Biography
James Reynolds Mendoza was a 19-year-old Chicano from Milwaukee's Southside held in the city jail for the July 1974 shooting deaths of off-duty policemen Robert Riley and Thomas Matulis, who were killed — possibly with their own guns — after a drunken altercation involving Matulis's own brother and his drinking companions. Mendoza was arrested at his cousin's house fourteen hours later. A witness who saw the shooting from ten feet said she knew the assailant by name and that it was not Mendoza and that no Mexican-Americans were at the scene; twenty other witnesses also failed to link him to the shooting, while police ransacked homes and searched without warrants for evidence against him. The Black Panther reported his case as that of a brother unjustly held while the poor white and Chicano Southside was thrown into upheaval. Reconstructed from The Black Panther, Vol. XII No. 3 (August 10, 1974); the Wisconsin Supreme Court later recorded his November 11, 1974 conviction and its reversal in 1977, followed by further proceedings.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court later identified the defendant in the Milwaukee police-officer case as James Ray Mendoza. Its 1980 opinion records his arrest on July 10, 1974 at about 3:30 p.m., subsequent transport in police custody for booking and questioning, and his appearance before a judge that evening. The August 10, 1974 Black Panther confirmed his continuing detention in the city jail. The court records the first conviction on November 11, 1974 and its reversal in 1977; reversal does not establish release.
The Black Panther, August 10, 1974, PDF page 9; State v. Mendoza, 96 Wis.2d106,291N.W.2d478 (1980).
