Thread: Father 'Eating Son's Eye' Was No Show In Court UPDATED

Father Accused Of Eating Son's Eye Was No Show In Court

Defense Attorney Said Mendoza Sr. Was Not Well Enough To Appear

POSTED: 11:02 am PDT May 20, 2009
UPDATED: 11:21 am PDT May 20, 2009

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- The man accused of torturing and blinding his 4 year old son was slated to appear before a judge Wednesday, but he was a no show.

Angelo Mendoza Sr., 34, is accused of torturing and blinding his son, Angelo Mendoza Jr., while high on PCP a few weeks ago.

Neighbors say after they found the boy, and before Mendoza Sr. was arrested, he tried to chop off his own leg with an ax.

Wednesday in court, his defense attorney told the judge that doctors said Mendoza Sr. was not well enough to appear in court due to his leg injuries, and is in a local hospital.

In the meantime, Baby Angel remains in the custody of child protective services.

We'll have more on this story on ABC23 news at 5 and 6 p.m.

http://www.turnto23.com/east_county/195 ... etail.html

RELATED

Man accused of biting out son's eye

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-156738.html

They should have let him cut his own leg off with the axe.

Does this REALLY surprize anyone? Why they let him out on bail is the shocker to me...

Originally Posted by nomas

Does this REALLY surprize anyone? Why they let him out on bail is the shocker to me...

I'm not sure he is out on bail. His bail was set a $1 MILLION and I can't see him coming up with that.
He might be out of jail only because the doctors say he needs to be in the hospital.


County leaders express dismay about 'evil' dad who ate eyes

Story Created: May 19, 2009 at 5:41 PM PDT
Story Updated: May 20, 2009 at 10:26 AM PDT

By Carol Ferguson, Eyewitness News Video

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The case of a father accused of biting his child's eyes and hands has raised many troubling questions.

The Kern County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday asked child protective services to explain what happened and to determine whether the case can be considered under a new state law that allows for release of information.

Angelo Mendoza Sr., 34, faces four felony charges for allegedly attacking his 4-year-old son, Angelo Mendoza Jr., on April 28.

According to police reports, the child told officers, "My daddy ate my eyes," and, "Daddy bit my eyes and hands."

Doctors told police that the child's left eye and muscle were gone, and his right eye was damaged beyond repair.

The boy, who goes by the name Angel, was discovered by a neighbor lying naked in a bloody heap on the floor of an Ohio Drive apartment.

Mendoza is in a wheelchair with a spinal cord injury. Police said he had rolled away from the complex after the alleged abuse occurred and started hacking away at his leg with an ax.

Police reported that Mendoza was showing signs of being under the influence of the psychedelic drug best known as PCP or angel dust.

The father was caring for the child even though he has 22 previous criminal cases in Kern County.

In a case from 2006, Mendoza and the boy's mother both pleaded no contest to willful cruelty to a child. Officials with the Kern County District Attorney's Office say in that case, the father and mother were under the influence of drugs. The boy was about a year old at the time.

On Tuesday, county supervisors got a briefing on the case from child protective services director Pat Cheadle.

"This is an example of one of those horrible, horrible tragic situations that happen," Cheadle told the supervisors. "And certainly we wish there was an explanation for it at this time."

Supervisor Ray Watson said he was troubled at the lack of information about what happened.

"I think the public is terribly frustrated that they're not able to have access to the issues that led up to this horrible tragedy," he said.

Cheadle told the board that a new state law allows for information to be released on CPS cases, but only when the child died or nearly died. Supervisor Michael Rubio pressed her to see if this case could considered in the "nearly died" category.

"This evil person who did this act, if they were not interrupted, could we define it as near fatality to show that to the public at least that we do have the checks and balances and the ombudsman who's evaluating it, and the investigation, so that we can be open, transparent and accountable to the public?" Rubio asked.

Cheadle said the ombudsman has started an investigation, and they are checking to see if this case can be considered a near fatality so information can be made public.

