Mendez Found Guilty of Brutal Murders

.I cannot beleive that a grand jury did not indict this guy,what were they thinking.Clearly he was guilty from day one,I hope these people on the grand jury know can live with their dumb ass decisio n.Lucky he did not kill anyone else...

Thank God he will not get away with this heinous evil.

Well, the verdict is in and is it the right verdict? How many of us get mad at our spouse and say, "I wish you were dead, or, I could kill you." We all do it. If you say you don't you are probably not telling the truth. Mr. Mendez needs to be working on his "appeal" before his sentencing hearing. He needs to contact some of the universities that have law students and ask them to assist him in his case. They could do a better job than the defense team he had. Nicole Malik should face sanctions by the Florida Bar Association for her poor performance this morning in "closing arguments."

i am so happy the the jurors saw throughhe smoke screen that the defendant and his attorneys attempted to build. This defendant is as guilty as they get. I am so happy that he will finally be held accountable. The prosecuting attorneys gave masterful closing arguments. they truly spoke for the victims who no longer had a voice. god bless them and a job well done!

This case is sad in so many levels. The protection-order didn't stop this. The case worker couldn't stop this. The Mother-In-Law didn't expect him to go this far, to say the least. Ms.Mendez was a victim daily and it sounds like his friends and some of his family just ignored his DANGEROUS BEHAVIOUR or they didn't want to see him for what he was capable of!! I wouldn't doubt they Loved him so much that it was everyone elses' fault!!! In their minds only they know the truth of that. No matter the excuses anyone gives Juan Jr. is a MURDERER & ABUSER of more then one should be. Nobody deserves to be abused,degraded,slapped,punched,kicked,called out of your name and then your Mother and Yourself Murdered!!!!! A lot of good that P.ORDER did this family. Justice is on its way, when they close the door for good!! LWOP, is the only thing they can do, let Juan have the rest of his days to dwell on that. JUSTICE IS DONE!!!!!!!

Thank the lord for good Jurors and common sense

I think he did it because he could not see his kids and she wanted to get away from him. he should rot in jail for the rest of his life that was the women that had his child how could he do something like that. i think he cleaned up at his sister house.

For goodness sake............ please make it life in prison with no chance to be late out!

finally there is a justice after all for whitney and her mom lorena i just hope they give him the death penalty not life that kind of dirt belongs within the dirt below his feet i hope he has a violent death like what was done on them she may have had friends etc .but they didnt share the hatred he had and showed to the mother of his child may he wrought in hell

Although I think this fellow is a pitiful example of a human being – as a wife beater – I certainly do believe that race has played a huge role in this conviction. I think the fact that there was a delay in even bringing this case to trial due to lack of "good" evidence is enough to cause pause at the outset. Then, the DNA evidence was not "good" either.
The only component that was seemingly sound was the personal account of the phone conversation where Mendez threatened to kill the mother and daughter. However, there was no corroboration of that conversation via phone records shown? This bothers me and I am white and am a 59 year-old woman (not unlike the other jurors) and am from CT. I think there was plenty of reasonable doubt.

The Juan Mendez Jr. verdict is unbelievable! The state had NO phy-
sical evidence against the acussed and the investigation was mis-
handled from the beginning. The state's key witnesses were at best,
unreliable in their testimony and the so called, "smoking gun" footprint
at the scene was SMALLER than that of the defendent. I hate to say it,
but it appears that race played a large portion of this verdict. It amazes
me that racism could still be so prevelent anywhere in this country but
it is still rampant in Florida. My in-laws lived there for 12 years and I
will never get over how common racism is in that state.

As horrendous as these murders were I feel that the state came far short of proving their case and, I am truly surprised that he was found guilty. Where are the forensics in this crime linking him to the crime? I have serious doubts about this jury and also felt he had ineffective counsel in Nicole Malik.

UNFAIR...There is just no way, if nothing else their was reasonable doubt.

I am outraged at the verdict returned in the Flordia vs Juan Mendez Jr. case! I DO NOT believe justice was served in this case! If I as an outside party...with no educational background in the criminal system...had reasonable doubt, how could the jury not? There was no evidence, in my opinion, to support this verdict. I hope and pray that somehow justice can truely be served for this man. My heart goes out to him, his family and the victims in this case. I have lost all faith in the judicial system as a result of this case!

