February 2, 2022 • 36 mins
In 1988, 16 year old Felix Valentin was shot in his car in an alley on the West Side of Chicago. Before slipping into a coma and eventually death, he was able to identify his shooter and the getaway driver, 2 members of the Imperial Gangsters. An 11 year old eyewitness named Orlando Lopez initially identified Jacques Rivera, a member of the Latin Kings. Shortly after, Lopez realized his mistake, but Detective Reynaldo Guevara would not listen. Guevara claimed that the victim had identified Jacques as well, and the juvenile witness went along with it. Jacques went to a bench trial in front of Judge Michael Close who had recently been a focus of Operation Greylord, one of the biggest judicial corruption investigations in US history. Judge Close would not admit the victim's initial ID's as evidence, and Jacques was sentenced to 80 years. 23 years later, the Center on Wrongful Convictions eventually unearthed the reluctant witness, who greeted them with relief, saying that he’d been waiting to tell the truth. Detective Guevara's corruption has cost the citizens of Chicago over 50 million dollars so far, in addition to the freedom of over 20 innocent men and women.
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https://www.innocentdemandjustice.com/
https://www.law.northwestern.edu/legalclinic/wrongfulconvictions/
https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/155-jason-flom-with-marilyn-mulero/
https://lavaforgood.com/with-jason-flom/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to a very special episode of Wrongful Conviction, in
which we're trying something new. I've asked a previous guest
to take on my usual role as interviewer. You might
remember Patrick Pursley from his own episode of Wrongful Conviction.
Patrick did what seemed to be the impossible to win
his freedom. He got a law changed from inside prison
(00:25):
to allow for the post conviction ballistics testing that proved
his innocence. Just an amazing feat accomplished by a truly
amazing guy. And now he brings us an interview with
another innocent man who he knew while inside Illinois Stateville Penitentiary,
Jacques Rivera. On August seven, a sixteen year old name
(00:53):
Felix valent Team was shot in his car on the
West Side of Chicago. At the hospital, responding officers spoke
with them identify the shooter and getaway drivers members of
the Imperial Gangsters. However, a corrupt detective name Renando Gavera
instead targeted Jacques Rivera, a member of a different gang,
the Latin Kings Joes, ran the local recreation center that
(01:16):
Govera often targeted for information. Despite the victim's dying declaration
to responding officers, Govera claimed to have gotten a different
identification during the eighteen days before the victim's death. Guvera
then misled in eleven year old eye witness to collaborate
that bogus identification, charging Jocks with the murder. Jockes was
(01:37):
tried under Judge Michael Close, who had recently been the
focus of Operation Gray Lord, one of the biggest judicial
corruption investigations in the United States history. The judge would
allow the testimony of the victim's original identification, and with
the false testimonies of Carvera and the misled child witness,
Judge Close convicted and sends Jacques Rivera to eighty years.
(02:01):
When the Center on Wrang for Convictions took on Jack's case,
they found the eyewitness, now an adult, who greeted them
with relief, saying that he had been waiting to tell
the truth for the last twenty three years since an
investigation intok Cavera's corruption has resulted in the exoneration of
over twenty innocent men and women, costing Chicago over fifty
(02:23):
million dollars in counting. This is raw for of conviction.
Welcome to wrong for conviction. This is Patrick Persley, also
(02:43):
known as Free Patrick Pursley. I was previously a guest
on rang for Conviction, but today I'm honored the feeling
for Jason Flam and we have a very special guest
with us, a friend of mine, someone I knew a
long time while in Stay Fields over my own wrong
for conviction, Mr jackes Rivera. How are you, sir, Oh Patrick,
I'm good man, I am really good. So one, thank
(03:04):
you for having to trust to me to tell your
story on behalf of Chase of Flom. I know it's
hard telling our stories, putting our pain out there on
the line. Could you explain to the audience a little
bit about yourself and just our connection, our connection unfortunately
being in prison together. You know, you was a great dude.
(03:25):
Unfortunately for us, we were roughly convicted, so that doesn't
change our character who we were before we went in there.
We didn't let it change who we were. No, we didn't,
and I appreciate that. Jax, your cases, well, you know,
you kind of hit the double reverse jackpot here. You
have one of the most corrupt detectives in Chicago history,
(03:45):
which is saying a lot, and his name is Detective
Ronaldo Cavert. Real infamous guy. It's responsible for so many
wrong for convictions over twenty account and it's called the
City of Chicago fifty million dollars. And I can just
tell you, as a jail house lawyer from Stateville, you
know my twenty three years doing cases down there, his
name came up again and again and there was definitely
(04:06):
a pattern present throughout. And then on top of that,
you've got a judge who was a person interested investigation
judicial corruption in the eighties called Operation Gray Lord. The
investigation was meant to root out pay for play scattle
on which judges were accepting bribes where basically they were
fixing everything from parking tickets to murders. Uh. The judge
(04:27):
in your case, Michael Close, was alleged had taken twenty
five tho dollars to fix a murder case find one
defendant not guilty and the other definitive guilty. I believe
while Judge Michael Close was never criminally prosecuted, he was
pursued in civil suits and the Cook County States Attorney's
Office they represented him, and basically their position was that
(04:49):
he was immune from civil litigation during the commission of
his judicial duties. So therefore he was immune from civil
liability according to the law. So I think that says
a lot of about this case and where we're headed.
And we haven't even started yet. But Jocks, let's talk
about your life. What was your life like growing up
in the city of Chicago during this time. Yeah, growing
(05:10):
up on the northwest side of Chicago, the Humble Park area,
varying late seventies, all of the eighties, you know, really
gang infested, high crime, and you had like four main gangs.
There were the Imperial Gangsters, the same Spanish Cobras, the
main Atlant Disciples, and the Lant Kings. My dad had
passed away when I was fifteen, and I had five
(05:33):
other siblings that my mom had to take care of,
and you know, I was just roaming the streets. I
was really distraught about my dad passing, and I did
you know, he was kind of my rock, my guide,
and um, you know, didn't really have much of a
choice but to join the gang. At that point. They
offered protection, and without the protection, you'll be a target
in the area, and we couldn't move out that area.
(05:54):
So it wasn't like I wanted to do that or
go down that path. I just had an all the choice.
I was a member of the land Kings. So in
Humble Park they had a festival yearly. It was called
the Fiestas, the celebration of the Latino culture, and there
would be times where the gang violence was real bad
in this festival time. So what the city decided to do,
(06:18):
along with the Puerto Rican Institute, was to pay game
members to govern their own you know, to stop the violence.
So the gentleman from the Spanish coalition suggested that we
use this money to open up a community center, which
was a great thing and just for people not familiar
with Chicago, this was quite commonplace where the city paid
(06:38):
the gangs to keep their guys in line. This was
even done in prisons called in maintenant control program. So
this community center gets going over the years, gets a
couple of name changes, and I believe it's been named
the Humble Park Institute, that's correct. Yeah, that's when I
really got involved in it, and it was doing so
well that the city they wanted to give us more
(07:01):
money to open up a recreational center. They did, and
we opened it up and that was running. It was
called Mind and Body. We have weights in their foosball,
table air hockey games for the kids for after school programs,
and people came in there a lot adults and kids,
so it was considered like a safe place for a family.
Even though it's like in this so called gang infrastructure.
(07:24):
There was some good elements that came out of it.
Oh yeah, definitely was. And that's why I think the
troubles began. The detective Ronaldo Gavera, he used to come
in there from time to time looking for people. I
was like, you know, we have nothing to hide here.
It seemed like at first that he was just interested
in how this program came about, who was involved in it.
(07:44):
You know, who's in charges running? And I said, I am,
and we're a part of the Humble Park Institute. And
he used that as a means to come in there
to look for people that he was looking for from
the streets of game members, whether it was to arrest
them or just to talk to them or whatever it
may be. So now this brings us to the end
of Summer nine and the murder you got caught up in.
It was a gang related murder, and I remember you
(08:08):
tell me it took someone actually come into Stateville laying
it all out for you to actually know what was
going on behind the scenes, what this actual beef was about.
