Blogger, girlfriend who decided on indictment visited crime scene

AUBURN – The attorney for convicted murderer Daniel Roberts has filed a motion to dismiss the indictment that led to Roberts’ guilty verdict.

Attorney Leonard Sharon claims a female grand jury member and her boyfriend conducted their own investigation during the life of the grand jury, even going so far as to visit the murder scene at 81 Roberts Road in Sabattus.

“Which is highly improper,” Sharon said.

The boyfriend, who blogged about the murder scene visit on the Sun Journal’s Web site, confirmed Monday that they had been in the area but says it was in months before his girlfriend was on the grand jury in 2005.

Sharon’s motion filed Friday in Androscoggin County Superior Court also alleges that some grand jury members communicated with each other and with a third party, tainting their deliberations and the eventual indictment that was handed up Dec. 6, 2005.

That indictment led to Roberts arrest on a murder charge the following day and his eventual trial last month. The 37-year-old was found guilty on Feb. 27 of fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend Melissa Mendoza, 29, once in the back of the head in his dark garage about 1:30 a.m. Aug. 15, 2005.

Sharon now wants Roberts’ indictment – plus the subsequent trial and guilty verdict – thrown out and the process restarted.

Deputy Attorney General William Stokes, who prosecuted Roberts, has not filed a formal response to Sharon’s motion. On Monday, he declined to comment on the situation, saying only, “We’ll deal with it in court.”

Sharon said he learned of the alleged grand jury misconduct only recently. After Roberts was found guilty of murder, Sharon said, someone told him that a grand juror’s boyfriend had blogged about their investigation on the Sun Journal Web site in response to a story about the case.

The blogger, who went by the name “louie,” posted messages twice on Feb. 7. He said he and his girlfriend had gone for a walk on Roberts Road, which led to the murder scene.

“I noticed a sensor on the telephone pole and right away new (sic) exactly what it was, it sent a signal to let him know she was on her way down the driveway (sic) there is no doubt in my mind he hid behind the door, and shot her in the head,” he wrote.

In an interview Monday, the blogger said he and his girlfriend visited the Roberts Road area – walking to a nearby pond for exercise – months before she began serving on the grand jury in 2005.

“As far as the jury being tainted, hell no,” the blogger said.

Although he was interested in the murder case, he said his girlfriend refused to discuss anything that happened on the grand jury or even reveal whether she had been part of the Roberts indictment.

“She was very hush-hush about it,” he said.

A grand jury rises once a month to decide whether there’s enough evidence to indict someone and move forward with a trial. Jury members hear only evidence presented by the prosecution. Up to 23 people serve on a grand jury. Their identities, discussions and deliberations are, by law, kept secret.

The Roberts case had first been placed before another grand jury, but that jury was dismissed because of misconduct, according to Sharon.

The Roberts trial lasted three weeks, with the defendant claiming he shot Mendoza in self-defense because she had a gun and had threatened to kill him and their 2-year-old daughter.

The couple was embroiled in a bitter custody battle over the child.

Internet postings
My girl friend served on the grand jury and there was nothing mentioned about a photo sensor on the telephone pole just to the right of the entrance to the driveway. the entrance to the driveway is several hundred feet from the house. We went for a walk on the road that leads past the accused house. I noticed a sensor on the telephone pole and right away new exactly what it was, it sent a signal to let him know she was on her way down the driveway there is no doubt in my mind he hid behind the door, and shot her in the head.
– Louie’s unedited blog entry, posted on Feb. 7.
Knowing a lot that was mentioned in the grand jury that indited him which most of you don’t know he is guilty of laying and waiting to ambush her.
– Louie’s unedited blog entry, posted 10 minutes after the first.