I am sadened with the mendez verdict. I watched this trial all the way through. No doubt in my mind we have the wrong killer. There was vague evidence at best. However i do not think it was race related, just simple manipulation of facts and past mistakes that he paid for used against him!

I have watched the trial of the Mendez murders and all I can say is that he should feel lucky that he wasn't charged with first degree Murder. If there were ever any one guilty this man is. By hearing about parents bringing children to such and horror display of action from this guy only shows that they are trying to use in every way possible to display
some type of pitty from I would say the jury, regardless of the price being paid by the distasteful way they used their children. If the family was that supportive they would had done something to prevent this from happening. He just thought that he was going to do what he wanted without any regards of the Law. His emotions showed alot of how he thinks. My heart goes out to the family those who were murdered, the Mendez family can still see and talk to him, but the others are dead and gone. And I am sure the scale still is unbalanced
in that aspect of both, but atleast the family had recieved some closer.

40 stabs in the face. He should get the death penalty. Next case.

Justice was not served, no evidence, unreliable witnessess who should have came forward from the beginning. The jurors had already made up their minds when they were excused to deliberate. There was no deliberation, lunch and then a poll. How sad, to avoid any racial conflict they should have made sure the jury was racially mixed, and as far as his demeanor, he has had the same demeanor throughout the entire trial, even once the verdict was read, that should have no bearing on whether he was guilty or innocent. This was mis justice.

Reluctantly I do not believe that the verdict was correct based on the fact that it had to be without "resonable doubt." So many botched situations by the investigators, forensics, etc...would have made this case a reasonable doubt case. Not saying that there wasn't possible motive based on prior incidents but to dismiss what the grand jury stated previously, the way the police didn't collect crucial evidence, the forensic testing which exonerated the defendant led me to weigh that there was "resonable doubt." But this is our system & the verdict has to be respected.

Although I feel for the family, I dont' think the prosecution proved their case. First of all, too much of the evidence from those 2 girls came in so late in the case that its hard to believe they did not come forward right away. Since there are no phone records for the ones statetment, I find it hard to believe what she said. I think the statements were made up to help the prosecution. I don't see how he was found guilty with the lack of forensic evidence. It seems to me there would have been some blood evidence somewhere in the girlfriends home, or in her car. I don't know whether he did it or hired it done, but with the evidence presented, I would never have been able to vote guilty if I were on that jury.

An 83 year old woman, who out of the generosity of her heart, hired a couple of lower class men to work on her home, was bludgeoned, beaten and set afire – alive – after one of them forged the check she gave them and later feared he'd get caught. Ramon Alvarado, 33, and his cousin, Jose Alvarado, 37, were hired to do yard work for Lila Meizel at her home in Wheaton, Md. They worked for the woman for two years, and Meizel often gave the men soda, food and extra tips.
Jose's wife, Ana Rodas, 33, was also arrested in connection with the murder. All 3 are illegal immigrants, and both Ramon and Jose Alvarado had previous criminal records.

Considering the O.J. Simpson case I believe that anytime a case resembles that one is tried & the make up of the jury you will more than offer receive the verdict Juan Mendez got, whether the evidence is there or not. Let's not be confused about the mindset of this world and there are many people still reeeling mad about the O.J. Simpson decision. So maybe this is a little vindication for them. I don't know but I won't dismiss it.

Thankfully the jury was smart enough to see that he was guilty as sin even though the first investigator botched the investigation so badly!

How can anyone without prejudice say that there was not a reasonable doubt what so ever. 90 mins is all it took to find a man guilty with a case ... That had no... absolutely no solid physical evidence to place this man at the scene of the murders. If nothing else sloppy police work... There were two other men involved in this woman's life whom were never questioned,lies, conflicting phone records, reasonable doubt upon reasonable doubt. America how long will Black men have to pay for the O.J verdict

hello, my comment is on the mendez guilty verdict – wrong – there is no evidence to prove he did these murders. no cuts – no bruises, he was with his girlfriend at the time of the murder – where is the evidence of his cell phone to ping the towers where he was located.
i feel so sorry for him – and for his family members. this is why i could not nor would not be on a jury – which means i don't vote so i don't have to be called in for jury duty – so really i don't have a right to complain on the government or economy – etc – but this trial – Mr. Mendez is innocent and if you want – give my email address to the family of the Mendez – i would like to see if i can help them in anyway.
susan

I think it was justice for Whitney, her mother and her child. Only someone with a cold heart as he showed at the crime scene, should be found guilty. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't have help from the new girlfriend.

