Nearly half his life ago, Ivan Perez was charged with an Aurora shooting murder that he insists he didn’t commit, and for which he remains in prison.
Though past appeal efforts have failed, Perez, 30, maintains he did not pull the trigger on alleged gang rival Francisco Reyes Jr. in 2004.
Now, about 14 years later, Ivan’s brother, Giovanni Perez, is claiming he’s the one who killed the 19-year-old Reyes. Yet it’s Ivan who is in custody at Pontiac Correctional Center, projected for parole in 2065 and discharge three years after that.
The brothers’ similarities came under scrutiny in the early stages of the Reyes investigation, when an eyewitness identified the shooter as one brother in a photo lineup and another brother in a live lineup, according to court records.
“If you saw pictures of the two of them, you would remark at their resemblance,” said Ivan Perez’s attorney, Stephen Richards. “Not all brothers look alike, but these two really do.”
It’s unclear why Giovanni chose now to claim his guilt. The Beacon-News has been unable to reach Giovanni or confirm his birth date. Richards said he didn’t know if Giovanni had an attorney. The Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Ivan, stated they don’t comment on pending cases and will respond in court. Richards said he could not discuss the circumstances surrounding Giovanni signing the affidavit, but noted it’s up to a judge to decide whether his client gets an evidentiary hearing, and prosecutors had yet to answer their petition for postconviction relief and claim of actual innocence.
In 2007, Ivan Perez was sentenced to 60 years in prison for shooting Reyes. At trial, Perez’s girlfriend at the time testified she saw him shoot at another car. But according to a recent sworn affidavit signed by Giovanni, that’s not how Reyes Jr. was killed. The teenage girlfriend made a deal with prosecutors to testify in order to avoid potential prison time herself, court records show.
Based largely on Giovanni’s affidavit, and considering it new evidence, Richards filed paperwork in January seeking an order vacating the first-degree murder conviction; an evidentiary hearing on Ivan’s claim of actual innocence based on “newly discovered” innocence; and an order granting him a new sentencing hearing. Richards, a Chicago-based criminal defense and appeals attorney, said he has been working with Ivan for about two years now and is convinced he’s innocent.
Until now, Giovanni was never willing to come forward with his testimony, he stated. He did not say what changed his mind, but stated his brother took no part in his own decision to shoot at Reyes’ car.
Reyes’ death came two and a half years after he or someone else he was with shot at Giovanni about 10 times with a machine gun, striking him at least once, according to court filings. An Aurora officer who testified at trial about gang rivalries agreed a gang summary report indicated Giovanni Perez had a scar from a bullet wound, a gang tattoo and other physical descriptors, according to court documents.
On Jan. 9, 2004, 16-year-old Ivan Perez and his girlfriend picked up Giovanni from his job in St. Charles, according to Giovanni’s version of events. He said he never returned to work that day.
Instead, the brothers decided to go on a “smoke route.” At North Avenue and Fifth Street, Giovanni saw Reyes driving a black Ford Taurus with four other people he didn’t recognize, according to his affidavit. Giovanni stated Reyes’ car stopped at the intersection and he could see someone inside had a gun.
“One of the people in the car pulled out a gun and was trying to cock it,” Giovanni stated in the affidavit. “I believed the person was about to fire at me and my brother. I shot in self-defense.”
Ivan’s girlfriend, however, testified at trial that she got home from school that day, changed her clothes, and drove her mom’s car to his house. She said they went out for food and smoked marijuana, according to court documents recounting the trial. She said it was the two of them driving on North Avenue when Ivan saw the black Taurus with rival gang associates inside.
In the version of events she laid out at trial, Ivan Perez told her to turn the car around and go after the Taurus. She pulled up alongside it at the stop sign on the corner of North Avenue and Fifth Street, and Ivan Perez rolled his window down. She said he took a gun out of his pocket and cocked it, then stuck his arm out of the window and fired, according to court filings.
Back at the Perez house, Giovanni asked if she could drive his girlfriend home, according to her testimony. Police stopped the two on the road and took them to the police station, where Ivan’s girlfriend initially said “Jesus” had shot Reyes Jr. but eventually told officers she was scared for herself since her boyfriend had just shot someone, according to court documents. That March, she entered into an agreement with prosecutors, and her four felony counts were reduced to a misdemeanor, according to court filings.
Reyes’ front seat passenger picked out a photo of Giovanni as the shooter in a photo lineup, but 12 days later, during a live lineup including both brothers, he said he was “pretty sure” Ivan was the shooter, though Ivan looked a little taller, according to the petition. The passenger said he recognized the shooter from middle school, plus seeing him nearly every day of his freshman year in high school. On cross-examination, the passenger said during the shooting, he couldn’t see the shooter’s whole face, which was partially covered by the shooter’s right arm.
