Okie Seeking New Trial

PORTLAND (NEWS CENTER) -- The man convicted of killing his father and former girlfriend is looking to Maine's highest court to overturn his convictions.

John Okie, 23, formerly of Newcastle, wants a new trial.  Okie claims the judge made a mistake when he denied the request to tell jurors the outcome of a verdict of "not criminally responsible by reason of insanity."

In arguments before the Law Court on Monday, Okie's lawyer, Peter DeTroy, told justices that jurors should have been told that Okie wouldn't have walked out the door if found not criminally responsible because of mental illness.

"The concern is that not criminally responsible is something that in day to day life people might not run across or it's something that has been subject to misconception, that they need to understand that not criminally responsible does not mean the same thing as not not guilty. And that it means that somebody will be commited to an institutuion in the state of Maine," said DeTroy.

But Assistant Attorney General Don Macomber argued that under Maine law jurors are supposed to focus on the facts and on reaching a verdict -- not on the consequences of that verdict. Macomber says that law should not be changed.

Okie was convicted of the deaths of Alexandra "Aleigh" Mills, 19, and John Okie Senior, Okie's father.  He was sentenced to 30 years for each murder last January.  Those terms are set to run consecutively, which means 60 years behind bars.