Speaker 1: Welcome to a very special episode of Wrongful Conviction, in
Speaker 1: which we're trying something new. I've asked a previous guest
Speaker 1: to take on my usual role as interviewer. You might
Speaker 1: remember Patrick Pursley from his own episode of Wrongful Conviction.
Speaker 1: Patrick did what seemed to be the impossible to win
Speaker 1: his freedom. He got a law changed from inside prison
Speaker 1: to allow for the post conviction ballistics testing that proved
Speaker 1: his innocence. Just an amazing feat accomplished by a truly
Speaker 1: amazing guy. And now he brings us an interview with
Speaker 1: another innocent man who he knew while inside Illinois Dateville Penitentiary,
Speaker 1: Jacques Rivera.
Speaker 2: On August twenty seventh, nineteen eighty eight, a sixteen year
Speaker 2: old named Felix Valentine was shot in his car on
Speaker 2: the West Side of Chicago. At the hospital, responding officers
Speaker 2: spoke with the victim to identify the shooter and getaway
Speaker 2: driver as members of the Imperial Gangsters. However, a corrupt
Speaker 2: detective named Ronaldo Gavera instead targeted JOCKX Rivera, a member
Speaker 2: of a different gang, the Latin Kings. Jox ran a
Speaker 2: local recreation center that Gavera often targeted for information. Despite
Speaker 2: the victim's dying declaration to responding officers, Gavera claimed to
Speaker 2: have gotten a different identification during the eighteen days before
Speaker 2: the victim's death. Gavera then misled an eleven year old
Speaker 2: eye witness to corroborate that focush identification, charging Jocks with
Speaker 2: the murder. JOCKX was tried under Judge Michael Close, who
Speaker 2: had recently been the focus of Operation Gray Lord, one
Speaker 2: of the biggest judicial corruption investigations in the United States history.
Speaker 2: The judge would allow the testimony of the victim's original identification,
Speaker 2: and with the false testimonies Cavera and the misled child witness,
Speaker 2: Judge Close convicted and sends JOCKX Rivera to eighty years.
Speaker 2: When the Center on Wrongful Convictions took on Jock's case,
Speaker 2: they found the eyewitness, now an adult, who greeted them
Speaker 2: with relief, saying that he had been waiting to tell
Speaker 2: the truth for the last twenty three years since. An
Speaker 2: investigation into Carverre's corruption has resulted in the exoneration of
Speaker 2: over twenty innocent men and women, costing Chicago over fifty
Speaker 2: million dollars in counting. This is wrongful conviction. Welcome to
Speaker 2: wrongful Conviction. This is Patrick Persley, also known as Free
Speaker 2: Patrick Persley. I was previously a guest on Wrongful Conviction,
Speaker 2: but today I'm honored to feeling for Jason Flam and
Speaker 2: we have a very special guest with us, a friend
Speaker 2: of mine, someone I knew a long time while in
Speaker 2: state fuels of my own wrongful conviction, mister Jacks Rivera.
Speaker 3: Sir, Oh Patrick, I'm good man, I am really good.
Speaker 2: So one, thank you for having the trust in me.
Speaker 2: Tell your story on behalf of Jason Flom. I know
Speaker 2: it's hard telling our stories, put in our pain out
Speaker 2: there on the line. Could you explain to the audience
Speaker 2: a little bit about yourself and just our.
Speaker 3: Connection, our connection unfortunately being in prison together. You know,
Speaker 3: you was a great dude. Unfortunately for us, we were
Speaker 3: wrongfully convicted, so that doesn't change our character of who
Speaker 3: we were before we went in there. We didn't let
Speaker 3: it change who we were.
Speaker 2: No, we didn't, and I appreciate that. Jocks, your case
Speaker 2: is well, you know, you kind of hit the double
Speaker 2: reverse Jackpie here. You have one of the most corrupt
Speaker 2: detectives in Chicago history, which is saying a lot and
Speaker 2: his name is Detective Ronaldo Cavert. Real infamous guy. It's
Speaker 2: responsible for so many wrongful convictions over twenty accounts, and
Speaker 2: it's cost the city of Chicago fifty million dollars. And
Speaker 2: I can just tell you it's a house lawyer from Stateville.
Speaker 2: You know, my twenty three years doing cases down there,
Speaker 2: his name came up again and again, and there was
Speaker 2: definitely a pattern present throughout. And then on top of that,
Speaker 2: you got judge who was a person interest in investigation
Speaker 2: and judicial corruption in the eighties called Operation Gray Lord.
Speaker 2: The investigation was meant to root out pay for play
Speaker 2: scandal on which judges were accepting bribes where basically they
Speaker 2: were fixing everything from parking tickets to murders. The judge
Speaker 2: in your case, Michael Close, was alleged to it taking
Speaker 2: twenty five thousand dollars to fix a murder case find
Speaker 2: one defendant not guilty and the other definditt guilty. I
Speaker 2: believe while Judge Michael Close was never criminally prosecuted, he
Speaker 2: was pursued in civil suits and the Cook County State's
Speaker 2: Attorney's Office they represented him, and basically their position was
Speaker 2: that he was immune from civil litigation during the commission
Speaker 2: of his judicial duties, so therefore he was immune from
Speaker 2: civil liability according to the law. So I think that
Speaker 2: says a lot of about this case and where we're headed,
Speaker 2: and we haven't even started yet. But Jocks, let's talk
Speaker 2: about your life. What was your life like growing up
Speaker 2: in the city of Chicago during this time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, growing up on the northwest side of Chicago, the
Speaker 3: Humble Park area during the late seventies, all of the eighties,
Speaker 3: you know, really gang infested, high crime, and you had
Speaker 3: like four main gangs. There were the Imperial Gangsters, the
Speaker 3: Same Spanish Cobras, the maniac Land Disciples, and the lank Kyns.
