Lewiston man found guilty in fatal stabbing

PORTLAND – Jurors convicted Brandon Thongsavanh of murder Thursday in the fatal stabbing of a Bates College student in a street brawl in March 2003.

After 13 hours of deliberations spread out over three days, the jury announced its verdict at 3:35 p.m. in Cumberland County Superior Court. Its only options were murder or acquittal, and a lesser charge of manslaughter was not a choice.

Thongsavanh, 22, showed no visible reaction when he heard the jury’s verdict. Some of his family members quietly wept in the back of the courtroom. Family and friends of the victim showed smiles of relief.

Justice Ellen Gorman said sentencing would take place in late November. For now, Thongsavanh will be returned to the Maine State Prison.

It was the second trial for Thongsavanh, who was given a 58-year sentence when he was convicted the first time in 2003.

His first conviction was thrown out by the state supreme court, which said jurors could have been prejudiced by learning about a profane T-shirt he wore on the night of the killing. Jurors did not hear about the T-shirt’s slogan during this trial.

Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese said her office will ask the judge for a sentence of at least 58 years. Her office will also look into Thongsavanh’s behavior while in prison since his 2003 conviction.

Affidavits show that Thongsavanh was involved in a prison attack in which another inmate’s throat was slit at the Maine State Prison.

“I certainly don’t intend to ask for less than what he got last time,” Marchese said.

The slaying occurred following a chance encounter on Lewiston’s Main Street between two groups of young men – one from Bates College, the other from Auburn.

Prosecutors said Thongsavanh was riding past the melee in a sport utility vehicle when he emerged with a black-handled folding knife. McDuffee, 22, died from five knife wounds to the chest and back, but the knife was never recovered.

Thongsavanh did not testify during his first trial, but chose to take the stand during the retrial in Portland, where the trial was moved because of publicity surrounding the case in the Lewiston area.

Under questioning from Marchese, Thongsavanh admitted that he lied to police but he denied stabbing anyone. He testified that he didn’t learn until after the fight that someone had been stabbed.

McDuffee’s father, Regis McDuffee of Newburyport, Mass., said after the verdict that it was excruciating for the family to wait around for three days while the jury deliberated.

“We’re so relieved we got the verdict our family so desperately needed,” he said. “We needed it to move on.”

Defense attorney David Van Dyke said he will consider an appeal, but that it is premature to discuss it.