'Motive' Podcast

Francisco Benitez greets well-wishers after his double murder conviction is overturned Tuesday.

Ex-Chicago cop offers rare testimony for man whose double-murder conviction was then vacated

“I’ve never had an officer involved in the arrest and investigation of a client voluntarily testify they got the wrong guy,” Francisco Benitez’s lawyer said of former gang investigator Joe Sparks’ testimony.

By Frank Main

T.J. Jimenez

Thaddeus ‘T.J.’ Jimenez, ‘Motive’ podcast subject, finally sentenced in viral video shooting

By Frank Main

Chicago

How a gun violence spike in 2016 created a movement of Chicagoans that is still building

By Patrick Smith | WBEZ

Jontae Adams holds the favorite stuffed animal of his 7-year-old daughter Jaslyn Adams.

Crime

‘My daughter was killed by bullets meant for me’ — a Chicago man’s story

By Jontae Adams

Crime

Six months with a Chicago shooting survivor: Fear, pain and frustration with police

By Patrick Smith | WBEZ

Cecilia Mannion stands next to a memorial for Rosa Ortega and Timothy (T-Ball) where an accident took their lives on the South Side, Wednesday, July 20, 2022.

‘Motive’ Podcast

Walking with the victims of Chicago’s gun violence

In the face of the city’s violence, Cecilia Mannion refuses to give up hope. The former gang member relentlessly pursues peace and healing.

By Patrick Smith | WBEZ

Thaddeus “T.J.” Jimenez as caught on a cellphone video on Aug. 17, 2015, on the Northwest Side. Shortly after posing here, the video caught Jimenez shooting Earl Casteel in the legs.

‘Motive’ Podcast

‘Motive,’ episode 1: A shooting from a Mercedes

Meet Thaddeus “T.J.” Jimenez, a Chicago man who spent 16 years in prison for a murder he swore he didn’t commit. With $25 million from a wrongful-conviction lawsuit, T.J. bought a gang. “Motive” is his story.

By Sun-Times

Victoria Jimenez, mother of Thaddeus ‘T.J.’ Jimenez.

‘Motive’ Podcast

‘Motive’ Episode 2: Violated into the PeeWees

T.J. Jimenez’s mother Victoria says she did her best to keep her son out of gangs. In this episode of ‘Motive,’ we learn about what he was like as a kid.

By Sun-Times

Sign outside the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center

‘Motive’ Podcast

‘Motive’ Episode 3: A boy enters and a man leaves

After he’s arrested, T.J. is sent to a juvenile detention center in Chicago. In Episode 3 of “Motive,” those who knew T.J. when he was in juvie speak out.

By Sun-Times

‘Motive’ Podcast

‘Motive’ Episode 4: What really happened at the Honey Baked Ham

In February 1993, Eric Morro was shot outside a Honey Baked Ham store in Avondale. In this episode of “Motive,” T.J.’s old friend Larry Tueffel takes Frank Main back to the crime scene to tell him how it all really happened.

By Sun-Times

Thaddeus Jimenez, 30, sits with his mom Victoria Jimenez

‘Motive’ Podcast

‘Motive’ Episode 5: The Fairytale Ending

On May 1, 2009, T.J. became a free man. He won his $25-million lawsuit against the city, found a girlfriend and had two kids. But trouble seemed to find T.J. wherever he went.

By Sun-Times

‘Motive’ Podcast

‘Motive’ Episode 6: Mousey is dead

T.J. spent 16 years in prison, going from a boy of 13 to a 30-year-old man. What impact did prison have on him? The latest episode of “Motive” looks at the worst of what prison can do to you. Brian Nelson, a former leader of T.J.’s gang, explains.

By Sun-Times

T.J. Jimenez flashes the Simon City Royals gang sign.

‘Motive’ Podcast

‘Motive’ Episode 7: Inmate K51114

At the age of 17, TJ walked into Stateville prison and had to grow up fast. Though he was later exonerated in 2009, his prison scars never quite healed.

By Sun-Times

‘Motive’ Podcast

‘Motive’ Episode 8: T.J. v. The City of Chicago

T.J. and his attorney file a wrongful-conviction lawsuit against the City of Chicago, but how will living through the details of the trial affect T.J.?

