroy Tomah Jr., who, like Chesnel, had been convicted in the fatal beating and robbery of Michael Allen at the Holiday Motel on Lisbon Street in Lewiston.
Chesnel was sentenced to life in prison on a murder charge, plus 40 years for robbery; Tomah received a 47-year prison sentence, plus 14 years on a robbery charge.
Hornblower told a judge Tuesday that he met with Tomah five years ago. As Hornblower prepared to leave, Tomah told him: “I was the primary aggressor.”
Hornblower told the judge, “I was stunned, to be honest.”
Tomah continued to speak: “I hit him first,” he said. Chesnel had been at a store at the time, Tomah told Hornblower.
Tomah told Hornblower: “I flipped out when it happened.”
Tomah told Hornblower he had been drinking.
“He said he took a tool out of his duffel bag,” and committed the crime with it.
Tomah told him he hadn’t planned to assault Allen.
Hornblower said he understood that Allen had made an advance “something of a sexual nature” on Tomah.
As Hornblower prepared to leave a second time, Tomah lowered his head and told him, “I should’ve gotten life.”
Under cross-examination by Assistant Attorney General Donald Macomber, Hornblower said his interview with Tomah hadn’t been under oath.
Clifton Wallace, who was housed at the Androscoggin County Jail while Tomah was awaiting trial for Allen’s murder said Tuesday by videoconference from Knox County Superior Court that he had lied at the murder trial.
He said he had met Tomah and felt sorry for him. Wallace said he thought that Chesnel had taken advantage of Tomah. Wallace had testified at the murder trial that Chesnel had confessed to him that he had killed Allen, but that had been a lie, Wallace said Tuesday. Others had sided with Tomah and at least one other had agreed to testify against Chesnel, Wallace said.
“We all felt sorry for Tomah,” Wallace said Tuesday. “We told Tomah we would help him out.”
Later, at the Maine State Prison, Wallace talked to Tomah, who told him: “I was the one that killed (Allen) because he tried to give me (oral sex).”
Wallace said he and Tomah had been talking about a prisoner who dressed like a woman. Tomah said he didn’t like gay men and Wallace said he didn’t either.
Tomah told Wallace that Chesnel was trying to get money from Allen in exchange for sex, but Tomah was supposed to get money from Allen for sex at the motel room. Chesnel was at a nearby store when “Allen got on his knees and (Tomah) hit him with a hammer.”
Wallace wrote a letter in 2011 and sent it to Maine State Police admitting to the subterfuge.
He tried to apologize in prison to Chesnel, who didn’t want to talk to Wallace, he said Tuesday.
Wallace said he wasn’t motivated to come clean about his perjury during the trial because of any legal favors or because he liked Chesnel. In fact, he testified Tuesday that Chesnel is “not a good person” and had “made my life miserable in prison.”
Wallace said he has “accepted Jesus Christ in my life” and is “trying to turn my life around,” which includes “trying to do the right thing.”
Tomah appeared in Androscoggin County Superior Court on Tuesday by videoconference from the Maine State Prison in Warren.
He declined to answer questions about the case, invoking his Fifth Amendment right.
On the morning of April 29, 1997, a worker at the motel discovered Allen’s body on the floor of one of the motel’s rooms. A medical examiner determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. Allen’s jaw, nose, and facial bones were fractured, according to court papers. His face, hands, legs and back had abrasions and lacerations consistent with a fist as well as a steel weapon, such as a tire iron.
Chesnel and Tomah each had accused the other of having committed Allen’s slaying.
After the attack, Chesnel took jewelry and other items from Allen’s body. The two men drove Allen’s truck to Old Orchard Beach, abandoned the truck and disposed of the murder weapon and Allen’s belongings, according to court papers.
After staying in a hotel room for an hour, they took a cab to Portland and stayed at a hotel near a bus station. The next day, they took a bus to California.
Several days after arriving in California, Tomah contacted detectives in Maine and turned himself in.
Attorneys in the case must file written briefs in October, Justice MaryGay Kennedy told them.
