Man wrongfully convicted of 1993 murder suing city

A man who spent 16 years behind bars for murder before he was set free and exonerated based on allegations he was framed by a now infamous Chicago police detective is suing the city for damages.

In January, Geraldo Iglesias, who was convicted of a 1993 Humboldt Park killing, became the 19th defendant to be exonerated based on allegations he was framed by retired Chicago police Det. Reynaldo Guevara.

Iglesias, who was 22 when he was arrested, named Guevera and the city in a wrongful conviction suit that was filed Tuesday.

“When I got incarcerated my son was 1-year-old,” Iglesias said at the West Loop law offices of Loevy and Loevy, which is representing him.

Iglesias said his son would cry when he had to leave after visiting his father in prison.

“That killed me,” he said. “I just want justice to be done. There’s a lot of guys who are still incarcerated that he [Guevera] locked up. I want to see something done.”

Francisco Vicente, the jailhouse informant who claimed to have heard Iglesias confess, recanted his testimony against Iglesias and two other men in separate cases, both of whom also have had their convictions overturned. Vicente now says he was threatened by Guevara and received a light sentence in his own case.

Dozens of defendants have claimed they were victims of similar frame-ups by Guevara, who retired from CPD in 2005 after more than three decades working as a detective on the Northwest Side.

The city has paid millions to settle lawsuits brought by many of those defendants.

Guevara has refused to answer questions under oath about the misconduct allegations during post-conviction hearings and civil litigation, asserting his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

“I don’t know how they could let this officer get away with all of this,” Iglesias said.

Iglesias, who worked with a gang intervention program before he was arrested for murder in 1993, is now working construction.