You mentioned like multiple gangs operating this area. I believe
it was Latin King's Many at Latin Disciples, the Imperial
Gangsters in Saint Spanish Cobras. What was going on at
that time bold with the heavy hitters, if I can
(08:30):
say that, And then you had these little block gags
and the two of them were in St. Campbell Boys
and mainly at Campbell Boys, And from what I understand
was they were approached by the Spanish Cobras and the
Imperial gangsters and they were telling them, you can either
join us or we're gonna shut you down. Stimulation. Yeah,
(08:50):
so I believe the Insane Campbel Boys went went the
insane Spanish Cobras I s C. And Many had Campbell Boys.
They said, we were gonna become Mania At Latin Disciples
sold the Mania at Camel Boys. Now we're at war
with the Imperial gangsters about their decision about not riding
with them but going with the Many at Latin Disciples.
(09:13):
And from what I understand, the victim in this case
we're talking about today, sixteen year old Felix Valentine. He
and his brother were many at Campbell boys who were
assimilated or basically had flipped into the Many At Latin disciples, who,
like you said, they were now at war with the
Imperial Gangsters over that fact. And that takes us to
the day of the shooting August twenty seven, where Felix
(09:36):
Latine got shot was Imperial Gangsters neighborhood. He was over
there with his brother. They were going to a wedding,
and his brother went up the stairs and he waited
in the car, you know, like saying, hurry up, get up,
to get out, because you know where you're supposed to
be in this area. So according to the police report
in night witness report, a car drove up, pulled right
(09:56):
behind Felix while he sat in the mouth of the alley.
Thea astenger got out the car walked up to Felix,
and then this person opened fired on him. His brother
heard the shots, came downstairs, ran to the car, saw
his brother limped over, and he opened the car door,
pushed his brother Felix over to the passenger side, and
took off to the hospital. There was a Chicago police
(10:17):
officer that came on the scene he went to the
hospital talked to the victim, so this would be Officer
Craig let Ridge, he was responding officer. He also talked
to people at the crime scene. So the next day
Felix Valient team stabilizes Officer lect Ridge went to the
hospital and Felix told let Ridge and his partner that
was the Imperial Gangsters who had shot him, right, yes, sir,
(10:40):
And he left the hospital, went back to the police
station and came back with an Imperial Gangster mug bug
and low and behold, Felix Valentine identifies Jose Rodriguez and
Philip Nevis. And he didn't just identify them, he stipulated
the participation that each of and he said that Jose
(11:02):
Rodriguez shot him and Philip Nevis was driving the car.
So this sho has been like an open and shut case.
But that's that's not how this goes down. So even
though Felix founcing the victim in this case tells Officer
Electric to respond to officers whose attackers were detected, Rivera
led the investigation a whole another direction. Now there's also
(11:23):
a witness, eleven year old boy from the Imperial Gangsters
neighborhood named Orlando Lopez, whose sister also happened to be
dating Felix's brother, and allegedly witnessed the shooting, and he
allegedly said, because we're not even sure what he what
he actually said is might have been fed to him
by Rivera. But he allegedly says he was standing at
an indentation in the alley and saw the shooter from
(11:46):
the back and described the shooter as about five tin
dressed in black and gold. Now those are Latin King colors,
not Imperial gangster colors. What else was alleged? He said
that the car turned southbound on Spall Thing, which is
in the direction of the Latin Kings, and was for
certain that the shooter's hair in the back he had
(12:07):
a ponytail, and it was dyed like a blond gold color.
And Gevera starts looking for Mark's depending on in Latin
King's territory or maybe even had you in mind. So
how how did you do it? How did you get
caught up in this? Gevara came into the neighborhood. I
was out there with the guys. He drove up on
us and he said, I need to talk to you.
What they used to do was use people as fillers
(12:30):
in lineups, and I stood in a few lineups before.
They just said, you know, don't worry abody. We know
you didn't do it. We just need fillers. So and
Gevara drove up and he said, you know, we won't
know if you're standing in the lineup, and I just
knew it was funny because it's like seven to ten
guys there, and you picked me out of everybody. Did
you fit the description? No, not at all. I mean
(12:51):
my hair was long in the back and never wore
it in the ponytail, pigtail, none of that, or had
it dyed that color or any color for that matter.
So your very approaches you and you feel kind of
strange about this lineup being a filler, but you did
it before, So what's going through your mind? Is this
is happening? And what happened? I said something was wrong?
(13:12):
And when I hesitated, he opened up his coat and
moved his coat from around his revolver as to say,
you could come peacefully or you could come fortually. I said,
I know they do nothing wrong, So I went with him.
I was held in the police station for that day
and the whole next day, and then on the third
day they put me in a lineup with Imperial Gangsters.
(13:37):
Why would you put me in the lineup with Imperial gangsters?
He was the Late Kings. You did it right, That's crazy.
And for Lando Lopez is from the Imperial Gangsters territory,
he probably knows all those guys. It looks a little
bit like they might have been trying to lead the
witness to pick someone that they didn't know. So were
you identified at that time? No, I was not identified.
(13:57):
They let me go. So that was your first line
up with this case, and they let you go. A
little time passes, so you probably think the whole thing
is behind you is blown over. But then at this time,
if we could kind of see like a split screen
behind the scenes, you live in your life and these
two other things are going on. First, Felix Mounteam's health
is rapidly going down. He now slips into a coma
(14:20):
and eventually dies eighteen days after the shooting on September fourteenth. Meanwhile, Carvera,
he's working in this Orlando Lopez kid. It's believed that
Carvera told Lopez that he had visited Felix in the
hospital and Felix identified you. So then he starts pulling
Orlando's heart string and say, this is your sister's boyfriend's
(14:43):
little brother that could have easily been you. So Carvera
relates to Orlando. You know, the victim told him it
was Jacques. Rivera basically puts it on this kid, like
what would you want someone to do for you in
this particular situation. So now Carvera, he rolls up on
you again exactly. So, I was at the Humble Park
Institute and here the screeching of a car and it's
(15:05):
Cavera and it's partner Harveston, and he said, hey, hey,
came here, and I went up to them. I put
my hands up right away. He cut me up and
he says, what car are you driving? I said, a
white Apolo? So why Gavera went to such my car?
I'm asking his partner said that what's going on? Man?
Jall picked me up about two weeks ago. You asked
me to stand in the line, and by standing in
the line and I'm let going. He says, I don't know.
(15:26):
This is the Varia's case. So de Vera came back.
He sat me in the squad car and started proceeding
to Area five police station, and I just kept handling,
and I was like, man, what's going on. They didn't
buckle me in the back seat, so he stopped the
car real quick, and as I flew forward, he grabbed
me by my shirt and he says, you're being trying
to murder, motherfucker. And he pushed me back and he said,
(15:46):
now shut the funk up. This episode is underwritten by
A i G, a leading global insurance company. A i
G is committed to corporate social responsibility and is making
a positive difference in the lives of its employees and
in the communities where we work and live. In light
(16:09):
of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and
in recognition of A i g s commitment to criminal
and social justice reform, the A i G pro Bono
Program provides free legal services and other support to underrepresented
communities and individuals. And we get to the police station.
