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BY BETTY ADAMS
Staff Writer 07/23/2008

Staff Writer

The Maine Supreme Judicial Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed a lengthy prison sentence for a man convicted of repeatedly sexually assaulting a girl over a four-year period.

Matthew M. Fleury, 39, formerly of Damariscotta, had appealed his September 2007 sentence and the jury verdict to the law court, which upheld both.

Justice S. Kirk Studstrup imposed a term of 32 years in prison and suspended all but 17 years of it.

Fleury was convicted by a jury in Lincoln County in July 2007 of a total of 112 charges of gross sexual assault, unlawful sexual contact and sexual abuse of a minor, all involving the same victim, who was younger than 14 when the abuse began.

The offenses occurred in Jefferson, Waldoboro, Wiscasset and Damariscotta between November 2001 and April 2005.

Studstrup originally sentenced Fleury to 35 years in prison, but reduced the underlying term to 32 years at the request of an assistant district attorney who said the longer term was outside the allowable range.

Fleury's attorney, Andrews Campbell, said he was reviewing the decision.

"It will take a while to analyze it," he said on Tuesday.

Geoffrey Rushlau, district attorney in Lincoln County, said the sentence was "exactly right for the nature of the offense."

"It's a substantial sentence that reflects the judge's appreciation of the harm he had caused the victim through years of abuse," Rushlau said.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

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