Another Kim Foxx generated wrongful conviction lawsuit advances in federal court
The evidence against Solache and Reyes in the horrific 1998 stabbing deaths of Mariano and Jacinta Soto and the kidnapping of their children in Bucktown is overwhelming
It’s difficult to imagine that Gabriel Solache and Arturo DeLeon-Reyes would be walking free much less cruising to lucrative wrongful conviction settlements without a State’s Attorney, Kim Foxx, who over her eight years in office, treated those convicted of heinous crimes as victims.
But on October 30, the lawyers for the plaintiffs, Loevy & Loevy and the People’s Law Office, and city attorneys representing former police officers named in the suit, filed a joint motion to set a briefing schedule in the wrongful conviction case now in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District.
The evidence against Solache and Reyes in the horrific 1998 stabbing deaths of Mariano and Jacinta Soto and the kidnapping of their children in Bucktown is overwhelming – it includes the testimony of Adriana Mejia, who remains in jail for her role in the murders. And it includes the statement of a former Cook County prosecutor insisting that they got the right bad guys.
Former Assistant State’s Attorney Eric Sussman, in fact, told CBS Chicago in 2017 after Solace and Reyes had their charges dropped: “There is no doubt in my mind, or the mind of anyone who has worked on this case, that Mr. Solache and Mr. Reyes are guilty of these crimes. It is a tragic day for justice in Cook County.”
It was Foxx’s office that in November 2022 reversed its opposition to Certificates of Innocence (COIs) for the two. A COI is a legal declaration of innocence that not only sweeps away the convictions from the record but practically ensures victory in a wrongful conviction case. Foxx’s office never offered an explanation for the shocking reversal.
In their wrongful conviction complaints filed in 2018, the plaintiffs claimed that the lead investigator in the case, retired Detective Reynaldo Guevara, beat them into confessing to the crime. Similar misconduct claims have been levelled at Guevara in dozens of other wrongful conviction cases, but nothing against him has even been proved.
In January, for instance, Chicago City Council approved a $17.5 million settlement for Thomas Sierra, who accused Guevara of manipulating witnesses.
Estimates are that the Guevara cases alone could cost the city over $1 billion in settlements.
Legislation that provides “protections for immigrant communities” on way to the governor
The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights is squawking about legislation on its way to Gov. JB Pritzker that provides “protections for immigrant communities.”
HB 1312, approved in the final hours of the veto session in Springfield, permits, among other things, Illinois residents (illegal immigrants) to sue immigration agents if they believe their constitutional rights have been violated.
The Senate vote was 40-18 and the House vote 75-32.
During floor debate, Rep. Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis), protested that the bill was written to broadly, and could ensnare state and local law enforcement, not just the intended targets – federal agents.
Other provisions in the bill according to the Coalition include:
Hospitals: safeguards against data sharing and clear procedures for handling immigration enforcement on hospital grounds.
Courthouses: a ban on civil arrests in and around courthouses, reaffirming the right to seek justice without fear.
Universities: protections for students and staff at public colleges, including limits on data disclosure and required Know Your Rights trainings.
Childcare centers: affirms that licensed daycare centers cannot allow immigration enforcement agents to enter without a signed judicial warrant or court order.
Accountability: a path for people to seek justice for unlawful arrests and detentions by ICE and CBP (Border Protection).
Solutions to city’s $1 billion plus deficit are there but it seems that Mayor Brandon Johnson doesn’t want to hear them: Tribune Editorial Board
An international financial advisory firm, EY, on contract with the city of Chicago, completed two reports, one in August and the other in October, offering recommendations on how to best ensure Chicago’s short-term and long-term financial health.
The Tribune’s editors write that Johnson finally released the second report only after much prodding from its Editorial Board and others.
“There had been much speculation that EY’s findings had been filtered to suit the political priorities of the administration, or that perhaps the mayor’s office just didn’t trust City Council with the whole report,” the editors write.
“What matters is that the budget does not contain enough of those ‘efficiencies’ and so it behooves aldermen not just to read both reports but also to call in the writers and ask them some questions.”