(16:32):
They put me in the lineup with Latin Kings and
this was the second line up. So I said, this time,
I'm gonna stand dead center to make sure what were
this witnesses, so you can see me to know that
this is not me. Another detective came in and he
made the noise like a gang show thing b b
b bing bing. He said, we got a winner. They
identified you as a shooter. They removed the other gentleman
(16:54):
that was in the lineup, and they said, did you
want to talk about this? I said, there's nothing to
talk about, man, I said, I don't even know what's
going on. What do you want me to say? And
then Vera came up to me. He goes, you know,
you can make this easier on yourself. Tell us who
the shooter was, and we're gonna put you down for
the driver and we're gonna help you out. I first
thought to myself, not only do you want me to
implicate myself it's something that I didn't do, but you
(17:16):
want me to implicate somebody else? There was someone else
under the bus too. Yeah, And I told him you
got to be crazy, man, I'm not gonna confess to
somebody didn't do or inplcate nobody else. He's like, WHOA,
that's okay. You don't have to tell us something anyways,
because you're going down for this. And I was like, well,
let the procedures begin. So during Kiki jail. I know
the experience as far as getting locked up, everything that's
(17:38):
the fan, So can you describe that? Honestly, it was
just a horrific time. Man. I had no contact with
my family. My wife was there when he picked me
up the second time, so she vested gout a lawyer
that was a family lawyer to a friend of hers. Now,
leading up to the actual trial, did you take a
jury or bench trial? I asked to feel my friends
(17:59):
and they're like, well, I of they have twelve people
to sign. My faith stood of one person. Man, I
would take a journey. I would take a jury. I
would take a jury. So going back to court, my
lawyers like, have you come to a conclusion what you
want to do? I was like, well, I think I
want to take a jury. And you're like, oh no, no, no, no, no, listen, listen.
We're out here and Skulkie. These people out here read
and see on the news all day long about gang
(18:21):
related murders. He's like, I think we're standing a better
chance of this judge. He's a good judge. And not
knowing the judge's background all being involved in the Great
Lord operation, I was like, well, you're my attorney man,
I got confidence in you, so we took a bench trial.
Now you mentioned Operation great Lord, which is perhaps even
more weighty as far as judicial import even more important
(18:42):
than this Roague detective Convera. And for the listeners who
don't know, Operation great Lord was the largest corruption bus
in United States history comes straight out Cook County, or
should they say Crook County, Illinois, led to an unpresidented
number of indictments against pub of an officials that got
seventeen judges for the eight lawyers, eight cops, ten deputy sheriffs,
(19:07):
eight court officials, and one good old legislator. Can't leave
him out your judge was one of the many judges
investigated in this sting operation. The Honorable Judge Michael Close
was alleged to have taken a bribe in a case
not connected to this one, but nevertheless, it was still
alleged that one of these two defendants, fighting a murder
(19:27):
case and front Judge Close, Robert Bridges, paid twenty five
dollars so that he would obtain a not guilty verdict
in his bench trial. And this rappi John Carterlino, who
also had Judge Close, would be conversely found guilty. So,
unbeknownst to you, Jock, you're having a bench trial, So
your whole life is placed in this judge's hands, who's
(19:49):
obviously morally compromised. So, Jack, what was presented against you?
What did they actually use during the trial the prosecution
port Alano Lopez understand he was primed up by Gavera
to say that he saw a man from the back
about five ten wearing a black and gold with a
gold dyed ponytail. He said that the man shot Felix
(20:12):
and hopped into a getaway card that went down Spaulding.
When asked if he got a look at the shooter's face,
he said that he only caught a glimpse of the shooter,
always looking at the back of the shooter. When asked
if he could point to the shooter in court today,
he said it was me and he pointed at me.
I was going crazy at that moment, you know, and
(20:32):
in my mind saying, you're fucking lying man, Why are
you doing this, Why are you saying that this is me?
And you know, dan Way, I didn't do the shooting.
The Gavera got to understand had said that when he
arrested me that I had a ponytail which was dyed
gold or blind in the back, which of course it
never was. And then Vera said he visited the victim,
(20:53):
Felix Realiteen in the hospital, maybe a couple of days,
if not a week before he died, and that he
identified me as to shoot her out of a photo lineup.
My defense put on Officer Electrics was the officer that
was on the scene who spoke to the victim. So
upon Officer Electric she didn't understand, the state intervened and
they had a sidebar and Judge Klose said, I'm only
(21:16):
gonna allow competent evidence, and so he would not allow
Officer Electrics to testify that Phelix Valuctin, the victim has
said that Jose Roger was the one who shot him
and Philip Meevz was the one that was driving the car.
He was only allowed to say that he was on
the scene and he visited the victim, and he attempted
(21:36):
to arrest two individuals in this case. And basically that
was it. So if I understand, as you're saying, the
rich who's got a dying declaration from the victim in
the hospital who shot him for some reason, this is
not competent or credible evidence in his eyes exactly. I
couldn't believe it. And then my alibi was the mother
(21:58):
of my kids. Saw my atturn Me's telling me, well,
they're gonna say she's biased because she's the mother of
your kids and that she would life you. The state
trying to say that, well, if Mr Rivera was actually
at home with his wife at the time of the shooting,
the defense would have put her understanding. My lawyer was like,
we object, your honor, we're not unnethal obligation to present
a defense from the corner. Hell told him that you
(22:19):
represent me, you know. And then my lawyer says, well,
the state would have said she was biased anyways, So
you found guilty. Bring us to that moment right then,
about the closing arguments, I actually thought that Judge Close
was gonna take some time and go back into his
chambers and consider all the evidence and come back and
gave his decision. But right they understand after the closing arguments,
(22:41):
he said, well, I came to my conclusion and I
find the defended guilty. And I was like, wait a minute, man,
you know, he didn't even take ten fifteen minutes. He
just came straight down and said I found the defended guilty,
and I was like, oh my goodness. He went back
for sentencing and he gave me sixty years for the murder,
for the shoot, he gave me twenty years for routine hideous,
(23:03):
and then he gave me five for the u U
W the gun, which they never had. First of all,
I was worried about my family, one of my kids,
my kids, What's gonna happen to them? But I knew
at that point that I had to prepare for what
I was going into. I wind up at the Stage
(23:32):
Correctional Center June of right. I was actually there in
the eighty nine. So can you describe that? What's this like?
What's this environment to you? Well, the only thing that
saved me was the gang that I wrote with. They
were ready waiting for me to come in. They meet
you downstairs while you're in the bullpen, and they go
tell the sergeant, hey, this is one of ours. Put
(23:52):
them up there with us, because the gangs at that
time they consider themselves owning the cells exactly. And the
officers put the response building on the gang chiefs to
keep the Indians in mind and find him with sell.
So if I'm walking out seven gallery, I looked down
to one gallery and I see this guy hit this
officer with a baseball back and I went, oh, my goodness,
(24:17):
and they put me in The cell was an empty cell,
and we went on a ninety day lockdown in the
middle of June andree Weather. I had no salt, no shampoo,
I had nothing. And then during the second month of
being on the lockdown, they sent another key up there,
who're just coming in, and they put him in a
cell with me. So we got along pretty good, and
(24:38):
we came up a lockdown. You know, we never even
made it to the child hall. Also came up there,
key us out. We came out the cells and you
hear the gun go out, boom boom. Back on lockdown, Home,
back on lockdown. Six months of lockdown, A first entering
the prison system, and it was hell, pure hell. Did
you try to, like study law? What was your mental
(25:00):
process as far as how you were going to get
out of there? Well, I couldn't study nothing because we
was on a lockdown. We couldn't go nowhere. Nobody really
had any law books. Amazingly enough, before I left the
county jail, somebody told me, listen, man filed for your
notice of a pill because you only got thirty days
to do this. So I fouled it in the county jail.
I was telling my wife. I was like, listen, I
(25:21):
got all this time. Ain't no suching you went around
for me, you know, just move on with your life.
She said, well, it's wait to see what happens to
the appeal process. I got that dreaded letter, sorry Jaques
to farm you that the appoll a cart they denied
our petition today and bla blah blah blah blah. I
think at that point I started to lose hope. And
so now you're done with your direct appeal. Do you remember,
(25:43):
like what year this was? Maybe? So, how did you
first hear about Northwestern Center Wrong for Convictions. I know
they get thousands of letters every year from inmates seeking representation.