Speaker 3: My dad had passed away when I was fifteen, and
Speaker 3: I had five other siblings that my mom had to
Speaker 3: take care of, and you know, I was just roaming
Speaker 3: the streets. I was really distraught about my dad passing
Speaker 3: I did, you know, he was kind of my rock,
Speaker 3: my guide, and you know, they didn't really have much
Speaker 3: of a choice but to join the gang at that point.
Speaker 3: They offered protection, and without that protection, you'll be a
Speaker 3: target in the area, and we couldn't move out that area.
Speaker 3: So it wasn't like I wanted to do that or
Speaker 3: go down that path. I just had no other choice.
Speaker 3: I was a member of the land Kings. So in
Speaker 3: Humble Park they had a festival yearly. It was called
Speaker 3: the Fiesta post Analist. It's the celebration of the Latino culture.
Speaker 3: And there would be times where the gang violence was
Speaker 3: real bad in this festival time. So what the city
Speaker 3: decided to do, along with the Puerto Rican Institute, was
Speaker 3: to pay game members to govern their own you know,
Speaker 3: to stop the violence. So the gentleman from the Spanish
Speaker 3: coalition suggested that we use this money to open up
Speaker 3: a community center, which was a great.
Speaker 2: Thing and just for people not familiar with Chicago, this
Speaker 2: was quite commonplace where the city paid the gangs to
Speaker 2: keep their guys in line. This was even done in prison,
Speaker 2: and it's called in main tenant control program. So this
Speaker 2: community center gets going over the years, gets a couple
Speaker 2: of name changes, and I believe it's been named the
Speaker 2: Humble Park Institute, that's correct.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's when I really got involved in it, and
Speaker 3: it was doing so well that the city they wanted
Speaker 3: to give us more money to open up a recreational center.
Speaker 3: They did, and we opened it up and that was
Speaker 3: running it. It was called Mind and Body. We had
Speaker 3: weights in their foolsball table, ara hockey gains for the
Speaker 3: kids for after school programs, and people came in there
Speaker 3: a lot adults and kids.
Speaker 2: So it was considered like a safe place for a family. Yeah,
Speaker 2: even though it's like in this so called gang infrastructure,
Speaker 2: there was some good elements that came out of it.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, definitely was. And that's why I think the
Speaker 3: troubles began. This detective Nalvo Guevera. He used to come
Speaker 3: in there from time to time looking for people. I
Speaker 3: was like, you know, we have none to hide here.
Speaker 3: It seemed like at first that he was just interested
Speaker 3: in how this program came about, who's involved in it?
Speaker 3: You know, who's in charge is running? I said, I am,
Speaker 3: and we're part of the Humble Park Institute. And he
Speaker 3: used that as a means to come in there to
Speaker 3: look for people that he was looking for from the streets,
Speaker 3: the gang members, whether if it was to arrest them
Speaker 3: or just to talk to them or whatever it may be.
Speaker 2: So now this brings us today, end of summer nineteen
Speaker 2: eighty eight and the murder you got caught up in.
Speaker 2: It was a gang relative murder. And I remember you
Speaker 2: tell me it took someone actually come into Stateville laying
Speaker 2: it all out for you to actually know what was
Speaker 2: going on behind the scenes, what this actual beef was about.
Speaker 2: You had mentioned like multiple gangs operating this area. I
Speaker 2: believe it was Latin Kings, Maniact Latin Disciples, the Imperial Gangsters,
Speaker 2: Insane Spanish Cobras. What was going on at that time.
Speaker 3: Those were the heavy hitters, if I could say that.
Speaker 3: And then you had these little block games and the
Speaker 3: two of them were Insane Campbell Boys and Maniac Campbell Boys.
Speaker 3: And from what I understand was they were approached by
Speaker 3: the Spanish Cobras and the Imperial Gangsters and they was
Speaker 3: telling them, you can either join us or we're gonna
Speaker 3: shut you down.
Speaker 2: A simulation.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I believe the Insane Campbell Boys went with
Speaker 3: the Insane Spanish Cobras ISC and the Maniac Cambo Boys.
Speaker 3: They said we were going to become Maniac Latin Disciples.
Speaker 3: So the Maniac Camel Boys, now we're at war with
Speaker 3: the Imperial Gangsters about their decision about not riding with
Speaker 3: them but going with the Maniac Latin Disciples.
Speaker 2: And from what I understand the victim in this case
Speaker 2: we're talking about today, sixteen year old Felix Valentine. He
Speaker 2: and his brother were maniac Campbo boys who were assimilated
Speaker 2: or basically had flipped into the maniac Latin Disciples, who,
Speaker 2: like you said, they were now at war with the
Speaker 2: Imperial Gangsters over that fact. And that takes us to
Speaker 2: the day of the shooting August twenty seven, nineteen eighty eight.
