Man convicted in ’04 attack on Fryeburg doctor Mair acquitted of Class A charges

SOUTH PARIS – A 31-year-old Portland man was convicted Thursday of aggravated assault and burglary in an attack on a doctor who interrupted a burglary at her home in Fryeburg.

David Mair was found guilty of the Class B felony charges by an Oxford County Superior Court jury, but was acquitted of the more serious Class A felonies of attempted murder and elevated aggravated assault.

Mair faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on each of the convictions.

Assistant District Attorney Joseph O’Connor said he will be seeking a long punishment at Mair’s sentencing, scheduled for March 14. Mair, he said, has spent most of his adult life in prison.

“I’m just glad he’s going to be off the street for a while because he’s a very dangerous man,” he said.

Mair was charged in May in the September 2004 attack on Dr. Mary Nash.

Nash, who is in her 60s and had been practicing in Fryeburg for 30 years, identified Mair as her attacker during testimony this week. She said that when she tried to phone police, Mair hit her several times, apparently with a flashlight, his hands and a wrench. He also pulled out a dagger and threatened to kill her, she said.

Nash, who escaped to a neighbor’s house, suffered a broken nose, two shattered fingers, and cuts and bruises.

Mair testified that he was in his hometown of Fryeburg in September 2004 when Nash was attacked, but said he had nothing to do with the crime.

Mair’s attorney, John Jenness, said Nash’s testimony and a rubber band from Nash’s home on which Mair’s DNA was later found did not prove that Mair was guilty. He pointed out that shortly after the attack, Nash described her assailant as clean-shaven, but a photograph taken two days after the crime showed Mair with long hair and a mustache.

O’Connor told jurors that Nash’s description of her attacker correctly matched Mair’s approximate age, height and weight, and that the assailant was wearing a knit cap that would have hidden his hair.