Schofield opts not to appeal conviction

AUGUSTA – Former state adoption caseworker Sally Ann Schofield will not appeal her manslaughter conviction in the suffocation death of her 5-year-old foster child, her lawyer said.

“Her relatives have been paying her bills, and we concluded the chances of getting her conviction overturned were too slim to justify the expense,” attorney Jed Davis of Augusta told the Kennebec Journal.

Schofield, 41, of Chelsea was ordered to serve 20 years in prison for the asphyxiation death of Logan Marr, who was left alone in the basement bound to a highchair with duct tape wrapped around her mouth, clamping her jaw shut.

Davis already has appealed Schofield’s sentence and the deadline for an appeal of the conviction has now passed, Kennebec County Superior Court officials said.

Schofield, who was charged with murder, waived a jury trial, and Justice Thomas Delahanty II found her guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Prosecutors said she would serve about 17 years behind bars if her sentence is upheld. She also faces six years of probation following her release.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew B. Benson said he was not surprised Schofield did not appeal the conviction.

“The trial was a very clean trial, and there really wasn’t any issue preserved that would be appropriate for an appeal,” said Benson. “We’ve gotten accustomed to criminal defendants appealing everything. But in this case there simply weren’t issues to appeal.”