Speaker 3: Where Felix Valentine got shot was Imperial Gangster's neighborhood. He
Speaker 3: was over there with his brother. They were going to
Speaker 3: a wedding, and his brother went up the stairs and
Speaker 3: he waited in the car, you know, like saying, hurry up,
Speaker 3: get up, to get out, because you know where he's
Speaker 3: supposed to be in this area. So according to the
Speaker 3: police report and that women's report, a car drove up,
Speaker 3: pulled right behind a Felix while he sat in the
Speaker 3: mouth of the alley. Messenger got out. The car walked
Speaker 3: up to Felix and then this person opened fire on him.
Speaker 3: His brother heard the shots, came downstairs, ran to the car,
Speaker 3: saw his brother limped over, and he opened the car
Speaker 3: door pushed his brother. Felix over to the passenger side
Speaker 3: and took off to the hospital. There was a Chicago
Speaker 3: police officer that came on the scene. He went to
Speaker 3: the hospital talk to the victim.
Speaker 2: So this would be Officer Craig Letrich. He was responding officer.
Speaker 2: He also talk to people at the crime scene. So
Speaker 2: the next day Felix Valentine stabilizes Officer Lectric went to
Speaker 2: the hospital and Felix told let Ridge and his partner
Speaker 2: that was the Imperial gangsters who had shot him, right.
Speaker 3: Yes, sir, And he left the hospital, went back to
Speaker 3: the police station and came back with an Imperial gangster
Speaker 3: mug buck and lo and behold, Felix Valentine identifies Jose
Speaker 3: Rodriguez and Philip Nevis. And he didn't just identify them,
Speaker 3: he stipulated the participation that each of and he said
Speaker 3: that Jose Rodriguez shot him and Philip Nevis was driving
Speaker 3: the car.
Speaker 2: So this should have been like an open and shutcase.
Speaker 2: But that's not how this goes down. So even though
Speaker 2: Felix found saying the victim in this case tells Officer Electric,
Speaker 2: the responding officers whose attackers were detected. Guevera led the
Speaker 2: investigation a whole nother direction. Now, there's also a witness,
Speaker 2: eleven year old boy from the Imperial Gangster's neighborhood named
Speaker 2: Orlando Lopez, whose sister also happened to be dating Felix's brother,
Speaker 2: and allegedly witnessed the shooting. And he allegedly said, because
Speaker 2: we're not even sure what he actually said is might
Speaker 2: have been fed to him by Gavera. But he allegedly
Speaker 2: says he was standing at an indentation in the alley
Speaker 2: and saw the shooter from the back and described the
Speaker 2: shooter as about five ten dressed in black and gold.
Speaker 2: Now those are Latin King colors, not Imperial Gangster colors.
Speaker 2: What else was alleged?
Speaker 3: He said that the car turned southbound on Spall, which
Speaker 3: is in the direction of the Latin Kings, and was
Speaker 3: for certain that the shooter's hair in the back he
Speaker 3: had a ponytail, and it was dyed like a blond
Speaker 3: gold color.
Speaker 2: And Gavera starts looking for marks depending on in Latin
Speaker 2: King's territory or maybe even had you in mind. So
Speaker 2: how did you do it? How did you get caught
Speaker 2: up in this?
Speaker 3: Gavera came into the neighborhood. I was out there with
Speaker 3: the guys. He drove upon us and he said, I
Speaker 3: need to talk to you. What they used to do
Speaker 3: was use people as fillers in lineups, and I stood
Speaker 3: in a few lineups before. They just said, you know,
Speaker 3: don't worry about it. We know you didn't do it.
Speaker 3: We just need fillers. So and Gavera drove up and
Speaker 3: he said, you know, we want to know if you're
Speaker 3: standing in a lineup. And I just knew it was
Speaker 3: funny because it's like seven to ten guys there and
Speaker 3: you picked me out of everybody.
Speaker 2: Did you fit the description?
Speaker 3: No, not at all. I mean my hair was long
Speaker 3: in the back and never wore it in the ponytail, pigtail,
Speaker 3: none of that, or had it dyed that color or
Speaker 3: any color for that matter.
Speaker 2: So your very approaches you and you feel kind of
Speaker 2: strange about this line of being a filler. But you
Speaker 2: did it before, so what's going through your mind? Is
Speaker 2: this is happening? And what happened?
Speaker 3: I said, something was wrong? And when I hesitated, he
Speaker 3: opened up his coat and moved his coat from around
Speaker 3: his revolver as to say, you could come peacefully, or
Speaker 3: if you could come fortfully, I said, I know aught
Speaker 3: to do nothing wrong, so I went with him. I
Speaker 3: was held in the police station for that day, in
Speaker 3: the whole next day, and then on the third day
Speaker 3: they put me in a lineup with Imperial Gangsters. Why
Speaker 3: would you put me in a lineup with Imperial gangsters?
Speaker 3: If it was the Lame Kings, you did it right.
Speaker 2: That's crazy. And for Orlando Lopez is from the Imperial
Speaker 2: Gangsters territory, he probably knows all those guys. It looks
Speaker 2: a little bit like they might have been trying to
Speaker 2: lead the witness to pick someone that they didn't know.
