Mark Mendoza

We retained the law firm of MayesTelles immediately after our son was arrested and charged with four felony counts. We previously had a good experience with them and knew our son needed more than a public defender. The case was assigned to Mark Mendoza and was overseen by David Telles. If you need C...OMPETENT representation DO NOT HIRE Mark Mendoza. Mark’s lack of empathy, lack of understanding of the procedures, and laziness/incompetence in handling the case, especially the evidence, almost had a detrimental outcome for our son. After multiple meetings with Mark Mendoza, we realized he was not committed to giving our son the best representation possible, all he gave us was “lip service”. Our son qualified for indigent status, which would have covered the cost of independent investigations and expert witnesses. Mark Mendoza NEVER brought it up or filed a motion for this. We repeatedly asked for a bail reduction/modification. Mark Mendoza NEVER filed a motion; he just kept giving us different excuses as to why it was not done. It seemed like Mark Mendoza had limited time/availability for our son’s case. He would show up to visits with our son unprepared and would rush through them, making us feel like his case was not important. He also told us he would not be available AT ALL for a couple of months because of another case. He told us he “reviewed” evidence but that there was nothing in it to help our sons case. Later on we found out that the evidence he had very early on in the case proved our son’s innocence on 3 counts. We hired a new law firm and from day one we had a dedicated lawyer working on behalf of our son. The difference with the new lawyer was night and day, and we were astonished at how badly Mark Mendoza had handled everything with the case. The new lawyer filed for indigent status and for a bail modification. The new lawyer was always available and communicated updates with the case immediately, was always very well prepared when meeting with us and was transparent with legal strategies. Private investigations were performed and an expert witness conducted interviews with our son. Evidence was thoroughly reviewed. Again, we stress that it was the same evidence Mark Mendoza had very early on in the case, which proved our son’s innocence on 3 counts. Mark Mendoza wanted our son to accept a plea deal with a prison sentence of 10-20 years. The new lawyer successfully had 3 counts dropped and our son plead guilty to the 4th count with a sentence of 3 years’ probation. Our son would have been better off with a public defender than Mark Mendoza. We filed a complaint with the State Bar of Arizona.