State v. Mendez

I respectfully dissent. I fail to see what legal principle the trial court violated, let alone a clearly established one, when it refused to reconsider an order that it had entered over a year before pursuant to the State’s agreement.

Ernest Mendez was arrested on March 2, 2000. After two State continuances, on October 11, 2000, the court gave the prosecutor the option of either releasing Mendez on bond or excluding the two witnesses who could not be served because they lived in a gated community.5 The court explained that it could not issue a rule to show cause without service. The State…