Maine man freed after 27 years in prison

A Maine man who spent 27 years in prison for allegedly killing his 16-year-old girlfriend in 1989 wept as he was set free on Wednesday.

Anthony H Sanborn Jr, 45, was just a teen when he was sentenced to 70 years in prison in 1993 for the murder of his then-girlfriend Jessica Briggs. 

Despite protesting his innocence for decades – and two of the witnesses recanting testimony – Sanborn was only released because his lawyers successfully argued that giving a 70-year sentence to a juvenile was ‘cruel and unusual punishment’.

Accused: Sanborn (left in 1989) was accused of killing then-girlfriend Jessica Briggs (right) when they were both 16. Briggs was stabbed to death; Sanborn always maintained innocence

Recanted: Two of the three witnesses recanted their statements against Sanborn (seen before his 1990 arraignment), one in April and the other in court on Tuesday

Sanborn, who was 16 when accused, has spent most of his life in Maine State Prison, had been fighting for a post-conviction review of his case when the offer from the district attorney came through, the Portland Press Herald reported.

His lawyers argued that police and prosecutors withheld evidence that would have aided his defense, and threatened and coerced witnesses leading up to the conviction.

And on Tuesday, one of the supposed witnesses to the crime – Glenn Brown – recanted the statement he made to police. 

Brown, now 47, had told police that he saw Sanborn with a knife and looking for Briggs on the night she was murdered, but said on Tuesday that was a lie.

He claimed that he had given the false testimony because he had a jail record, was afraid of police, and was frightened about being sent back to jail.

Another ‘witness’, Hope Cady, confirmed an earlier recantation, saying she lied to investigators because she also feared going to jail.

On Tuesday evening, in the wake of Brown’s new testimony, the DA’s office and Sanborn’s legal team began to draft an agreement.

Convicted: On Wednesday it was agreed that Sanborn’s conviction would remain, but that he would be free on time served and good behavior. He is also free to proclaim his innocence

‘Cruel’: Sanborn’s legal team, whom he hired in 2016, said after his conviction the Supreme Court ruled juveniles had to be sentenced differently from adults. In that case, his team said, his 70-year sentence constituted cruel and unusual punishment

Sanborn’s conviction would stay, they said, but he could be released based on time served, which – including time off for good behavior – amounted to 42 years, three months and nine days. 

The Maine man has been released on bail conditions since April; those conditions would also be lifted, the office said. He is also allowed to maintain his innocence.

In the meantime, the lawyers maintain that Sanborn’s prison sentence was ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ because in the years since his conviction the US Supreme Court has ruled that juveniles should be sentenced differently to adults. 

Sanborn’s lawyers said the offer came ‘like a crowbar to the head’.  

‘Any offers that we talked about before always had him … acknowledging some level of culpability, and he would never do that,’ said Timothy Zerillo, who has represented him since 2016.

‘This was one of the first times where we could structure something so he could maintain his innocence, as he does.’

Sanborn wasn’t the only one left weeping as his long-fought case came to a surprising conclusion.

Amy Fairfield, Sanborn’s other lawyer, was tearful as she read out a statement in court that said everyone was ‘war-torn and weary’ after five months of litigation.

Thankful: Sanborn said on Wednesday that he was thankful to Justice Joyce Wheeler for allowing his case to be reviewed, and said that God would judge him innocent

No doubt: Susan Briggs, Jessica’s mother, said she ‘never doubted’ that Sanborn was guilty of the crime. Sanborn also claimed police also hid evidence useful to the defense from his team

After the hearing, they attorneys released a statement from Sanborn that said he respected ‘what Justice [Joyce] Wheeler did for me’ in allowing a review of his case.

‘I think Justice Wheeler has a lot of courage and integrity to do what she did,’ he added. ‘There is only one judge who can ultimately judge me, and that is God. And I will be judged to be innocent when my time comes.’

Assistant Attorney General Meg Elam that her office ‘never wavered’ in believing Sanborn was guilty.

‘While the state has indicated its willingness to modify Mr Sanborn’s sentence and conveyed that to Mr Sanborn’s lawyers for months, we have always maintained and continue to maintain that Mr Sanborn’s conviction for the murder of Jessica Briggs was a just and fair verdict,’ she said outside the courthouse. 

‘We believe that today’s resolution of this matter is a just outcome for all involved, but most importantly for Jessica Briggs and for her family.’

She will not speak about whether Sanborn had a fair trial, or whether there was police and prosecution interference in the path of justice.

Susan Briggs, the victim’s mom, said she and her family ‘never doubted he did it’.

‘I’m glad the conviction stands,’ she said. ‘He walked away. That may not have been our ultimate goal, but he’s still convicted of killing our daughter.’ 

THE CRUMBLING CASE AGAINST ANTHONY SANBORN

Anthony H Sanborn Jr  has maintained his innocence throughout his incarceration, and as the years have worn on, the police’s case appears to have faltered.

He was convicted based on the testimony of three witnesses, two of whom have since recanted their statements.

The first to walk back their claims was Hope Cady, a 13-year-old who lived with a group of street kids who had fled abusive homes.

She came forward after Sanborn’s arrest and claimed that she saw him and a group of other people – including the woman he has since married – surrounding Jessica Briggs before he stabbed her to death.

However, in April she recanted her testimony and said that police had told her what to say and threatened to jail her if she didn’t. 

The only eyewitness in the case, she was also legally blind when she claimed to have seen the murder at the end of a darkly lit pier. 

She confirmed her recantation on Tuesday.

Hope Cady (pictured in April) testified against Sanborn when she was 13, but recounted her statement in April, saying cops threatened to jail her if she didn’t do what they said

The second witness, Glenn Brown, recanted his own statement on Tuesday. 

He was 19 years old when 16-year-old Briggs – with whom he’d worked in a restaurant – was murdered.

He, Briggs and Sanborn were among a group of teens who all hung out together. He claimed that he had seen Sanborn with a knife and looking for Briggs the night she died.

Brown already had a prison record when Briggs died and said on Tuesday that he was frightened the police would jail him if he didn’t testify against Sanborn.

The third witness was Gerard Rossi, then in his 40s, who was Sanborn’s friend and roommate. He claimed that Sanborn had told him three times about killing Briggs.

But in October, a woman named Crystal Call said that Rossi, a now-deceased Vietnam veteran, had lied to police because they had evidence of him raping her when she was 14 or 15.

Call, who was named Crystal Breen in the 1980s, said Rossi had raped her in an Augusta motel room, and that there were photos of him partially nude and lying face-down between her legs, among others, the Press Herald reported.

She said detectives James Daniels and Daniel Young interviewed her about the alleged rape but kept talking about Sanborn.

A second woman, Gloria Brosseau, also testified, saying she was 15 at the time and Rossi made her take the photos. She said that he also raped her at a later date.

Call had previously claimed she took the pictures. Daniels said he had seen the photos but they did not show penetration of the vagina by a penis, which was the legal requirement for a rape charge in 1989.

Sanborn has also accused the police of not turning over evidence that might have helped the defense, as is legally required. 

Both Daniels and Young are now retired.