Giovanni Mendiola gets eight years of life term in death of Brendan Butler

Coeur d’Alene _ An all-day court hearing to sentence a man for murder (Brendan Butler) at times seemed more like a Passion play.

Brothers, sisters, father, mother, aunts, cousins, friends flowed to the witness stand Wednesday to tell of Giovanni Mendiola’s good deeds and his big heart and — often weeping — to ask mercy for his transgression.

It appears that Eddie Mendiola and Pierro Mendiola have been released in 2004 for their part of the murder, but no information can be found about Giovanni’s release date.

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