Speaker 2: So were you identified at that time?
Speaker 3: No, I was not identified. They let me go.
Speaker 2: So that was your first line up with this case,
Speaker 2: and they let you go, and little time passes, so
Speaker 2: you probably think the whole thing is behind you, is
Speaker 2: blown over. But then at this time, if we could
Speaker 2: kind of see like a split screen behind the scenes,
Speaker 2: you're living your life and these two other things are
Speaker 2: going on. First, Felix Mountein's health is rapidly going down.
Speaker 2: He now slips into a coma and eventually dies eighteen
Speaker 2: days after the shooting on September fourteenth, nineteen eighty eight. Meanwhile,
Speaker 2: Cavera he's working in this Orlando Lopez kid. And it's
Speaker 2: believed that Cavera told Lopez that he had visited Felix
Speaker 2: at the hospital and Felix identified you. So then he
Speaker 2: starts pulling Orlando's heartstring and say, this is your sister's
Speaker 2: boyfriend's little brother that could have easily been you. So
Speaker 2: Cavera relates to Orlando, you know the victim told him
Speaker 2: it was Jacques. Rivera basically puts it on this kid,
Speaker 2: like what would you want someone to do for you
Speaker 2: in this particular situation. So now Cavera he rolls up
Speaker 2: on you again exactly.
Speaker 3: So, I was at the Humble Park Institute and here
Speaker 3: the screeching of a car and it's Cavera and his
Speaker 3: partner Harveston, and he said, hey, hey, camera, and I
Speaker 3: went up to them. I put my hands up right around.
Speaker 3: He cucked me up and he says, what car are
Speaker 3: you driving? I said, a white Impalla. So why Cavera
Speaker 3: went to search my car? I'm asking his partner, I said, man,
Speaker 3: what's going on? Man? Joe picked me up by two
Speaker 3: weeks ago, you asked me to stand in line. The
Speaker 3: by standing on line him, I'm let go he says,
Speaker 3: I don't know, this is Devera's case. So Gvera came back.
Speaker 3: He sat me in the squad car and started proceeding
Speaker 3: to Area five police station, and I just kept hounding him.
Speaker 3: I was like, man, what's going on. They didn't buckled
Speaker 3: me in the back seat. So he stopped the car
Speaker 3: real quick, and as I flew forward, he grabbed me
Speaker 3: by my shirt and he says, you're being charged with murder, motherfucker.
Speaker 3: And he pushed me back and he said, now shut
Speaker 3: the fuck up.
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Speaker 3: When we get to the police station, they put me
Speaker 3: in a lineup with Latin keeams. This was the second lineup,
Speaker 3: so I said, this time, I'm going to stand dead
Speaker 3: center to make sure where were this witnesses so you
Speaker 3: can see me to know that this is not me.
Speaker 3: Another detector came in and he made the noise like
Speaker 3: a game show, ding ding ding ding ding ding. He said,
Speaker 3: we got a winner. They identified you as the shooter.
Speaker 3: They removed the other gentleman that was in the lineup,
Speaker 3: and they said, did you want to talk about this?
Speaker 3: I said, there's nothing to talk about, man. I said,
Speaker 3: I don't even know what's going on. What do you
Speaker 3: want me to say? And the Gavara came up to me.
Speaker 3: He goes, you know, you can make this easier on yourself.
Speaker 3: Tell us who the shooter was, and we're going to
Speaker 3: put you down for the driver and we're going to
Speaker 3: help you out. I first thought to myself, not only
Speaker 3: do you want me to implicate myself it's something that
Speaker 3: I didn't do, but you want me to implicate somebody else?
Speaker 2: Throw was someone else under the bus too?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: And I told him you got to be crazy, man,
Speaker 3: I'm not going to confess that somebody didn't do or
Speaker 3: implicate nobody else. He's like, well, that's okay. You don't
Speaker 3: have to tell us something anyway, because you're going down
Speaker 3: for this, and I was like, well, let the procedures begin.
Speaker 2: So during cookkinity jail, I know the experience as far
Speaker 2: as getting locked up, everything takes the fan, So can
Speaker 2: you describe that?
Speaker 3: Honestly, it was just a horrific time. Man. I had
Speaker 3: no contact with my family. My wife was there when
Speaker 3: he picked me up the second time, so she vectually
Speaker 3: got a lawyer that was a family lawyer to a
Speaker 3: friend of hers.
Speaker 2: Now leading up to the actual trial, did you take
Speaker 2: a jury or a bench trial?
Speaker 3: I asked her. Feel my friends and they're like, well,
Speaker 3: I have twelve people to say my fate stood of
Speaker 3: one person. Man, I would take a jury. I would
Speaker 3: take a jury. I would take a jury. Soap On
Speaker 3: going back to court, my lawd is like, have you
Speaker 3: come to a conclusion of what you want to do?
Speaker 3: I was like, well, I think I want to take
Speaker 3: a jury, and he's like, oh no, no, no, no, no, listen, listen.
Speaker 3: We're out here in Skulky. These people out here read
Speaker 3: and see on the news all day long about gang
Speaker 3: related murders. He's like, I think we stand a better
Speaker 3: chance of this judge. He's a good judge, and not
Speaker 3: knowing the judges background being involved in the gray Lord operation,
Speaker 3: I was think, well, you're my attorney, man, I got
Speaker 3: confidence in you, so we took a bench trial.
