Jose Maysonet – Beaten and threatened into giving a false confession by Detective Guevara
Jose Maysonet was serving a mandatory natural life sentence for a double homicide that rested solely on a coerced statement he gave while being beaten and threatened by Chicago Police Officer Reynaldo Guevara. Guevara is notorious for coercing false confessions and identifications from suspects and witnesses through physical and psychological coercion.
Maysonet consistently maintains his innocence and contends that on August 22 and 23, 1990, Detective Guevara repeatedly beat him with a phone book and flashlight while he was handcuffed to a ring on the interrogation room wall until he confessed. No physical evidence links Maysonet to the murders. Prior to Maysonet’s coerced confession, he repeatedly exercised his right to counsel, a constitutional right that he was continuously denied during his interrogation.
Incredibly, Maysonet was also deprive his Sixth Amendment Constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel where unbeknownst to Maysonet, his defense attorney, Richard M. Beuke, simultaneously represented Detective Guevara in a child support proceeding while representing Maysonet in these trial proceedings, creating a per se conflict of interest. Furthermore, Beuke and Guevara were close friends who conspired to commit criminal acts together.
Maysonet came to the United States from Puerto Rico when he was 21 years old and he did not speak English at the time of his arrest. He has been incarcerated for 27 years for two murders he did not commit.
On October 26, 2016, Maysonet's double murder conviction was vacated and he was granted a new trial. Over a year later, the Cook County State's Attorney dropped charges against Jose after five retired Chicago police officers invoked their fifth amendment right and refused to testify. Jose was released November 15, 2017.
Press:
- Chicago Tribune: Prosecutors drop murder charges after 5 ex-chicago cops plan to take the fifth (November 2017)
- Chicago Sun-times: Convicted killer suing attorneys for links to Chicago cop accused of misconduct (April 2015)
- CBS: Man’s Double-Murder Conviction Vacated, Granted New Trial
- CBS: Detainee Who Claims He Was Forced To Confess To Murder Gets Chance To Prove Innocence
- Chicago Sun-times: Man’s double-murder conviction vacated, granted new trial