They represented me, but they had told me no three
times prior. Do you know what what major case stand
out to them actually was Detective Guvera. After losing that
(26:04):
director pill and knowing what was ahead of me, I
got to start reaching out to people, and the law
liberied in Stateville. They have a list of pro bonn
attorneys and law firms that would help with cases and
stuff like that. So I wrote Northwestern and Katherine Crawford
was one of the attorneys there who contacted me because
we're not taking your case. We're just investigating Detective Guevera,
(26:28):
and we just want to ask you some questions. If
we should happen to come upon something, then we'll be
interested in taking the kids. She stated that they were
trying to find the eye witness, which Islando Lopez. She goes,
you know, you have a good case, but you have
a bad case. You got a good case because you
was convicted on a single identification, no physical evidence, but
it's a bad case because there's no evidence that's notfing
(26:49):
for us to go on other than this eyewitness. And
we've been trying to locate them. So then in two
thousand and ten, with the advance of the search engine tech,
Northwestern locates the only way against you, Orlando Lopez. It's
been twenty three years since his false identification you. So
what happens next? They went to his home and he
answered the door and they give him their car to
(27:11):
tell them who they was. He goes, I know who
you're here for. You're here for Jacques Rivera, and according
to dark statement, he just kept saying, you know, this
is all about redemption. He says, first of all, I
didn't even know if Jacques Rivery was still locked up.
He goes, I don't even know what happened to the case.
He needed to clear his conscience so this and he's
got three boys. He said he couldn't look at them
(27:31):
in the face knowing that something like this can happen
to them. They asked him about the Fetix volunteer shooting
and he proceeded to say what transpired that day, and
he just stated that he was there and he saw
somebody and detect Ever, another Rivera picked him up two
days maybe three days after shooting. He was showing a
line up to identify somebody and he made no identification,
(27:54):
and then he proceeded to saying that A couple of
days later, as he's walking to school, he sees the
guy who actually shot and killed Felix Valentine and he
says he knows he's the guy because he had the
same pants and jacket on, and he said to himself,
this is the guy who did it. It was a
(28:14):
Jacques Rivera. But he told you old, you don't know
what to do. So Orlando knew what Phelix knew, but
none of this mattered to Detective Gevera, So how does
he handle this eleven year old kid or miss Sandal? However,
you won't put it. So now here we go with
the technico Rivera telling him that this is the guy
we believe who killed your sister's boyfriend's brother, and we
(28:38):
need you to get this guy. We need to get
him off the streets so he doesn't kill nobody else.
And Lando Lopez is like, you don't understand, it's not him.
He said, I've seen the real guy. This is not
the guy. So Goevera proceeds with saying, well, this is
what Felix Valentine said. So Lindo Lopez, he says, they
weren't listening to him. He said, well, if they're not
(29:00):
gonna listen to me, and this is his decimon he said,
he proceeded to make the identification of me, knowing that
it wasn't me. So now the only witness in the case,
Orlando Lopez. He becanning a record you got also electrics.
He's standing by this original identification that Felix made prior
to his passing. So all you really have to get
(29:22):
around now is whether Felix had changed his story prior
to pass and made a dying declaration to Guvera to
somehow implicate you, that is when and if he ever
even spoke to Calvera. So now my attorneys they find
the doctor that was taking care of Phelix Valentine while
he was sat in intense of care. The doctor said
it was impossible for the Felix Valatee to identify anybody
(29:44):
because at that stage he had stipped into a coma.
So they very fabricated that whole line of procedure. And
when my lawyer's asked for that lineup, they said, what
was these kN of photos? Because when you make an
identification of somebody, you put that into evidence. Could have
produced the photos because it never took place. So as
(30:05):
this evidence is coming out, how is the cooclarity State's
Attorney's office, how are they responding to these allegations. Darren O'Brien,
who was the station attorney, offers me a plea deal.
My attorney came down to State Billed to see me
and she said, I know how you felt about this,
but I still have to bring it to you. They
offered you a plea deal. It's Wednesday, you could be
(30:27):
home by Friday. Now you'd be surprised because a lot
of people would jump on this. I know people personally
have jumped on this. Myself, I wouldn't even have no
talk of a plea bargain. Now. I've also seen the
state's attorneys when they're about to lose one of these
long protracted court battles with someone locked up, start using
continuance after continuance. It's almost like a weapon of choice,
(30:49):
not just to wear down the resolve and get you
to take a plea deal, but even wave your right
to file for a certificate innocence and not come after
them with any type of civil I builty, you know,
knowing like this is out there playbook, this is what
they do. They try to wear you down where you
tempted it all. Take the plea deal. Absolutely not, because
(31:10):
my heart was for the victims family, and that's the
guy on the street. What price would I pay for
my freedom? So mental something that I didn't do, and
to lie to this victim's family and tell them, yeah,
I killed your son, Absolutely not. I said I got
twenty plus years left. If I have to go back
to do this, I'd be more than happy to go
(31:31):
back and do it with it not only a clear conscious,
but with a happy heart. So from the time they
brought you to plea deal, how much longer before you're
actually accord on the hearing? It's about six months. And
then uh January two thousand and eleven, Judge Closed retired
and passed away. You know, the state attorney said we're
gonna keep it here in county, and they appointed me
a judge which was near Walsh, who just came out
(31:53):
of the stage attorney's office. Lando Lopez came into testify,
and this testimony was what matter to me is that
I'm here today the state that dead man and he
pointed right at me, Jacques Rivera was not the man
who shooting killed Felix Vanit team back in nine and
I was like, hallelujah. So Judge Narra Wash ruled that
(32:17):
Lopez's recantation was credible, stating that the only reason the
court sees for this recantation now is a desire to
correct the mistake. And she ordered a new trial for you.
And then October four, eleven, Cookarrey prosecutors announced that they
did not intend to proceed on new trial and dismiss
all charges, and you were freed that day. Take me
(32:37):
to that moment. Oh my gun, as I finally said.
And it took this long to do all this, twenty
three years man. So you were awarded a certificate innocence,
and you were awarded two hundred eight thousand dollars state compensation.
And that same year you filed a lawsuit against Chicago
(32:57):
Police Detective Grevert and others for airing evidence impression witnesses
the false to identify you and June you were awarded
for seventeen million. Yes, that is amazing. How do you
look back on this? I mean, for me, it's water
under the bridge, although it does still affect me in
some ways. Right now, this is a long ordeal. Yeah,
(33:21):
and I'm just glad to be home with my friends.
Most a party of my kids, which devastated our relationship
being away from them. My daughter, she was six months old.
She don't even know who I am. Well. My boys,
on the other hand, is different, but we still have issues.
We're working at them, trying to be a family. I'm
just grateful for it, only because I don't really need nothing, Patrick.
(33:41):
I try to help other people, and that's what I'm doing.
I'm and restore to justice working out. I accept calls
for guys from the prisons, anything they might need, try
to hook them up with attorneys or put them involved
with for Convicious Centers. I just try to do my part.
You know. I know that I left behind a lot
of good brothers who are innocent, and a lot of
them who said they're guilty but they have remorse. But
(34:02):
I'm not going to leave them there just like that.
So if you could get the listeners to help out,
to join in, what would you implore them to do.
There's so many Raw for Convicious centers. Exoneration Project, the
Innocence Project in New York, the Center Raw for Convictions,
the Blum Legal Claim a Kid in Chicago definitely could
use of support. Some of its finance, some of it's
(34:23):
just volunteer words. So many innocence projects that could be
supported need attorneys to volunteer to time pro bono investigators.
But help is always needed. We'll have links in the
bio and now we'll go to the closing portion of
our shows. I want to thank the listeners and I
want to thank Jason Flam for having me. I want
to keep the tradition going. I want to allow Jack
(34:46):
Rivera had the last word. So I'm going turn my
mic off, turn my headphones up, and let you just say,
you think, don't ever give up hope, man and and
and that's not only done with raw for convictions. That's
dealing with everyday life. Our that as a great God,
and he loves us and he cares about us. A
lot of people don't realize that. I didn't realize that.
I'm then you know there is a God and he
(35:07):
delivered me from an eighty years sentence on a wrongful conviction.
I'm a part of our program called Innocent Demand Justice,
just the families of loved ones and learned carcerated wrongfully.