By Sun-Times

‘Motive’ Podcast

‘Motive’ Episode 9: Batman

With millions of dollars in his pocket, T.J. invested in his old gang — and started a war on Chicago’s West Side.

By Sun-Times

‘Motive’ Podcast

‘Motive’ Episode 10: Mother’s Day

As we conclude this story, we find some answers about what motivates T.J. Jimenez — from T.J. himself.

By Sun-Times

Read our coverage of T.J. Jimenez

‘Motive’ Podcast

‘Motive’ podcast figure killed girlfriend in apparent murder-suicide, Chicago police say

In what became a viral cellphone video, Earl Casteel was seen shot in the legs by Thaddeus ‘T.J.’ Jimenez in a bizarre case recounted in the 2019 Sun-Times/WBEZ podcast.

By Frank Main

T.J. Jimenez

Thaddeus ‘T.J.’ Jimenez, subject of ‘Motive’ podcast, loses bid to drop charges in viral video shooting

He’d asked Illinois’ appeals court to toss the charges in the caught-on-video attack because he already was convicted of a federal gun charge stemming from the same shooting.

By Frank Main

‘Motive’ Podcast

‘T.J.’ Jimenez, ‘Motive’ podcast figure freed after wrongful conviction, wants feds to take custody of him

The Chicago gang leader was featured in the serial podcast last fall from the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ Chicago.

By Frank Main

T.J. Jimenez

Thaddeus ‘T.J.’ Jimenez, ‘Motive’ podcast figure who got millions for wrongful conviction, charged in jail fight

The Chicago gang figure was featured in the serial podcast last fall from the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ Chicago.

By Frank Main

Obituaries

After decades in solitary confinement, Brian Nelson got out, became an advocate for prisoners

Featured in the 2019 podcast ‘Motive,’ he was found dead Monday in his office at the Uptown People’s Law Center, where he worked for a decade and answered thousands of inmates’ letters.

By Frank Main

T.J. Jimenez

Gang member loses $6M of wrongful-conviction windfall to shooting victim

Earl Casteel sued Thaddeus “T.J.” Jimenez for shooting him in 2015 on Chicago’s Northwest Side. A judge awarded Casteel $6.3 million.

By Frank Main

T.J. Jimenez

Decade in prison urged for millionaire-turned-criminal Thaddeus ‘T.J.’ Jimenez

Jimenez was in prison for 16 years after he was convicted in the fatal shooting of a man in 1993. He was freed after his conviction was overturned.

By Frank Main

T.J. Jimenez

Man wins $25 million for wrongful conviction in 1993 slaying

A federal jury Tuesday awarded $25 million to a suburban man who sued the city of Chicago after spending 16 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. “Sometimes the criminal justice system makes a mistake,” said Jon Loevy, one of the attorneys for plaintiff Thaddeus “T.J.” Jimenez. “In this case, we proved that’s exactly what happened.”

By Stefano Esposito

T.J. Jimenez

Multimillionaire Chicago gang leader gets more than 9 years in prison

Thaddeus “T.J.” Jimenez received 110 months for shooting the man twice in August 2015 from his Mercedes convertible.

By Frank Main

The Watchdogs

Even $25 million can’t keep wrongfully convicted Chicago man out of trouble

Even the $25 million Thaddeus ‘T.J.’ Jimenez won from City Hall can’t keep wrongfully convicted Chicago man out of trouble.

By Frank Main

News

How millionaire’s gang fantasy ‘blew up the West Side’

T.J. Jimenez won $25 million from the city of Chicago for wrongful conviction — then blew it on a deadly gang war that “blew up the West Side.”

By Frank Main

The Watchdogs

Chicago’s jailhouse strip club — and feds say they can’t shut it down

THE WATCHDOGS: For years, women have put on strip shows atop a downtown parking garage for inmates at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center.

By Frank Main and Maria Cardona

‘Motive’ Podcast

‘Motive’ podcast: Who’s who

These are the key players in the Sun-Times/WBEZ podcast ‘Motive.’

By Frank Main

Thaddeus “T.J.” Jimenez in a police lineup photo at 13.

‘Motive’ Podcast

Introducing ‘Motive’: a podcast from the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ

Hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Frank Main, ‘Motive’ tells the story of a wrongfully convicted teen turned self-appointed gang boss.

By Frank Main