Prosecutors say they are still pursuing charges against a Sanford lawmaker even after his wife pleaded Wednesday to drop the assault case against her husband, saying he never tried to choke her.

Rep. Lucas Lanigan, R-Sanford, turned himself in Monday on one count of domestic violence aggravated assault, a Class B crime that could bring up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. According to a police affidavit, investigators said he choked his wife for 20 seconds after she confronted him about an affair.

Lanigan, 45, made his first appearance in York County Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon. He did not have to enter a plea – but his wife made an emotional appeal to District Court Judge John Lucy to drop the case, denying that the assault occurred. She had already made similar pleas to the district attorney’s office to not file charges.

“I was not myself,” Catalina Lanigan told the court via Zoom. “I tried to – I took some tools to cut my hands to try and get his attention. He had to take the tool from me to make sure I didn’t hurt myself, in the struggle. … It wasn’t an assault, Your Honor. It wasn’t that Luke was trying to hurt me on purpose.”

Assistant District Attorney Linda Holdsworth-Donovan said victims regularly recant, sometimes because of pressure from their perpetrators, and that the state was still pursuing charges against Lanigan.

Lucy weighed the testimony before setting Lucas Lanigan’s bail at $3,000 cash and ordered that, if released, Lanigan could neither have contact with his wife nor possess any weapons or drugs.

“I appreciate the emotional aspect of this – it’s not uncommon at all” in cases like these, Lucy said.

State Rep. Lucas Lanigan, R-Sanford. Photo courtesy of Maine Legislature

Defense attorney William Bly said his client has been impacted by the publicity of the case and that both he and Catalina Lanigan had asked to be allowed to contact each other.

Lanigan represents the 141st District, which includes parts of Shapleigh, Newfield, Sanford and Springvale, and is running for reelection. Several Democratic leaders called for his resignation Tuesday.

They included Speaker of the House Rachel Talbot-Ross, D-Portland, who said in a statement it was “clear that Lanigan no longer has the public’s trust or the ethical or moral standing necessary to serve.”

Assistant Minority Leader Amy Arata, R-New Gloucester, said those calls were premature “until he’s had his day in court.”

Catalina Lanigan told Lucy that their case has been on “blast on the media” and that people have come to their home. She said the attention has been difficult, not only for her and her husband, but also their minor child.

She said the arrest warrant issued by Sanford police was released to the public before she had a chance to see it.

According to the affidavit, Catalina Lanigan found her husband at a Springvale Safe Storage unit Friday afternoon with another woman.

Catalina Lanigan told the judge that when her husband asked her to leave, she started harming herself and that her husband only tried to stop her; he didn’t choke her, she said.

She eventually left and called her friends for help, who then called police, the affidavit states.

Holdsworth-Donovan said photos taken at the hospital show bruises on Catalina Lanigan’s arms, neck and chin. The prosecutor said hospital staff also observed signs of petechiae – small dots that indicate bleeding under the skin that often occur with strangulation.

Bly argued the petechiae could have also occurred from an aggressive bout of vomiting.

Catalina Lanigan told the judge that she was under the effect of medication and alcohol, having relapsed after 30 days of sobriety.

Holdsworth-Donovan said Catalina Lanigan was tested for alcohol at the hospital but that her office did not yet have the results.