SKOWHEGAN – A Superior Court justice Wednesday ordered Mika Mitchell, 23, the Skowhegan man charged with manslaughter in the death of his 1-month-old daughter, held without bail because of prior criminal convictions.

Justice Joseph Jabar revoked the previous $100,000 double-surety bail imposed on Mitchell on Monday and ordered him held until a hearing can be held on an alleged probation violation.

Mitchell denied in court that he violated the terms of his probation by committing new criminal conduct.

The details surrounding the death of Pandora Mitchell, who was born in January to Mitchell and Tasha Lewis, 17, also of Skowhegan, are being withheld. Although an autopsy has been completed by the state medical examiner’s officer, no cause of death for the infant has been released and a court affidavit outlining the cause for arrest has been impounded.

According to court documents, Mitchell was convicted in 2006 of domestic assault for choking his former girlfriend after threatening the woman, her dog and his own father. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail.

Pandora Mitchell was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor on March 3 and died three days later after being removed from life support, according to police. Mika Mitchell was arrested on March 7, the day after his daughter died.

At Mitchell’s initial court appearance Monday, family members, including his father and the baby’s mother, Lewis, defended Mitchell and said he had been a responsible caregiver to the baby but had been depressed since his twin sister died in a Waterville house fire in January.

Mitchell remains at Somerset County Jail and is expected to be indicted in April by a grand jury.

Arrested on the same night as Mitchell was William Bryson, 22, of East Machias. Bryson is charged with manslaughter in the death of his stepson Damon Nason, who was 21/2. Damon was taken by ambulance from his home on March 1 and died at EMMC on March 2. He lived at the East Machias home with Bryson, his mother, Tawnya Bryson, 28, and two other children. Those children have been taken into the custody of the Department of Human Services. Damon Nason was the son of Jeremy Nason of Eastbrook.

Although the documents in the Bryson case also have been sealed by the court, Bryson told family members and friends that the child was injured when he slipped in the bathtub.

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