Opinion ID: 3038665
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Robert Mendoza2

Text: Robert Mendoza was the other witness to place Reynoso at the scene of the murder. Like Terrones, he did not see the shooting, but testified that he saw Reynoso in the store before it occurred and saw him running out of the store afterwards. Mendoza also testified at trial that he had been smoking crack cocaine that morning and had been drinking alcohol all day. According to Mendoza, as he was walking out of the store, he saw Reynoso and another man walk in and, shortly thereafter, he saw the two leave the store quickly. From outside the store, he testified, he observed Reynoso leave with a pack of beer in his hand and his companion holding what appeared to be a gun. Mendoza returned to the store and found Prajapati lying on the floor; however, instead of calling the police, he said, he left. He testified that he tried to call the police but the number had been busy. He did not speak to the police until later that evening, at which point he told them that the taller of the two men had tattooed lettering across his back.3 On July 25, 1995, about two weeks after the murder, Mendoza singled out two individuals other than Reynoso from a photographic lineup and said that they looked like the men whom he had seen in the store. Three years later, in November of 1998, Detective Escoto tracked down Mendoza and asked him to look at another photographic lineup. This time, Mendoza identified Reynoso as the man who he had seen with beer in his hand as the two men ran out of the store. In a subsequent live lineup, he identified someone other than Reynoso as the man who had beer in his hand before changing his mind and again identifying Reynoso. At the time of Reynoso’s trial, 2 Mendoza was deceased at the time of the evidentiary hearing in district court and therefore did not testify at that hearing. 3 In November of 1998, Mendoza identified Reynoso as the shorter of the two men and said that it was he who had lettering tattooed across his back. At trial, he changed his story again and said that he did not remember Reynoso having any lettering on his back. REYNOSO v. GIURBINO 10691 immediately before testifying, Mendoza was accidentally placed in the same cell with Reynoso and did not recognize him.4 Mendoza testified that he did not recognize Reynoso for approximately 30 minutes, even though he saw his face, until he saw his distinctive ears. Later in his testimony, however, Mendoza admitted that it was only after the prosecutor asked him whether he recognized anyone in the cell that he learned that he had been in the same cell as Reynoso. On cross-examination, defense counsel challenged Mendoza’s credibility on multiple grounds. First, she questioned Mendoza regarding his use of crack cocaine and alcohol. Mendoza admitted that he had smoked “a lot” of crack on the morning of the shooting and had been drinking continuously from the morning until after Prajapati’s murder; he further testified that on the day before the shooting, he drank two to three six-packs of beer and shared approximately $120 worth of crack cocaine with two other people. Additionally, he conceded that he was addicted to cocaine and was under the influence of alcohol when he saw Reynoso and his companion enter the store. Second, defense counsel focused attention on Mendoza’s repeated misidentifications of Reynoso and his other inconsistent statements. Defense counsel questioned Mendoza about his inconsistent identifications of lettering tattooed across Reynoso’s back, statements he made to police regarding whether he was “messy” or “cleaned up” on the morning of the shooting, and whether he had previously known the person with whom he was drinking on the day of Prajapati’s murder.5 4 Mendoza was in the custody of the INS, awaiting deportation, and had been brought to the county jail on an unrelated charge of felony cocaine possession. 5 Although the State argues that Terrones and Mendoza identified the same car because they both described a black vehicle with a rear spoiler and lights extending to the back, the magistrate judge noted that their testi- mony conflicted in several ways. Terrones described the robbers’ car as old and noisy while Mendoza described it as fairly new and quiet. While 10692 REYNOSO v. GIURBINO Even though defense counsel challenged Mendoza’s credibility on various grounds, she did not question him about the reward. Although it is not clear exactly when Mendoza learned about the financial offer, he was aware of it when he was contacted three years after the murder by Detective Escoto, after it had been renewed by the City Council in October 1998, and before he testified at Reynoso’s trial. Detective Escoto testified at the federal evidentiary hearing that when he contacted Mendoza in 1998, Mendoza was aware that a reward had been offered and “wasn’t interested in any of the reward.” He further testified that he did not tell Mendoza that his eligibility for the reward would be contingent upon Reynoso’s conviction. In contrast, the prosecutor recalled speaking to Mendoza about the reward and remembered that he had said that he wanted his share to go to his sister because he was in INS custody. Detective Escoto testified at the evidentiary hearing that, ultimately, Mendoza was given $7,500 for his testimony. On January 21, 2000, the jury convicted Reynoso of one count of first degree murder and one count of second degree robbery. Additionally, the jury found that he committed the murder during the commission of a robbery or burglary and that a principal was armed with a firearm during the commission of the offense. It did not find that Reynoso personally used a firearm. The trial court sentenced him to twenty-five years to life. Terrones said that the robbers left the car running, Mendoza said the engine was turned off. Terrones said that the car was parked in a lot in front of the store; Mendoza said it was parked in an alley behind the store. Terrones said the car was a Camaro, while Mendoza said it could not have been a Camaro, but was a Berretta. Additionally, the magistrate judge noted that although Terrones and Mendoza testified that they were both in the store when Reynoso walked in, and that they both left the store before the shooting, they testified that they never saw one another. REYNOSO v. GIURBINO 10693