AUBURN, ME (KTRK) -- A federal judge says a man should seek a new trial two decades after a jury convicted him of killing a 4-year-old girl by cooking her in an oven because he thought she was a demon.
The judge recommends that John Lane, 66, be allowed to argue he was too mentally ill to file an appeal for a new trial sooner.
[Ads /]
The former Auburn, Maine, man was convicted of murder in 1985 for placing Angela Palmer in an oven, turning up the heat and blocking her escape by putting a chair under the handle of the oven door. Auburn firefighters, responding to a report of smoke in Lane's apartment building on Oct. 27, 1984, found the little girl's remains inside the oven.
In a motion filed Friday in federal court, Lane petitioned that his lawyer did a poor job of defending him and should have introduced his mental health records during the trial. Lane has been treated for psychosis since his imprisonment, ABC affiliate WCVB-TV reports.
The state Attorney General's Office is now expected to respond to the recommendation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
John Lane, 66, is currently serving a life sentence for cooking a 4-year-old girl in an oven because he thought she was a demon (Maine Department of Corrections)