And we try to show support anyway that we count,
either by March's protests, going to court hearings. You know
how hard it is for loved ones. Anything could happen
(35:28):
in prison and they're scared for their loved ones. Yeah,
don't ever give up hope, keep hope alive. Thank you
for listening to Wrongful Conviction. I'd like to thank our
production team, Connor Hall, Justin Golden, Jeff Clyburne and Kevin
Wardis with research by Lila Robinson. The music in this
(35:51):
production was supplied by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph.
Be sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction,
on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction podcast, and on Twitter at
wrong Conviction, as well as at Lava for Good. On
all three platforms, you can also follow me on both
TikTok and Instagram at it's Jason Flom. Wrongful Conviction is
(36:13):
the production of Lava for Good Podcasts and association with
Signal Company Number one
Welcome to a very special episode of Wrongful Conviction, in
which we're trying something new. I've asked a previous guest
to take on my usual role as interviewer. You might
remember Patrick Pursley from his own episode of Wrongful Conviction.
Patrick did what seemed to be the impossible to win
his freedom. He got a law changed from inside prison
(00:25):
to allow for the post conviction ballistics testing that proved
his innocence. Just an amazing feat accomplished by a truly
amazing guy. And now he brings us an interview with
another innocent man who he knew while inside Illinois Stateville Penitentiary,
Jacques Rivera. On August seven, a sixteen year old name
(00:53):
Felix valent Team was shot in his car on the
West Side of Chicago. At the hospital, responding officers spoke
with them identify the shooter and getaway drivers members of
the Imperial Gangsters. However, a corrupt detective name Renando Gavera
instead targeted Jacques Rivera, a member of a different gang,
the Latin Kings Joes, ran the local recreation center that
(01:16):
Govera often targeted for information. Despite the victim's dying declaration
to responding officers, Govera claimed to have gotten a different
identification during the eighteen days before the victim's death. Guvera
then misled in eleven year old eye witness to collaborate
that bogus identification, charging Jocks with the murder. Jockes was
(01:37):
tried under Judge Michael Close, who had recently been the
focus of Operation Gray Lord, one of the biggest judicial
corruption investigations in the United States history. The judge would
allow the testimony of the victim's original identification, and with
the false testimonies of Carvera and the misled child witness,
Judge Close convicted and sends Jacques Rivera to eighty years.
(02:01):
When the Center on Wrang for Convictions took on Jack's case,
they found the eyewitness, now an adult, who greeted them
with relief, saying that he had been waiting to tell
the truth for the last twenty three years since an
investigation intok Cavera's corruption has resulted in the exoneration of
over twenty innocent men and women, costing Chicago over fifty
(02:23):
million dollars in counting. This is raw for of conviction.
Welcome to wrong for conviction. This is Patrick Persley, also
(02:43):
known as Free Patrick Pursley. I was previously a guest
on rang for Conviction, but today I'm honored the feeling
for Jason Flam and we have a very special guest
with us, a friend of mine, someone I knew a
long time while in Stay Fields over my own wrong
for conviction, Mr jackes Rivera. How are you, sir, Oh Patrick,
I'm good man, I am really good. So one, thank
(03:04):
you for having to trust to me to tell your
story on behalf of Chase of Flom. I know it's
hard telling our stories, putting our pain out there on
the line. Could you explain to the audience a little
bit about yourself and just our connection, our connection unfortunately
being in prison together. You know, you was a great dude.
(03:25):
Unfortunately for us, we were roughly convicted, so that doesn't
change our character who we were before we went in there.
We didn't let it change who we were. No, we didn't,
and I appreciate that. Jax, your cases, well, you know,
you kind of hit the double reverse jackpot here. You
have one of the most corrupt detectives in Chicago history,
(03:45):
which is saying a lot, and his name is Detective
Ronaldo Cavert. Real infamous guy. It's responsible for so many
wrong for convictions over twenty account and it's called the
City of Chicago fifty million dollars. And I can just
tell you, as a jail house lawyer from Stateville, you
know my twenty three years doing cases down there, his
name came up again and again and there was definitely
(04:06):
a pattern present throughout. And then on top of that,
you've got a judge who was a person interested investigation
judicial corruption in the eighties called Operation Gray Lord. The
investigation was meant to root out pay for play scattle
on which judges were accepting bribes where basically they were
fixing everything from parking tickets to murders. Uh. The judge
(04:27):
in your case, Michael Close, was alleged had taken twenty
five tho dollars to fix a murder case find one
defendant not guilty and the other definitive guilty. I believe
while Judge Michael Close was never criminally prosecuted, he was
pursued in civil suits and the Cook County States Attorney's
Office they represented him, and basically their position was that
(04:49):
he was immune from civil litigation during the commission of
his judicial duties. So therefore he was immune from civil
liability according to the law. So I think that says
a lot of about this case and where we're headed.
And we haven't even started yet. But Jocks, let's talk
about your life. What was your life like growing up
in the city of Chicago during this time. Yeah, growing
(05:10):
up on the northwest side of Chicago, the Humble Park area,
varying late seventies, all of the eighties, you know, really
gang infested, high crime, and you had like four main gangs.
There were the Imperial Gangsters, the same Spanish Cobras, the
main Atlant Disciples, and the Lant Kings. My dad had
passed away when I was fifteen, and I had five
(05:33):
other siblings that my mom had to take care of,
and you know, I was just roaming the streets. I
was really distraught about my dad passing, and I did
you know, he was kind of my rock, my guide,
and um, you know, didn't really have much of a
choice but to join the gang. At that point. They
offered protection, and without the protection, you'll be a target
in the area, and we couldn't move out that area.
(05:54):
So it wasn't like I wanted to do that or
go down that path. I just had an all the choice.
I was a member of the land Kings. So in
Humble Park they had a festival yearly. It was called
the Fiestas, the celebration of the Latino culture, and there
would be times where the gang violence was real bad
in this festival time. So what the city decided to do,
(06:18):
along with the Puerto Rican Institute, was to pay game
members to govern their own you know, to stop the violence.
So the gentleman from the Spanish coalition suggested that we
use this money to open up a community center, which
was a great thing and just for people not familiar
with Chicago, this was quite commonplace where the city paid
(06:38):
the gangs to keep their guys in line. This was
even done in prisons called in maintenant control program. So
this community center gets going over the years, gets a
couple of name changes, and I believe it's been named
the Humble Park Institute, that's correct. Yeah, that's when I
really got involved in it, and it was doing so
well that the city they wanted to give us more
(07:01):
money to open up a recreational center. They did, and
we opened it up and that was running. It was
called Mind and Body. We have weights in their foosball,
table air hockey games for the kids for after school programs,
and people came in there a lot adults and kids,
so it was considered like a safe place for a family.
Even though it's like in this so called gang infrastructure.
(07:24):
There was some good elements that came out of it.
Oh yeah, definitely was. And that's why I think the
troubles began. The detective Ronaldo Gavera, he used to come
in there from time to time looking for people. I
was like, you know, we have nothing to hide here.
It seemed like at first that he was just interested
in how this program came about, who was involved in it.
(07:44):
You know, who's in charges running? And I said, I am,
and we're a part of the Humble Park Institute. And
he used that as a means to come in there
to look for people that he was looking for from
the streets of game members, whether it was to arrest
them or just to talk to them or whatever it
may be. So now this brings us to the end
of Summer nine and the murder you got caught up in.
It was a gang related murder, and I remember you
(08:08):
tell me it took someone actually come into Stateville laying
it all out for you to actually know what was
going on behind the scenes, what this actual beef was about.
You mentioned like multiple gangs operating this area. I believe
it was Latin King's Many at Latin Disciples, the Imperial
Gangsters in Saint Spanish Cobras. What was going on at
that time bold with the heavy hitters, if I can
(08:30):
say that, And then you had these little block gags
and the two of them were in St. Campbell Boys
and mainly at Campbell Boys, And from what I understand
was they were approached by the Spanish Cobras and the
Imperial gangsters and they were telling them, you can either
join us or we're gonna shut you down. Stimulation. Yeah,
(08:50):
so I believe the Insane Campbel Boys went went the
insane Spanish Cobras I s C. And Many had Campbell Boys.