The DNA also matched his 2 year old kid as well as him!

How can we be sure the child wasn't the real killer? We may have rushed to judgement and left loose a tiny, knife bending monster.

This is an injustice to the justice system and all of those who believe in its foundary to seek right from wrong. It would have been nice to see more forensic evidence in this case to prove the wrong. This is a modern day trial turned more prejudice than a witch trial.

I think Nicole Malik lost this case for Mr Mendez in the 11th hour. Didn't the senior lawyer know what his collegue was going to say? She also could be seen flirting with Mr Mendez all during the trial with flipping her head, smiling at him. "Accidently touching his hands now and then. And what was with all the children in the courtroom? I bet the tax payers of Florida
are paying for them all.

I am so pleased that justice has been served. As a friend of Whitney Mendez's I strongly believe that this is the justice she and her mother Lori deserve. Seeing and hearing first hand the way Juan treated and spoke to Whitney it didnt suprise me when I heard the devestating news that day in 2006. Whitney was one of the sweetest and funniest people that I have ever ran into. I will miss her dearly, I pray that she is with God and living in the Kingdom of Heaven, in the place where she DESERVES to be. You will always be in my heart, forever.

this is just shamless . oh god.

Overwhelmingly the concensus believes that this case is a botched rush to jugement case and even though they say that justice is blind still in today's society I see emotions overstate the facts or lack thereof, racism still prevalent & yes, I will agree that Rikki Kleiman was a disgrace to the profession of being an anchor by opinionation versus sticking with commenting on the vase at hand.
Just because families bring their children to a courtroom to show support to their loved ones doesn't indicate it being distasteful. It is no different than the lack thereof of friends and family who weren't there to support the death of the victims. Let's not just JUDGE Mr. Mendez based on his priors without JUDGING the fact that the Mother was a alcoholic & the daughter wasn't exactly the QUEEN of MORALS either.
For the jury to take less than 90 minutes to return a verdict shows that they had their mind made up from the begining and even if Perry Mason defended Mr. Mendez that verdict was rolling and now that they go home feeling vengence meting out their decision there are many unanswered questions about "WHO DID IT!"
We need to become blind when it comes to justice and adhere to what the intent of the Founding Fathers and get away from personal prejudices and know that we do have the best legal system to offer.
Now I'm curious how the Casey Anthony case will play out or maybe still the Mother, Andrea Yates, who drowned her kids only to be found insane...........WOW, now some may call that justice. SMH!

Excuse me, but whatever happened to the days when there was no such thing as DNA or in fact, any kind of physical evidence?
We used the best evidence–that which doesn't lIe and that is CIRCUMSTANCIAL–no one can change it, not the perp and not LE and certainly not the prosecutor's! This man leveled threats, was worse than abusive and really–who else would harbor such hatred for these victims? Are we so fickle that we now have to have 100% DNA even though these criminal's are very well aware they've got to clean up after their crimes? And no doubt, they do! So, go ahead, give them a pass cuz their good at hiding the evidence???
The Manson's should be let out of jail I suppose, after all, there was no DNA back then. Or how about the Hillside Strangler or the Night Stalker. No DNA there either. Why don't we open up the jails and let all these maniacs out?
There was no reasonable doubt in this case. The jury has common sense Thank God. He got off easy with murder in the 2nd degree.

ok people come on, the "reliable" witnesses are dead. Who else would have done this except Juan himself.

Sorry for all those people that are mentioning "race", not "evidence", etc. etc. Not all is up to DNA, the knife had his DNA and it could be his son, but how could a baby play with a knife, bent, and thrown in a nearby parking lot? All those people that consider this verdict unjust, don't they remember the history of terrible domestic violence of this man, how many beatings his decesased wife took i front of both families, in front of her baby, her friends? he just have no shame, all the red flags with all the restraining orders that he did not give a damned about. He laughed at the law, did whatever he wanted, threatened these two women and finally got it done, big man huh? Well, he did it and now he has to pay for it.
Karma law: What goes around, comes around. God's law: you pay for evil you do right here in this world. PAY OFF TIME, Mr. Mendez! Life with no parole, EVER!

