Aaron Aldrich and his attorney, Thomas Carey, stand Friday in Androscoggin Superior Court in Auburn as Aldrich apologizes to the family of one of his victims. Aldrich was found guilty in the shooting deaths of a Massachusetts man and a Lewiston teenager found in a home in Poland on Feb. 20, 2023. He was sentenced to life in prison. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

AUBURN — A local man convicted of murdering a Massachusetts man and a Lewiston teenager at a home in Poland last year was sentenced Friday to life in prison.

At a jury trial in September, Aaron Aldrich, 47, was found guilty of intentionally or knowingly killing Shoeb Mohamed Adan, 21, and Mohamed Aden, 16, on Feb. 20, 2023.

The two murder sentences will be served at the same time.

Prosecutors said Aldrich went to the Tripp Lake Road residence with a Hi-Point 9 mm semiautomatic rifle and killed both men in a premeditated fashion, taking money and continuing a series of crimes as he fled to New Hampshire.

During the sentencing in Androscoggin County Superior Court, Justice Jennifer Archer said the premeditated nature of the killings, Aldrich’s behavior during the trial, and the impact on the families of the victims also informed her decision.

“Their lives were cut short by the selfish act of a greed-filled man, and their families have suffered and will continue to suffer grief and sadness because of the defendant’s actions,” she said.

Through victim advocate Brian Hughes, the families of Adan and Aden made short statements, asking that Aldrich be sentenced to life in prison. Adan’s mother, brother and other family members were in attendance.

“She expressed to me how incredibly difficult the loss of her son was,” Hughes said, referring to Adan’s mother.

He said Aden’s mother, who was present during the trial, described the funeral process practiced in her culture, which includes a washing of the body.

“Just being there for that, seeing her son in the manner he was left in with the injuries, how difficult that was and how hard it has been to overcome that grief and depression,” Hughes said.

Aldrich’s attorney, Thomas Carey, argued for a 60-year sentence, stating that at age 47, it would be a “functional life sentence” for Aldrich, but that it would be reflective of “mitigating factors,” including Aldrich’s drug addiction, remorse and commitment to bettering himself as a person.

Carey argued that Aldrich has suffered from substance use disorder nearly his entire life, and then during the brief times when he was sober, he showed himself to be a “conscientious person” and “good member of society.”

Following the statements from the defense, Aldrich turned to the victim’s family members and said he was “extremely sorry for what happened that night.”

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about what happened,” he said. “I’m really sorry. I know it doesn’t make it right, and I know it doesn’t bring them back.”

The jury also convicted Aldrich of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Archer imposed a five-year sentence on that charge to run concurrent with the murder sentences, and Aldrich was also ordered to pay $6,795 in restitution to the victim’s families for funeral expenses.

The seven-day trial in Androscoggin County Superior Court was capped off by testimony from Aldrich, who described how he acted in self-defense. But prosecutors presented witnesses who cast doubt on Aldrich’s claim and introduced evidence that contradicted his version of events.

Aaron Aldrich listens to Assistant Attorney General Lisa Bogue deliver her closing arguments Sept. 17 in his double murder trial at Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn. On the screen is a photograph of the Hi-Point 995, 9 mm rifle used in the killings. Aldrich gave the weapon, in a bag, to his girlfriend to dispose of. A jury convicted him of killing a Massachusetts man and a Lewiston teen at a Poland home Feb. 20, 2023. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Aldrich told the jury he was ambushed by Adan after going to a mobile home at 205 Tripp Lake Road in Poland to sell drugs where Adan was staying.

Assistant Attorney General Lisa Bogue told the jury in her closing argument that Aldrich had targeted his two victims, aiming to kill and rob them. He fired a total of seven rounds, never missing his marks, she said.

Aldrich had bragged about his actions afterward, telling a witness, “I killed those two. I flanked them, I flogged them,” Bogue said.

“He has found weaker, smaller, younger boys that he can go and take from,” she told the jury.

Adan had been showing off his thousands of dollars and Aden had simply been at “the wrong place at the wrong time,” Bogue said.

Aldrich had told several people that he would not leave witnesses behind, Bogue said.

The Hi-Point 9 mm semiautomatic rifle Aldrich said was already in the Poland home when he went there unarmed that day was, in fact, featured in Aldrich’s Facebook page and had been at his girlfriend’s house.

“Suddenly, that gun just magically appears” at the mobile home, Bogue said.

It was there because Aldrich brought it with him, concealed in a tool bag, she said, surprising his two victims.

Testimony, autopsy results and evidence found at the scene showed Aden was sitting in a chair in the living room holding a cellphone when Aldrich shot him, Bogue said. Adan was in a bedroom, holding a cellphone, when Aldrich then shot him, she said.

No handgun was found in that room, Bogue said.

When authorities found him, Adan’s pockets had been turned out, she said, suggesting he had been robbed.

Aldrich’s actions following the shootings — including taking a photo of himself holding money and a bag of bloody evidence, stealing a van, and fleeing the state — all pointed to his guilt, not self-defense, Bogue said.

During the sentencing Friday, Justice Archer said Aldrich’s testimony during the trial was “incredible in every sense of the word,” with a “blatantly untruthful claim of self-defense, using a rifle that magically appeared at the exact moment he needed it.”

She said Aldrich was “disingenuous” in his use of emotion during testimony, then turning on a dime to almost boast about how to make money on drug deals and “boost merchandise from various stores, almost like he was an expert witness.”

“His testimony as a whole reflected a complete and utter lack of remorse or acceptance of any responsibility for his actions,” she said.