Bail hearing continued for murder suspect

LEWISTON – A bail hearing for a Sabattus man charged with murder in the shooting death of his ex-girlfriend will resume today to determine whether he should be allowed to leave jail before his trial.

Daniel Roberts, 35, claims he was acting in self-defense when he shot Melissa Mendoza, 29, of Tustin, Calif., at his home on Aug. 15.

Prosecutors have asked a judge to deny bail and keep Roberts in the Androscoggin County Jail, where he has been held since his arrest earlier this month.

The hearing, which began Thursday, has included audio tapes that revealed that Mendoza was anxious, frustrated and desperate in her custody dispute with Roberts over their 2-year-old daughter.

In tape recordings that Mendoza made last August while in Maine for the custody dispute, she accused Roberts of beating her and using their daughter to control her.

She complained that someone had smashed the windshield of her car, followed her around and slashed her friends’ tires.

“I’m tired of running from him, I’m tired of it,” she told a friend six days before she died. “There is nothing that is going to keep me safe from him doing something to me.”

The hearing, which began Thursday, included phone records that showed Mendoza called Roberts’ house from her motel room 39 times between 11:01 p.m. Aug. 14 and 1:17 a.m. Aug. 15, six minutes before Roberts called police to report her death.

At the time of her death, Mendoza had a blood alcohol level of 0.18 percent, more than twice the legal limit for drivers in Maine, according to an autopsy. Police found six empty beer bottles in her motel room.

Roberts told police that Mendoza came to his house armed with a gun that she stole from him and threatened to shoot him, their baby and herself.

Roberts said he shot Mendoza in the back of the head when she headed toward a room where the girl was sleeping.