NEWS FLASH
CHICAGO (CHICAGO URBAN DAILY)—Mayor Brandon Johnson is proposing a $260.8 million global settlement to close the book on 16 police misconduct lawsuits tied to disgraced former Chicago police Detective Reynaldo Guevara — and to compensate 17 plaintiffs who say they were framed for murders they did not commit.
Forty-three people, including three women, have been exonerated after serving prison time for murder convictions built on Guevara’s work in the 1980s and 1990s. Most of them called Humboldt Park home.
The price tag for the city keeps climbing. Lawsuits tied to Guevara have already cost Chicago and Cook County at least $80 million. In February, the City Council approved another $29.2 million in Guevara-linked settlements, and a few weeks ago another $14 million was added to the pile.
This package deal lands on the agenda for Monday’s meeting of the City Council’s Finance Committee. It arrives courtesy of outgoing Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry, who delivered the proposal on her way out the door and briefed council members Thursday in what Finance Chair Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) called Richardson-Lowry’s “swan song.”
Dowell told the Sun-Times the bundled approach is the smart play: “Any time we can put them all together and package them and get a better settlement amount, it’s best for the taxpayers.”
Stay tuned to Chicago Urban Daily as the Finance Committee takes up the proposal Monday — and as the city reckons with one of the darkest chapters in its police history.
Reported by Chicago Urban Daily News. Visit chicagourbandailynews.com for updates.
