Man gets 58 years in stabbing death of Bates senior

AUBURN – A Lewiston man was sentenced Thursday to 58 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of a Bates College student last year.

Androscoggin County Superior Court Judge Ellen Gorman sentenced Brandon Thongsavanh, 20, for the March 2002 slaying of Morgan McDuffee, 22, a Bates College senior who was killed less than four months from graduation.

Gorman, who called Thongsavanh a danger to society, said she started with a base sentence of 50 years and added eight more years because of “aggravating factors,” including his prior criminal record and his psychological profile.

A jury in February deliberated less than four hours before finding Thongsavanh guilty of stabbing McDuffee five times in the chest and back during a random encounter at 2:45 a.m. on Lewiston’s Main Street.

Prosecutors said the stabbing occurred as McDuffee was breaking up a fight between a group of local young men and three Bates students, who had been partying at separate locations.

At sentencing, members of Thongsavanh’s family said they believed him to be innocent. The mother of Thongsavanh’s daughter told Gorman she wished Gorman could see Thongsavanh’s tenderness toward his child in the jail visiting room.

But Suzanna Andrew, McDuffee’s fiancee, listed McDuffee’s long list of accomplishments and told Gorman that Thongsavanh took the man who was to be her partner in life, the father of her children and her best friend.

Prosecutor Lisa Marchese told Gorman that the lives of McDuffee and Thongsavanh offer a “stark contrast.” She said McDuffee had limitless potential, while Thongsavanh made the wrong choice in every road he went down.

Thongsavanh’s lawyer, William Masselli, has petitioned the court seeking a new trial. He claims that Thongsavanh deserves a new trial on several grounds, including a statement recently obtained from a local girl who claims she overheard someone else confess to the killing.

Gorman said she would rule on the request at a later date.