AUBURN – Testimony continued Friday in the manslaughter trial of a Litchfield man accused of causing the death of a 42-year-old bar owner after the judge denied a defense motion for a mistrial.

Roger Keene, who is also charged with attempted murder and kidnapping, allegedly beat Leslie Stasulis and left her to die along Route 126 in Sabattus on Sept. 12, 2003. She died nine days later. Police said Keene, 40, was having an affair with Stasulis, but she wanted to break it off.

The defense presented the mistrial motion Thursday in Androscoggin County Superior Court after a reference by a Maine State Police detective to the fact that Keene was on probation. Jurors are not supposed to be made aware of a defendant’s criminal history.

Keene’s probation was a result of convictions for domestic violence and terrorizing.

Justice Thomas Warren denied the mistrial motion. Had he ruled the other way, a new jury would have been chosen and the witnesses who appeared since the start of testimony Tuesday would have had to return to the stand.

In detailing a conversation he had with Keene, Detective Warren Ferland testified, “I knew he was on probation” and that he told Keene he could be facing serious issues in connection with Stasulis’ fate.

Almost immediately, defense counsel George Hess spoke with the judge, who called a recess and sent jurors out of the room. Hess then moved for a mistrial.

“I’m trying to figure out where we go,” the judge told Hess. “We should assume that one or more members of the jury” heard the reference to probation, the judge said.

Ferland called the reference to Keene’s probation “a complete mistake on my part,” and said he had been taught to avoid such slips while a recruit at the State Police Academy.