Maine’s high court has overturned the 45-year prison sentence imposed on a Massachusetts man who stabbed his ex-girlfriend 99 times more than two years ago.
That means a new judge will reconsider how long to keep 22-year-old Jason Servil of Boston in prison for the slaying of 20-year-old Alice Abbott.
Servil was arrested on July 16, 2022, after police discovered the body of 20-year-old Alice Abbott at a Canaan Road home in Skowhegan. She had been stabbed 99 times. Servil was 19 at the time of the murder.
He ultimately pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated assault after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors in January 2024 that capped his maximum sentence at 45 years.
In April 2024, a judge sentenced Servil to the maximum time in prison under the plea agreement.
But the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled Thursday that Justice Robert Mullen abused his discretion when he considered Abbott’s obituary, which the court sought out independently, in sentencing Servil.
During sentencing, Mullen heard impact statements from Abbott’s grandfather, mother, brother and sister-in-law, as well as from two of Servil’s family members, Servil and a mental health professional who began treating Servil after his arrest.
In reaching his sentencing decision, Mullen also considered an obituary for Abbott when assessing the crime’s impact on her, calling it “very moving,” according to the high court’s decision.
Mullen asked Abbott’s family for permission to read the obituary into the record, and the obituary wasn’t provided to Servil’s defense beforehand, the high court noted.
“It is clear that given the court’s comment that the obituary was ‘very moving,’ the court’s analysis of the aggravating factors was affected by its independent research,” Associate Justice Rick Lawrence wrote in the nine-page decision.
Servil appealed the sentence, arguing Mullen abused his discretion and violated Servil’s due process rights. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court didn’t weigh in on the due process claim, narrowing its decision over Mullen’s use of his discretion in sentencing Servil.
The high court ruled that the obituary was a “discrete and significant” influence in setting the 45-year sentence, and that by not providing it to the defense and by seeking the family’s permission to read it into the record, Mullen’s sentencing analysis appeared “less than impartial.”
“Although the court also referenced the multiple victim impact statements provided to the court, that does not diminish the supervening impact of its reliance on the obituary in weighing the aggravating factor of victim impact as a part of the determination of Servil’s maximum sentence,” Lawrence wrote.
The high court vacated Servil’s sentence and ordered a new judge to resentence him.
Under the previous sentence, Servil would not have been eligible for release from the Maine State Prison in Warren until May 12, 2061, at the earliest, according to the Maine Department of Corrections.
During Servil’s sentencing in April 2024, Clifford Warren, Abbott’s brother, rushed toward Servil and jumped over a barrier in the Skowhegan courtroom after the sentence was read.
Law enforcement used a stun gun to subdue Warren before removing him from the courtroom.
District Attorney Maeghan Maloney decided against prosecuting Warren for his “extremely emotional response” because he didn’t harm Servil, whose attorney, Jeremy Pratt, called the decision “extraordinarily shameful.”
