Beer bottle battery earns year in jail

A 29-year-old Los Angeles man was sentenced to one year in Douglas County Jail on Monday for hitting a man with a beer bottle which caused a broken nose and loss of vision in one eye for the victim.

Raymond Mendoza pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit battery with a deadly weapon, a gross misdemeanor, stemming from the December 2006 incident that occurred in a condominium at Lake Tahoe.

The victim did not attend the sentencing.

Lawyer Tod Young, citing Mendoza's diagnosis as bipolar, said the incident was "one evening" of his client's perception that his brother was in danger.

As it turned out, Mendoza's brother reportedly hit himself in the head with a bottle, and a fight ensued with the defendant striking the victim with a bottle.

"After the victim got hit with the beer bottle, that was it," Young said. "It wasn't Ray's intent to put a piece of glass in someone's eye."

Mendoza asked to be returned to a treatment program in Southern California which led to him surrendering to authorities.

Mendoza claimed had he gone to trial, he would have been acquitted. He said he was pleading guilty to speed up the process.

"They were attacking my brother," Mendoza said. "What was I supposed to do? I couldn't have walked away. They blocked the door. They put their hands on me."

District Judge Michael Gibbons gave Mendoza credit for 100 days in custody.