AUGUSTA – Bail was denied Thursday for Jon Dilley, the Pittston man who was found guilty of two manslaughter counts in May for the shooting deaths of his mother and estranged wife in a crime the presiding judge described as “cold-blooded.”

Superior Court Justice Donald Marden said evidence presented during Dilley’s trial shows him to be “a very dangerous individual” who poses a risk to his relatives and the public if released.

Marden, ruling in Kennebec County Superior Court, also said Dilley poses a risk of flight if released because, given the probability of a long sentence, “he has nothing to lose.”

Marden also rejected Dilley’s lawyer’s motion for acquittal, saying the evidence presented during his trial would have supported a murder conviction.

On May 10, a jury in Portland convicted Dilley of two counts of manslaughter for the deaths of his mother, Sarah Murray, who was 71, and his wife, 41-year-old Chevelle “Chellie” Calloway. The shootings took place in August 2004 in front of Dilley and Calloway’s children, then 9 and 6, after an argument at Murray’s summer home in Boothbay Harbor.

Evidence was presented during his murder trial suggesting that Dilley was in a state of “depersonalization” during the shootings, which prevented him from forming the necessary criminal intent for a murder conviction.

The jury opted to convict him of the lesser charges of manslaughter. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 30 years, and sentencing is pending.

During Thursday’s hearing, Dilley lawyer Steven Peterson asked for acquittal of all charges, saying the state would be hard-pressed to show any evidence that Dilley acted recklessly or with criminal negligence.

“Jon Dilley should be acquitted of everything,” said Peterson. Dilley wore an orange jumpsuit and jail sneakers as he sat in court, with his legs bound by an ankle chain.

Peterson, seeking a “reasonable” and “modest” bail, also said Dilley poses no risk of flight, has threatened no family member or anyone else, and would have an opportunity to work if released. About $65,000 in Dilley’s assets are tied up in court proceedings and would be unavailable to be used to help him flee, Peterson said.

“I can’t emphasize enough,” Peterson told the judge, “this is no longer a murder case.”

Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese, saying Dilley “executed these two women in front of his two children,” told the judge that the children would be “scared to death” if he was to be released. Marchese also said if Dilley was able to get the $65,000 in assets “he could disappear and we would never see him again.”

“This is a man who faces the possibility, and I would say the likelihood, of spending the rest of his life in jail,” said Marchese.

Dilley’s brother, Brian Dilley, also asked the judge to deny bail. He said he would not allow the convicted man to live at his home and expressed concern that violence could recur if Jon Dilley was released. Brian Dilley also pointed out that weapons remain in the Pittston house where his brother lived and which Brian Dilley co-owns.

“I’m not confident that some sort of situation could not happen again with Jon,” Brian Dilley told Marden.

Marden said his review of the evidence convinced him that Dilley was aware of what he was doing when he shot his mother and wife, and that the nature of the crime and circumstances under which it was committed were never in dispute.

It was “about a cold-blooded a homicide as one could imagine,” the judge said as he denied bail.