The defense rested at about 10:15 a.m. in the trial of the former Damariscotta man who stabbed two men in the municipal marking lot around 3 a.m. March 10.
The closing arguments are expected to begin immediately.
The defendant, Brandon B. Trank, 29, testified in his defense this morning. Trank maintains that he stabbed James Courville and Christopher Hilton in self-defense.
Trank said Hilton grabbed him with both hands, ripped him out of a vehicle and started to beat him. Hilton and then Courville, too, punched and kicked him while he begged them to stop.
Trank’s testimony differs in several aspects from that of his alleged victims.
Courville denies taking part in the physical confrontation.
Hilton denies physically removing Trank from the vehicle, although he acknowledges confronting him while heavily intoxicated and placing him in a headlock.
“I was pleading,” Trank said during direct examination. “Stop. Let me go. Please let me go. Stop!”
“I was trying to block my face and I just didn’t know if they were ever going to stop beating me,” he said.
Eventually, “I reached down and felt my knife,” Trank said.
“I pulled it out,” he said. “I was still getting hit and I just jabbed forward with the knife.”
He said Hilton let go when he stabbed him then he turned and stabbed Courville and ran away.
Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Liberman focused on inconsistencies between Trank’s statements to police, and questioned whether evidence exists of injuries consistent with the alleged beating.
Trank blamed the inconsistencies on confusion. He said he did have injuries, including bruises, a bump on the head and a badly swollen knee.
The police believe a dispute about a personal matter escalated into a physical altercation between four men, Damariscotta Police Chief Chad Andrews said the day of the stabbing.
Trank did not appear to be a party to the initial dispute. He was a passenger in a vehicle belonging to one of the men involved, police said.
Trank has been at Two Bridges Regional Jail since the incident. His bail was set at $10,000 cash.
The Lincoln County News will continue to follow the trial and post updates online.