Speaker 2: Now you mentioned Operation gray Lord, which is perhaps even
Speaker 2: more weighty as far as judicial import even more important
Speaker 2: than this rogue detective conveyra. And for the listeners who
Speaker 2: don't know Operation gray Lord, what's the largest corruption bus
Speaker 2: in United States history? Comes straight out Cook County or
Speaker 2: should they say Cook County, Illinois. It led to an
Speaker 2: unprecedented number of indictments against public officials that got seventeen judges,
Speaker 2: forty eight lawyers, eight cops, ten deputy sheriffs, eight court officials,
Speaker 2: and one good old legislator. Can't leave him out, Your
Speaker 2: judge was one of the many judges investigated in this
Speaker 2: sting operation. The Honorable Judge Michael Close was alleged to
Speaker 2: have taken a bride in a case not connected to
Speaker 2: this one. But nevertheless, it was still alleged that one
Speaker 2: of these two defendants fighting a murder case and front
Speaker 2: Judge Close, Robert Bridges, paid twenty five thousand dollars so
Speaker 2: that he would obtain a not guilty verdict in his
Speaker 2: bench trial. And this Rappie John Carterlino, who also had
Speaker 2: judge close, would be conversely found guilty. So, unbeknownst to you, Jock,
Speaker 2: you're having a bench trial, so your whole life is
Speaker 2: placed in this judge's hands, who's obviously morally compromised. So, Jock,
Speaker 2: what was presented against you? What did they actually use
Speaker 2: during the trial?
Speaker 3: The prosecution put Alando Lopez understand He was pryed up
Speaker 3: by Gevera to say that he saw it man from
Speaker 3: the back, about five ten, wearing black and gold with
Speaker 3: a gold dyed ponytail. He said that the man shot
Speaker 3: Felix and hopped into a ghettoray card that went down Spalding.
Speaker 3: When asked if he got a look at the shooter's face,
Speaker 3: he said that he only caught a glimpse of the shooter,
Speaker 3: always looking at the back of the shooter. When asked
Speaker 3: if he could point to the shooter and cord today,
Speaker 3: he said it was me and he pointed at me.
Speaker 3: I was going crazy at that moment, you know, in
Speaker 3: my mind saying you're fucking lying man, Why are you
Speaker 3: doing this? Why are you saying that this is me?
Speaker 3: And you know, Dan wat I didn't do the shooting.
Speaker 3: Then Gevera got understand and said that when he arrested
Speaker 3: me that I had a ponytail which was dyed gold
Speaker 3: or blind in the back, which of course it never was.
Speaker 3: And then Vera said he visited the victim, Felix Valentine
Speaker 3: in the hospital, maybe a couple of days, if not
Speaker 3: a week before he died, and that he identified me
Speaker 3: to shoot her out of a photo lineup. My defense
Speaker 3: put on Officer Lectrice, who was the officer that was
Speaker 3: on the scene who spoke to the victim. So upon
Speaker 3: Officer Lectrich she didn't understand, the state intervened and they
Speaker 3: had a sidebar and Judge Close said, I'm only going
Speaker 3: to allow competent evidence, and so he would not allow
Speaker 3: Officer Lectererates to testify that Felix Valentine, the victim, has
Speaker 3: said that jose Rod Jugius was the one who shot
Speaker 3: him and Philip Neaviz was the one that was driving
Speaker 3: the car. He was only allowed to say that he
Speaker 3: was on the scene and he visited the victim, and
Speaker 3: he attempted to arrest two individuals in this case, and
Speaker 3: basically that was it.
Speaker 2: So if I'm understandings, you're saying the rich who's got
Speaker 2: a dying declaration from the victim in the hospital who
Speaker 2: shot him. For some reason, this is not competent or
Speaker 2: credible evidence in his eyes, exactly.
Speaker 3: I couldn't believe it. And then my alibi was the
Speaker 3: mother of my kids, saw my atturney. He's telling me, well,
Speaker 3: they're gonna say she's biased because she's the mother of
Speaker 3: your kids. And then she went life for you. They
Speaker 3: try to say that, well, if miss Rivera was actually
Speaker 3: at home with his wife at the time of the shooting,
Speaker 3: the defense would have put her on the stand. And
Speaker 3: my lawyer was like, we object, you're on it. We're
Speaker 3: not underneath now obligation to present a defense from the
Speaker 3: corn the hell told him that you're supposed to represent me,
Speaker 3: you know. And then my lawyer says, well, the state
Speaker 3: would have said she was biased anyways.
Speaker 2: So you found guilty. Bring us to that moment right.
Speaker 3: Then, about the closing arguments, I actually thought that Judge
Speaker 3: Clothes was gonna take some time and go back into
Speaker 3: his chambers and consider all the evidence and come back
Speaker 3: and gave his decision. But right there, understand, after the
Speaker 3: closing arguments, he said, well, I came to my conclusion
Speaker 3: and I find the defender guilty. And I was like,
Speaker 3: wait a minute, man. You know, he didn't even take
Speaker 3: ten to fifteen minutes. He just came straight down and said,
Speaker 3: I find the defender guilty, and I was just like,
Speaker 3: oh my goodness. He went back for satan See and
Speaker 3: he gave me sixty years for the murder, for the shooting,
Speaker 3: he gave me twenty years for Wooto and the heidious,
Speaker 3: and then he gave me five for the UUW the
Speaker 3: gun which they never had. Front of all, I was
Speaker 3: worried about my family, the mother of my kids, my kids,
Speaker 3: What's going to happen to them? But I knew at
Speaker 3: that point that I had to prepare for what I
Speaker 3: was going into. I wind up in the State Real
Speaker 3: Correctional Center June of ninety.
