{"id":476176,"date":"2026-10-25T09:20:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T09:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/476176\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T09:20:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T09:20:25","slug":"san-antonio-murder-trial-examines-alleged-history-of-domestic-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/476176\/","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio murder trial examines alleged history of domestic violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 A 911 call made weeks before Stephanie Mendoza was found dead is now part of the timeline surrounding the murder trial of her husband, James Mendoza.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband has a gun, he\u2019s pointing it at himself, and he\u2019s pointing it at me,\u201d Stephanie Mendoza told a 911 dispatcher on July 10, 2024.<\/p>\n

During opening statements, prosecutors described a relationship in which Stephanie had tried to leave but continued returning to help Mendoza. Jurors are hearing testimony about the relationship and the events leading up to her death.<\/p>\n

A little more than a month after the 911 call, on Aug. 13, 2024, Stephanie\u2019s daughter went to the home and found her mother dead<\/a>, according to the prosecution\u2019s account.<\/p>\n

Testimony describes relationship before her death<\/p>\n

Witnesses testified about incidents involving the couple before Stephanie\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was some occasions that James would be grabbing Stephanie by her arm,\u201d one friend of Stephanie\u2019s testified. \u201cJust like pulling her to leave or just make her leave on several occasions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Mendoza continued trying to draw Stephanie back into the relationship after she left, including by asking for help with food, medicine and other needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow after she left him, you\u2019ll see that throughout this case the defendant kept trying to pull her back in, manipulating her, using his sickness, using giving him money for the dogs, for food, giving him medicine, using her property as leverage,\u201d prosecutor Ashley Jones told jurors during opening statements.<\/p>\n

>>READ MORE: \u2018I told her to leave\u2019: Neighbor\u2019s warning to woman killed in apparent domestic violence case<\/a><\/p>\n

The prosecution\u2019s account is part of the case jurors are being asked to consider as they hear evidence about the couple\u2019s relationship.<\/p>\n

Daughter remembers Stephanie as caring<\/p>\n

Stephanie\u2019s daughter, Alexis Luna, also testified about her mother\u2019s role in caring for Mendoza when he became seriously ill with COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Luna said her mother stopped working to care for him while he was hospitalized and in a coma.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom is Stephanie. She\u2019s very nice, very giving, very caring,\u201d Luna testified.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors told jurors Stephanie had been stabbed 32 times. Mendoza was also found injured inside the home and received medical treatment, according to the prosecution\u2019s opening statement.<\/p>\n

The jury will decide whether prosecutors have proven the murder charge against Mendoza. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 A 911 call made weeks before Stephanie Mendoza was found dead is now part of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[815,9189,161185,82,84,83,161186],"class_list":["post-476176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-courts","tag-domestic-violence","tag-james-mendoza","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-stephanie-mendoza"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}