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Chicago cop accused of framing at least 51 people for murder

 
 
 
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beero1000

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https://www.buzzfeed.com/melissasegura/detective-guevaras-witnesses?utm_term=.pw82w0Lev#.icM7OrYlX

Here’s the easy story of Guevara: It’s the tale of one allegedly rogue cop accused by at least 51 people of framing them for murders from the 1980s through the early 2000s in the rough-and-tumble Humboldt Park section of Chicago. His alleged misdeeds led 48 men and one woman to be sentenced to a total of more than 2,300 years in prison. Three were acquitted. Five received life sentences. Three were sentenced to death but spared when in 2003 Gov. George Ryan, disturbed by a rash of wrongful convictions, commuted all death sentences to life or less. Two men died behind bars, including Daniel Peña, an illiterate man who testified Guevara beat him into signing a confession he couldn’t read.

These numbers could place Guevara’s alleged misconduct among the most egregious policing betrayals in modern history, alongside the Rampart scandal in Los Angeles in the 1990s, when more than 100 convictions were tossed based on police corruption; the crack-era sentences of the 1970s and ‘80s in Brooklyn, when dozens of defendants accused Detective Louis Scarcella of manufacturing evidence against them; and, closer to home, in Chicago, where during the ‘70s and ‘80s former Commander Jon Burge led a team of detectives to beat — and even electrocute — more than 100 men, most of them black, on the city’s South Side into confessions.

But the scope of Guevara’s alleged misdeeds tells only part of the story. Chicago’s police brass, its prosecutors, its judges, police oversight commissions, and even federal authorities had ample warnings about Guevara, numerous chances to make amends for the injustices he stands accused of committing and to stop him from perpetrating more. They didn’t.

When the Rampart scandal surfaced, the LAPD submitted to a federal consent decree and enacted a long series of reforms. In Brooklyn, the district attorney revamped the office’s Conviction Integrity Unit, boosting its budget and manpower to review the Scarcella cases.

Yet in Chicago, which has been called the “false conviction capital” of the United States, the police department stood behind Guevara, promoting him and sending him off to retirement. So did prosecutors, who built cases around the people he said were eyewitnesses despite unlikely scenarios in their accounts.

Reynaldo Guevara leaves criminal courts, July 29, 2013. Alex Wroblewski / Sun-Times Media
So did judges, who turned a deaf ear to people who swore in open court that Guevara had beaten them or coerced their confessions or testimony. So did high-ranking city, county, and federal officials, who for decades ignored mounting claims of misconduct, choosing instead to defend the honor of the law enforcement establishment.
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My rage knows no bounds. :mad:
 
"Just one bad apple"

Better keep him on the force as he gets results!
 
Let me guess, this guy is a good cop who just couldn't get these bad guys on the real murders they did so he framed them for other murders?

It works well in movies and tv, right?
 
For every Rey Guevara who gets caught and makes headlines, there are twenty others just like him who never get caught at all. This is not and has never been a secret in Chicago, but the rest of the country still acts shocked when somebody gets caught red handed doing it.
 
It's shit like this that makes me just want to give up. How can people be so fucking awful all the time?
 
Guys, the important thing is that Guevara made it home safely to his family every night.

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Crazy Eddie said:
For every Rey Guevara who gets caught and makes headlines, there are twenty others just like him who never get caught at all. This is not and has never been a secret in Chicago, but the rest of the country still acts shocked when somebody gets caught red handed doing it.
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And who cover for the Guevara's in their ranks.
 
What gets me is when it's a criminal, it's upbringing, values, culture, education, all dysfunctional.

But when it's a cop gone bad, it's an anomaly, bad apples. Never representative of those other things.
 
Horatio Parker said:
What gets me is when it's a criminal, it's upbringing, values, culture, education, all dysfunctional.

But when it's a cop gone bad, it's an anomaly, bad apples. Never representative of those other things.
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Yep. People forget that the saying is "A bad apple spoils the barrel", and just say "It's a few bad apples.", as if that solves anything.

Again, Michael Wood Jr. says "No, the barrel is rotten", and I think that's true. At least in cities, most of these guys don't join up because they want to beat up teenage girls, or shoot kids. But they're taught to be that way. The PD will give them a reason, justification, and will shield them when they act a fool. And in a system like that, yes, you will get misconduct.
 
As far as police forces go, I also have to think that the people who would have the sensitivity to be really great police officers, rarely become one.
 
Mumbles said:
rousseau said:
As far as police forces go, I also have to think that the people who would have the sensitivity to be really great police officers, rarely become one.
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So raise the pay...
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I wonder if that'd do it. I can't imagine taking any amount of pay to put myself in mortal danger on a daily basis. My life is a lot more valuable than a two car garage.
 
rousseau said:
Mumbles said:
So raise the pay...
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I wonder if that'd do it. I can't imagine taking any amount of pay to put myself in mortal danger on a daily basis. My life is a lot more valuable than a two car garage.
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Thing is, they really don't do that. Even in the US, most police never shoot a round in line of duty. And many criminals will just give up when law enforcement shows up.

Raising pay will get better people to show up, I hope. And better training, plus breaking the "Blue Wall" will certainly help as well. And truth told, compared to the payouts that cities do thanks to lawsuits, it's worth a shot. I'm not saying that *just* higher pay will do, but I think it'd help recruit a better class of officers.
 
Horatio Parker said:
rousseau said:
Yea after thinking about it for a second that makes sense. I don't know.. maybe it's the gun.
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It's certainly stressful. And lots of wading around in psychological muck, people at their worst.
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I guess to be more clear what I was getting at with the sensitivity comment is that even if police work isn't always violent or dangerous, wielding a gun and throwing oneself into potentially dangerous situations has a bit of a violent vibe to it, and is likely going to attract people who enjoy action and excitement, not quiet reflection. So many police officers might at best be well equipped for the physical demands, but not necessarily the psychological demands.. dealing fairly and ethically with people.

But then, that's just my impression of the profession, I could be totally blinded.
 
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