My name is Charles Douglas Mendez.

There is nothing I want more than to express my deepest remorse to everyone affected by my actions and mistakes. I take full responsibility for the pain and suffering I caused, especially to the family of the man who lost his life. I also apologize to my community, where my actions left a stain and added to the negative judgment placed on young men who come from backgrounds like mine.

I am truly sorry.

I was young, lost, and in desperate need of guidance. I have been incarcerated since 2010 for choices I never should have made. I was living a lifestyle that was destroying me. That is no longer who I am.

It took losing years with my family and friends to gain the perspective I should have had long before. Prison forced me to face myself, to understand why I lived the way I did, where those thoughts came from, and how I became the person I was. I grew up in the drug infested streets of the 1990s without my mother or father. I was shaped by an environment that had already claimed so many lives.

Today I fight against those same odds from inside these prison walls.

I have dedicated myself to education, personal growth, and life skills. I have worked with groups focused on bringing positive change to our communities, the correctional system, and the justice system. I am not the same man who walked into prison all those years ago.

I could talk about the certificates I have earned or the fact that I have stayed out of trouble. Those things matter, but they do not define me. What defines me is the man I have become through accountability, humility, and service to others.

I am asking for the opportunity to prove that redemption is real. I believe I still have something meaningful to give this world. If given a second chance, I will spend the rest of my life making a positive difference and leaving this world better than I found it.

With respect,

Charles Douglas Mendez-

Charlie accepts responsibility for the death, but the circumstances demonstrate a level of culpability different from the permanent classification of first degree murder and life without parole.