The misconduct of former Chicago Police Detective Reynaldo Guevara just cost the city another $20.5 million in a settlement of the wrongful conviction case of Jose Montanez and Armando  Serrano who were convicted of a 1993 murder of Rodrigo Vargas but later exonerated.

Over the last several years activists and civil rights lawyers have started to chip away that the horrific history of Detective Reynaldo Guevara during his time with the CPD. to her credit Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx has had people within her office look in to the accusations against Guevara which has led her office to embrace the obvious, that Guevara was an exceptionally brutal and corrupt officer. As of July 2020 there had been 20 exonerations involving the misconduct of Guevara and his colleagues and as of that date the CPD had spent approximately $50 million on payouts and costs associated with defending the cases according to the law firm of Loevy and Loevy.

In the payouts this month the Finance Committee approved the payouts without asking a single question or any public discussion. Of course this doesn't mean there wasn't of the record and behind closed doors discussions of the facts of the wrongful conviction case involving Guevara and why the city needed to settle. All of this should be in the public record but that is not how the city operates.

If you want more information about our groundbreaking Police Settlement Transparency and Accountability ordinance you can visit our CJP Nation website here. This ordinance will total restructure the way the city council, the CPD, and the police accountability system in Chicago responds to civil litigation settlements and judgments against the CPD and any of its officers. This will bring in unprecedented amounts of transparency and accountability to the city.

Also on the show today we discuss the horrific OpEd by former Deputy Mayor Susan Lee and Alderperson Matt O'Shea.

Images from today's show: