CASPER — An Ethete, Wyoming, man was sentenced Friday to 40 years in prison for brutally beating and stabbing a woman to death on the Wind River Reservation last year.
Kevin Joseph Mendibles, who turns 38 this year, pleaded guilty to killing Inez Whiteman, 37, in a plea deal that reduced the charge to second-degree murder and capped the ability of U.S. District Judge Kelly Rankin to sentence him to more than 50 years.
Rankin heard emotional testimony from the Whiteman family and an apologetic Mendibles, as well as a request from U.S. Assistant Attorney Michael Elmore to exceed the sentencing guidelines for second-degree murder.
Defense attorney Craig Silva argued that the abuse and environment that Mendibles endured while growing up also needed to be weighed in the sentence.
Testimony from a U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs special agent at the hearing recounted a bloody crime scene with the victim beaten Feb. 25, 20124, with a pipe, stabbed in the groin and finally the heart.
When EMS arrived at the home, they detected what could have been a “faint heartbeat,” the agent said under questioning from Elmore.
Elmore told the court that Mendibles’ statement to law enforcement at the time was that “he wanted to feel it” as he beat the victim.
Information brought out during Friday’s sentencing was that Mendibles was drunk, on drugs and laid in wait for Whiteman’s house to be empty before going inside. That’s where he confronted her about alleged sexual abuse against one of her children.
50-Year Sentence Sought
Testimony from the agent and a final argument from Elmore emphasized no evidence — including a forensic interview of the child — was ever confirmed that such abuse took place.
He asked the judge to exceed sentencing due to the fact that the victim’s death was “cruel and prolonged.”
“The 50-year cap is appropriate and (we) recommend it to the court,” Elmore said in arguing for the maximum sentence.
Whiteman’s brother, Harlan Whiteman, told the court that his sister was a “beautiful person” who was “taken from us way too soon.”
“Now my two nieces will have to continue their lives knowing their mother is buried in the ground,” he said.
Sunny Goggles, a cousin of Whiteman, testified that she and Whiteman grew up together and would go to sweat lodges. She talked of how Whiteman earned her GED and graduated from college before gettingcaught up in the “opiate crisis.”
Just prior to her murder, Whiteman had lost other family members, she said.
Goggles said Whiteman had “opened up her home” to others and to Mendibles to give him a place to stay.
“That was her biggest mistake,” she said.
Goggles said after Inez Whiteman’s murder, she made moccasins for Whiteman and the family was not able to dress her or have an open casket because her body was so badly beaten.
“What happened to her is beyond horrible. This man is a monster,” Goggles said. “I know one day he is going to meet Creator and (have to) explain what he has done.”
Silva told the court that his client grew up in an abusive home, that he was sexually abused as child, and that he had an issue with drugs and alcohol.
He said his client had three sons of his own and that it was important for the judge and the “law” to provide a balance to what Silva characterized as a “monstrous” crime, but not a “monster” who committed it.
Defendant ‘Redeemable’
“The person is redeemable,” Silva said.
He recounted a letter provided to the court from a family friend who called Mendibles a “good kid” who was “bullied” by his dad and grew up in a home where the refrigerator was locked so Mendibles ate the “scraps” provided to him.
He said Mendibles had a string of years from 2012-2024 while raising his sons that he was clean, but then got back into drinking and drugs, which led to a domestic abuse charge with another woman and then the murder.
He also asked the judge to consider his client admitted his guilt and saved the federal government from a trial.
Silva told the court that he wasn’t blaming the victim, but noted that Inez Whiteman had evidence of methamphetamine and alcohol in her body at the time of her death and that Mendibles had lived at the residence before he was kicked out.
“It’s different than him breaking into a house and killing someone in the house,” he said.
Mendibles told the court that he was intoxicated on the night of the murder and “wasn’t in my right mind.”
“I know what I did was very horrible and wrong,” he said. “I want to apologize to the family. I apologize to may family as well for the mistake that I made.”
Sentencing Considerations
Rankin said he considered Mendibles’ background, the facts of the crime and the legal standard for raising the sentencing level, which includes crimes “unusually heinous, cruel and degrading” to the victim.
The judge said he also factored in Mendibles accepting responsibility for his actions and the need to keep society safe. He said the defendant hascompleted several educational courses while in custody.
“This is a very tragic incident that leaves no winners,” Rankin said.
He characterized the photos of Whiteman after her murder as “horrific” and told Mendibles that “Inez had provided you a place to live.”
The judge said if Mendibles really believed abuse was occurring in the home, he had other options than the course he took and noted the nature of the crime and his prolonged beating and then stabbing of his victim.
“This was not a heat of the moment — this was brutality,” Rankin said.
In addition to his prison sentence, Rankin imposed restitution of $8,983.19 along with other court costs. He ordered Mendibles to participate in a drug and alcohol program and mental health treatment.
“I hope you think of Inez and her family every day,” Rankin told Mendibles. “I hope you improve yourself, I wish you luck sir.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