Speaker 2: Right, I was actually there in eighty nine. So can
Speaker 2: you describe that? What's this like? What's this environment to you?
Speaker 3: Well, the only thing that saved me was the gang
Speaker 3: that I rode with. They were already waiting for me
Speaker 3: to come in. They meet you downstairs while you're in
Speaker 3: the bullpen, and they go tell the sergeant, hey, this
Speaker 3: is one of ours. Put them up there.
Speaker 2: With us because the gangs at that time they considered
Speaker 2: themselves owning the cells exactly, and the officers put the
Speaker 2: response building on the gang chiefs to keep the Indians
Speaker 2: in mind and find them a sell.
Speaker 3: So by I'm walking out seven gallery, I looked down
Speaker 3: to one gallery and I see this guy hit this
Speaker 3: officer with a baseball back boom, and I went, oh
Speaker 3: my goodness, and they put me in the cell. It
Speaker 3: was an empty cell and we went on a ninety
Speaker 3: day lockdown in the middle of June in ninety ninety
Speaker 3: five degree weather. I had no salt, no shampoo, I
Speaker 3: had nothing. And then during the second month of being
Speaker 3: on the lockdown, they sent another key up there who
Speaker 3: was just coming in and they put him in the
Speaker 3: cell with me. So we got along pretty good, and
Speaker 3: we came out for lockdown. You know, we never even
Speaker 3: made it to the childhall. Aucers came up there, ketus out.
Speaker 3: We came out the cells and hear the gun go out,
Speaker 3: boom boom.
Speaker 2: Back on lockdown, Homie, back on lockdown.
Speaker 3: Six months of lockdown, A first entering the prison system,
Speaker 3: and it was hell, pure hell.
Speaker 2: Did you try to like study law? What was your
Speaker 2: mental process as far as how you were going to
Speaker 2: get out.
Speaker 3: Of there, well, I couldn't study nothing because we was
Speaker 3: on a lockdown. We couldn't go nowhere. Nobody really had
Speaker 3: any law books. Amazingly enough, before I left the county jail,
Speaker 3: somebody told me, listen, man, file for your notice of appeal,
Speaker 3: because you only got thirty days to do this. So
Speaker 3: I filed it in the county jail. I was telling
Speaker 3: my wife, I said, listen, I got all this time.
Speaker 3: Ain't no such a U weren't around for me, you know,
Speaker 3: just move on with your life. She said, well, let's
Speaker 3: wait to see what happens to the appeal process. I
Speaker 3: got that dreaded letter, sorry Jacques, to infarm you that
Speaker 3: they upon the cart that denied our petition today and
Speaker 3: blah blah, blah blah. I think at that point I
Speaker 3: started to lose home.
Speaker 2: And so now you're done with your direct appeal. Do
Speaker 2: you remember, like what year this was?
Speaker 3: Ninety five, ninety six? Maybe?
Speaker 2: So how did you first hear about Northwestern Center Run
Speaker 2: for Convictions. I know they get thousands of letters every
Speaker 2: year from inmates seeking representation. They represented me, but they
Speaker 2: had told me no three times prior. Do you know what,
Speaker 2: what major case stand out to them.
Speaker 3: Actually was Detective Guervera. After losing that direct appeal and
Speaker 3: knowing well was ahead of me, I got to start
Speaker 3: reaching out to people and the lawle I buried in
Speaker 3: State villed They have a list of pro bone attorneys
Speaker 3: and law firms that would help with cases and stuff
Speaker 3: like that. So I wrote Northwestern and Katherine Crawford was
Speaker 3: one of the attorneys there who contacted me. And because
Speaker 3: we're not taking your case, were just investigating Detective Guerverra
Speaker 3: and we just want to ask you some questions. If
Speaker 3: we should happen to come upon something, then we'll be
Speaker 3: interested in taking the case. She stated that they were
Speaker 3: trying to find the eyewitness with Alando Lopez. She goes,
Speaker 3: you know, you have a good case, but you have
Speaker 3: a bad case. You got a good case because you
Speaker 3: was convicted on a single identification, no physical evidence, but
Speaker 3: it's a bad case because there's no evidence that's not
Speaker 3: for us to go on other than this eyewitness, and
Speaker 3: we've been trying to locate them.
Speaker 2: So then in twenty ten, with the advance of this
Speaker 2: search engine tech, Northwestern locates the only way it's against you,
Speaker 2: Orlando Lopez. It's been twenty three years since his false
Speaker 2: identification in you So what happens next?
Speaker 3: They went to his home and he answered the door
Speaker 3: and they give him their car to tell them who
Speaker 3: they was. He goes, I know who you're here for.
Speaker 3: You're here for Jacques Rivera. And according to their statement,
Speaker 3: he just kept saying, you know, this is all about redemption.
