SKOWHEGAN -- A court hearing has been scheduled for next week on a motion for a new trial for Shannon Atwood of Canaan, who was found guilty this past summer of murdering his girlfriend, Cheryl Murdoch, in 2006.

Superior Court Justice Nancy Mills, who presided over the jury-waived trial in June and into July, will hear the motion at 8 a.m., Oct. 8 at Kennebec County Superior Court in Augusta.

Justice Mills also is at the center of the reason Skowhegan lawyer John Alsop, who is representing Atwood, is seeking a new trial.

Alsop contends that Mills -- before delivering her verdict July 2 -- acknowledged that she was familiar with a woman Atwood, now 38, had been convicted of assaulting years earlier. He said Mills may have used that prior conviction as part of the information on which she based Atwood's murder conviction.

In his motion for a new trial, Alsop states that Mills once used Jennifer Nickerson as a hairdresser. Atwood went to prison for assaulting Nickerson in 1993.

A story about that assault appeared in area newspapers June 28, 2008, the weekend before Mills' verdict on the Atwood murder case, Alsop said.

Mills said in a meeting with attorneys prior to the verdict that she started to read those articles, but stopped reading when she learned the story was about Nickerson.

"Basically the issue is whether all the press and publications that were involved over the weekend, when the judge was deliberating, played a role in the ultimate decision," Alsop said Wednesday. "It's a very sensitive matter and it's the kind of thing we would bring to the attention of the court if it happened to a juror."

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson, who prosecuted the Atwood case, said Mills, as the presiding judge, is the only person who could reasonably conduct next week's hearing because she is the only one who knows if she acted justly reaching her verdict.

"She's the only one who can make a decision because she's the presiding justice," he said Wednesday. "She's has to determine whether or not she acted unjustly. The standard for a new trial is very clear.

"It's not the sort of case where she can recuse herself because she's the only one who knows whether she acted unjustly."

Atwood was found guilty of murdering Cheryl Murdoch, 38, in the summer of 2006 and leaving her bludgeoned body in the woods of rural Canaan, where police discovered it that August.

A charge that he also murdered his estranged wife, Shirley Moon Atwood, 35, was dropped in November 2007.

Moon Atwood has been missing since April 2006.

Alsop's motion for a new trial was filed Aug. 8.

In his response filed Aug. 15, Benson said there was never any concern over Mills' impartiality.

He added that while Mills disclosed that she had some history with Jennifer Nickerson, the defense did not express concerns about Mills handling the Atwood case at the time.

"At that time, both parties specifically waived, on the record, any concerns about the impartiality of the presiding justice," Benson said in his response.

He said the motion for a new trial should be denied.

Mills has declined to comment on the case while proceedings remain open.

Atwood has yet to be sentenced. He faces possible life in prison.

Doug Harlow -- 474-9534, ext. 342

dharlow@centralmaine.com