Man jailed for misleading court
A man who pleaded guilty to giving contradictory evidence about the 2003 death of his ex-girlfriend’s toddler has been sentenced to three years in prison. Johnny Bermudez made a string of inconsistent statements over the years, at first denying then confessing to causing the death of 2-yearold Emmily Lucas. Her mother, Erika Mendieta, is now serving a prison term for the murder. Bermudez, 39, looked away from the judge on Friday when she read her sentence for eight counts of giving contradictory evidence, a crime similar to perjury carrying a maximum term of 14 years. His current girlfriend appeared to blink back tears, shaking her head as though in disbelief, although it was obvious when Justice Carol Brewer explained the principles of the case that Bermudez wasn’t going to get off with a slap on the wrist. “Giving contradictory evidence strikes at the heart of the judicial system,” Brewer said. A corrections ministry report said the construction worker tried to take the blame for Mendieta because he felt a misplaced sense of loyalty and concern for the woman’s five remaining children.
In 2009, he told Mendieta’s second-degree murder trial that he, not she, beat the toddler out of anger in their North York home, causing major brain trauma. He had given different stories on at least four occasions, but this was the truth, he insisted. “I want to come clean.”
That trial ended in a hung jury. Mendieta’s second trial in 2010 ended in another mistrial after jurors complained they were distracted by a smirking assistant Crown attorney sitting among the spectators.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Nola Garton excused the jury and continued the trial, finding Mendieta guilty of manslaughter and sentencing her to six years.