Asked by the prosecutor if he stabbed Northern Colorado punter Rafael Mendoza, Kevin Aussprung said loudly, "No, I did not."

Aussprung testified in the trial of Cozad, a former backup punter at Northern Colorado who is charged with attempted first-degree murder and second-degree assault in a knife attack on Mendoza.

Police and prosecutors say Cozad, of Wheatland, Wyo., attacked Mendoza in a parking lot outside Mendoza's apartment in a bid to take over the starter's job. Mendoza suffered a deep cut in his kicking leg but later returned to the team.

Aussprung, of Waukesha, Wis., is a student at Northern Colorado and lived in the same dorm as Cozad.

Aussprung has said he was with Cozad that night and that Cozad offered him money to watch his car. Earlier in the trial, defense attorney Joseph Gavaldon claimed it was Aussprung who stabbed Mendoza.

Aussprung testified he was "scared for my life" after the trip with Cozad. He said Cozad left the car after they got to the parking lot, ran back with a garbage bag and then they sped out of the parking lot with Cozad at the wheel. They stopped outside a liquor store, Aussprung said, and at Cozad's direction, he helped peel tape off the car's license plates.

Aussprung said Cozad did not tell him what happened, and he did not ask.

"No, I did not want to know," he said. "I was just scared. I wanted to get out of there."

Cozad later told Aussprung not to tell anyone they were together that night, Aussprung testified, and to contact him only in person, not by phone.

Aussprung said he surmised what had happened when he saw in the newspaper the next day that Mendoza had been stabbed.

Asked why he didn't call police, Aussprung said he thought he would get in trouble for being there.

Under cross-examination by Gavaldon, Aussprung said that when police first questioned him, he denied being with Cozad. He said he changed his story when officers told him Cozad had accused him of stabbing Mendoza.

"They told me your client was trying to frame me, and I gave them everything they wanted," he said.

Aussprung has not been charged with any crime and testified he had not been offered anything for his testimony.

His attorney, Bill Crosier, said outside the courtroom today he does not believe Aussprung will face charges but said there are no guarantees.

"He has no immunity, no promises," Crosier said.

Colorado juries are allowed to ask questions during a trial through the judge. For the second day in a row, they asked about black clothing that police said they found in Cozad's room after the attack.

Mendoza has said the attacker was wearing all black, including a hooded sweatshirt cinched up around the face so only the eyes were visible. A liquor store clerk also has testified that he saw two black-clad men with a car, later traced to Cozad's mother, on the night of the attack.

A former police detective has testified that the clothing found in Cozad's room included a black hooded Adidas sweat shirt with white stripes on the sleeves.

Responding to a jury question yesterday, the ex-detective said neither Mendoza nor the liquor store clerk mentioned white stripes on the sweat shirt.

Responding to the jury's question today, Aussprung said he could not identify a black sweat shirt with white stripes that had been entered as evidence.