Jun 22, 2009 6:06 pm US/Central
Chicago Man Awarded $21M For Wrongful Conviction
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Juan Johnson was awarded $21 million in a wrongful conviction settlement.
CBS
A former Humboldt Park man has been awarded more than $21 million in a wrongful conviction case against a Chicago police detective — marking the largest ever verdict award for wrongful conviction in Chicago history, attorneys announced Monday.
The jury found that Chicago Police Det. Reynaldo Guevara framed Juan Johnson for the 1989 murder of Ricardo Fernandez, according to a release from the law firm of Loevy and Loevy.
Johnson was awarded $21 million in compensatory damages on Friday night and $15,000 in punitive damages awarded Monday afternoon, the release said.
Johnson was arrested at age 19 and was originally sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder, the release said.
Johnson ended up serving 11 1/2 years in prison, much of it in maximum security prison before the Appellate Court reversed the denial of a post-conviction petition and a jury acquitted him in a 2004 retrial, the release said.
"Stateville is pure hell. You're surrounded by the worst. I didn't expect to survive," Johnson said. "I gave up hope."
But Johnson says his attorney, Daniel Stohr, kept hope alive. Stohr says he never stopped believing in Johnson because one look at the evidence from 17 years ago showed him it didn't add up.
"All the witnesses said the assailants were small Caucasian Hispanics. Juan is a very large black man," Stohr said.
The head of Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions says Guevara was involved in at least 40 cases, many of which his office is taking a look at.
"Not only did he coerce confessions physically, but he also coerced witnesses in many cases. He sent two innocent people to death row," the center's executive director, Rob Warden, said.
But Chicago police say they plan to appeal the verdict.
"There were two witnesses who specifically testified that they saw him commit this murder. And the two that changed their story did so at the behest of gang leaders," said the city's defense attorney, Jim Sotos.
And police say Johnson was and is a leader of a gang which they say he continued to lead while he was in prison.
They say the eyewitnesses only changed their testimony as part of a deal between gang members. If that evidence is allowed to be presented on appeal they say they're confident the verdict will be reversed.
CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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