by peter e. bortner
A Shenandoah man must stay behind state prison bars for selling cocaine twice in June 2009, a three-judge state Superior Court panel has ruled.
In a seven-page opinion filed Thursday in Pottsville, the panel ruled Ruben V. Mendez, 43, offered no evidence that his lawyer was ineffective in defending him, the only ground he raised in his request for a new trial.
"(The) petition failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact," Senior Judge William H. Platt wrote in the opinion, which was joined by the other panel members, Judges Christine Donohue and David N. Wecht.
As a result, Mendez must serve two to four years in a state correctional institution, the prison sentence imposed on Aug. 10, 2010, by Schuylkill County Judge John E. Domalakes.
Domalakes had presided over Mendez's one-day trial on June 7, 2010, when a jury convicted the defendant of two counts each of delivery of a controlled substance, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia and one count of criminal use of a communication facility. Mendez is serving his sentence at SCI/Dallas, Luzerne County.
County detectives had charged Mendez with selling crack cocaine in Shenandoah on June 5, 2009, and again on June 18, 2009, to undercover officers. In each case, Mendez sold 0.24 grams of crack cocaine for $80, prosecutors said.
Mendez had alleged his lawyer should have asked the court to suppress evidence and dismiss the charges against him based on alleged illegal actions by the arresting officers.
Platt wrote in the opinion that Domalakes did not err in dismissing Mendez's petition without holding a hearing, since Mendez failed to identify exactly what evidence should have been dismissed or why the charges should have been dismissed.
"No purpose would be served by a hearing," Platt wrote.
Additionally, Domalakes said at the defendant's sentencing hearing that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged a detainer against Mendez, a self-employed contractor from the Dominican Republic, and intends to deport him.Defendant: Ruben V, Mendez
Age: 43
Residence: Shenandoah
Crimes committed: Two counts each of delivery of a controlled substance, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia and one count of criminal use of a communication facility
Prison sentence: Two to four years in a state correctional institution