Court upholds Dupas' sentence

The Connecticut Supreme court May 18 unanimously upheld the 47-year prison sentence of Deaneric Dupas, one of eight people convicted in the rape and murder of a 13-year-old New Milford girl.

The ruling upheld a decision in 2007 by
Superior Court Judge Robert C. Brunetti , who cited the heinous nature of the crime.

Mr. Dupas had sought a reduced sentence for testifying against one of his co-defendants.

The New Milford teen, Maryann Measles , was kidnapped Oct. 19, 1997, as she waited in a New Milford parking lot for her mother, who was shopping for groceries.

The teen was raped and strangled and her body was wrapped in a blanket and chains and dumped into the Housatonic River. The body was found the next spring, floating in Lake Lillinonah.

Miss Measles and the eight defendants were once friends. Five men in the group feared she would press statutory rape charges against them.

The three women in the group wanted to keep the men out of jail and were jealous of Miss Measles, authorities have said.

In sentencing Mr. Dupas in 2007, Judge Brunetti gave him points for coming forward and sparing the victim's family a trial. The judge also acknowledged Mr. Dupas, who his lawyer says is mentally retarded, has "limitations."

The judge said, however, "What the court always comes back to is there is a 13-year-old child who suffered through a horrible death."

Keith M. Foster was the only defendant to go to trial. He was convicted of nine charges, including felony murder, conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree sexual assault, and three counts of first-degree kidnapping.

He was sentenced in August 2006 to 60 years in prison on a murder charge and 50 years on the other counts. The other defendants reached plea deals with prosecutors.

-- Associated Press

and staff reports