He is so guilty! I can't believe people go to the race card.

I'm confused, and was not able to see the whole trail from
start to finish. But here is what I would like to know.

1. What was the reason the social worker told Juan Mendez
he was not allowed to see his son?

2. Wasn't Juan's DNA found on the knife, and knife handle?

3. Does anyone know why Juan Mendez was on probation
before the murders took place? Probation for what?

One more question. Juan Mendez claimed to be with his girlfriend
on the night of the murders, was that ever mentioned in his
trial?

Thank you

WRONG GUY............ It was clear that they could not prove he commited this crime and I believe it took more than one person to commit such an act. This just proves we have an unfair SYSTEM!!! FREE Juan Mendez Jr. FREE him....

The defense lost the case ;simple fact Mendez murdered his wife/mother in law. His verbal threat to the victims was permitted to be heard by the jury.
Had Mendez just obeyed the court order of protection and stayed away;he would not be faceing LWOP
Why didn't the defense present a defense? They had no defense.
These attorneys knew their client was GUILTY.He violated his parole,a much more serious charge,than the jury was permitted to think.
He also has another child from a prior relationship and was having an affair while married to Whitney.
The real victims in this case are the children,he fathered;whose going to take care of them

Another Sad Ending to a Father who cant see his kids, because of the Mother and Mother-in -law. I think the courts should start being fair
to the fathers rights, its all about the mothers and the MONEY.

I am in shock over the guilty verdict...those 12 jurors made a to quick of a verdict...their minds were already made up on Juan being guilty...Juan has complied to everything the police have asked him to do and also going to his kids hearings...
The police DIDN'T do their job!!!! And I also believe that racism was a big part in this trial...I hope Juan appeals...
Juan DESERVES to be w/ his kids!!!
My heart goes out to Juan and his family, also his kids!!!
GOD-BLESS

Ah...the sweet taste of justice. May god have no mercy on him.

aloha- good for juan mendez jr he was found gulity for killing his wife and his mother-in-law.luck he did not killed his son at all. shame on adults today when they have a relationship w/ a men and a women together and have a child like jon and kate of jon and kate plus 8 they they have a bad marrage because of 1 person that have a bad attitude problem.2- how is juan going to explain to his son that he did killed his mom and his grandmother? and if i was the judge i would never let juan out of jail at all sicne he does have other crime in his past. lucky dog the hawaiian bounty humter did not pick up and arrest juan mendez jr up in my home state hawaii at all.dog the hawaiian bounty hunter is a comficted felon himself and he did spend so many years in jail too.

@susan timmons –"i could not nor would not be on a jury – which means i don't vote so i don't have to be called in for jury duty"

Nice try to get out of jury duty ... except that juries are also chosen from driver's licenses. So if you never registered to vote to avoid that inconvenience of jury duty ... it's just a matter of time until you get that little summons, timmons.

I am so sorry for Whitney and Lori. I can't even imagine the horror of
this madman violently slashing at them while they frantically tried to
defenend themselves. So sad. They were near the point of moving
out of the area, no doubt to get away from this monster who made
the last years of their lives less than pleasant. The mendez family
try to paint a pretty picture of their son, the wife beater. They witnessed
these acts themselves as well as everyone else. I understand it to
be fact that he was also a little abusive with children also. To me it
seems to be that young Whitney, only 19 yrs old, tried to reach out
for help many times before. She was probably scared that they might
run out of time with this guy. This juan dude had a history of violent behavior. He told Whitney he would kill her if she went to the police.
Who else can she call. Probably why she called the restaurant that
night. Juan got off light and we have to house and clothe and feed
this trash for the rest of his miserable existence.
My heart goes out to Whitney, Lorena and little Javon as well as all
of their family and friends. God Bless you all.

I don't know whether or not Juan Mendez murdered those women.The prosecution,in my opinion,didn't prove he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.There should have been some physical evidence considering the vicious nature of the attack.There are a number of appellate issues here, the most conspicuous being the "he is guilty"sign.That display by the prosecution was infantile and shameless. Mendez,at least,deserves a new trial. This is the first time that I have ever questioned a prosecution team's tactics in obtaining a guilty verdict.Too many theatrics without substance.

