AUBURN – Superior Court Justice Thomas E. Delahanty II agreed Wednesday to question grand jurors about their possible biases against a Hells Angels member who is the target of a criminal investigation into a Sabattus shooting.
Daniel Roberts has admitted that he shot Melissa Mendoza once in the back of the head shortly before 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 15. He has not been charged in the shooting.
Lawyer Leonard Sharon, who represents Roberts, filed motions Tuesday in Androscoggin County Superior Court seeking permission to question individual grand jurors slated to hear the state’s evidence against Roberts.
He fathered a child, Savanna, 2, with Mendoza. They were locked in bitter custody battle over the child at the time of the shooting. Mendoza had sought protection-from-abuse orders against Roberts in Maine and her native California.
Roberts claims that Mendoza stole a handgun from his home during an earlier visit with Savanna, and then arrived at his home that morning carrying the gun and threatening to kill the child and him.
Sharon said the case is one of self-defense, and defense of a third party, the couple’s daughter.
Besides questioning grand jurors about their exposure to news stories detailing the shooting, Sharon wanted the right to present evidence to the grand jury, a motion rejected by Delahanty.
That evidence includes a tape recording of a child custody hearing conducted by the state Department of Health and Human Services at Lewiston District Court last week.
Unusual
By statute and rule, grand jury proceedings are secret. Even acknowledging that a case is going before a grand jury is unusual.
Delahanty cited case law in agreeing to ask some of Sharon’s questions. The judge refused, however, to question jurors individually as the lawyer requested. He said he would pose the questions to the grand jury collectively, in the same way juries hearing trials are quizzed about their knowledge of the case they’ll be hearing.
The judge said he’d allow a defense lawyer to observe the questioning, which was to be conducted in the grand jury’s closed-door chambers at the courthouse Wednesday.
After the brief open-court hearing, Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese said she was satisfied with Delahanty’s rulings. She said secrecy rules prevented her from discussing what charges she might ask grand jurors to return after they hear the state’s evidence.
Marchese also said she expects the grand jury to be fair as it mulls the case.
“Everyone is entitled to a grand jury that hasn’t been biased by publicity,” she said.
After hearing the case, the grand jury will decide if one or more indictments are warranted. It could also find the state’s case lacking sufficient evidence to support a trial. The jury could act on the evidence before the end of the week.
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