There were other detectives that worked on this case,” Rogala said.
“This case is not the Hernandez brothers against Reynaldo Guevara. And, while one eyewitness- Gonzalez’s best friend, Daniel Violante - has recanted his testimony identifying the Hernandezes as the shooters at both brothers’ trials, Rogala said others stand by their statements.
Guevara, who has never faced criminal charges, has refused to answer questions about his old cases under oath since a 2017 hearing at which Judge James Obbish ruled the detective told “bald-faced lies” on the witness stand and tossed out guilty verdicts against two men who’d been convicted in a 2000 murder trial.Īssistant State’s Attorney Carol Rogala on Monday argued that the allegations of abuses in the Hernandezes’ case don’t fit the pattern of physical beatings of suspects and threats against witnesses that has been alleged in other cases. Since Guevara retired from CPD in 2005, more than 20 men have overturned their convictions based on allegations of misconduct against Guevara. The Hernandez brothers hope to win a new trial for the 1997 killing of Jorge Gonzalez in Belmont Cragin.
