Jury deliberations began Monday in the trial of a felon accused of gunning down a 20-year-old Hemet man and severely wounding the victim’s girlfriend in a dispute over unpaid debts.
Roman Ralph Mendez, 22, of Castro Valley, was arrested in 2022 following a Hemet Police Department investigation into the slaying of Jason Roy and the near-fatal shooting of 20-year-old Kira Carlson.
Mendez is charged with murder, attempted murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
The prosecution and defense completed closing arguments Monday afternoon at the Southwest Justice Center, after which Riverside County Superior Court Judge F. Paul Dickerson sent jurors behind closed doors to weigh evidence from the two-week trial.
The jury spent only a brief period deliberating before breaking for the day. They were slated to resume the process Tuesday morning at the Murrieta courthouse.
Mendez is being held in lieu of $2 million bail at the Byrd Detention Center.
According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney’s Office, the defendant was a reputed narcotics dealer, and he and Roy were acquaintances. The victim owed the defendant “thousands of dollars,” stemming from unpaid drug debts, court papers said.
In the predawn hours of Oct. 27, 2022, Mendez notified Roy via cell phone that he was coming to the victim’s apartment at 201 S. Columbia St., near Florida Avenue, to collect some of what he was owed, or possibly take Roy’s compact pistol as partial payment, the brief stated.
Carlson was with Roy in the apartment but hadn’t been told Mendez was coming until he arrived.
Roy had consumed marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine in the hours prior to the defendant’s visit, according to the brief.
Carlson later told investigators Mendez was in a hostile mood, repeatedly asking Roy, “where’s the money?” or “where’s the gun?”
“Roy told the defendant, `We don’t gotta do this,’ and he stopped answering the defendant’s questions,” the brief said. “So the defendant began asking Carlson where the money was.”
She told detectives she didn’t know how to respond and busied herself with other things while Roy sat down on the floor and turned quiet.
A minute or two passed, during which Mendez searched Roy for his pistol, Carlson said. As her head was turned, she heard a gunshot, according to the brief. Before she could react, another shot rang out, and Carlson collapsed onto the floor, realizing seconds later that she had been shot, the narrative said.
A neighbor across from the victims’ apartment called 911, and Hemet police officers arrived minutes later.
Roy was found dead from a bullet that went through his head, and Carlson had been shot in the back of the head, bleeding profusely but conscious, according to court papers.
She underwent surgery at Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley, spending several months in recovery.
Detectives identified Mendez as the alleged shooter after speaking with the woman during her hospitalization. The defendant was taken into custody without incident a week later.
He has prior felony convictions in another jurisdiction not specified in court records.