Speaker 3: He says, First of all, I didn't even know Jacques
Speaker 3: Rivera was still locked up. He goes, I don't even
Speaker 3: know what happened to the case. He needed to clear
Speaker 3: his conscience of this, and he's got three boys. He
Speaker 3: said he couldn't look at them in the face knowing
Speaker 3: that something like this can happen to them. They asked
Speaker 3: them about nineteen eighty eight, the Phenix Volunteer shooting, and
Speaker 3: he proceeded to say what transpired that day, and he
Speaker 3: just stated that he was there and he saw somebody
Speaker 3: and detect them. Another Gavera picked them up two days
Speaker 3: maybe three days after shooting. He was showing a lineup
Speaker 3: to identify somebody and he made no identification, and then
Speaker 3: he proceeded to saying that a couple of days later,
Speaker 3: as he's walking to school, he sees the guy who
Speaker 3: actually shot and killed Felix Valentine, and he says he
Speaker 3: knows he's the guy because he had the same pants
Speaker 3: and jacket on, and he said to himself, this is
Speaker 3: the guy who did it. It was a Jacques Rivera.
Speaker 3: But he's twelve years old. He don't know what to do.
Speaker 2: So Orlando knew what Felix knew, but none of this
Speaker 2: mattered to Detective Cavera, So how does he handle this
Speaker 2: eleven year old kid or mishandled however you want to
Speaker 2: put it.
Speaker 3: So now here we go with Detective Goavera telling him
Speaker 3: that this is the guy we believe who killed your
Speaker 3: sister's boyfriend's brother, and we need you to get this guy.
Speaker 3: We need to get him off the street so he
Speaker 3: doesn't kill nobody else. And Lando Lopez is like, you
Speaker 3: don't understand, it's not him. He said, I seen the
Speaker 3: real guy. This is not the guy. So Gevera proceeds
Speaker 3: with saying, well, this is what Felix Valentine said. Solando Lopez.
Speaker 3: He says they weren't listening to him. He said, well,
Speaker 3: if they're not going to listen to me, and this
Speaker 3: is his testimon He said he proceeded to make the
Speaker 3: identification of me knowing that it wasn't me.
Speaker 2: So now the only witness in the case, Orlando Lopez,
Speaker 2: he recanted on record, you got also electrics. He's standing
Speaker 2: by this original identification that Felix made prior to his passing.
Speaker 2: So all you really have to get around now is
Speaker 2: whether Felix had changed his story prior to passing and
Speaker 2: made a dying declaration to Guevera to somehow implicate you,
Speaker 2: that is when and if he ever even spoke to Cavera.
Speaker 3: So now my attorneys they find the doctor that was
Speaker 3: taking care of Felix Valentine while he was set in
Speaker 3: intensive care. The doctor said it was impossible for the
Speaker 3: Felix Valenteer to identify anybody because at that stage he
Speaker 3: had stipped into a coma. So very fabricated that whole
Speaker 3: line of procedure. And when my lawyers asked for that lineup,
Speaker 3: they said, what was these not a photos? Because when
Speaker 3: you make an identification of somebody, you put that into evidence.
Speaker 3: They could have produced the photos because it never took place.
Speaker 2: So as this evidence is coming out, how is the
Speaker 2: cook Cary State's attorney's office. How are they responding to
Speaker 2: these allegations.
Speaker 3: Darren O'Brien, who was a station's attorney, he offers me
Speaker 3: a plea deal. My attorney, he came down to Stateville
Speaker 3: to see me and she said, I know how you
Speaker 3: feel about this, but I still have to bring it
Speaker 3: to you. They offered you a plea deal. It's Wednesday,
Speaker 3: you can be home by Friday.
Speaker 2: Now you'd be surprised because a lot of people would
Speaker 2: jump on this. I know people personally have jumped on this. Myself,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't even have no talk of a plea bargain now.
Speaker 2: I've also seen the state's attorneys when they're about to
Speaker 2: lose one of these long protracted court battles with someone
Speaker 2: locked up, start using continuance after continuance is almost like
Speaker 2: a weapon of choice, not just to wear down the
Speaker 2: resolve and get you to take a plea deal, but
Speaker 2: even wave your right to file for a certificate innocence
Speaker 2: and not come after them with any type of civil
Speaker 2: lif I built you, you know, knowing like this is
Speaker 2: out their playbook, this is what they do. They tried
Speaker 2: to wear you down. Were you tempted at all take
Speaker 2: the plea.
Speaker 3: Deal, Absolutely not, because my heart was for the victim's family,
Speaker 3: and that's the guy on the street. What price would
Speaker 3: I pay for my freedom? So mint is something that
Speaker 3: I didn't do. And to lie to this victor's family
Speaker 3: and tell them, yeah, I killed your son, absolutely not.
Speaker 3: I said, I got twenty plus years left. If I
Speaker 3: have to go back to do this, I'd be more
Speaker 3: than happy to go back to do it with it
Speaker 3: not only a clear conscience, but with a happy heart.
Speaker 2: So from the time they brought you the plete deal,
Speaker 2: how much longer before you're actually in court on the hearing?
