NATION : Knife Victim, Off Life Support, Dies

PORTLAND, Me. —  A 26-year-old stabbing victim whose life-support system was disconnected eight days ago over the objections of his assailant died today nearly four years after the attack that left him in a coma.

Sylvia Lane said her son, Mark Weaver, died at about 2 a.m. “He died peacefully. He never had a moment’s pain,” she said.

An autopsy was being performed today at the request of the state attorney general’s office.

Weaver’s feeding tube was removed last week after a probate judge ruled that Weaver’s assailant, Noel Pagan, could not intervene. Pagan, who has served three years in prison for aggravated assault in the 1985 attack, feared he would be charged with murder if Weaver died. State prosecutors have declined to say whether they will bring a new charge against Pagan.