AUBURN – His lawyer says Daniel Roberts could be home for Christmas, released on bail despite his indictment on a charge of murdering the mother of his daughter.
Today, Roberts, 35, goes into day four of a hearing to determine if he’s a threat to society or a flight risk if allowed to leave the Androscoggin County Jail.
He’s been behind bars for more than a week, since his arrest early this month on a charge of killing Melissa Mendoza, 29, on Aug. 15 at Roberts’ rural Sabattus home.
The two were locked in a bitter custody dispute.
Assistant Attorney General William Stokes, who’s trying to convince Justice Joyce Wheeler to deny bail to Roberts, said Monday that he’s never seen a similar session go so long.
He equated the process to a probable cause hearing, noting the judge must find a reason beyond the indictment alone to reject Roberts’ bail request.
Roberts’ lawyer, Leonard Sharon, said, “I think it (the hearing process) is going well.”
Asked if his client might see Christmas from the other side of bars, Sharon said, “I hope so.”
Emotion runs high
Earlier Monday, Roberts twice could be seen and heard sobbing as witnesses related their conversations with him in the minutes leading up to and after the shooting.
Roberts was most anguished when his father, Charlie, was on the stand. Shown a photo by Stokes that included Mendoza’s body slumped on the floor of his son’s garage, Charlie Roberts lost his composure and took several minutes to regain it.
Daniel Roberts was clearly moved by his father’s pained memory of seeing his granddaughter’s dead mother.
He fought to control his emotions a second time when his sister, Sandra Lee Roberts, spoke of a 70-minute telephone conversation she and he had roughly two hours before Mendoza was shot in the back of the head from two feet away.
Daniel Roberts says he shot Mendoza after she came to his home about 1 a.m. on Aug. 15 and threatened to kill their daughter, Savannah, and Roberts, and then take her own life.
He said he fired a single round from a .38-special into the back of her head as she turned to go into the house where Savannah was sleeping.
While Mendoza was portrayed as a somewhat gentle woman and loving mother in testimony and audiotapes during the hearing last week, it was a different story Monday.
Mendoza abusive
Witness after witness told of how Mendoza spoke disparagingly of Roberts, often struck him, expressed no fear of him and frequently appeared to ignore her daughter.
One, William “Rick” Smith of Toronto, who said he’s the president and chief executive officer of the World Hockey Association, said he met Roberts in California while shopping for a motorcycle.
The two became friends, and Smith spoke of a visit to Roberts and Mendoza while the two were living in Lewiston several years ago.
He said Mendoza was drinking and was abusive toward Roberts, cursing at him, hitting him on his arms and elsewhere, and at one point retrieving and handling a revolver from an office drawer. Smith said Mendoza made his wife and daughter so uncomfortable that they cut short a 10-day visit, leaving after four days.
Smith said Roberts could use his properties in Canada or Venezuela anytime he wanted, but never asked to do so.
Affinity for alcohol
Others also spoke of Mendoza’s affinity for alcohol, with several saying she became abusive when she drank.
The state medical examiner ruled that Mendoza’s blood alcohol level was 0.18 – more than twice the legal limit for drunk driving – on the night she died. She also had Valium in her system, according to the testimony.
Sharon said he expects to wrap up his presentation of defense witnesses by about noon today. Stokes said he doesn’t anticipate calling rebuttal witnesses.
Justice Wheeler could issue a ruling on bail as early as this afternoon.
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