ALFRED — York County Superior Court Justice G. Arthur Brennan said he will decide sometime today or Friday whether to grant a defense motion for a judgment of acquittal in an aggravated assault case.

Gary Traynham was in the news in November 2009 when he grabbed his 2-year-old daughter and ran away, triggering Maine’s first Amber Alert. He is asking the judge to overturn a jury’s guilty verdict against him in connection with an assault on his former girlfriend, Lisa Gould.

Traynham’s lawyer, Amy Fairfield, maintains Traynham’s conduct did not rise to the level of “extreme indifference to the value of human life,” the standard for aggravated assault, as outlined in statute.

Traynham was convicted of aggravated assault and criminal restraint earlier this year against Gould in connection with events that transpired at her Sanford apartment in November 2009 before he grabbed his daughter and ran away. He and his daughter were found in New Hampshire 30 hours after he fled. None of the charges he faced involved his daughter.

At Traynham’s March trial, the jury was deadlocked on a charge of gross sexual assault involving Gould and burglary of her apartment, and a mistrial was declared in connection with those two charges.

Fairfield Wednesday said there was evidence that Gould had sustained bruising and red marks on her neck and that pressure had been applied but that she suffered no long-term injuries. She said the two emergency room doctors did not send her for follow-up treatment or X-rays.

“Our contention is not that she didn’t suffer any bodily injury,” said Fairfield, but that those injuries didn’t meet the standard required by law.

During the March trial’s opening statements, York County Assistant District Attorney Thaddeus West painted a picture of a brutal man whom he said threw Gould across a room and then sexually assaulted her, though he acknowledged Wednesday that the jury was deadlocked on the sexual assault charge.

During the trial, he said tests showed Traynham’s DNA was under Gould’s fingernails and her blood was on his shirt.

On Wednesday, he pointed out that three physicians ”“ including the doctor appearing as a witness for the defense, agreed that strangulation is dangerous to human life.

Aggravated assault is a Class B felony and carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Traynham was not present in the courtroom ”“ Justice Brennan noted that York County Jail does not transport prisoners on Wednesdays. Fairfield said she’d met with her client and that he was comfortable with the motion proceeding in his absence.

Following the hearing, West said he is confident that the aggravated assault conviction will stand.

 — Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.