Speaker 3: It was about six months and then January twenty eleven,
Speaker 3: Judge Clothes retired and passed away. You know the station
Speaker 3: a China said well, we're going to keep it here
Speaker 3: in Cot County, and they appointed me a judge which
Speaker 3: was near Walsh who just came out of the Statue
Speaker 3: Attorney's office. Lando Lopez came in to testify and his
Speaker 3: testimony was, why mad to me is that I'm here
Speaker 3: today the state that that man and he pointed right
Speaker 3: at me. Jacques Vera was not the man who shoot
Speaker 3: and killed Phoenix Vanentin back in nineteen eighty eight. And
Speaker 3: I was like, Colle lujah.
Speaker 2: So Judge nearro Wash ruled that Lopez's recantation was credible,
Speaker 2: stating that the only reason the court sees for this
Speaker 2: recantation now is a desire to correct a mistake. And
Speaker 2: she ordered a new trial for you. And then October fourth,
Speaker 2: twenty eleven, could Carrie. Prosecutors announced that they did not
Speaker 2: intend to proceed on new trial and dismiss all charges.
Speaker 2: And you were freed that day. Take me to that moment.
Speaker 3: Oh my gun, as I finally said. And it took
Speaker 3: this long to do all this, twenty three years man.
Speaker 2: So you were awarded a certificate of innocence, and you
Speaker 2: were awarded two hundred and eight thousand dollars in state compensation.
Speaker 2: And that same year you filed a lawsuit against Chicago
Speaker 2: Police detective Gavera and others for bearing evidence and pressuing
Speaker 2: witnesses that falsely identify you. In June twenty eighteen, you
Speaker 2: were awarded over seventeen million. Yes, that is amazing. How
Speaker 2: do you look back on this?
Speaker 3: I mean, for me, it's water under the bridge, although
Speaker 3: it does still affect me in some ways.
Speaker 2: Right, you're fifty six. Now this is a long ordeal.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I'm just glad to be home with my friends,
Speaker 3: most appointly my kids, which devastated our relationship being away
Speaker 3: from them. My daughter, she was six months old. She
Speaker 3: don't even know who I am. Well. My boys, on
Speaker 3: the other hand, is different, but we still have issues.
Speaker 3: We're working at them, trying to be a family. I'm
Speaker 3: just grateful for it, only because I don't really need nothing, Patrick.
Speaker 3: I try to help other people, and that's what I'm doing.
Speaker 3: I'm in restorative justice work now. I accept calls for
Speaker 3: guys from the prisons, anything they might need, try to
Speaker 3: hook them up with attorneys or put them involved with
Speaker 3: rafakavicious centers. I just try to do my part. You know.
Speaker 3: I know that I left behind a lot of good
Speaker 3: brothers who are innocent, and a lot of them who
Speaker 3: said they're guilty but they have remorse. But I'm not
Speaker 3: going to leave them there just like that.
Speaker 2: So if you could get the listeners to help out,
Speaker 2: to join in, what would you implore them to do.
Speaker 3: There's so many rawful conviction centers, the Exoneration Project, the
Speaker 3: Innocence Project in New York, the Center Ralfa Convictions, the
Speaker 3: Bloom Legal Clanic Kid in Chicago definitely could use some support.
Speaker 3: Some of its finance, some of it's just volunteer works.
Speaker 3: So many innocence projects that could be supported need attorneys
Speaker 3: to volunteer their time pro bono investigators, but help is
Speaker 3: always needed.
Speaker 2: We'll have links in the bio and now we go
Speaker 2: to the closing portion of our show. I want to
Speaker 2: thank the listeners and I want to thank Jason Flam
Speaker 2: for having me. I want to keep the tradition going.
Speaker 2: I want allow Jack Rivera have the last word. So
Speaker 2: I'm going to turn my mic off, turn my headphones up,
Speaker 2: and let you just say your thing.
Speaker 3: Don't ever give up, hope man. And that's not only
Speaker 3: done with Rafael convictions. That's dealing with everyday life. God
Speaker 3: is a great God, and he loves us and he
Speaker 3: cares about us. A lot of people don't realize that.
Speaker 3: I didn't realize that. I'm letting you know there is
Speaker 3: a God and he delivered me from an eighty years
Speaker 3: sentence on a ronful conviction. I'm a part of a
Speaker 3: program called Innocent Demand Justice, just the families of loved
Speaker 3: ones are incarcrated wrongfully, and we try to show support
Speaker 3: any way that we can either by marches, protests, is
Speaker 3: going to court hearings. We know how hard it is
Speaker 3: for loved ones. Anything could happen in prison and they're
Speaker 3: scared for their loved ones. Yeah, don't ever give up hope,
Speaker 3: keep hope alive.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction. I'd like to
Speaker 1: thank our production team Connor Hall, Justin Golden, Jeff Cliburn,
Speaker 1: and Kevin Wardis, with research by Lyla Robinson. The music
Speaker 1: in this production was supplied by three time OSCAR nominated
Speaker 1: composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on Instagram
Speaker 1: at Wrongful Conviction, on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction podcast, and
Speaker 1: on Twitter at wrong Conviction, as well as at Lava
Speaker 1: for Good. On all three platforms. You can also follow
Speaker 1: me on both TikTok and Instagram at It's Jason Flam.
Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction is the production of Lava for Good Podcasts
Speaker 1: and association with Signal Company Number one