Reynaldo Munoz

In the early morning of September 8, 1985, 19-year-old Ivan Mena was killed and 21-year-old Bouvier Garcia was shot while walking on West Potomac Avenue in Chicago. Reynaldo Munoz, then 16, was later arrested and convicted for the crime based largely on eyewitness identification and testimony obtained under coercion by Detectives Reynaldo Guevara and Earnest Halvorsen.

Munoz testified that Guevara physically abused him during interrogations, threatening his life in gang territory and repeatedly striking him. Eyewitness accounts implicating Munoz were inconsistent, and police reports not disclosed at trial indicated the shooter was a different individual, nicknamed “Shorty.”

Despite these discrepancies, Munoz was convicted in 1986 and sentenced to 60 years in prison. Multiple appeals and post-conviction petitions were dismissed for decades. Finally, in 2021, after a hearing presented by the Bonjean Law Group revealed widespread misconduct by Guevara and Halvorsen—including fabricated evidence, physical abuse, and coerced identifications—the Cook County Circuit Court vacated Munoz’s convictions. The prosecution dismissed the charges, Munoz was freed, and in April 2023, he received a certificate of innocence.