The case against Mendoza was slated to go to Kern County Superior Court on Wednesday morning, but that was delayed because of the man's medical condition. As of Tuesday night, Mendoza was listed in fair condition at Kern Medical Center.

Mendoza was charged with felony counts of aggravated mayhem, torture, willful cruelty to a child and inflicting injury upon a child for last month's alleged attack. He's being held on $1 million bail.

The child's mother, who called herself Desirae but would not disclose her last name, said Mendoza has been wheelchair-bound since December 2004 when he was stabbed in the back and left paralyzed from the waist down.

In response to his injury, Desirae said Mendoza had hoped to organize a bicycle ride from Disneyland to Disney World. She said she doesn't know what became of the idea.

Mendoza was also a student at Bakersfield College as of last year.

The child's mother said Angel is doing well, despite his injuries. She said he is now being cared for by a foster family.

"This particular case has no place in our society today," Supervisor Rubio said during Tuesday's meeting. "It is a terrible and horrible act that was done on this 4-year-old. So our prayers are certainly with him."

http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/45446452.html

Mendoza went off medication and heard voices, friend says

A close friend of Angel Mendoza, who is accused of biting out his young son's eyes, said Mendoza went off his medication and was hearing voices before the "horrific" incident.

Artie Gray, who like Mendoza is in a wheelchair because he was a victim of a violent crime, said the 34-year-old Mendoza not only swore off illegal drugs in the last couple years, but stopped taking his prescription for marijuana and other medications.

Gray, 39, made his comments after Mendoza's scheduled court hearing Friday morning was delayed to Tuesday because Mendoza is still in the hospital recuperating from hacking his legs with an ax on April 28 shortly after he reportedly bit out his son's left eye and severely damaged his right eye.

The 4-year-old boy, Angelo Mendoza Jr., whose hands were also bitten, is in protective custody with Child Protective Services, but no one is saying where. His family has been reported earlier as saying the boy is in good spirits.

Gray who talked with Mendoza's relatives before the court hearing — something the relatives have refused to do with news reporters — said they have been receiving death threats and other "alarming phone calls that have caused the family to go into seclusion."

Gray said he's known Mendoza for two years and both they and others were planning on having a wheelchair trip across America to call attention to victims of violent crimes.

Mendoza became paralyzed four years ago when he was stabbed as a victim of a robbery. Gray said he became confined to a wheelchair 10 years ago after he was shot five times in his home by an unknown person for an unknown reason.

The two were working on the cross country ride for a group Mendoza founded called Knights in Motion. It was scheduled in June but now has been indefinitely postponed.

Gray said he's known Mendoza for two years, talked frequently with him and trained with him for the ride. He said Mendoza was adamant about renouncing his past drug use, which including a PCP episode in 2006.

More than a month before Mendoza's attack on his son, Mendoza stopped taking almost all of his medications.

"He became withdrawn and everything was scaring him," Gray said. "He was hearing voices and he was referred to Kern Mental Health, but he didn't follow through."

So while police said Mendoza showed symptoms of PCP use in the attack on his son, Gray believes that it was the effects of stopping his medication.

"To me it seems a monster jumped inside of him," Gray said.

Gray said he was coming to court to support the boy.

"I do believe he (the father) did do this and will have to pay the penalty," Gray said. "He deserves whatever he gets." .

Gray said he wants to do whatever he can to help the boy who frequently played with Gray's seven children, ages 21 months to 15 years.

He described Mendoza's son as "an angel above angels."

And Gray said he's been so upset by what happened, "I haven't been able to sleep."

http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog ... Team/45180

I am assuming that Mendoza has schizophrenia since he's hearing voices. Marijuana smoking greatly increases the chances of getting schizophrenia and can make it worse. Whoever gave him that prescription needs to have his license yanked.

The mother of the child left him alone with him.

Dixie

Evil Monster. I dont care if he was on PCP or schizophrenic, he had evil in him to be able to do those horrible things to his son.