AUBURN — The testimony of a 12-year-old girl helped convince a judge Monday that a 28-year-old man violated the terms of his probation after being convicted of using an ice chopper to attack a stranger in Lewiston a decade ago.
Luke Blair, 28, of Readfield could serve up to eight years and eight months of a suspended sentence for the elevated aggravated assault he committed in 2007.
While in prison to serve roughly three years of his 12-year sentence, Blair committed new criminal conduct that had added seven years to his time there.
Androscoggin County Superior Court Justice Thomas E. Delahanty II ruled Monday that on Dec. 28, 2017, Blair had committed domestic violence assault and domestic violence criminal threatening in Readfield when he assaulted his then-girlfriend.
On Jan. 4, 2018, Blair had committed the crime of terrorizing when he spoke with a Lewiston woman who answered the phone of Blair’s then-girlfriend’s father, Delahanty decided Monday. Blair had told the woman he planned to come to her home and shoot out the windows, she testified Monday.
A nervous 12-year-old daughter of Blair’s then-girlfriend in December testified Monday she had witnessed Blair striking her mother, causing bruising on the woman’s arms and legs. The girl and her mother had been staying at Blair’s family’s home in Readfield at that time. They later moved back to Lewiston.
Blair’s then-girlfriend had initially told police about the assault, but later denied it. On Monday, the woman testified she had lied to police about being assaulted by Blair because she was jealous of his relationship with another woman while she had been pregnant with Blair’s child. She later had a miscarriage, she said.
Questioned by Blair’s lawyer, the woman said she had stopped taking her medications for bipolar disorder, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder that caused her to lie to police about Blair’s conduct.
Monday’s hearing pitted contradictory testimony from mother and daughter.
Explaining his decision in the case, Delahanty said he found the 12-year-old girl’s responses on the witness stand “to be direct, concise and very credible.”
About the girl’s mother, Delahanty said, “I don’t think she understands what the truth is in this matter.”
He said he did not find a preponderance of evidence to prove Blair had committed aggravated assault in Richmond in November 2017, a charge also brought by prosecutors.
Blair is also facing an 80-count indictment for bail violations in Androscoggin County based on phone calls made from Androscoggin County Jail, and pending charges in Kennebec County Superior Court, according to Lisa Bogue, an assistant district attorney prosecuting the case.
A sentencing hearing on his probation violations is scheduled for Aug. 27.
While the judge found by a preponderance of evidence Blair had committed the conduct charged by prosecutors in the Dec. 28 and Jan. 4 incidents for the purposes of probation violations, a higher standard for criminal convictions in those charges — beyond a reasonable doubt — will be necessary to convict Blair of those crimes.
Blair had admitted to violating probation on charges of aggravated criminal trespass, criminal mischief, refusing to submit to arrest and assault on an officer stemming from an incident Jan 5 in Lewiston that was captured on video by a Sun Journal photographer.
Two days before he turned 18, Blair attacked a man with an ice chopper. Blair was part of a group of teens who had robbed a man in an alley near Bartlett and Walnut streets.
Blair was initially bound over as an adult on a charge of attempted murder. That charge was dismissed in a plea agreement that capped Blair’s prison sentence at 12 years.
The victim had been found lying on the ground in a pool of blood, his pockets turned inside out, when police officers arrived at the scene in November 2007. An ice chopper was found with Gary St. Hilaire’s blood on the blade, its wooden handle splintered from the force of the blow.
The doctor who performed emergency surgery on the victim’s 9-inch-long skull fracture induced a coma for several weeks to allow the man’s brain to recover. His language and memory were impaired, along with the right side of his body, a prosecutor said.
cwilliams@sunjournal.com
Luke Blair is seen at a window at 34 Shawmut St. in Lewiston on Jan. 4 after being cornered by Lewiston police. (Sun Journal file photo)
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