11 victims tortured into false confessions, wrongfully convicted file lawsuits against Chicago detective

CHICAGO - Eleven victims, who were wrongfully imprisoned, have filed lawsuits against Chicago Police Detective Reynaldo Guevara and other officers.

Many of the men were tortured into false confessions, framed and spent years in prison for murders they did not commit. 

On Tuesday, the men gathered in front of City Hall, calling on the next mayor of Chicago to address police misconduct. The wrongfully convicted men and their legal teams say the next mayor should put the city on a different path.

Officials say 39 exonerations have been linked to Guevara and the city has paid more than $74 million of taxpayer dollars for the detective's misconduct – which includes $23 million on outside lawyers.

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"It was not just Guevara acting alone in any one of these cases. Every single time Guevara framed somebody, he acted in concert with other detectives, who worked with him, who covered up for him, who did the same things," said Russell Ainsworth, Partner at Loevy & Loevy.

As a lead investigator and interrogator, his work often led to confessions that judges in multiple cases have ruled were coerced. Since retiring from the force, Guevara has refused to answer questions about his alleged abuses under oath, save for a 2017 hearing where, despite a grant of immunity from prosecutors, he gave evasive answers that a judge ruled were "bald-faced lies."

Guevara retired in 2005 and has never been charged with the crimes.

He is living in Texas and has collected $1.2 million in taxpayer-funded pension payments.

The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.