From a 2008 article
Rita Kremberg, originally from New York, lived in Las Vegas for about nine years with her husband, who died in 2002. They didn’t have any children but a friend testified that Kremberg and her husband had been active in raising money for medical centers for kids. Her friend, Gene Fogleman, said Kremberg was afraid of the crime in New York City and thought she’d be safer in Las Vegas.
Kremberg was found dead at her apartment on March 3, 2007. She was naked from the waist down and had multiple stab wounds. Her attacker didn’t steal anything from her apartment.
Las Vegas detectives found Mendoza’s fingerprints on a liquor bottle found inside Kremberg’s apartment. Mendoza denied knowing Kremberg or ever being in her apartment when homicide detectives asked him about it. He had lived at the Destination Senior Living facility about three months. Mendoza’s DNA was found under Kremberg’s fingernails and on her genitals, said county prosecutor Robert Daskas.
Daskas also told the jury that Mendoza had a prior conviction for a sexual crime in Las Vegas. In 1977, he met a woman at a hotel bar, followed her to her hotel room, choked her and raped her, Daskas said. The victim in the case wanted to press charges against Mendoza because she believed he would kill the next time, Daskas said.
Mendoza pleaded guilty to battery with the intent to commit rape in 1978 and was out of prison by 1979.
Now a Judge has vacated his death sentence because he caught the PTSD in the NAM.
A Las Vegas judge on Thursday vacated the death penalty for a Vietnam War veteran who raped and killed a 68-year-old woman more than 10 years ago. Frederick Mendoza, now 71, pleaded guilty in 2008 in the slaying of Rita Kremberg. But he immediately appealed his sentence, which was handed down by a jury after a penalty hearing. Under a deal with prosecutors made this month, Mendoza agreed that he would waive any challenge to his conviction and not appeal a sentence of life without parole.
Mendoza had post-traumatic stress disorder after serving more than 18 months as a Marine in Vietnam, said his lawyer, Jamie Resch, who called the jury’s sentence “fundamentally unreliable.”
If lawyers either wearing a robe or not decide these things, why waist the time of 12 citizens who are “fundamentally unreliable.”
“This hard-fought and extremely rare agreement helps treat a combat veteran fairly and protects the state’s interest by ensuring Mr. Mendoza lives out his remaining days in prison,” said Resch, who had not spoken with Mendoza since District Judge Michael Villani signed off on the agreement. “I’m certain he’s very happy with this. He’s older and just wants to live out his days with the most freedom he can as an inmate.”
Can I get a show of hands…how many people care about what Mendoza wants? It’s because of lawyers in robes like Mikey Villani that this animal was let back on the streets after a year in the 70’s. A jury of his peers said the man should have been executed years ago, he should have no say in anything at this point. PTSD is no excuse for any crime.
Kremberg was sexually assaulted and stabbed 18 times by Mendoza, and her throat was slit with a steak knife in March 2007, authorities said. The two were residents at Destinations Spring Valley, a senior-living facility near Jones Boulevard and Flamingo Road.
