The Cook County Board’s Finance Committee approved $24.1 million in settlements related to interrogations and subsequent prosecutions tied to disgraced Chicago Police Detective Reynaldo Guevara Wednesday, paving the way for approval by the full board Thursday.
In all, the National Registry of Exonerations at the University of Michigan tallied more than 40 individuals who were wrongly convicted based on Guevara, partner Ernest Halvorsen, or other detectives’ misconduct — including coerced false confessions or witness identifications — through threats or violence.
That misconduct has been costly for city taxpayers already: cases that named Guevara cost $39.3 million in 2019, 2020 and 2021 alone, not including the cost to pay outside counsel to defend the city in court.
County taxpayers have also shouldered some of the burden, since most of the cases also name prosecutors with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office who took Guevara’s cases to trial. The office, particularly under Kim Foxx, has since moved to unwind many of the convictions tied to Guevara’s interrogations.
Payouts are likely to continue: county board records show four other cases are pending involving the now-retired detective.
Among the eight settlements approved Wednesday are $2.4 million to Jose Maysonet and $3.1 million to Alfredo Gonzalez. During the investigation of the shooting deaths of two brothers in 1990, Maysonet alleged he was repeatedly beaten by Guevara — including with a flashlight and phonebook — during a 17-hour interrogation, denied access to an attorney and coerced into signing a false statement implicating himself as the getaway driver and Gonzalez as the shooter.
Though prosecutors still believed in his guilt, Maysonet was released from custody in 2017, after 27 years, because the police involved in the investigations refused to answer questions in court.
Gonzalez, too, said he was physically abused by Guevara, and purposely gave a false statement that mismatched details of other confessions, but his attorney did not ask whether he was abused, nor did he ask about Gonzalez’s alibi. Gonzalez was convicted in 1992. The state’s attorney overturned his conviction in 2022.
The committee also granted Daniel Rodriguez a $3.1 million settlement after being falsely implicated and coerced into confessing involvement in the shooting death of Jose Hernandez Jr. in 1991. Rodriguez alleged he was coerced into confessing he was a getaway driver and was roughed up by Guevara and another officer, but in fact had an alibi. His conviction was vacated in 2022 and the case was dismissed.
$3.1 million in settlements to Richard Kwil and David Gecht also cleared the committee Wednesday. Both were convicted in the shooting death of Spanish Lords gang member Roberto Cruz in 1999. Gecht alleged Guevara repeatedly punched him, and said he only admitted his involvement to stop the abuse, while Kwil said Guevara threatened that Kwil would never see his daughter again. Kwil’s conviction was vacated and his case was dismissed in 2023. Gecht was released in 2022, after his conviction was vacated and a new case was dismissed.
Others with vacated murder convictions include Eruby Abrego, whose conviction was vacated in 2022; John Martinez, whose murder conviction was vacated in 2023; and Robert Buoto, whose murder conviction was vacated in 2018. Each was cleared to receive a $3.1 million settlement.
The committee separately approved $8.75 million in medical malpractice settlements.
One is a $5 million payment to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Timothy Buckhalter, who came to Stroger hospital for swollen legs and shortness of breath, according to the suit his family filed in March of 2023. He was diagnosed with kidney problems and hypertension, the suit said, and was given a medicine called enalapril that caused an allergic reaction. The medicine made it difficult for him to breathe and swallow, the suit said, and doctors tried but failed to restore his breathing. Buckhalter had a heart attack, then a brain injury, and died months later.
The other approved settlement, totaling $3.75 million, is for the estate of Vito Vaccaro, who came to Stroger in early 2021 after falling at home and being unable to move his arms and legs, according to a lawsuit. After an hours-long delay, a scan found his spinal cord was compressed and that he needed immediate surgery. That procedure was delayed, then transferred to Rush Hospital across the street because Stroger did not have the right equipment to perform it, delaying the urgent surgery until two days after Vaccaro first came to the hospital.
The time lost due to the delays on the scan, surgery, and transfer was “professionally negligent,” the suit claimed. Vaccaro became quadriplegic, which ultimately led to a bladder infection that contributed to his death in 2023, the suit said.
