AUBURN — A Turner man who pleaded guilty to murdering his wife in 2010 told a judge Tuesday that her death was accidental.
Brian Nichols, 50, was in Androscoggin County Superior Court for a hearing on a prosecutor’s motion to dismiss Nichols’ efforts to have his 40-year sentence reduced.
Nichols had argued in a petition for post-conviction review that his former attorney, Donald Hornblower, had miscalculated how old Nichols would be at the time he would be released from prison. Nichols pleaded guilty in 2012 to a murder charge with a 42-year sentencing cap.
Nichols told investigators that he fatally shot his wife, Jane Tetreault, 38, in bed at close range at their house on May 8, 2010, because he suspected her of having an affair, an accusation police later said was unfounded.
Justice Robert Clifford dismissed Nichols’ petition Tuesday after hearing arguments from Nichols’ attorney, Maurice Porter, and the prosecutor.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Marchese told Clifford that Nichols had missed his opportunity to argue his former attorney’s error. In any case, she said Clifford didn’t appear to consider in his sentencing analysis in 2012 what Nichols’ age would be at the time he would be released from prison.
Porter said his client’s petition was timely because he wasn’t aware Hornblower’s miscalculation until it was too late to bring it to the attention of a so-called “sentence review panel.” That venue is only available until one year after sentencing, Porter said. Because the error in calculation by Hornblower was newly discovered, it could be considered new evidence, something that can be included in a post-conviction review petition, Porter said.
Hornblower had told Clifford at the sentencing that his client would be 69 or 70 years old at the end of his prison term when, in fact, Nichols would be 76 years old, Porter told Clifford Tuesday.
Because Clifford had asked Hornblower at sentencing two questions having to do with Nichols’ age, Porter said, “I think it’s obvious it had at least some impact on the court.”
If Clifford had placed that much importance on Nichols’ age at the time of his prison release, “perhaps the court would reconsider, you know, five or six years off (Nichols’) sentence,” Porter said.
Clifford assured Porter on Tuesday that he didn’t take into consideration how old Nichols would be at the time his sentence had been fully served in calculating what the length of his sentence should be.
“It really was not a factor in my sentencing,” Clifford said. It would have been impossible for him to have calculated how old Nichols would be at the time of his release, considering the complexity of factors that the Maine Department of Corrections considers in computing time off for good behavior, Clifford said.
“I was not considering Mr. Hornblower’s answer when I imposed a sentence of 40 years,” Clifford said, granting the state’s motion to dismiss Nichols’ petition.
Near the end of the hearing, Porter said his client wanted to address the court.
“The reality is, your honor, I didn’t do it on purpose,” Nichols said, explaining that he was “negligent” with a gun and “a lot was going on in my life at the time. But I accidentally did this.”
Clifford told Porter that Nichols “looks a lot better than he did then.”
Clifford called the events a “very tragic case” and expressed his “sympathies” to the Nichols family.
cwilliams@sunjournal.com
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