BIDDEFORD — Attorneys for two Biddeford men charged with stabbing and using a brick to beat another man allege prosecutors deliberately withheld evidence and are asking that charges against their clients be dismissed.

Just days before 23-year-old Tamer Tilahun and 22-year-old Jonathan Dowd were scheduled to go to trial in November on attempted murder and other charges, their attorneys found they were never given audio recordings of witness interviews, including one in which the victim’s girlfriend described yelling racial insults at Tilahun, who is black, according to the Associated Press.

Dowd, then 20, and Tilahun, then 21, both of Biddeford, were arrested in November of 2011 after an alleged brawl near the Saco-Biddeford city line.

Police were called to the Elm Street Bridge on Route 1 around 1 a.m. on Nov. 20, 2011, according to Saco police statements the week of the call.

A 27-year-old man sustained severe injuries including a stab wound to the torso and extensive injuries to the head and face, according to Saco police statements. Police said a 32-year-old male pedestrian from Saco stopped to help the victim and was allegedly threatened with a brick by Dowd and Tilahun, but was not injured.

Defense attorneys said in court Tuesday that prosecutors acted “maliciously.” Authorities say the failure to hand over evidence was a simple mistake, the AP reported.