Stephen Curtis Mendonca, 47, of Modesto was found unsuitable for parole during a March 5 hearing before the State Board of Parole Hearings in Corcoran.

Mendonca, who is in prison for killing a West Keyes Road man in 1989, waived his right to have a hearing for five years. The Board of Parole Hearings accepted the waiver and denied parole for five years. Deputy District Attorney Brad Nix handled the matter for the District Attorney's Office.

Mendonca admitted to a Stanislaus County Sheriff's detective that he and another man were solicited to kill Kenneth Lawton Stewart by a Dennis Lawley over the matter of an prior alleged robbery. The killing occurred on Jan. 22, 1989 on West Keyes Road.

According to Mendonca, Lawley said that Stewart had robbed him of $3,500. Mendonca admitted to a cellmate that he had killed Mr. Stewart with a codefendant, Brian Seaborne, and that each of them fired one bullet into Mr. Stewart. Both Seaborne and Lawley were convicted of this murder.

Mendonca was previously denied parole in 2007. Mendonca will be scheduled for another parole hearing in 2018.