PORTLAND – The state supreme court on March 29 upheld the 40-year sentence for a man who pleaded guilty to raping his 76-year-old neighbor, slashing her throat and setting her house on fire.

Kerry Gray of Livermore Falls appealed his sentence, saying the judge abused her discretion and failed to take into account mitigating factors including severe head injuries that Gray blamed for his criminal impulses.

In its unanimous ruling, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court upheld the sentence imposed by Justice Ellen Gorman in Androscoggin County Superior Court.

Gray was 40 when he was sentenced in 2004 for gross sexual assault, attempted murder and arson. The victim survived but lost her ability to live independently.

Gray and his family blamed his problems on the brain injuries, the most serious of which was a 1985 car accident that left him in a coma for a month.

His crimes began at age 20 with a burglary and included a 1998 conviction for unlawful sexual contact and a 2001 conviction for sexual misconduct with a child.

During sentencing, Gorman noted that he was on probation for the last sex crime when he attacked his neighbor, raping her twice, beating her repeatedly and slashing her throat.

He set fire to her house to distract law enforcement authorities.