City attorneys are recommending aldermen spend $29.2 million to settle four wrongful conviction lawsuits tied to disgraced former Chicago police Detective Reynaldo Guevara.
That hefty sum puts Chicago once again on track to far outspend its budget for police-related lawsuits this year. Aldermen earmarked $82.6 million for such cases in 2026, even after spending over three times that amount in 2025.
If the deals win final approval in a full City Council vote later this month, which such settlements usually do, the city will have spent over $58 million through February on police-related suits.
Topping the city’s latest batch of settlements set to face an initial Finance Committee vote Wednesday is a $16.6 million deal for Demetrius Johnson.
Johnson, who was 15 when he was charged with murder, alleged Guevara framed him by burying a lineup report identifying someone else as the gunman in a 1991 Humboldt Park shooting, then lied about it at trial. Johnson was convicted and spent 12 years in prison before being released on parole in 2004.
Aldermen will also consider a $4.85 million deal for Ariel Gomez, who alleged Guevara beat him to extract a false confession. Gomez, arrested at 17, spent almost 20 years incarcerated. He was exonerated in 2018.
Angel Diaz could win $6.95 million in another proposed deal. His lawsuit claims Guevara manipulated witnesses and falsified evidence to secure a wrongful conviction. And William Negron, who alleged Guevara framed him for a 1994 Hermosa double murder, would receive $800,000 in another settlement.
The city faces over 40 lawsuits alleging Guevara falsified evidence, extracted confessions through torture and lied to wrongfully put dozens of Chicagoans behind bars. Altogether, the lawsuits pose a daunting threat to the city’s ledger and could cost well over $100 million.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration settled another mountain of lawsuits last year in one novel swoop. Johnson’s Law Department settled 176 wrongful conviction cases involving disgraced former police Sgt. Ronald Watts in a $90 million “global settlement.”
Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry praised the Watts deal she organized as a massive cost savings for the city that shrank legal fees as it wiped away risk. At Johnson’s recommendation, the City Council voted to borrow money to pay the plaintiffs in this year’s budget.
But it remains unclear whether Johnson’s administration will reach another global settlement to resolve the dozens of remaining Guevara cases. Law Department spokesperson Kristen Cabanban defended the department’s decision to not use the tactic to settle the four cases now working through the City Council.
“Although the cases share a common defendant, they stem from separate events, date as far back as 35 years ago, and involve a wide range of fact patterns,” Cabanban wrote. “Each had its own unique considerations.”
