New Petitions Filed, Alleging Actual Innocence and Egregious Misconduct by Former CPD Detective Reynaldo Guevara
Today, seven men filed petitions seeking to reverse their decades-old convictions tied to disgraced former Chicago Police Detective Reynaldo Guevara. The men—all of whom have completed their sentences and are out of custody—all claim their innocence.
The seven men are as follows: Jayson Aguiar, who served 20 years, David Kruger, who served 14 years, Juan Molina, who served 12.5 years, Edwin Ortiz, who served 25 years, Oscar Soto, who served 3 years, Victor Vera, who served 19 years, and Tyrece Williams, who served 20 years.
While working as a CPD detective, Guevara terrorized and framed dozens of innocent people, especially targeting the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. According to data collected by the Exoneration Project, at least 44 murder convictions in cases investigated by Detective Guevara have been overturned. At least 25 of those individuals have since received certificates of innocence from Cook County courts.
Reynaldo Guevara joined the Chicago Police Department in 1973. He was promoted to Detective in August 1990. In the mid-1990s, friends and family members of people framed by Guevara banded together in Comité Exijimos Justicia (“Innocent Demand Justice”) to demand investigations of Guevara’s frame-ups and freedom for the wrongfully convicted.
In the last decade, the court system has begun to hear the cries for justice.
The Illinois Appellate Court has called Guevara “a malignant blight on the Chicago Police Department and the judicial system.” Judges have found that Guevara “engaged in a pattern and practice of intimidating, threatening, and influencing witnesses in … homicide investigations.” One circuit court judge called Guevara’s testimony littered with “bald faced lies.” Guevara now refuses to defend any of his own investigations, asserting his right not to incriminate himself whenever put under oath. Guevara has taken the Fifth Amendment when asked about any of these seven men’s cases.
Faced with the onslaught of evidence of Guevara’s corruption, in the summer of 2022, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office announced it would no longer oppose efforts to vacate convictions where former Detective Guevara played a critical role in the investigation. On August 9, 2022, seven of Guevara’s victims were exonerated, in the first mass exoneration of murder cases in U.S. history.
As these seven cases make clear, however, there are many other individuals victimized by Guevara who have yet to obtain justice.
The seven individuals on behalf of whom the petitions were filed are represented by attorneys Fadya Salem and Josh Tepfer of The Exoneration Project and Anand Swaminathan of the civil rights law firm Loevy + Loevy.
