Charges against drifter dropped

PORTLAND — The 33-year-old drifter accused of strangling a Portland man with an electrical cord in 1994 is a free man.

Attorney General Andrew Ketterer dismissed the murder charge last week, concluding the state had little hope of convicting Philip H. Conway after two hung juries.

“To do justice in this case, I decided the best thing to do is dismiss the charges,” Ketterer said.

Conway has been held without bail for a year at the Kennebec County Jail. On Friday, he boarded a bus for his sister’s home in Montgomery, Ala., for Christmas.

“He would have felt better with an acquittal,” said Edmund Folsom, who defended Conway in both trials. “But he has his freedom. That’s the best thing, isn’t it?”

The case against Conway is not completely closed, however. The murder charge was dismissed without prejudice, a legal move giving the state the option to seek a new indictment against Conway if more evidence is discovered.

“Both times we presented the strongest case that was available to us to present, and two juries told us what we have right now is not enough,” Ketterer said. “I respect that.”

Ketterer said he is convinced that Conway murdered Edmund Berg, 59. He said he would have called for a third trial if the state had something new to offer the jury.

The state accused Conway of strangling Berg at his home in April 1994. Police found Berg’s body sprawled in the hallway of his house about two weeks after he was killed.

Conway, who had stayed with Berg a few days before the death, was considered a prime suspect based on fingerprints and other evidence left behind. The men met at an alcohol rehabilitation center in Bath.

Portland police located Conway at a homeless shelter in Oklahoma City last December — 20 months after Berg was killed. He was arrested after two men at the shelter told police that Conway had told them that he killed a man in Maine.