There is a sad but necessary new law in Maine.

"Marlee's Law," which was signed by Gov. John Baldacci in April, was highlighted in a ceremony at the Statehouse on Tuesday. It creates a new process prosecutors can use to deal with teens who commit horrible crimes that require sentences more severe -- and lengthy -- than those possible under laws dealing with juvenile offenders.

It's named after Marlee Johnston, a 14- year-old girl who was killed by Patrick Armstrong, also 14 years old, in Fayette in 2005.

Laws then on the books gave prosecutors two unsatisfactory options. Either they could charge Armstrong as a juvenile, meaning that he would be released from juvenile facilities when he turned 21, or they could charge him as an adult, which -- despite his age -- would have meant a sentence to be served in an adult prison.

Fortunately, in that case, prosecutors found a way to craft a sentence that combined both juvenile and adult punishment. Armstrong was sent to juvenile detention for an unrelated burglary. He will be transferred to an adult prison after he turns 18.

Ted Johnston, Marlee's father, joined state officials in advocating a change in the law to make such blended sentences possible in other cases, so a young offender can serve part of his sentence in a juvenile facility before being transferred to an adult prison.

We hope there never again is need for the provisions of this law but it is good to know it exists if circumstances require.