Goodness, Juan's whole family except Juan Sr. has a history of
crime. His mother, brother, sister, uncles, all have criminal history
of crime. Juan has a slew of charges himself, including beating up the
three women he has children by. The look on his face after he
was found guilty said it all. "Yep, it's over for me"!! Why are people
on this board forgetting that Juan's DNA was found on the knife.

What was with his female lawyer leaving the courtroom to answer her phone & not returning until "after" the verdict–that took nerve & lack of respect to the whole court & the client she was helping to represent.Juan Mendez will serve his time–he should be grateful for the support of his family. Meanwhile,let us not forget the victims. Peace to all

I watched this case and I dont believe that had enough evidence to convict him. I think who ever it was would have marks on them and the two victims would have skin under the nails. I think jury and the cops wanted to blame someone and the defendent fit the profile. There was weak and unprocess evidence every where.

To Jump of 2009,

1. The DCF worked wanted to finish her investigation before allowing him to see the son which I believe is proper procedure.
2. The knife actually had a mixture of two or more males and I believe an allele excluded Mr. Mendez.
3. His probation isn't important. The jury isn't even supposed to know of his criminal background. However, he was on probation because of offenses dealing with operation of a motor vehicle.
4. He was at work until 12:09am and went home with his girlfriend that he was also working with at that time. They worked together and lived together.

i gotta say prosecution sure did not prove their case but as i sat in my chair watching when jurors deliberated i started to really think about the final arguments. Back in the old days we had no dna and people still went to jail, jurors relied on their common sense and for the most part well very large part the verdict did speak the truth. I believe he killed them, and I don't believe the evidence proved he did but my common sense tells me he did so I prolly would have voted guilty if i had sat on that jury panel

Okay so go ahead and turn this into a racial issue. Yeah, sure, he was only arrested because he's black, right? What about the knife with his DNA on it. It could only be his or his 2 year old baby. Maybe we should convict the baby. Black or white, he deserves to stay in jail for the rest of his miserable life.

what took the jury 90 minutes?? I hope they were having lunch because there was nothing to deliberate. He is guilty if anyone is guilty. Thank God common sense still rules most jury verdicts..

well lets see. I have been in law enforcement for the better part of 20 years. When i read some of these posts i was amazed. Firstly you do not need physical evidence, nor DNA, nor a murder weapon, nor a witness to find a defendant guilty of a crime (refer to the Lacy /Scott Petersen case). There are MANY factors in a case, such as who had a motive, opportunity, violent history of threats by words (incidentally do not ever say you wish someone dead because if they turn up dead you will be questioned) as well as a "who else could have done it" theory. Another factor is who could have benefited from this crime; Juan Mendez Jr. that's who. He was at risk of not seeing his son, which might i add next to himself was the ONLY thing he cared about. In my opinion he is a pathetic, at best, poor excuse of a human being. He looks uneducated and frankly like a thug....wow what a nice persona to have...ya right! I hope this guy gets everything he has coming to him.

Another thing I think is disgusting is that HIS family showed NO remorse for the descendants....how pathetic was that...no class, no empathy, but a lot of denial. Was it that the victims were much lighter in color than him, and he was a miscarriage of justice? Again ya right.

It is terrible that this woman and her mom was a victim of racism, as their life wasn't in the eye of the defendant, worth anything.

I am very happy with the verdict, hoping for the max sentence...life in prison (2 consecutive sentences)

The little boy should be mandated to the custody of HER side of the family.

Amen lieutenant you are so right. Enough said to all those who
think Juan Mendez is a good boy, like his mother claims. Life
in prison is the next step for Mr. Worthless.

