AUBURN

Judge denies man new trial in killing of former girlfriend

A judge has denied a bid for a new trial by a Sabattus man sentenced to 55 years in prison for killing his ex-girlfriend.

Daniel Roberts, 43, petitioned Androscoggin County Superior Court Justice Joyce Wheeler for a new trial or to send the case back to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court for a second look.

The Sun Journal reported that Roberts’ lawyer said in his appeal that, among other things, he had ineffective representation at his trial and some members of the public had been barred from his trial. Wheeler rejected those arguments.

Roberts was convicted of the August 2005 shooting of Melissa Mendoza, 29. The couple were in a custody dispute over their 2-year-old daughter.

Roberts said the shooting was self-defense.

MERIDEN, Conn.

Crash kills Lisbon Falls man, and second driver, hurts two

A wrong-way driver crashed head-on with a car on Route 15 in Meriden, leaving both drivers dead, including a Maine man, and two other people injured.

State police said Michael Heeks of Mansfield was driving north in the southbound lane early Wednesday morning. Heeks, 22, hit a vehicle driven by Patrick Cimato, 37, of Lisbon Falls, Maine.

Both drivers were killed.

Cimato was with Nicholas Cimato, 47, of New York and Ashley Robinson, 30, of Brooklyn, N.Y. Both were taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital.

WATERVILLE

Colby College plans to open new art pavilion on July 13

Colby College has set the opening date for a new pavilion at its art museum.

The Waterville college said the opening of the 26,000-square-foot Alfond-Lunder Family Pavilion on July 13 will make the Colby College Museum of Art the largest art museum in Maine. The $15 million pavilion will create a light-filled gateway to the existing museum and provide an additional 10,000 square feet of exhibition space.

The inaugural exhibitions at the expanded museum will focus on a collection donated by Peter and Paula Lunder, valued at more than $100 million and including works from renowned American artists such as Mary Cassatt, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper and Georgia O’Keeffe, among others.

With the expansion, the museum will have over 8,000 works of art and more than 35,000 square feet of exhibition space.

 

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