| On February 8, 2010, 52-year-old Kevin Guidetti got into an argument with his girlfriend, Helen D., at the apartment they shared in Hull, Massachusetts.
After a neighbor called the police, an officer arrived and appeared to restore calm. Later, Guidetti went back to the apartment to retrieve a personal item. He and Helen argued again, and the police returned. Now, Helen said, Guidetti had threatened her with a knife.
Guidetti was arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon. He pled guilty in Hingham District Court on March 12, 2010, and received a sentence of 59 days in jail, with credit for the time he already served. He was released from jail on April 5, 2010.
In early 2017, Guidetti filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea. The motion included an affidavit from Helen D., who said that there was no assault. “Because I was so mad at Kevin, I told the police that he threatened me with a knife,” she said. “The charge was not true at the time. I regret making the statement and now want to help clear his record of something he did not do.”
After an evidentiary hearing on September 26, 2017, a judge vacated Guidetti’s conviction and set a new trial date for January 9, 2018. Helen D. did not appear in court that day, and the case was dismissed.
On January 8, 2020, Guidetti filed a claim against the state of Massachusetts, seeking compensation for his wrongful conviction. As of February 2023, the claim was still pending.
– Ken Otterbourg
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