So people say this verdict is racist. Please research how often this behavior happens with any black males. They regulary beat there girl friends and wives.... Look at O.J. simpson... Ray Caruth... etc... If Juan did not do it then who did? And why did he not testify? And how often did he beat Whitney?... Guilty X's 2

I wanted to respond to some opinions regarding this case and also to Lieutenant in reference to his closing summary. Some say that we shouldn't look at this case as racial but I respectfully disagree because while some say we should omit race from the factor still I see the emotion & stereotyping come into play. I always believed that justice should be based on "facts" and not opinions yet in many opinions expressed here I see the other factors being introduced are extremely opinionated and stereotyping of the individual in question. Do I think that Mr. Mendez is guilty or not isn't the question but the reality is I hear about how he looks when a law enforcement office makes statements such as this it bothers me being in law enforcement as well because officers are taught to look at the evidence and not solely determine a persons guilt or innocence based on looks, color, dress, etc...
I don't want to seem to be defending this individual but the law of the land clearly states that in a criminal case the evidence must leave no doubt of a persons guilt or innocence based on the facts which is presented. Emotions, color or any other prejudices should not be admitted.

lieutenant,
"I have been in law enforcement for the better part of 20 years. Firstly you do not need physical evidence, nor DNA, nor a murder weapon, nor a witness to find a defendant guilty of a crime "

I have a big problem with your statement, Mr. Cop. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people have been wrongfully convicted of crimes because people like you think evidence should not be needed. Hundreds of cases have been overturned in recent years when DNA evidence clear convicted persons. Reasonable doubt is not enough to deny a defendant their entire life of freedom. The standard should be higher.

That being said, in this case, Juan Mendez Jr was clearly the murderer of his wife and mother-in-law. He had motive, history and physical evidence all singling him out as the only possible killer. I am surprised and disappointed he wasn't indicted the first time by the grand jury for 2 counts of first degree murder. In my opinion, he deserves a death penalty for these charges.

On a side note, his defense team of lawyers did a miserable job of defending him from these charges. I have seen better closing arguments on "Boston Legal" . . .

Common sense indeed. I mean. Who else would kill this mother & grandmother. Who? The toddler....I just can't understand where alllll of this rage comes from. Are women really that hated in this society. In the world?

Even with investigators dropping the ball and a near miss trail the court system did work. Thank God to all the jury for doing the right thing and convicting this man.

Yay!!!!

I watched the case from the start,and I felt like he hired someone to do it. Because they did not find alot of evidence on him. He might have exchanged the deed with drugs.That way it would not look so guilty on him.It don't matter what race you are you should not kill.

This case is unreal!!! I`m not saying that Juan is guilty or not but the police did such a crummy job when it came to investigating everything that should have been looked at. How could a jury come back with a verdict in 90 minutes?? I think it should have taken longer than that.I don`t think the justice system was working on this one!!!

Replying to one of the comments about not being a registered voter and therefore not able to serve on a jury...here in Lee County, Florida you are in the jury pool based on your drivers license.

White men beat their wives and girlfriends as well. I just felt the need to toss that out there after reading some of the comments esp concerning race.

Whether he was guilty or not was not either really proven or disproved to me. I'm not sure how I would of sat on this jury and tried to reasonably decide that. Prior acts of behavior though did play a significant role in my mind.

I also don't think 90 minutes was unreasonable. They sat through this trial and made the best decision they felt they could with what they had to work with. Can any of us really do much more than that?

This story doesn't really make sense to me. I would like to know why he did it. I am not saying he should have been found innocent, but i want to know why they didnt fully investigate it. If there was more DNA found they should have tested it. I thought in a crime and with an ivestigation any and everyone is a potential suspect and not just the obvious choice? Seems to me like the investigators were a bit lazy or something. But if he really did it and did it alone i am all for it. But if he wasn't alone, he and whoever else should all go down.

When the mother asked her to bring her child back to her and she told her that if she wanted her child she would have to come the the district office. That was the moment that it became a kidnapping. They had no right to keep this woman's child from her. The media event was the ransom. They are two crazies. I do not believe their story. Women like them always have a story.

I feel sorry for the child more than anything because now he has to go through life without a mother nor a father.

Carolyn Webster: Actually, I have never said that, because I believe that words have meaning...and that if I want to be able to communicate efficiently & reliably, I should be careful of the words I use.

To "not surprised"–do not put Rae Carruth & OJ in the same sentence, 2 totally different cases,2 totally different men. Get your facts straight. Meanwhile,race did not play apart in the Mendez case.Peace to all the families,no one wins in cases like this.

Everyone has their "own truths" but we are not always set free.Juan Mendez knows the truth.

I find it hard to believe that anyone would think he was innocent.

Can you say "BEYOND ANY REASONABLE DOUBT?"