Mendiola Murder Sentence

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By By KOMO Staff & News Services

Summary

The brother of two University of Washington basketball stars is going to jail, possibly for life, after his murder conviction.

Story Published: Oct 29, 2003 at 10:59 PM PDT

Story Updated: Jul 29, 2009 at 12:35 PM PDT

Mendiola Murder Sentence
COEUR D'ALENE, IDAHO - A judge sentenced Giovanni Mendiola to at least eight years in prison Wednesday in the killing of a man prosecutors say headed a lucrative marijuana smuggling operation.

First District Judge John T. Mitchell imposed an indeterminate life term for Mendiola's guilty plea to second-degree murder in the death of Brendan Butler.

Under Idaho law, that means Mendiola, 33, of Lake Forest, Calif., is eligible for parole after eight years. But if the parole board so decides, he could end up serving as much as a life term.

Mendiola apologized tearfully and said the killing was accidental.

"I do not know why God allowed your son to be taken away and me to be spared," Mendiola told Butler's parents, Stewart and Molly Butler. Mendiola implied he defended himself when Brendan Butler pulled a gun during an argument.

Much of the evidence against Mendiola came from men involved in the drug trade who were granted immunity from prosecution for their grand jury testimony. Details of Butler's death are disputed, but Mitchell noted Mendiola had acknowledged guilt when he signed the plea agreement.

"I don't know what happened in October 2002 and obviously, I never will," Mitchell told Mendiola. "I appreciate all those who have written and testified and I don't mean to belittle their testimony ... but people need to know you admitted killing a man and left him there, dead."

Butler, a 20-year-old former honors student, was strangled and stabbed to death Oct. 11, 2002, in a remote area near Hayden Lake, Idaho.

Mendiola is a brother of University of Washington women's basketball players Gioconda Mendiola and Giuliana Mendiola. They both testified at the sentencing, as did more than a dozen Mendiola family members, relatives, friends and former coaches and employers.

UW women's basketball coach June Daugherty and members of her team were among those who sent letters in behalf of Giovanni Mendiola, Mitchell said.

He was described as a nonviolent, caring "big brother" to many younger people inside and outside his large family.

Investigators were led to Mendiola through numbers on a cell phone found on Butler's body. Prosecutors claimed that Butler had hired Mendiola and others as "muscle" to intimidate and rob rival drug dealers.

Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas had asked for a fixed sentenced of 12½ years. Public defender John Adams had sought a 6-year fixed term.

Mendiola was originally charged with first-degree murder. He said he pleaded guilty to a lesser crime in order to save two younger brothers from longer prison sentences.

Public defender John Adams said he advised Mendiola to reject the plea agreement and go to trial, but Mendiola wanted to protect other members of his family.

Piero Mendiola, 31, Eddie Mendiola, 34, and 31-year-old Antonio Garcia, a brother-in-law, were sentenced to up to four years last month after pleading guilty to being accessories to a felony.

The plea agreement also removed prosecution threats to indict the sisters, Adams said. Giovanni Mendiola lived with his sisters in Seattle when Brendan Butler was killed.

Douglas and investigators have said the Mendiola sisters were not involved in any of their brothers' illegal activities.

Butler was a Korean orphan adopted by the Butlers when he was 2½, Molly Butler testified. His nickname, Wang, meant "Little Prince" in Korean, she said.

His death left "a hole in our hearts that can never be filled," she told Mitchell.

The Mendiola brothers, Garcia and three others originally were indicted in March on counts including kidnapping, robbery and conspiracy to commit murder. Those charges were dismissed after the defendants agreed to plead to lesser charges.

Three others indicted in the case have also signed plea agreements and will be sentenced later, Douglas said.