Man appeals conviction in Bangor covered truck killings

On June 11, 2024By Rgal Nv

The man who set a covered truck on fire and killed two people inside more than six years ago is appealing his conviction.

John De St. Croix was in Bangor court Monday for a hearing on his appeal, according to CBS affiliate WABI.

Prosecutors asked the court to deny the motion, saying De St. Croix failed to meet the legal deadline to appeal. His defense claims post-traumatic stress disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, dyslexia and a COVID-19 infection after his conviction caused him to miss that deadline, WABI reported.

De St. Croix set fire to a box truck near Penobscot Plaza near Washington Street on the night of March 28, 2018, while Michael Bridges, 43, and Desiree York, 36, slept inside .

The Maine Medical Examiner’s Office determined that they both died of smoke inhalation and had second- and third-degree burns over 30 to 40 percent of their bodies.

A jury found De St. Croix guilty of murder in March 2019. In January 2020, Superior Court Judge Ann Murray imposed a life sentence, calling De St. Croix’s crime “vicious.” De St. Croix could hear Bridges and York’s cries for help but did nothing to help them, Murray said in handing down the sentence in 2020.

He then appealed to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, but in December 2020, the justices unanimously upheld his conviction and sentence.