By Christopher Williams,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Lionel Guay will have to wait a bit longer for his day in court.

A hearing had been set for March 25 on motions filed in the sexual touching and assault case against Lewiston’s mayor.

The state’s prosecutor filed papers Tuesday asking that the hearing in Androscoggin County Superior Court be postponed due to a scheduling conflict.

Guay was charged in November with three counts of sexual touching and one count of assault. The alleged victim was a high school senior at the time. She said Guay touched her breasts and buttocks and kissed her on the lips on three separate occasions.

A trial is unlikely before late summer or early fall, said Leanne Robbin, an assistant attorney general who was tapped to take on the high-profile case. She has built her case and is ready to go to trial anytime, she said Tuesday in a telephone interview.

“The state’s investigation is complete,” she said.

Robbin is asking that Guay turn over to the prosecution the work time cards used by the victim during the time of the alleged incidents. Guay said they would be relevant to his case, Robbin said.

Guay’s lawyer, Jennifer Nichols Ferguson, was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

In court papers, she argued that Robbin is entitled only to the things in Guay’s possession or control and only if he intends to use them as evidence in his case.

She is seeking a protective order from the court to bar the state from demanding any other documents.

Ferguson wrote that Robbin was premature in asking for trial exhibits because Ferguson hasn’t finished making her case for the defense. In addition, Robbin is still providing the defense with information for its case.

Robbin said Tuesday that information sharing between opposing counsel is routine.

“Usually, we just ask for it,” she said. “The whole idea in a trial is a truth-seeking process. You don’t want to have a trial by surprise.”

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