CHICAGO (AP) – A former prison inmate whose murder conviction was tossed out of court has joined the ranks of men to file lawsuits that alleges the same now-retired Chicago police detective framed him for crimes they didn’t commit.
Ariel Gomez is at least the 12th former inmate to file a wrongful conviction lawsuit against former detective Reynaldo Guevara and the city of Chicago and one of nearly 20 men who say they were framed by Guevara to have their convictions overturned.
Gomez alleges that in 1997 when he was 17, Guevara beat him and pressured witnesses into falsely identifying him as the gunman in a fatal shooting. The 38-year-old Gomez spent two decades in prison before he was released on parole. A judge dismissed the charges against him in February.
