The lawyer for a Maine man convicted in the 2013 pipe-beating death of another man is appealing the guilty verdict and the sentence.
The Morning Sentinel reports one of Jason Cote's court-appointed attorneys says the 25-year-old Palmyra man was acting in self-defense when he bludgeoned 47-year-old Ricky Cole to death in Cole's Detroit home on July 17, 2013.
A judge had called the killing "brutal" and "savage."
Cote was convicted of murder in December. He was sentenced this month to 45 years in prison.
His attorney, Stephen Smith, says the appeal was filed Feb. 17 in Skowhegan and will be transferred to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Dates and times of the appeal hearing haven't been set.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
