Opinion ID: 2686798
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Trial Counsel Arnaldo Suri

Text: Trial counsel Suri testified about his work experience at a national law firm, as a state district attorney in two states, and as a criminal defense lawyer. Suri had tried at least 50 jury trials when he represented Mendoza, although his first capital case was Mendoza’s. Suri was primarily responsible for the guilt phase. Suri also represented Mendoza in his other armed robbery case involving Street. Because he spoke Spanish, Suri communicated with Mendoza primarily in Spanish and also met with Mendoza’s family members in preparation for the penalty phase. Suri’s testimony established that he knew a great deal about Mendoza’s background. Suri spoke to Ms. Mendoza “a lot.” Suri learned from her that the refugee camp where the family lived “was horrible” and “[v]ery violent.” Suri and Mendoza got along very well and Suri “met with [Mendoza] probably more than [he] ever met with a client in custody.” During their meetings, Mendoza told Suri all about his life, including his drug usage, health problems, childhood in Cuba, and experiences in Peru. Suri shared all of this information with co-counsel Wax, and Suri was confident Wax relayed this information to the expert witnesses. 32 Case: 13-14968 Date Filed: 07/31/2014 Page: 33 of 58 Back in 1992, Suri never considered asking for funds to travel to Cuba. As discussed above, Suri did obtain medical records from Cuba to show Mendoza had many issues as a child.