Mesa was involved in a longstanding feud with former teammate Omar Vizquel following the publication of Vizquel's autobiography, Omar! My Life On and Off the Field. In the book, Vizquel criticized Mesa's performance in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series: "The eyes of the world were focused on every move we made. Unfortunately, Jose's own eyes were vacant. Completely empty. Nobody home. You could almost see right through him. Not long after I looked into his vacant eyes, he blew the save and the Marlins tied the game." Mesa reacted furiously, pledging to hit Vizquel upon every subsequent opportunity: "Even my little boy told me to get him. If I face him 10 more times, I'll hit him 10 times. I want to kill him."[2]

Jose Mesa, a relief pitcher with the Cleveland Indians baseball team, was accused of sexually assaulting two women he met at a bar in the Flats area of downtown Cleveland. His trial began on April 1, the day before the Cleveland Indians opened their season in Oakland, California.

According to the prosecution, Mesa, 30, and his friend, David Blanco, 34, met two 26-year-old women in the Flats area of downtown Cleveland on Dec. 22, 1996. One of the women claimed that Mesa grabbed her purse and placed it around his neck refusing to give it back. In an attempt to retrieve her purse, the woman followed Mesa into his car and the two drove to a motel in Lakewood, a suburb of Cleveland.

The state said that sometime during the car ride, Mesa put his hands down the woman's pants and penetrated her with his finger. The woman's friend followed them in her car and arrived at the Lakewood motel. The women retreated into the bathroom of a motel room Mesa and Blanco had rented to discuss their situation. Mesa pushed open the bathroom door and refused to let the two women have any privacy. One of the women said that Mesa hit her face with the door, cutting her lip and injuring two teeth.

The two women accused Mesa and Blanco fondling them before they could leave the motel room. After the two women left the motel, they were stopped by police for making an illegal right turn on a red light. The police officer noticed bruising on one of the women's faces and asked if she was OK. She responded that she had been assaulted by Mesa.

The defense denied all allegations. Mesa claimed that nothing happened and that the two women had initiated contact with him.

The alleged incident occurred on Dec. 22, but Mesa wasn't arrested until almost a week later. On Dec. 27, police went to Mesa's home with an arrest warrant, but hesitated when they saw his children and other family members at the house. Police developed an elaborate ruse to lure Mesa to another location to arrest him. A female police detective called Mesa's cellular phone and posed as a woman eager to meet him. When Mesa went to meet her, the police arrested him.

The police found a 9 mm handgun in Mesa's car when they arrested him and charged him with carrying a concealed weapon. The judge agreed to defense motions to try the weapons charge separately.