SKOWHEGAN — The trial of a Madison man charged with murdering a former roommate had been scheduled to begin this week but has been postponed, likely until next year.

Roland Flood, 62, of Madison, is charged in connection with the July 2023 killing his former roommate, Mark Trabue, 57, of Anson. Somerset County Jail photo

The jury selection process for the trial of Roland Flood, 62, began Monday at the Somerset County Superior Court in Skowhegan. But late in the afternoon, the trial was delayed with several motions related to evidence still pending, according to Flood’s attorney.

The trial was previously expected to begin this week, once a jury was seated.

Attorneys on both sides returned to the Skowhegan courtroom Tuesday morning for a hearing on the motions, while Flood appeared in court via videoconference.

Superior Court Chief Justice Robert E. Mullen, who is presiding over the trial, did not rule on the motions Tuesday but said his goal was to resolve as many issues as possible before a trial begins. New trial dates were not set Tuesday, but Mullen said he would look at scheduling it in May, based on the availability of the prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Lisa Bogue.

Flood, who has pleaded not guilty, is charged with the July 2023 murder of Mark Trabue, 57, of Anson, court records show. A grand jury indicted Flood in October 2023 on a charge of intentional or knowing or depraved indifference murder.

Trabue’s body was found with multiple stab wounds July 8, 2023, at Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison, according to police. An autopsy the next day by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner confirmed multiple stab wounds, and Trabue’s death was ruled a homicide.

Flood was arrested Sept. 1, 2023, and has since been held with bail denied at the Somerset County Jail in Madison.

Flood and Trabue were acquaintances, according to court filings. Flood had been in a romantic relationship with a woman who lived with Trabue on Ingalls Street in Anson, a state police detective wrote in the affidavit for Flood’s arrest.

The woman told detectives she broke up with Flood and kicked him out of the room she rented from Trabue about a month before the alleged murder, the affidavit says.

Court filings from police and prosecutors suggest that two men had an argument a few days before the alleged murder. Flood threatened Trabue during that argument, but later he said the comment was a joke, according to the affidavit.

Flood’s court-appointed attorney, Verne E. Paradie Jr. of the Lewiston law firm Paradie & Rabasco, said Friday that his client is innocent and that other people are responsible for the alleged murder.

Currently, at issue before the court is the evidence allowed to be presented at trial regarding those so-called alternative suspects.

Paradie and Bogue, the prosecutor, argued the issue Tuesday before Mullen, the Superior Court justice, and were expected to later file memoranda with the court laying out their arguments.

Another motion from the defense concerns whether knives collected by police can be included as evidence. Detectives found six knives in Flood’s belongings, police and prosecutors wrote in court filings. Flood initially told investigators he did not have any knives, and then said he had one, according to prosecutors. None of the knives tested positive for blood, court filings say.