Come on

$260.8M settlement proposed to resolve misconduct cases involving ex-CPD Detective Reynaldo Guevara
“We have a lot of these cases. Any time we can put them all together and package them and get a better settlement amount, it’s best for the taxpayers,” said Ald. Pat Dowell, chair of the City Council’s Finance Committee.
By Fran Spielman
Oct 1, 2026, 5:34pm CDT




Former Chicago Police Detective Reynaldo Guevara leaves the Leighton Criminal Courthouse after a 2013 hearing.

Mayor Brandon Johnson is proposing a $260.8 million global settlement to resolve en masse 16 police misconduct lawsuits and compensate 17 plaintiffs framed for murders by corrupt former Chicago police Detective Reynaldo Guevara.

Forty-three people, including three women, have been exonerated after they were sent to prison on murder convictions in cases handled by Guevara in the 1980s and 1990s. Most of them lived in Humboldt Park.

As of last winter, lawsuits targeting him had already cost the city and Cook County at least $80 million. In February, the City Council approved another $29.2 million in settlements linked to accusations of his police misconduct. A few weeks ago, $14 million more was added to the pile.

The $260.8 million global settlement on the agenda for Monday’s meeting of the City Council’s Finance Committee dwarf those earlier one-off settlements.

And it’s roughly three times higher than the $90 million global settlement that put to rest 176 lawsuits tied to former Chicago Police Sgt. Ronald Watts, who was accused of framing hundreds of people on drug charges at the Chicago Housing Authority’s Ida B. Wells complex.

Ever since the Watts cases were resolved in a package deal, the City Council has pressured the Johnson administration to strike a similar global settlement, resolving dozens of remaining Guevara cases.

Retiring Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry delivered that global settlement on her way out the door. She briefed Council members Thursday in what Finance Chair and 3rd Ward Ald. Pat Dowell called Richardson-Lowry’s “swan song.”

“We have a lot of these cases. Any time we can put them all together and package them and get a better settlement amount, it’s best for the taxpayers,” Dowell told the Sun-Times.

“If we had to defend each of these individually or negotiate them individually, you’re talking about more legal fees for outside counsel, more legal fees for the plaintiffs counsel. It’s just better all around to get these off of our plate, take care of the people who were harmed and focus on a better future for the city of Chicago.”

But Dowell warned there are more Guevara cases “in the pipeline.”

Asked how the city would find the money to pay for those settlements, she said: “That’s not my question. I don’t have an answer for that.”

In a prepared statement, Johnson called the use of global settlements an “innovative approach, where warranted and appropriate, to resolve a grouping of reversed-conviction cases involving the same defendant — in a process recognizing both the importance of humane justice while safeguarding taxpayer dollars.”

Ald. Bill Conway (34th), a former Cook County prosecutor who routinely opposes or closely scrutinizes settlements, said he believes the proposed settlement is a “good fiscal outcome for the people of Chicago.”

It amounts to roughly $680,000 for every year spent in prison, he said.

“We have known in this city that we have a large and unknown liability with regard to Guevara cases specifically,” Conway said. “And now, we have settled a lot of them.”

City officials say the proposed settlement is expected to save the city $300 million to $400 million in potential exposure to trial verdicts, plaintiffs’ legal fees and defense costs.

Attorneys from the law firm Loevy & Loevy who represent Guevara plaintiffs would not comment Thursday.

Most of the exonerations in the Guevara cases came between 2016 and 2024, while Kim Foxx was Cook County’s state’s attorney.



One man, Jacques Rivera, was exonerated in 2011 under Foxx’s predecessor, Anita Alvarez. Guevara, who couldn’t be reached for comment, now lives in Texas. He has never been charged with any crime.

Johnson has been under fire for his plan to borrow tens of millions of dollars and repay that money over five years to bankroll the Watts settlement and other large payouts tied to allegations of police misconduct.

For more than a year, Richardson-Lowry was under pressure to take what she learned from the Watts settlement and strike a similar deal to resolve the outstanding Guevara cases.

The Watts cases were easier to settle because Watts pleaded guilty, while Guevara has exercised his Fifth Amendment right. In addition, the Watts victims served shorter sentences for their shakedown cases and were represented by only two attorneys. Guevara’s alleged torture victims served longer sentences after being framed. Many of the witnesses have since died.

The $260.8 million price tag helps explain why the mayor said last month that projected legal settlements were the “biggest driver” of his projected $882 million budget shortfall for 2027.