MILWAUKEE — Could a tossed murder conviction have ripple effects in other homicide cases involving a former Milwaukee police detective?
"How many cases are going to get overturned because of this guy's involvement in cases? And if that's how easy this is, what the hell are we doing?" Zachary Zdroik said.
The question is being raised after a Racine County judge granted the defendant, Miguel Cruz, a new trial. Court documents show that one of the main reasons is that the defendant’s attorney failed to alert the jury to former Detective Gilbert Hernandez’s alleged credibility concerns. A second problem identified by Cruz's legal team centers around how a DNA analyst presented DNA evidence.
Zachary, the victim's son, strongly disagrees that Hernandez’s alleged misconduct in other cases is relevant to his mother's case.
"They brought up a corrupt history of detectives that were working on the case, and I was like, well, was there any corrupt history in my mom's case? They're like, well, no, but these cops have a corrupt history in other cases. I was like, " Why does that play a factor in my mom's? That makes no sense," Zdroik said.
Watch: Tossed murder conviction could impact other solved Milwaukee homicide cases, defense attorney says
Prosecutors say Zdroik's mother witnessed a double homicide in Milwaukee in 2000. According to the criminal complaint, she was then taken to rural Racine County and shot in the head.
Court records show the case went cold for more than a decade until witnesses came forward to investigators, including Hernandez, claiming that Cruz pulled the trigger.
Cruz's conviction was tossed last fall after a successful appeal.
"Mistakes were made on how everything was handled, and now we're here. None of this is right," Zdroik said.
To challenge Hernandez's credibility, Cruz's attorneys pointed to the wrongful conviction of William Avery for a 1998 murder. Court records describe Hernandez's handwritten report as a "fabricated confession," which Avery denied all along.
Court documents filed by Cruz's defense also allege Hernandez was found to have induced three jailhouse informants to falsely incriminate Avery.
Cruz's defense pointed to at least three more cases involving alleged witness coaching and false testimony.
Pat Cafferty, a criminal defense attorney not affiliated with this case, weighed in on the upcoming proceedings.
"The defense has developed additional information related to his credibility and perhaps the credibility of some of the other detectives who were involved. So the second trial, assuming that's going to happen in September, will look very different than the first trial," Cafferty said.
While Hernandez was never called to testify in Cruz's trial, transcripts show he was questioned at a post-conviction hearing for Cruz last year. Cruz's defense pressed him about allegedly making false statements in federal court.
"You were found you perjured yourself?" Cruz's attorney said.
"I'm not sure what I was found of," Hernandez said.
"Despite having been adjudicated of perjury, he denied ever having done so," Cruz's defense said.
Zdroik fears how Hernandez's past could derail justice for his family and worries what it could mean for countless other homicide cases.
"How many people are getting away with murder and walking on the streets? Because that's the example we're setting by doing this, and that I don't accept," Zdroik said.
Cafferty said the ruling could have ripple effects in the future for defendants who were investigated by Hernandez.
"The potential for that certainly exists. It's more likely that a defendant who has been convicted as a result of work that Detective Hernandez did could get a new trial or get relief from an appellate court or a circuit court if they tried the case to a jury," Cafferty said.
Defense attorneys say this is why Brady lists are important, as it requires prosecutors to alert the court to a police officer's history of alleged untruthfulness or other integrity issues. Hernandez is not on Milwaukee County's Brady list, based on the latest version obtained in partnership with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin Watch.
TMJ4 reached out to Hernandez to request an interview. We have yet to hear back, but our offer still stands.
This project is in partnership with the Racine County Eye. For more of our reporting on this overturned conviction, click here.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
