AUBURN – Lionel Guay asked for a kiss on the mouth but never got it, a friend of the alleged victim testified Tuesday at the Lewiston mayor’s trial.

Hanna Ross, 18, said Danielle Ramon confided in her while the two were students at Edward Little High School.

Ramon told her Guay had pressed her for a kiss on the lips when she informed him she was quitting her job. But she had moved her head and his kiss missed the mark, Ross said at Androscoggin County Superior Court.

Ramon, now 19, and a college student, told the jury a day earlier that Guay had not accepted her repeated refusals. He finally grasped her head and forced a kiss on her lips when she was in his office to give notice, she said.

Ramon agreed Tuesday to be identified by the Sun Journal. It’s the newspaper’s policy not to identify alleged victims of sex-related crimes without their permission.

Another witness for the defense said the teenage Ramon had greeted 65-year-old Guay with a hug and a kiss on the lips at a reception following the mayor’s inauguration.

“There was nothing wrong with what she did,” the woman said, adding that she took notice because she would have been too shy at that age to take such a bold action.

Guay’s lawyer, Jennifer Ferguson, sought to downplay the importance of Guay seeking a kiss on the lips from his part-time office worker and, even if he did ask for one, he might never have gotten it.

Guay declined to take the stand Tuesday before the defense rested its case.

Guay’s daughter and granddaughter testified that kissing on the mouth was not unusual in the Guay family during greetings and farewells.

Each time, Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin quickly asked the witnesses whether Guay ever requested a kiss on the mouth or whether they had ever denied him, as Ramon had done. Each time, they answered, “No.”

Jason Hall, an accountant who worked for Guay, said the area outside his boss’ office was narrow. It is the same area where Ramon said Guay had slid his hand across her buttocks a half-dozen times before she learned to put her back to the wall to stop the unwanted touching.

“You had to literally squeeze by there,” Hall said. “It was a constant bottleneck.”

The defense sought Tuesday to raise doubts about the certainty of incidents that Ramon said happened during three separate occasions at Guay’s office over a nine-month period last year. She said Guay rubbed her back then touched her breasts in February 2005. He touched her buttocks in March, she said. He touched her breasts again in September and kissed her on the mouth against her will, she testified.

Guay is charged with three counts of sexual touching and one count of assault. He also is charged with alternative counts of assault for each of the sexual touching charges. Each count is a class D misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and/or a fine.

Ramon had testified Monday for nearly two hours, part of that time recounting events that led to the charges. A National Honor Society student and volunteer for local organizations, she worked part-time in Guay’s accounting office as a secretary and receptionist. She also helped out with filings during tax season. She now is a student at Central Maine Community College.

Jurors listened Monday to a recorded phone call from Ramon to Guay in which she confronted him about his alleged touching and assault. Guay can be heard saying repeatedly, “I’m sorry” and “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Prosecutors presented their case Monday; the defense, Tuesday. The court proceedings were punctuated by frequent trips by lawyers to the bench for consultations with Justice Ellen Gorman.

Lawyers for both sides are expected to make closing arguments the first thing this morning.

Gorman instructed jurors on how to deliberate once the case is handed to them. She told them not to let emotions interfere with the task of weighing the evidence.

“You are not here to send a message,” she said.