Loevy lawyers getting $104M from city to settle 16 murder conviction suits
(Legal Newsline) — Lawyers from the firm of Loevy + Loevy, who have built much of their current business practice on suing Chicago for alleged police misconduct and wrongful convictions, are poised to collect more than $104 million from Chicago taxpayers as part of a deal with the administration of Mayor Brandon Johnson to settle a collection of 16 lawsuits brought by 17 men who claim they were framed for murder.
On Oct. 5, the Chicago City Council Finance Committee voted to advance the settlement to the full City Council for approval.
Under the deal, the city has agreed to pay more than $260 million, collectively, to the group of men and their lawyers from the Chicago-based Loevy firm.
Under the terms of the settlement, the Loevy lawyers will receive up to 40% of the funds, or about $104.3 million.
Each of the men were convicted of murder and sentenced to long prison sentences. Most served two to four decades in prison, despite claiming their innocence throughout. All claim they were either framed or coerced into confessing by Chicago Police detectives led by Reynaldo Guevara.
Guevara has stood at the center of scores of cases accusing him of wrongful convictions, alleging he improperly coerced confessions and framed those later convicted of crimes, including murder.
To date, cases involving misconduct accusations against Guevara have resulted in payments totaling more than $141 million from the city, according to published data. There are still dozens of lawsuits pending involving misconduct accusations against Guevara.
The 17 plaintiffs who would receive a cut of the new settlement include:
Robert Bouto, who had been convicted of the 1993 murder of Salvador Ruvalcaba;Johnny Flores, who had been convicted of the 1990 murder of Jeffrey Rhodes;Juan Hernandez and Rosendo Hernandez, who had been convicted of the 1997 murder of Jorge Gonzalez;David Lugo, convicted of the 1991 murder of Michael Velez, a 16-year-old who was shot while riding a bicycle;Edwin Davila, convicted of the 1995 murder of Jaime Alvarez;Eruby Abrego, convicted of the 1999 murder of Jose Garcia;-John Martinez and Thomas Kelly, two of three men convicted of participating in the 1998 murder of Daniel Garcia, who was brutally beaten and left for dead in an alley;David Gecht and Richard Kwil, two of three men convicted for roles in the 1998 shooting murder of Roberto Cruz;Gamalier Rivera, convicted of the 1996 murder of Jesus Ramos and shooting of Antonio Diaz;Louis Robinson, convicted of 1996 drive by shooting murder of Kelly Velez at a gas station, when prosecutors said her boyfriend was the intended target;Edwin Ortiz, convicted of the 1988 murder of Jose Morales;Tyrece Derrick Williams, convicted of the 1991 death of 15-year-old Peter Cruz;David Kruger, convicted of the 1987 shooting murder of Fernando Delgado; andAntonio McDowell, convicted of the 1996 murder of Mario Castro, together with a related carjacking at gunpoint.
All of the men were freed from prison in the years from 2018-2023, when their sentences and convictions were vacated at a time that former Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx had apparently agreed to no longer oppose attempts to overturn convictions related to cases investigated by Guevara.
All of the men filed lawsuits, represented by the Loevy firm, against the city and Chicago Police officers within 1-2 years of being released from prison.
The city’s agreement to settle the cases comes despite still-pending efforts by lawyers representing police officer defendants and the city itself to defeat the cases in court and despite efforts by current Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke to oppose some of the plaintiffs’ efforts to secure so-called certificates of innocence (COI).
Generally, such certificates of innocence can only be obtained when someone who has been convicted of a crime persuades a judge that they are actually innocent — a legal standard upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court as recently as October 2025.
Typically, such process is adversarial, as prosecutors routinely argue against granting such proclamations to people against whom their offices had earlier secured convictions.
While many of the 17 plaintiffs have secured such COIs, those COIs were awarded while Foxx was still Cook County’s chief prosecutor and her office may have adopted an unwritten policy to simply stand down and not object when COIs were sought, particularly by those convicted as a result of Guevara-involved investigations.
Indeed, sworn testimony from at least one of Foxx’s former deputy prosecutors indicates Foxx’s office allegedly adopted that position.
And in testimony under oath, Foxx herself has confirmed that her office decided not to oppose COIs in some cases, even though she and other prosecutors believed those who had been exonerated were actually guilty of the crimes for which they had been convicted.
In Foxx’s testimony, she further confirmed the decisions to not oppose the certificate of innocence petitions came after high-level meetings with representatives from the Exoneration Project, a Chicago group tied to the Loevy firm.
While officially a non-profit organization associated with the University of Chicago School of Law, the Exoneration Project is led by lawyers from the Loevy firm, who are regularly and prominently involved in suing the city of Chicago over alleged wrongful convictions.
The Loevy firm and its principals have donated tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to the past political campaigns of Foxx and O’Neill Burke’s Democratic primary election opponent, Clayton Harris III.
Harris III had indicated he intended to continue all of Foxx’s policies and programs, if he were elected.
Since Burke took office, activists who supported Foxx and her exoneration policies have begun mounting a public relations campaign against Burke, particularly targeting her for restoring the Cook County State’s Attorney’s traditional role in forcing those who seek certificates of innocence to prove they are actually innocent.
Among those whose COI petitions Burke has opposed are Tyrece Williams and Antonio McDowell.
Despite Burke’s objections to their efforts to secure a COI, the Chicago Department of Law under Mayor Brandon Johnson, a noted political ally of Foxx and her political mentor, Cook County Board President and Cook County Democratic Party President Toni Preckwinkle, recommended the city of Chicago pay the two men, along with the 15 other plaintiffs represented by the Loevy firm.
In announcing the settlement, the mayor trumpeted the payouts, asserting the city was “recognizing both the importance of humane justice while safeguarding taxpayer dollars.”
“While previous administrations turned a blind eye to these abuses and kicked the can down the road, we are confronting this challenge head on, meeting the obligation we have to bring some level of restitution to those who have been harmed and their families,” Johnson said in a statement.
Chicago’s acting lead attorney, Corporation Counsel Renee Hatcher, said the settlement represented “a responsible closure” of the cases. Hatcher further appeared to hint more and similar big settlements may yet be forthcoming, saying:
“Looking ahead, we will evaluate and build on what worked well in these matters to best serve the City and the taxpayer.”
According to court documents, lawyers associated with the Loevy firm who have represented the 17 plaintiffs involved in the settlement include: Arthur Loevy, Jon Loevy, Russell Ainsworth, Ruth Brown, Lauren Carbajal, Carla Agbiro, Anand Swarminathan, Steve Art, Annie Prossnitz, Alexandra Wolfson, Sean Starr and Renee Spence.
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