Son pleads no contest in Mendoza murder
Martin Mendoza won’t be tried for murdering his father, and some family members are expressing anger and frustration that important facts about the gunshot slaying of Benjiman “Benji” Mendoza will thus remain unanswered.
Only hours before the start of jury selection for the younger Mendoza’s trial Tuesday, his attorney, Thomas McCormick, said his client wanted to strike a bargain with the prosecution.
As a result, Martin Mendoza entered a plea of no contest to voluntary manslaughter with a firearm and several lesser felonies, and will be sentenced April 26 to 23 years in state prison. That means, according to prosecutors, that he will spend at least 19 1/2 years behind bars.
Martin Mendoza, 43, has admitted no responsibility in the Dec. 8, 2000 death of his father. The men had quarreled at the elder Mendoza’s Park Street home in Paso Robles. The father was missing for two years before his body was discovered in a shallow grave in a Monterey County beach park.
David Mendoza of Creston, one of Benji Mendoza’s five sons, said following the plea bargain that he is “very disappointed” with the results of the lengthy investigation into the shooting death of his father.
“It’s not nearly enough,” he said of his younger brother’s punishment.
David Mendoza has vocally maintained for years that Martin Mendoza was the guilty party, and continues to insist that other family members might have been involved in the crime. He said he believes that Martin Mendoza’s long career as a paid police informant was a key factor in what he calls “foot-dragging” on the part of Paso Robles police and county investigators.
“My father was murdered in cold blood, shot between the eyes, and they call it ‘manslaughter.’ They just didn’t want my brother to get on the stand and testify. They are afraid of what he might say,” said David Mendoza.
David Mendoza said that during the past several weeks he was warned repeatedly by police and district attorney investigators not to discuss the pending trial with the media or risk “jeopardizing” the case.
Benji’s nephew, Nick, 19, said the plea bargain was “letting a three-strike felon get away with murder. How am I supposed to explain to my future kids that this guy killed granddad … because Martin probably will be out of prison by then.”
Nick Mendoza added, “I’m never going to be okay with this until the honest truth comes out. There are other people responsible who are not going to be charged. I can’t go the rest of my life without knowing what really happened.”
Benji Mendoza was a custom meat cutter who often carried large amounts of cash, owned several county properties, and shied away from banks. A significant amount of money disappeared from a safe in his father’s bedroom after the disappearance, said David Mendoza.
SLO officials want Mardi Gras canceled
The San Luis Obispo City Council has put it in writing: At its April 20 meeting, the council unanimously agreed to send a letter to the event’s organizers requesting that they cancel all future Mardi Gras events.
The letter asks for a definitive answer by May 21.
City officials argued that while they like the parade itself, in the years the parade is not held the number of arrests and problems associated with the event drastically drop.
For instance, in 2001 and 2003, there were 120 and 155 respective arrests during Mardi Gras. But in 2002, a non-parade year, that number fell to 69.
Event officials and community members argue that the violence surrounding this year’s celebrations have nothing to do with the family-oriented parade and are indicative of a larger problem. They plan on answering the city’s letter within two weeks.
Diablo waste plan gets county go-ahead
At their last meeting, San Luis Obispo County Supervisors voted 4-1 to allow PG&E to build a nuclear waste storage facility at its Diablo Canyon Power plant.
The power plant’s plans have come under heavy fire over the past several years as local groups have fought to allow more public comment regarding safety issues.
The no vote came from Supervisor Peg Pinard, who brought up some of those safety issues at the meeting. She would like to see the waste facility moved out from under the plant’s power lines and to a location that’s more protected from an oceanic terrorist attack.
Despite the county’s approval, the plan still needs the Coastal Commission’s okay. Mothers For Peace, which has been one of the most vocal opponents of the facility, has said it will appeal the project when it comes before the commission. A date for that hearing has not yet been set.
Clarification
A recent New Times article noted the county’s $2.3 million excessive force settlement with Los Osos’ Gerald Bernales and mentioned the man was hit in the head by a steel flashlight wielded by a sheriff’s deputy.
Sheriff Pat Hedges took issue with the reference, pointing out that pathologists for both the county and the plaintiff agreed that Bernales’ head injury could have been caused by his being tackled by a deputy and hitting his head on a low brick wall.
The use of a flashlight was alleged by a witness in a sworn deposition; however, the question of a flashlight’s use was never determined because both sides agreed that Bernales was taken to the ground. That suggested excessive use of force on the part of the deputy and was cause for the settlement. ³
News Editor Daniel Blackburn and Staff Writer Abraham Hyatt compile What’s News from local and other news sources.
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