{"id":32517,"date":"2022-06-07T02:09:16","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T02:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/?p=32517"},"modified":"2022-06-07T02:09:16","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T02:09:16","slug":"brothers-allege-they-were-framed-for-murder-at-behest-of-joseph-miedzianowski","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/07\/brothers-allege-they-were-framed-for-murder-at-behest-of-joseph-miedzianowski\/","title":{"rendered":"Brothers allege they were framed for murder at behest of Joseph Miedzianowski"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Two brothers were framed for a 1997 murder because a Chicago police detective who was secretly running an extensive narcotics ring thought one of them had stolen from one of his drug-world associates, attorneys for the brothers said in court Monday.<\/p>\n

Juan and Rosendo Hernandez are hoping to win a new trial after 25 years in custody, alleging that drug-running police Officer Joseph Miedzianowski \u2014 once called \u201cthe most corrupt\u201d officer<\/a> ever prosecuted in northern Illinois \u2014 colluded with now-infamous former Detective Reynaldo Guevara to pin a Northwest Side murder on Juan Hernandez, with Rosendo getting caught up as collateral damage.<\/p>\n

The hearing before Cook County Judge Joanne Rosado is expected to last at least through Tuesday. Attorneys for the Hernandez brothers want her to grant them new trials, while Cook County prosecutors argue that the brothers\u2019 convictions are valid and should remain intact.<\/p>\n

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Rosendo Hernandez, right, holds a sign with photos of the alleged victims of Chicago police Detective Reynaldo Guevara outside of the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago on July 20, 2016. The Hernandez family claim that their two sons, Juan and Rosendo Hernandez were wrongfully convicted of murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with work conducted by Guevara. <\/span>(Jose M. Osorio \/ Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

A key witness for the brothers, Frederick Rock, began testifying late Monday. Rock was charged federally as part of Miedzianowski\u2019s drug enterprise and cooperated with federal authorities<\/a> against the Chicago Police Department officer.<\/p>\n

Testifying via videoconference from his native Dominica, to which he was deported after his federal conviction, Rock said he worked with Miedzianowski in the drug trade.<\/p>\n

Miedzianowski had a vendetta against Juan Hernandez, nicknamed \u201cPoochie,\u201d because he believed Juan stole marijuana from a dealer he wanted to protect, Rock testified.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wanted (the marijuana) back or he\u2019d make sure Poochie would get in trouble,\u201d Rock said.<\/p>\n

Miedzianowski introduced Guevara to Rock as \u201cthe officer who was going to help him get Poochie,\u201d Rock testified. \u201cHe wanted to get Poochie no matter what the cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

On cross-examination, however, prosecutors got Rock to acknowledge that he never heard Miedzianowski explicitly give Guevara instructions. And in opening statements before Rosado, Assistant State\u2019s Attorney Carol Rogala hinted Rock was not to be trusted.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not going to hear from Joe Miedzianowski that \u2018I wanted to get Juan Hernandez and his family,\u2019 \u201d Rogala said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to hear from a convicted felon who has been deported and is beyond the reach of the American justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Former Chicago police Officer Joseph Miedzianowski <\/span>(FBI)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Attorneys for the brothers also said Monday that Guevara lied in police reports to weaken the brothers\u2019 alibis, and \u201c(put) his hands on the scale to get eyewitnesses to make identifications in absolutely impossible scenarios,\u201d attorney Joshua Tepfer, who represents Rosendo Hernandez, said in court Monday.<\/p>\n

In addition, attorneys for the brothers said they have found a witness who, one night in 1997, had a friend jump into his car to say he thought he had killed a rival gang member. That person said that someone threw a bike at his windshield as he was driving away from the shooting, which corroborates one eyewitness\u2019 account that someone threw a bike at the shooter\u2019s car, the brothers\u2019 attorneys wrote in a court filing.<\/p>\n

Cook County prosecutors, however, cautioned Judge Rosado not to lump this case in with other Guevara-related matters. The initial witness interviews were done by an entirely different set of detectives, and there are eyewitnesses who to this day will identify the brothers as the assailants, Rogala said.<\/p>\n

Miedzianowski was convicted on federal charges including racketeering and drug conspiracy, accused of running a drug ring with national scope while wearing a CPD star. He is serving a life sentence in a federal prison downstate, according to Bureau of Prisons records.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, dozens of people have accused Guevara, now retired, of manipulating witnesses, fabricating evidence and framing suspects over the course of his career. He has repeatedly asserted his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent when questioned about the alleged wrongdoing. Multiple alleged wrongful convictions have been linked to Guevara and the city has faced lawsuits over the accusations against him.<\/p>\n

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Rosendo Hernandez holds a sign of Chicago Detective Reynaldo Guevara outside the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago on July 20, 2016. <\/span>(Jose M. Osorio \/ Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The brothers\u2019 first witness Monday was Daniel Violante, who testified he was in front of a Northwest Side gangway that night in 1997 next to his friend, Jorge Gonzalez. Two people came out of a nearby car, one of them pointed a gun at his stomach, and then he jumped over the fence and heard gunshots, Violante testified.<\/p>\n

He came back and saw Gonzalez on the ground, bleeding.<\/p>\n

On the witness stand Monday, Violante insisted that he never saw the faces of the people who killed his friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything was black to me,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t see that face. \u2026 It happened fast. Too fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the brothers\u2019 trials, however, Violante took the stand to identify them as the attackers. On Monday, he said he did so merely because the Gonzalez family had pointed them out, so he figured they must have done it.<\/p>\n

A year after the shooting, Violante signed an affidavit saying he actually falsely accused the Hernandez brothers out of retaliation, and he wanted the charges to be dropped. Prosecutors have alleged that affidavit was the product of a brokered deal between two gangs, in which Violante would recant in exchange for another witness walking back his testimony in a separate case.<\/p>\n

Violante denied that on the stand, and on cross-examination said someone merely showed up at his house with the affidavit already typewritten, and he signed it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome guy just came to your house and asked you to sign it?\u201d Rogala asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight, that\u2019s exactly what happened,\u201d Violante said.<\/p>\n

mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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