They said, we were gonna become Mania At Latin Disciples
sold the Mania at Camel Boys. Now we're at war
with the Imperial gangsters about their decision about not riding
with them but going with the Many at Latin Disciples.
(09:13):
And from what I understand, the victim in this case
we're talking about today, sixteen year old Felix Valentine. He
and his brother were many at Campbell boys who were
assimilated or basically had flipped into the Many At Latin disciples, who,
like you said, they were now at war with the
Imperial Gangsters over that fact. And that takes us to
the day of the shooting August twenty seven, where Felix
(09:36):
Latine got shot was Imperial Gangsters neighborhood. He was over
there with his brother. They were going to a wedding,
and his brother went up the stairs and he waited
in the car, you know, like saying, hurry up, get up,
to get out, because you know where you're supposed to
be in this area. So according to the police report
in night witness report, a car drove up, pulled right
(09:56):
behind Felix while he sat in the mouth of the alley.
Thea astenger got out the car walked up to Felix,
and then this person opened fired on him. His brother
heard the shots, came downstairs, ran to the car, saw
his brother limped over, and he opened the car door,
pushed his brother Felix over to the passenger side, and
took off to the hospital. There was a Chicago police
(10:17):
officer that came on the scene he went to the
hospital talked to the victim, so this would be Officer
Craig let Ridge, he was responding officer. He also talked
to people at the crime scene. So the next day
Felix Valient team stabilizes Officer lect Ridge went to the
hospital and Felix told let Ridge and his partner that
was the Imperial Gangsters who had shot him, right, yes, sir,
(10:40):
And he left the hospital, went back to the police
station and came back with an Imperial Gangster mug bug
and low and behold, Felix Valentine identifies Jose Rodriguez and
Philip Nevis. And he didn't just identify them, he stipulated
the participation that each of and he said that Jose
(11:02):
Rodriguez shot him and Philip Nevis was driving the car.
So this sho has been like an open and shut case.
But that's that's not how this goes down. So even
though Felix founcing the victim in this case tells Officer
Electric to respond to officers whose attackers were detected, Rivera
led the investigation a whole another direction. Now there's also
(11:23):
a witness, eleven year old boy from the Imperial Gangsters
neighborhood named Orlando Lopez, whose sister also happened to be
dating Felix's brother, and allegedly witnessed the shooting, and he
allegedly said, because we're not even sure what he what
he actually said is might have been fed to him
by Rivera. But he allegedly says he was standing at
an indentation in the alley and saw the shooter from
(11:46):
the back and described the shooter as about five tin
dressed in black and gold. Now those are Latin King colors,
not Imperial gangster colors. What else was alleged? He said
that the car turned southbound on Spall Thing, which is
in the direction of the Latin Kings, and was for
certain that the shooter's hair in the back he had
(12:07):
a ponytail, and it was dyed like a blond gold color.
And Gevera starts looking for Mark's depending on in Latin
King's territory or maybe even had you in mind. So
how how did you do it? How did you get
caught up in this? Gevara came into the neighborhood. I
was out there with the guys. He drove up on
us and he said, I need to talk to you.
What they used to do was use people as fillers
(12:30):
in lineups, and I stood in a few lineups before.
They just said, you know, don't worry abody. We know
you didn't do it. We just need fillers. So and
Gevara drove up and he said, you know, we won't
know if you're standing in the lineup, and I just
knew it was funny because it's like seven to ten
guys there, and you picked me out of everybody. Did
you fit the description? No, not at all. I mean
(12:51):
my hair was long in the back and never wore
it in the ponytail, pigtail, none of that, or had
it dyed that color or any color for that matter.
So your very approaches you and you feel kind of
strange about this lineup being a filler, but you did
it before, So what's going through your mind? Is this
is happening? And what happened? I said something was wrong?
(13:12):
And when I hesitated, he opened up his coat and
moved his coat from around his revolver as to say,
you could come peacefully or you could come fortually. I said,
I know they do nothing wrong, So I went with him.
I was held in the police station for that day
and the whole next day, and then on the third
day they put me in a lineup with Imperial Gangsters.
(13:37):
Why would you put me in the lineup with Imperial gangsters?
He was the Late Kings. You did it right, That's crazy.
And for Lando Lopez is from the Imperial Gangsters territory,
he probably knows all those guys. It looks a little
bit like they might have been trying to lead the
witness to pick someone that they didn't know. So were
you identified at that time? No, I was not identified.
(13:57):
They let me go. So that was your first line
up with this case, and they let you go. A
little time passes, so you probably think the whole thing
is behind you is blown over. But then at this time,
if we could kind of see like a split screen
behind the scenes, you live in your life and these
two other things are going on. First, Felix Mounteam's health
is rapidly going down. He now slips into a coma
(14:20):
and eventually dies eighteen days after the shooting on September fourteenth. Meanwhile, Carvera,
he's working in this Orlando Lopez kid. It's believed that
Carvera told Lopez that he had visited Felix in the
hospital and Felix identified you. So then he starts pulling
Orlando's heart string and say, this is your sister's boyfriend's
(14:43):
little brother that could have easily been you. So Carvera
relates to Orlando. You know, the victim told him it
was Jacques. Rivera basically puts it on this kid, like
what would you want someone to do for you in
this particular situation. So now Carvera, he rolls up on
you again exactly. So, I was at the Humble Park
Institute and here the screeching of a car and it's
(15:05):
Cavera and it's partner Harveston, and he said, hey, hey,
came here, and I went up to them. I put
my hands up right away. He cut me up and
he says, what car are you driving? I said, a
white Apolo? So why Gavera went to such my car?
I'm asking his partner said that what's going on? Man?
Jall picked me up about two weeks ago. You asked
me to stand in the line, and by standing in
the line and I'm let going. He says, I don't know.
(15:26):
This is the Varia's case. So de Vera came back.
He sat me in the squad car and started proceeding
to Area five police station, and I just kept handling,
and I was like, man, what's going on. They didn't
buckle me in the back seat, so he stopped the
car real quick, and as I flew forward, he grabbed
me by my shirt and he says, you're being trying
to murder, motherfucker. And he pushed me back and he said,
(15:46):
now shut the funk up. This episode is underwritten by
A i G, a leading global insurance company. A i
G is committed to corporate social responsibility and is making
a positive difference in the lives of its employees and
in the communities where we work and live. In light
(16:09):
of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and
in recognition of A i g s commitment to criminal
and social justice reform, the A i G pro Bono
Program provides free legal services and other support to underrepresented
communities and individuals. And we get to the police station.
(16:32):
They put me in the lineup with Latin Kings and
this was the second line up. So I said, this time,
I'm gonna stand dead center to make sure what were
this witnesses, so you can see me to know that
this is not me. Another detective came in and he
made the noise like a gang show thing b b
b bing bing. He said, we got a winner. They
identified you as a shooter. They removed the other gentleman
(16:54):
that was in the lineup, and they said, did you
want to talk about this? I said, there's nothing to
talk about, man, I said, I don't even know what's
going on. What do you want me to say? And
then Vera came up to me. He goes, you know,
you can make this easier on yourself. Tell us who
the shooter was, and we're gonna put you down for
the driver and we're gonna help you out. I first
thought to myself, not only do you want me to
implicate myself it's something that I didn't do, but you
(17:16):
want me to implicate somebody else? There was someone else
under the bus too. Yeah, And I told him you
got to be crazy, man, I'm not gonna confess to
somebody didn't do or inplcate nobody else. He's like, WHOA,
that's okay. You don't have to tell us something anyways,
because you're going down for this. And I was like, well,
let the procedures begin. So during Kiki jail. I know
the experience as far as getting locked up, everything that's
(17:38):
the fan, So can you describe that? Honestly, it was
just a horrific time. Man. I had no contact with
my family. My wife was there when he picked me
up the second time, so she vested gout a lawyer
that was a family lawyer to a friend of hers. Now,
leading up to the actual trial, did you take a
jury or bench trial? I asked to feel my friends
(17:59):
and they're like, well, I of they have twelve people
to sign. My faith stood of one person. Man, I
would take a journey. I would take a jury. I
would take a jury. So going back to court, my
lawyers like, have you come to a conclusion what you
want to do? I was like, well, I think I
want to take a jury. And you're like, oh no, no, no, no, no, listen, listen.
