GUILTY ME - Melissa Mendoza, 29, shot to death, Sabattus, 15 Aug 2005

mysteriew said:

Melissa Mendoza fled Maine with her 2-year-old daughter last month, taking the child from an angry ex-boyfriend who had legal custody.

Mendoza, however, returned to Maine from Tustin to fight in court for her daughter.

She never made it before a judge.

The 29-year-old mother of three and longtime paralegal was fatally shot Monday in Sabattus, Maine, by her ex-boyfriend and Hell's Angels member Daniel Roberts, 35.

Roberts' lawyer, Leonard Sharon, said Roberts told police that Mendoza arrived at his home at 1 a.m. with a gun, intent on killing him, the child and herself. Sharon said Roberts took the .38-caliber revolver away from her and fired in self-defense.

The case is under investigation by Maine state police. There has been no arrest.
http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2005/08/20/sections/local/crime_courts/article_642728.php

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royalpurple209 said:

This victim was my cousins daughter who also recently passed away.

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Roberts Found Guilty Of Murder


Last Updated: 2/28/2007 2:47:59 PM
After three weeks of testimony, it took the jury in Auburn less than a day to reach its verdict. The family of Melissa Mendoza broke down when they heard the guilty verdict. Roberts himself showed little emotion.
Roberts admitted to killing Mendoza with a single gunshot to the back of her head. He said he did it in self-defense after she threatened to kill him and their two-year-old daughter. But the jury didn't buy that story.

The Mendoza family and prosecutors say the verdict has finally brought them justice.

"The man was found guilty for the murder of my niece Melissa Mendoza. Melissa Mendoza was a good person a good woman a good wife and a good mother and good daughter and everything and they trashed her name and she was a good person," said Mendoza's uncle Mac Garcia.

Prosecutor Bill Stokes says the evidence clearly showed that Roberts ambushed Mendoza inside the garage of his Sabattus home.

He said it was an "absolute improbability and implausibility" that Mendoza would ever go to Roberts' house with the purpose of murdering her child. "She loved that child and I think that's what did him in," said Stokes.

Defense attorney Lenny Sharon said he didn't think the jury gave the case enough time.

"I thought it merited a longer look than they gave it. They only deliberated a couple of hours really and I thought the length of the case and the strength of the evidence merited a longer look than that," said Sharon.

Sharon says he is planning to appeal. Roberts faces a minimum of 25 years in prison.

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Maine’s supreme court has denied the appeal of a convicted killer who contends his right to a public trial was violated...

Roberts, a former Hell’s Angels leader, is serving a 55-year sentence for shooting his ex-girlfriend in Sabattus in 2005 during a custody dispute.

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