HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The preliminary hearing for a 34-year-old man arrested after two domestic incidents, one where he held police at bay for nearly six hours was bound over as charged Friday.
Charles Mendenhall III faces arraignment next month both cases, one on Dec. 24, 2015 and the other on Jan. 10, 2016.
The victim returned to the stand Friday and testified that she didn’t feel like she was being held against her will during the standoff on Christmas Eve. She says she was staying with him trying to get the guns away from him and to keep police from shooting him. Apparently, at some point, the two came to doorway and she was in front of him. Police believe he had a gun to her back, but she testified that he had the gun, but wasn’t sure where he had it. This coming during cross examination, however the state says those statements in court are contrary to other testimony and what she told law enforcement.
The victim had an attorney with her because she had indicated in an earlier hearing that she felt she might incriminate herself with a crime. Apparently, when the defendant was crawling through a window of the home on Jan. 10, she struck him and was worried she might be charged with battery-domestic violence. The state indicated in court they wouldn’t consider that a crime since he entered the residence when he wasn’t supposed to be there and she had a right to defend herself.
The defense noted it was his home and doesn’t believe he committed aggravated burglary. They also noted that she testified that that she didn’t feel like she was being held against her will, was merely there trying to protect him. But, Judge Joe McCarville looking at all the evidence believes she did have a gun to her back and was being held.
Mendenhall is charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, criminal discharge of a firearm, criminal threat and two counts of aggravated endangerment of a child in the Christmas Eve incident. In the case from Jan. 10, he’s charged with aggravated battery, aggravated burglary, interference with law enforcement, violation of a protection from abuse order, criminal restraint and battery of Hutchinson Police Officer Josh Long.
With him being bound over, he’ll be arraigned on March 7, in front of Judge Trish Rose.