AUBURN – Attorneys for a Lewiston man accused in a fatal stabbing were seeking Monday to bar from his murder trial a knife and bloody towel police found when searching him.

Sergio Hairston, 19, was in Androscoggin County Superior Court in an effort to persuade a judge to throw out evidence in connection with the Feb. 23 slaying.

Hairston’s attorneys, Scott Quigley and Heather Walker, said police had no cause to stop and search their client. For that reason, the knife and towel they found should not be admissible as evidence against him, they told Justice Joyce Wheeler.

Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese called several Lewiston police officers to the witness stand during the nearly two-hour hearing in the apparent case of a drug debt collection gone wrong.

She said police have the right to “pat down” people they detain in order to ensure police safety. During the course of their proper search for weapons, Lewiston police officers found the towel and knife. Therefore, that evidence should be allowed at trial, she reasoned.

Marchese said officers dispatched to the scene of the stabbing at 186 Bartlett St. at roughly 4:30 a.m. were given a description of the suspect by one of the family members of victim Richard Lessard. An officer who cruised the streets in hope of spotting the suspect encountered Hairston at the corner of Howe and Ash streets.

Hairston matched the description, including his race, clothing, height and his “clean cut” look, Officer Jeremy Somma told Marchese from the witness stand. Somma said when he saw Hairston he stopped his car and stood behind the door of his cruiser in a crouch, his gun drawn. He pointed it with two hands at the ground, hiding it behind the door.

The call had come in as a stabbing, but a witness at the second floor apartment overheard Hairston say the word “guns.”

Somma ordered Hairston to stop walking and put his hands on his head, kneel then lie on the ground, face down.

Hairston complied, Somma said. But when he told Hairston to put his hands behind his back, Hairston didn’t respond, Somma said.

“This is a very dangerous situation for these police officers,” Marchese told the judge. “They were perfectly entitled to do what they did.”

Somma called for backup. When Officer Brian Beauparlant arrived at the scene, he stood by as Somma handcuffed Hairston.

Beauparlant searched Hairston, finding his wallet, then the bloody dish towel. He said he fished the sheathed knife out of Hairston’s right, front pants pocket. It appeared to have been wiped, Beauparlant said.

Somma said he drove Hairston for an interview at the station where he was arrested and charged with murder. He later was indicted on the same charge by a grand jury.

Quigley said Hairston was stopped after police issued an alert based on a “vague description” that would match many people in that area of the city and had no probable cause to arrest Hairston.

Justice Wheeler said she would research the cases cited by the lawyers and make a ruling whether to allow the evidence at trial at a later time.