BANGOR – Nine family members of Christina Simonin sat crying at times and holding hands on Monday during the opening day of testimony in the trial of Ashton Moores, the man accused of sexually assaulting and killing her.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson alleges that Moores, now 60, brutally raped and then savagely beat to death Simonin, 43, of Bangor in early March 2007. Benson said Moores then used a wheelbarrow to dump her body a block from his First Street apartment.

Defense attorneys Terence Harrigan and Seth Harrow, however, claim there are two other men whom police have failed to investigate thoroughly who could have killed Simonin. They say their client is innocent, had no motive, and that no weapon ties Moores to Simonin’s death.

Both scenarios were presented to Superior Court Justice William Anderson, who is hearing Moores’ jury-waived trial in Penobscot County Superior Court. The charges against Moores are intentional or knowing murder, depraved-indifference murder and gross sexual assault.

The state says there is considerable evidence against Moores, including the fact that Simonin’s blood was found in his apartment, specifically on a baseboard and under the ripped-up carpet.

Benson said in his opening statement that “Mr. Moores savagely sexually assaulted” Simonin “before beating in her head, causing a skull fracture, beating in virtually all of her ribs on both sides” and hog-tying her with her own clothing. The accused then used a

borrowed wheelbarrow to deposit her body behind an apartment building located at 148 Union St., “in the late evening hours of March 2.”

A man matching Moores’ description is seen on video surveillance tapes pushing the wheelbarrow on First Street and then dumping something in the area where the body was found, Benson said. Benson added that the man on the videotapes is using the same style of wheelbarrow that the defendant borrowed from his landlord. Moores lived in an apartment at 83 First St. at the time of the homicide.

Harrigan countered by saying, “There are key details missing” in the state’s case, including the lack of a weapon, and the time and place of death.

“The evidence will show, however, that Christina Simonin was being stalked and physically abused by a former boyfriend who is a registered sex offender,” Harrigan said.

A second man the defense says may have played a role in Simonin’s death “is also another former boyfriend of Christina Simonin, who recently resided in close proximity to her death.”

Moores, who has spent much of his adult life in prison for arson convictions, sat with his attorneys. He was dressed in a faded black polo shirt and beige slacks, his dark, graying hair neatly combed.

Testimony on Monday started with two of the four teenagers who found Simonin’s body, wrapped in a blue vinyl mattress cover and a comforter, around 8 p.m. March 3, 2007, near a garage located behind the 148 Union St. apartment house.

The teens testified that they thought at first that the bundle was a dead animal and didn’t realize it was a body until they pulled the mattress cover and comforter into the light and opened it.

Next on the stand was Bangor police Officer James Deering, who recognized Simonin from previous interactions with her and who identified her at the crime scene. Bangor police Detective Lawrence “Larry” Ellis, who is an evidence technician for the criminal investigation division, and Bill Ruest, who lived in the same building as Moores in early 2007, also took the stand Monday.

Dr. Margaret Greenwald, the state’s chief medical officer, testified that Simonin died of “multiple traumatic injuries.” She graphically described the head fracture, strangulation, chest fractures and sodomy to the court and added that bruising and bleeding indicated that Simonin was alive when beaten and raped.

“In order for bleeding to occur the heart has to be beating,” Greenwald said.

While Greenwald was testifying, several members of Simonin’s family broke into tears. The Simonin family, which included her mother, Harriett Ross, took up most of the first two rows of seating on the right side of the courtroom.

During a break, Simonin’s sister Dawn Harvey said only a few words about the trial.

“I’ll just be glad when this is all over,” she said.

At the end of Monday’s testimony, Harvey declined to comment, but said the family would make a statement at the end of the trial, which was to continue today.