By Kerri Pepoy,Staff Writer

PARIS – The man accused of attacking a Fryeburg doctor in her home 16 months ago and seriously injuring her testified Tuesday that he had nothing to do with the crime.

On the second day of his attempted murder trial in Oxford County Superior Court, David J. Mair acknowledged he was in Fryeburg the week of the attack on Dr. Mary Nash, but he said he was only camping, food shopping and walking around town.

“I did not do this crime,” Mair, 31, said on the witness stand. Mair said he grew up in Fryeburg and returned there in September 2004 to walk around and camp after an argument with his girlfriend, Brenda Simpson, with whom he had been living in Portland.

Simpson testified for the defense Tuesday that Mair worked odd jobs and as a self-employed tattoo artist. They have been together since June 2004, she said, and their relationship “has not always been sunshine.”

Wearing a long-sleeved striped shirt and beige slacks, Mair also testified that he lied to Fryeburg police officers about his identity when questioned by them the week of the attack because he feared there might be a warrant out for his arrest for an unrelated probation violation.

Nash, who is in her 60s, was attacked in her Main Street home on Sept. 15, 2004, after returning home from a morning workout. The longtime family practitioner testified Monday that when she returned home that morning, she saw that the back door was open and a backpack and wrenches were inside the house.

When she picked up a phone to call police, Nash testified Mair, whom she identified Monday in court as her attacker, quickly descended the stairs from the second floor, screaming and shouting, and hit her several times with an object she believed to be a flashlight, his hands, and a wrench. He also pulled out a dagger and threatened to kill her, she said.

Nash escaped to a neighbor’s house to call police. She suffered a broken nose, two shattered fingers, bodily bruises and cuts on her head and ear, which required stitches.

Mair was arrested last May and charged with attempted murder, elevated aggravated assault, burglary and aggravated assault. He is being held at Oxford County Jail.

Erin Miragliuolo, a forensic DNA analyst with the Maine State Police, testified Tuesday that a DNA sample obtained from a rubber band recovered from the crime scene matched Mair’s DNA. The rubber band, found partially wrapped around a white towel, was tested for a DNA match in March 2005.

“Are you confident of your findings?” Assistant District Attorney Joseph O’Connor asked Miragliuolo.

“100 percent,” she said.

Mair’s court-appointed attorney, John Jenness, attempted to cast doubt on the DNA evidence. Mair testified that he used rubber bands for several things, such as tying back his long hair or attaching the rubber bands to fishing lures.

“Do you have every rubber band you’ve ever had in your life?” Jenness asked Mair.

“No,” he answered.

“Do you lose them?” Jenness asked.

“Yes,” Mair said.

In front of the jury of six men and six women, O’Connor attempted to portray Mair as a liar who will say anything to avoid trouble with law enforcement. He noted that Mair presented a Social Security card bearing the name Jarrod Banker to Fryeburg police officers on Sept. 17, 2004, after he was stopped on Route 302 because he resembled the suspect’s composite sketch.

That card turned up in Mair’s Portland residence in March 2005 during a search that police conducted after they received the DNA test results.

O’Connor also noted that when he was questioned by Portland police in March 2005, Mair gave officers a false last name and false Social Security number.

Mair acknowledged Tuesday that he lied to the police to stay out of prison.

“You would lie to get out of trouble, and you’re here today and you’re in a heap of trouble,” O’Connor said.

Mair also said he lied to police because he feared there might be a warrant out for his arrest for a probation violation. Mair had been released from state prison in Maine in May 2004 and said that at the time of his release, he was ordered to meet with a probation officer, but he never did because he did not realize he was on probation.

“I didn’t believe I took a probation sentence,” he said. “I thought they (jail officials) made a mistake.”

Closing statements are scheduled for today followed by the jury’s deliberations.