DOVER-FOXCROFT — The third suspect in a near-fatal attack on a Canadian tourist went on trial Monday in Superior Court.

Michael Thompson, in his early 30s, is charged with robbery, assault and violating conditions of release in connection with the 1994 stabbing and beating of Eugene Fortin, then 72.

Two others have already pleaded guilty to robbery in the case. Cory Trial, 22, of Skowhegan, and Jodi Olsen, 22, of Canaan, are serving 20 years and four years, respectively.

Fortin was found in a ditch in Cornville on Oct. 4, 1994. He had been seen earlier at a store in Canaan, about 10 miles away, asking for directions to his sister’s home in Winslow.

The state charges that Thompson and several others, in the guise of helping Fortin, lured him to a rural area and attacked him.

Fortin never recovered from his injuries and now lives in a nursing home in Quebec.

The case was moved out of Skowhegan because of extensive pre-trial publicity and is being tried in Piscataquis County Superior Court.

Thompson was initially jailed in Connecticut but was mistakenly released by a guard. He was then arrested in Campbellton, New Brunswick, in January 1996 and extradited to Maine six months later.