Maine’s highest court has upheld the manslaughter conviction of a Portland man who killed his sister’s boyfriend more than five years ago.
In a 22-page decision issued Thursday morning, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court weighed in on the state’s appeal of a Superior Court decision vacating the conviction of Mark Cardilli Jr.
At issue was whether Cardilli’s trial attorneys failed to vigorously argue that he acted in self-defense during his original trial.
That argument didn’t sway the high court’s justices, who wrote that there was “no room for any argument” over the facts of the case and that even “if Cardilli actually believed that his use of deadly force was necessary under the circumstances, his belief was objectively unreasonable.”
“Any inadequate advocacy by Cardilli’s trial counsel could not have had an adverse effect on his defense sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome of the trial,” the justices concluded in vacating the lower court decision and denying his bid for a new trial.
In the early morning hours of March 16, 2019, Cardilli, then 24 years old, shot to death 22-year-old Isahak Muse of South Portland at the Cardilli family home on Milton Street. Muse, a Black man, was staying the night there, where he was visiting his girlfriend, Cardilli’s then-17-year-old sister Chelsey.
Muse was not supposed to be at the Milton Street home because of Chelsey Cardilli’s bail condition, but her father agreed to let him stay until 1 a.m., according to the Supreme Judicial Court.
Muse, who had been drinking throughout the day, did not leave at the agreed upon time and pleaded to stay, but the elder Cardillis insisted that he leave.
While Mark Cardilli and his father escorted Muse to the kitchen door, Cardilli’s mother shouted that her daughter had struck her. Muse then pushed his way back into the house past Cardilli and his father, knocking them into the refrigerator and kitchen table, the justices wrote.
A fight then broke out among everyone in the home. During the scuffle, Cardilli went to his apartment above the home’s garage to get his handgun, thinking Muse would leave as soon as he saw it, according to the court.
He didn’t call 911.
After Cardilli pointed the gun at him and demanded that he leave, Muse punched Cardilli in the face “four or five times.” It was at this point that Cardilli fired three times at Muse, two of which struck him in the back, the justices wrote.
Cardilli wasn’t arrested until April of that year after a Cumberland County grand jury indicted him on a murder charge.
The Maine medical examiner’s office determined Muse died from gunshot wounds to the back.
The shooting death of Muse sparked outrage and protest among Portland’s Somali and immigrant communities.
During the 2019 trial, Cardilli’s sister testified that the relationship with her brother became strained after he joined the U.S. Army. She told the court her brother made racist and Islamophobic comments, and that both her brother and father disapproved of her relationship with Muse, whom she described as a frequent guest at the Milton Street home.
Cardilli was found guilty of manslaughter in December 2019 after a bench trial, and he was sentenced to 11 years in prison with all but 7.5 years suspended and four years of probation.
Cardilli unsuccessfully appealed his conviction to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, which in 2021 agreed with Cumberland County Superior Court Justice Nancy Mills that Muse didn’t pose a reasonable threat to Cardilli warranting the use of deadly force.
But during a two-day hearing before Cumberland County Superior Court Justice John O’Neill last April, Thomas Hallett, who was then representing Cardilli, argued that his client didn’t receive proper counsel during his original trial and his original lawyers failed to “vigorously argue” that Cardilli had, in fact, acted in self-defense.
In August, O’Neill vacated Cardilli’s conviction, and the state appealed that decision to the Supreme Judicial Court.
In reviewing the case, the high court justices noted that Cardilli’s trial attorneys argued that he acted in self-defense during closing arguments and that Cardilli himself testified that he shot Muse because he didn’t know “how many more punches I could take” and feared Muse might take the gun if he dropped it.
But as the justices wrote, Cardilli knew that Muse didn’t have a gun or knife and that Muse didn’t try to grab for the gun. Only Cardilli used deadly force during the fight.
The justices concluded that prosecutors proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Cardilli’s use of deadly force wasn’t necessary and that the facts “leave no room for any argument” that shooting Muse was justified.
