Latest news with #ArthurAlmendarez
CBS News
21-05-2025
- CBS News
Chicago City Council approves nearly $80 million to cover settlements in 7 lawsuits
Tens of millions of taxpayer dollars were approved on Wednesday to pay out settlements to people suing the city of Chicago. The City Council approved $80 million in payouts in seven lawsuits on Wedneday, prompting some aldermen to sound the alarm that this has to stop. City lawyers said if these cases went to trial, juries could make it even costlier for Chicago taxpayers. Cases range from the city botching corporate contracts to mishandling cases of people in need to police misconduct allegations. Three years ago, Arthur Almendarez and John Galvan were released from prison. They'd spent 35 years locked up after Chicago police detectives beat confessions out of them for a 1986 Little Village arson that killed two people before their names were cleared in 2022. "I'm trying not to let the anger poison my soul," Galvan said in 2022 after he was set free. On Wednesday, the City Council approved $20 million in settlements for each of them, along with another $8 million for co-defendant Francisco Nanez, who also spent more than 30 years in prison before he was cleared. Also approved was a $5 million dollar settlement for Briana Keys, who lost both legs to frostbite after being locked out of her apartment in 2021 while barefoot and wearing only a bathrobe in 5-degree temperatures. Her lawsuit claims she couldn't get help for hours despite calls to 911 and 311. She also claimed that even when police officers spoke to her while she was walking to a nearby police station, they wouldn't give her a ride. City attorneys said the officers claimed they offered to call her an ambulance, or drive her to her mother's house or a police station, but she refused, but Keys, who was also suffering a mental health crisis, insisted officers refused to let her get in their squad car. Several aldermen objected to settling that lawsuit, noting officers said they offered Keys help but she refused, but Finance Committee chair Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) suggested officers should have done more to make sure Keys got help. Meantime, the council unanimously approved a $15.5 million payout to the company that bought the rights to Chicago parking meters under the Daley administration. The city took thousands of parking meters out of service during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in ways that violated the agreement. In total, the City Council approved $77.9 million in settlements in seven lawsuits, including more than $62 million in cases alleging police misconduct. The city had budgeted $82 million in 2025 to cover police misconduct settlements, and had already blown through that money before Wednesday's settlements, less than halfway through the year. Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th), who voted against several of the settlements, said the city is on track to rack up $300 million in settlements this year. "We have to learn that some situations, while tragic, are not necessarily our fault. They are not the responsibility of taxpayers," he said. "We are not God's piggybank. We cannot keep doing this, because we know there are hundreds of other settlements that are coming down the pike." However, Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), who chairs the City Council Budget Committee, noted that city attorneys determined all of those lawsuits could cost the city far more if they had gone to trial, and said aldermen need to put their trust in the Law Department's recommendations. The city's budget director, Annette Guzman, said earlier this week that Chicago is not alone in dealing with the high cost of settling lawsuits. She said other major cities, like Los Angeles, are being similarly squeezed by a combination of past allegations of wrongdoings. "We're not only dealing with legacy old cases, but we're also dealing with the backlog due to the closing of courts during the pandemic. So all of that is converging at the same time," she said on Tuesday Mayor Brandon Johnson this week accused his predecessors of kicking some of these cases down the road before he took office, rather than settling them sooner for less money. The mayor said he is going to stop that practice, but his budget allotted for only $85 million in settlement costs for 2025, and the actual cost is likely to be two to three times larger than that. Chris Tye Chris Tye is a reporter and fill-in anchor at CBS2 Chicago. contributed to this report.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Yahoo
Chicago City Council members to consider $62M in police misconduct settlements
The Brief A Chicago City Council committee is expected to vote on more than $62M in police misconduct settlements. If approved, the bulk of the settlement money, $48M, would go to three men who were wrongfully convicted in a deadly arson and spent decades in prison. The City Council's Finance Committee is scheduled to meet to vote on the settlements on Monday. CHICAGO - Members of the Chicago City Council will consider whether to approve a little over $62 million in settlements for multiple police misconduct cases this month. The council's Finance Committee will meet on Monday to potentially vote on the four cases, which could then be approved by the full council on Wednesday. The backstory The bulk of the money, $48 million, could be paid to three men who spent decades in prison after being wrongfully convicted in a September 1986 arson that killed two brothers. On Sept. 21, 1986, two men were killed in a fire at 2603 W. 24th Place. Investigators suspected arson, according to court documents. Months later, the men were arrested. Arthur Almendarez, John Galvan, and Francisco Nañez were all convicted in connection with the deadly arson, but claimed the convictions were based on fabricated evidence after they were coerced during their interrogations. The men claimed that police used physical torture and mental abuse to get a confession out of the men. They've all maintained their innocence in the case. A judge ruled there was no evidence aside from the signed statements connecting the men to the crime. The court cited detectives' history of coercing confessions and said the signed statements weren't enough evidence. Their convictions were overturned, and the men were released in 2022. If aldermen approve the settlement, Galvan and Almendarez would each be awarded $20 million, and Nañez would receive $8 million. What's next The Finance Committee is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. on Monday. At that meeting, members are also expected to vote on a $15.5 million settlement with a parking meter company, ending years of legal disputes over its contentious parking meter lease agreement.
CBS News
15-05-2025
- CBS News
$48 million settlement recommended for 3 men wrongfully convicted of 1986 arson and double murder
Chicago taxpayers could soon be on the hook for $48 million to compensate three men who each spent 35 years in prison for an arson and murder they did not commit. The City Council Finance Committee will vote Monday on the proposed settlement for John Galvan, Arthur Almendarez, and Francisco Nanez, who were wrongfully convicted of setting a 1986 fire that killed two brothers in the Little Village neighborhood. If approved, Galvan and Almendarez each would get $20 million from the settlement, and Nanez would get $8 million. The three men claim police beat them into giving false confessions for an arson in the early-morning hours on Sept. 21, 1986. An apartment building at 2603 W. 24th Pl. in the Little Village neighborhood went up in smoke. Two young men - Guadalupe and Julio Martinez, who lived in the upstairs apartment with their family – were both killed. All three maintained their innocence at trial, but were convicted and sentenced to life in prison. In 2022, they were released from prison after the Illinois Appellate Court vacated their convictions. "I'm trying not to let the anger poison my soul," Almendarez said after his release. "I've been fighting this whole time. I've been so mad." Cook County prosecutors later dropped all charges against the men, and they are still seeking certificates of innocence to fully clear their names. According to their lawsuit, not only did police torture them into false confessions, but arson investigators' claims that they set the fire by throwing a beer bottle filled with gasoline and ignited it with a lit cigarette were later proven impossible. "Highly credentialed arson experts have all concluded that it is scientifically impossible for a burning cigarette to ignite a flammable gasoline vapor, the very premise for the arson," the men's attorneys wrote in their lawsuit. If approved by the Finance Committee on Monday, the proposed settlement could go to the full City Council for final approval on May 21.