We're out here and Skulkie. These people out here read
and see on the news all day long about gang
(18:21):
related murders. He's like, I think we're standing a better
chance of this judge. He's a good judge. And not
knowing the judge's background all being involved in the Great
Lord operation, I was like, well, you're my attorney man,
I got confidence in you, so we took a bench trial.
Now you mentioned Operation great Lord, which is perhaps even
more weighty as far as judicial import even more important
(18:42):
than this Roague detective Convera. And for the listeners who
don't know, Operation great Lord was the largest corruption bus
in United States history comes straight out Cook County, or
should they say Crook County, Illinois, led to an unpresidented
number of indictments against pub of an officials that got
seventeen judges for the eight lawyers, eight cops, ten deputy sheriffs,
(19:07):
eight court officials, and one good old legislator. Can't leave
him out your judge was one of the many judges
investigated in this sting operation. The Honorable Judge Michael Close
was alleged to have taken a bribe in a case
not connected to this one, but nevertheless, it was still
alleged that one of these two defendants, fighting a murder
(19:27):
case and front Judge Close, Robert Bridges, paid twenty five
dollars so that he would obtain a not guilty verdict
in his bench trial. And this rappi John Carterlino, who
also had Judge Close, would be conversely found guilty. So,
unbeknownst to you, Jock, you're having a bench trial, So
your whole life is placed in this judge's hands, who's
(19:49):
obviously morally compromised. So, Jack, what was presented against you?
What did they actually use during the trial the prosecution
port Alano Lopez understand he was primed up by Gavera
to say that he saw a man from the back
about five ten wearing a black and gold with a
gold dyed ponytail. He said that the man shot Felix
(20:12):
and hopped into a getaway card that went down Spaulding.
When asked if he got a look at the shooter's face,
he said that he only caught a glimpse of the shooter,
always looking at the back of the shooter. When asked
if he could point to the shooter in court today,
he said it was me and he pointed at me.
I was going crazy at that moment, you know, and
(20:32):
in my mind saying, you're fucking lying man, Why are
you doing this, Why are you saying that this is me?
And you know, dan Way, I didn't do the shooting.
The Gavera got to understand had said that when he
arrested me that I had a ponytail which was dyed
gold or blind in the back, which of course it
never was. And then Vera said he visited the victim,
(20:53):
Felix Realiteen in the hospital, maybe a couple of days,
if not a week before he died, and that he
identified me as to shoot her out of a photo lineup.
My defense put on Officer Electrics was the officer that
was on the scene who spoke to the victim. So
upon Officer Electric she didn't understand, the state intervened and
they had a sidebar and Judge Klose said, I'm only
(21:16):
gonna allow competent evidence, and so he would not allow
Officer Electrics to testify that Phelix Valuctin, the victim has
said that Jose Roger was the one who shot him
and Philip Meevz was the one that was driving the car.
He was only allowed to say that he was on
the scene and he visited the victim, and he attempted
(21:36):
to arrest two individuals in this case. And basically that
was it. So if I understand, as you're saying, the
rich who's got a dying declaration from the victim in
the hospital who shot him for some reason, this is
not competent or credible evidence in his eyes exactly. I
couldn't believe it. And then my alibi was the mother
(21:58):
of my kids. Saw my atturn Me's telling me, well,
they're gonna say she's biased because she's the mother of
your kids and that she would life you. The state
trying to say that, well, if Mr Rivera was actually
at home with his wife at the time of the shooting,
the defense would have put her understanding. My lawyer was like,
we object, your honor, we're not unnethal obligation to present
a defense from the corner. Hell told him that you
(22:19):
represent me, you know. And then my lawyer says, well,
the state would have said she was biased anyways, So
you found guilty. Bring us to that moment right then,
about the closing arguments, I actually thought that Judge Close
was gonna take some time and go back into his
chambers and consider all the evidence and come back and
gave his decision. But right they understand after the closing arguments,
(22:41):
he said, well, I came to my conclusion and I
find the defended guilty. And I was like, wait a minute, man,
you know, he didn't even take ten fifteen minutes. He
just came straight down and said I found the defended guilty,
and I was like, oh my goodness. He went back
for sentencing and he gave me sixty years for the murder,
for the shoot, he gave me twenty years for routine hideous,
(23:03):
and then he gave me five for the u U
W the gun, which they never had. First of all,
I was worried about my family, one of my kids,
my kids, What's gonna happen to them? But I knew
at that point that I had to prepare for what
I was going into. I wind up at the Stage
(23:32):
Correctional Center June of right. I was actually there in
the eighty nine. So can you describe that? What's this like?
What's this environment to you? Well, the only thing that
saved me was the gang that I wrote with. They
were ready waiting for me to come in. They meet
you downstairs while you're in the bullpen, and they go
tell the sergeant, hey, this is one of ours. Put
(23:52):
them up there with us, because the gangs at that
time they consider themselves owning the cells exactly. And the
officers put the response building on the gang chiefs to
keep the Indians in mind and find him with sell.
So if I'm walking out seven gallery, I looked down
to one gallery and I see this guy hit this
officer with a baseball back and I went, oh, my goodness,
(24:17):
and they put me in The cell was an empty cell,
and we went on a ninety day lockdown in the
middle of June andree Weather. I had no salt, no shampoo,
I had nothing. And then during the second month of
being on the lockdown, they sent another key up there,
who're just coming in, and they put him in a
cell with me. So we got along pretty good, and
(24:38):
we came up a lockdown. You know, we never even
made it to the child hall. Also came up there,
key us out. We came out the cells and you
hear the gun go out, boom boom. Back on lockdown, Home,
back on lockdown. Six months of lockdown, A first entering
the prison system, and it was hell, pure hell. Did
you try to, like study law? What was your mental
(25:00):
process as far as how you were going to get
out of there? Well, I couldn't study nothing because we
was on a lockdown. We couldn't go nowhere. Nobody really
had any law books. Amazingly enough, before I left the
county jail, somebody told me, listen, man filed for your
notice of a pill because you only got thirty days
to do this. So I fouled it in the county jail.
I was telling my wife. I was like, listen, I
(25:21):
got all this time. Ain't no suching you went around
for me, you know, just move on with your life.
She said, well, it's wait to see what happens to
the appeal process. I got that dreaded letter, sorry Jaques
to farm you that the appoll a cart they denied
our petition today and bla blah blah blah blah. I
think at that point I started to lose hope. And
so now you're done with your direct appeal. Do you remember,
(25:43):
like what year this was? Maybe? So, how did you
first hear about Northwestern Center Wrong for Convictions. I know
they get thousands of letters every year from inmates seeking representation.
They represented me, but they had told me no three
times prior. Do you know what what major case stand
out to them actually was Detective Guvera. After losing that
(26:04):
director pill and knowing what was ahead of me, I
got to start reaching out to people, and the law
liberied in Stateville. They have a list of pro bonn
attorneys and law firms that would help with cases and
stuff like that. So I wrote Northwestern and Katherine Crawford
was one of the attorneys there who contacted me because
we're not taking your case. We're just investigating Detective Guevera,
(26:28):
and we just want to ask you some questions. If
we should happen to come upon something, then we'll be
interested in taking the kids. She stated that they were
trying to find the eye witness, which Islando Lopez. She goes,
you know, you have a good case, but you have
a bad case. You got a good case because you
was convicted on a single identification, no physical evidence, but
it's a bad case because there's no evidence that's notfing
(26:49):
for us to go on other than this eyewitness. And
we've been trying to locate them. So then in two
thousand and ten, with the advance of the search engine tech,
Northwestern locates the only way against you, Orlando Lopez. It's
been twenty three years since his false identification you. So
what happens next? They went to his home and he
answered the door and they give him their car to
(27:11):
tell them who they was. He goes, I know who
you're here for. You're here for Jacques Rivera, and according
to dark statement, he just kept saying, you know, this
is all about redemption. He says, first of all, I
didn't even know if Jacques Rivery was still locked up.
