By Bonnie Washuk,Staff Writer

PORTLAND – Chad Aube testified Tuesday he saw Brandon Thongsavanh fighting with Morgan McDuffee before McDuffee was stabbed to death early on March 3, 2002, in Lewiston.

At first, Aube thought Thongsavanh was throwing punches, he said. When Aube heard a woman scream that McDuffee had been stabbed, “I put two and two together,” and realized Thongsavanh stabbed McDuffee, Aube told a Cumberland County Superior Court jury as Thongsavanh’s murder trial entered its second week.

Defense lawyer Scott Lynch countered that Aube is a four-time convicted felon, and he was the one who killed McDuffee, not Thongsavanh.

Thongsavanh, 22, of Lewiston, is being tried a second time in the slaying of the 22-year-old Bates College senior. Thongsavanh was found guilty in 2003, but the Maine Supreme Judicial Court overturned the verdict on grounds that the jury was biased when told repeatedly that Thongsavanh was wearing a shirt with an obscene reference to Jesus the night of the killing.

Aube spent most of Tuesday testifying about what happened during the Main Street brawl between Auburn youths and Bates students.

The 23-year-old said he lives with his girlfriend and their son in Lewiston, is on probation and works as a builder.

In the hours before the stabbing in 2002, Aube said he was partying at Justin Asselin’s apartment in Auburn along with Thongsavanh. Aube drank 12 beers and two shots throughout the night, he said.

Aube was invited to another party. He and friends left in several vehicles. Thongsavanh was in a separate vehicle.

On the way, Aube and his friends were told at a convenience store in Lewiston they couldn’t bring so many to the free-beer party.

Soon after, Aube was sitting in a parked car near Main Street with others, he said, when his friend, Michael Levesque, tapped on the window telling him there was a fight nearby on Main Street. The youths went over and began fighting, he said.

Someone hit Aube on the head with a bottle, he said. Aube knocked one man down after hitting him in the jaw and face. He hit another, he said, and started fighting with McDuffee. “We exchanged punches,” he said. He hit McDuffee hard and McDuffee started to stumble, he testified.

“Out of the blue, the defendant comes up” and began fighting with McDuffee. “I thought he was punching him,” Aube said. Thongsavanh “scooped up” McDuffee.

Demonstrating with Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese, Aube showed that Thongsavanh partially lifted McDuffee. With what Aube said he initially thought were punches, Thongsavanh hit McDuffee about seven times in the chest and stomach, he said.

As McDuffee was on the ground, he said, and he and Thongsavanh ran away. Aube heard a woman scream, “He’s been stabbed!”

Until then he said he thought he was watching a fistfight. “I put two and two together,” Aube said.

He did not see Thongsavanh with a knife, Aube said.

Aube said he doesn’t own a knife. He’s been convicted of assault, he admitted, but never with a knife.

In his car speeding away, Aube raced back to Asselin’s home. Aube said he “didn’t want to be involved.”

Several hours later police knocked on Aube’s door. They cuffed him and brought him to the station. They took the clothes he was wearing and searched his car. Aube acknowledged being at the scene fighting. He did not tell police everything, he testified.

Around 10 p.m. he went to see police on his own. “The whole situation was wrong. I thought I should tell them what I knew,” Aube said.

During the cross-examination, the defense accused Aube of telling police about Thongsavanh because Aube was worried he’d be the prime suspect.

Lynch asked Aube if he was convicted of theft in 2001 and 2004.

Aube said he had.

Was he convicted of assaulting two Auburn police officers? Lynch asked.

Again, Aube said he was.

“You’re a four-time felon as you sit here today,” Lynch said. He called Aube a thief, a burglar and an assaulter.

Holding a close-up picture of Aube’s swollen hand taken the day McDuffee died, Lynch questioned how Aube got an injury between his thumb and finger, where a person would hold a knife.

From working, Aube answered.

Lynch said that between the first and second time Aube was questioned by police, “you had a couple of hours to clean your hands, to get rid of the knife.”

“I didn’t have a knife,” Aube said.

The defense continued, telling Aube that six different individuals said Aube told them he committed the murder or had the knife.

“You told Joanne Rittall in jail you were the killer and Brandon Thongsavanh took the fall,” Lynch said.

“No,” Aube said.

Lynch said Aube told two different women that he committed the murder.

“Never,” Aube said.

Also testifying for the state Tuesday was Michael Levesque of Lewiston, Aube’s friend, who was present when McDuffee was stabbed.

Levesque said Thongsavanh was the last one fighting with McDuffee. Using a police detective to demonstrate, Levesque said he saw McDuffee bent over as Thongsavanh struck him in the back. He did not see a knife, Levesque said.

Levesque said that later at Asselin’s apartment, Thongsavanh said “he better not go down for it.”