Victims of Notorious Frame-Up Cop Face Critical Court Date Today
Chicago Detective Reynaldo Guevara Allegedly Caused the Wrongful Convictions of Dozens
States Atty Foxx Refuses to Allow New Trials for Guevara’s Victims
“Innocence Does Matter” Rally & Press Conference Precedes the Court Date
12 Noon, Monday, April 10 in front of Cook County Courthouse,
2650 S. California, Chicago
CHICAGO, IL – Closing arguments in the two-year-long evidentiary hearings of Roberto Almodovar and William Negron, who were allegedly framed by Chicago Police Detective Reynaldo Guevara, will begin at 1:30 PM, Monday, April 10 at the Cook County Courthouse, 2650 S. California Avenue, Courtroom 700.
Attorneys for Almodovar and Negron will make their final pleas to the judge, asking that he grant new trials for their clients who they allege were framed in 1994 and wrongfully imprisoned ever since.
Supporters of the two men, who were recently featured in a lengthy BuzzFeed article about Guevara’s alleged frame-ups, will rally outside the courthouse beginning at 12 noon on that day.
Asserting his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, Guevara has refused to answer any questions about his investigation in this case and scores of other cases, many of which are currently pending in the circuit court. When asked whether he framed Robert Almodovar and William Negron, Guevara repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege on the grounds that his responses might incriminate him.
Only five months ago, the Chief Judge of the Criminal Division granted Certificates of Innocence to two of Reynaldo Guevara’s victims, Armando Serrano and Jose Montanez, both of whom served 23 years in prison for crimes they did not commit after being framed by Guevara. Even the City of Chicago, which conducted its own independent investigation, concluded in 2015 that Almodovar is most likely innocent.
Notwithstanding overwhelming evidence showing that Almodovar and Negron are innocent, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx refuses to consent to new trials. Foxx’s position comes as a shock to many since she ran on a reform platform promising reviews of the cases handled by Guevara. To date, her office has not voluntarily released a single man wrongfully convicted by Guevara.
“We are beginning to wonder whether innocence matters in this town,” said Almodovar’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean of the Bonjean Law Group, PLLC, a criminal defense and civil rights litigation firm. “If the Cook County criminal justice system is content with Robert Almodovar and William Negron dying in prison given everything that is known about Reynaldo Guevara, it would seem that innocence simply does not matter.”
William Negron is represented by Attorney Russell Ainsworth of The Exoneration Project, a free legal clinic at the University of Chicago dedicated to representing the wrongfully convicted.