He goes, I don't even know what happened to the case.
He needed to clear his conscience so this and he's
got three boys. He said he couldn't look at them
(27:31):
in the face knowing that something like this can happen
to them. They asked him about the Fetix volunteer shooting
and he proceeded to say what transpired that day, and
he just stated that he was there and he saw
somebody and detect Ever, another Rivera picked him up two
days maybe three days after shooting. He was showing a
line up to identify somebody and he made no identification,
(27:54):
and then he proceeded to saying that A couple of
days later, as he's walking to school, he sees the
guy who actually shot and killed Felix Valentine and he
says he knows he's the guy because he had the
same pants and jacket on, and he said to himself,
this is the guy who did it. It was a
(28:14):
Jacques Rivera. But he told you old, you don't know
what to do. So Orlando knew what Phelix knew, but
none of this mattered to Detective Gevera, So how does
he handle this eleven year old kid or miss Sandal? However,
you won't put it. So now here we go with
the technico Rivera telling him that this is the guy
we believe who killed your sister's boyfriend's brother, and we
(28:38):
need you to get this guy. We need to get
him off the streets so he doesn't kill nobody else.
And Lando Lopez is like, you don't understand, it's not him.
He said, I've seen the real guy. This is not
the guy. So Goevera proceeds with saying, well, this is
what Felix Valentine said. So Lindo Lopez, he says, they
weren't listening to him. He said, well, if they're not
(29:00):
gonna listen to me, and this is his decimon he said,
he proceeded to make the identification of me, knowing that
it wasn't me. So now the only witness in the case,
Orlando Lopez. He becanning a record you got also electrics.
He's standing by this original identification that Felix made prior
to his passing. So all you really have to get
(29:22):
around now is whether Felix had changed his story prior
to pass and made a dying declaration to Guvera to
somehow implicate you, that is when and if he ever
even spoke to Calvera. So now my attorneys they find
the doctor that was taking care of Phelix Valentine while
he was sat in intense of care. The doctor said
it was impossible for the Felix Valatee to identify anybody
(29:44):
because at that stage he had stipped into a coma.
So they very fabricated that whole line of procedure. And
when my lawyer's asked for that lineup, they said, what
was these kN of photos? Because when you make an
identification of somebody, you put that into evidence. Could have
produced the photos because it never took place. So as
(30:05):
this evidence is coming out, how is the cooclarity State's
Attorney's office, how are they responding to these allegations. Darren O'Brien,
who was the station attorney, offers me a plea deal.
My attorney came down to State Billed to see me
and she said, I know how you felt about this,
but I still have to bring it to you. They
offered you a plea deal. It's Wednesday, you could be
(30:27):
home by Friday. Now you'd be surprised because a lot
of people would jump on this. I know people personally
have jumped on this. Myself, I wouldn't even have no
talk of a plea bargain. Now. I've also seen the
state's attorneys when they're about to lose one of these
long protracted court battles with someone locked up, start using
continuance after continuance. It's almost like a weapon of choice,
(30:49):
not just to wear down the resolve and get you
to take a plea deal, but even wave your right
to file for a certificate innocence and not come after
them with any type of civil I builty, you know,
knowing like this is out there playbook, this is what
they do. They try to wear you down where you
tempted it all. Take the plea deal. Absolutely not, because
(31:10):
my heart was for the victims family, and that's the
guy on the street. What price would I pay for
my freedom? So mental something that I didn't do, and
to lie to this victim's family and tell them, yeah,
I killed your son, Absolutely not. I said I got
twenty plus years left. If I have to go back
to do this, I'd be more than happy to go
(31:31):
back and do it with it not only a clear conscious,
but with a happy heart. So from the time they
brought you to plea deal, how much longer before you're
actually accord on the hearing? It's about six months. And
then uh January two thousand and eleven, Judge Closed retired
and passed away. You know, the state attorney said we're
gonna keep it here in county, and they appointed me
a judge which was near Walsh, who just came out
(31:53):
of the stage attorney's office. Lando Lopez came into testify,
and this testimony was what matter to me is that
I'm here today the state that dead man and he
pointed right at me, Jacques Rivera was not the man
who shooting killed Felix Vanit team back in nine and
I was like, hallelujah. So Judge Narra Wash ruled that
(32:17):
Lopez's recantation was credible, stating that the only reason the
court sees for this recantation now is a desire to
correct the mistake. And she ordered a new trial for you.
And then October four, eleven, Cookarrey prosecutors announced that they
did not intend to proceed on new trial and dismiss
all charges, and you were freed that day. Take me
(32:37):
to that moment. Oh my gun, as I finally said.
And it took this long to do all this, twenty
three years man. So you were awarded a certificate innocence,
and you were awarded two hundred eight thousand dollars state compensation.
And that same year you filed a lawsuit against Chicago
(32:57):
Police Detective Grevert and others for airing evidence impression witnesses
the false to identify you and June you were awarded
for seventeen million. Yes, that is amazing. How do you
look back on this? I mean, for me, it's water
under the bridge, although it does still affect me in
some ways. Right now, this is a long ordeal. Yeah,
(33:21):
and I'm just glad to be home with my friends.
Most a party of my kids, which devastated our relationship
being away from them. My daughter, she was six months old.
She don't even know who I am. Well. My boys,
on the other hand, is different, but we still have issues.
We're working at them, trying to be a family. I'm
just grateful for it, only because I don't really need nothing, Patrick.
(33:41):
I try to help other people, and that's what I'm doing.
I'm and restore to justice working out. I accept calls
for guys from the prisons, anything they might need, try
to hook them up with attorneys or put them involved
with for Convicious Centers. I just try to do my part.
You know. I know that I left behind a lot
of good brothers who are innocent, and a lot of
them who said they're guilty but they have remorse. But
(34:02):
I'm not going to leave them there just like that.
So if you could get the listeners to help out,
to join in, what would you implore them to do.
There's so many Raw for Convicious centers. Exoneration Project, the
Innocence Project in New York, the Center Raw for Convictions,
the Blum Legal Claim a Kid in Chicago definitely could
use of support. Some of its finance, some of it's
(34:23):
just volunteer words. So many innocence projects that could be
supported need attorneys to volunteer to time pro bono investigators.
But help is always needed. We'll have links in the
bio and now we'll go to the closing portion of
our shows. I want to thank the listeners and I
want to thank Jason Flam for having me. I want
to keep the tradition going. I want to allow Jack
(34:46):
Rivera had the last word. So I'm going turn my
mic off, turn my headphones up, and let you just say,
you think, don't ever give up hope, man and and
and that's not only done with raw for convictions. That's
dealing with everyday life. Our that as a great God,
and he loves us and he cares about us. A
lot of people don't realize that. I didn't realize that.
I'm then you know there is a God and he
(35:07):
delivered me from an eighty years sentence on a wrongful conviction.
I'm a part of our program called Innocent Demand Justice,
just the families of loved ones and learned carcerated wrongfully.
And we try to show support anyway that we count,
either by March's protests, going to court hearings. You know
how hard it is for loved ones. Anything could happen
(35:28):
in prison and they're scared for their loved ones. Yeah,
don't ever give up hope, keep hope alive. Thank you
for listening to Wrongful Conviction. I'd like to thank our
production team, Connor Hall, Justin Golden, Jeff Clyburne and Kevin
Wardis with research by Lila Robinson. The music in this
(35:51):
production was supplied by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph.
Be sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction,
on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction podcast, and on Twitter at
wrong Conviction, as well as at Lava for Good. On
all three platforms, you can also follow me on both
TikTok and Instagram at it's Jason Flom. Wrongful Conviction is
(36:13):
the production of Lava for Good Podcasts and association with
Signal Company Number one
Hosts And Creators
Lauren Bright Pacheco
Maggie Freleng
Jason Flom
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