Politics
3 Men Wrongfully Convicted of Setting 1986 Fire That Killed 2 Brothers Should Receive $48M, City Lawyers Recommend
(WTTW News)
Chicago taxpayers should pay $48 million to three men who were wrongfully convicted of setting a 1986 apartment fire that killed two brothers and spent a combined 102 years in prison, city lawyers recommended.
John Galvan, Arthur Almendarez and Francisco Nanez were convicted of setting a fire at 2603 W. 24th Place on Sept. 1, 1986. Julio Martinez, 19, and his brother Guadalupe Martinez, 28, died. A Chicago firefighter was injured when he fell through the roof while fighting the blaze.
More than nine months after the fire, detectives interviewed a man who was observed in the alley of the house shortly before the fire. That man told police he spoke with another man, who said he saw Galvan, 18, and Michael Almendarez, 19, in the alley.
Michael Almendarez said detectives handcuffed him, threatened his life and repeatedly hit him in the stomach before he said Galvan and Francisco Nanez, 22, admitted they set the fatal fire. He would later recant that statement during Galvan’s trial, records show.
After his arrest, Galvan said Detective Victor Switski wrote out a confession and ordered him to sign it. When he refused, Switski “pushed my head against the wall, pressing real hard” and later kicked and punched the back of his head,” records show. At the time of his arrest, Galvan was 5-feet, 2-inches tall and weighed 100 pounds.
Galvan signed the statement, which also implicated Nanez and Arthur Almendarez, 20, Michael Almendarez’s brother, records show. Galvan said in his statement that he threw a bottle filled with gasoline at the building, but when it did not break, he threw a cigarette at the liquid, and it ignited, records show.
Arthur Almendarez told police he was with Galvan and Nanez on the night of the fire after he was kicked in the groin and repeatedly struck in the back of the head, court records show. Nanez also confessed that he was present when Galvan set the fire, but testified that he was drunk and unable to read the statement that he signed because he did not have his glasses, records show.
There was no evidence tying any of the three men to the fire.
Galvan testified that he confessed to setting the fire because he was physically abused by Switski, who denied hitting Galvan. In 1990, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Nanez and Almendarez were tried together and also sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The three men each spent 35 years in prison before being released.
The proposed settlement, set to be considered Monday by the City Council’s Finance Committee, would pay Galvan and Almendarez $20 million each, with Nanez set to get $8 million.
In 2007, Galvan saw a two-year-old episode of the television show “MythBusters” that proved it was impossible to ignite a pool of gasoline with a lit cigarette. The Innocence Project took his case and began challenging his conviction.
In 2012, an appellate court ordered a new hearing into Galvan and Almendarez’s convictions. At that hearing, arson experts testified that the fire could not have been set the way the jury that convicted the men had been told. In addition, a man who admitted being in the alley just before the blaze erupted testified Galvan was not there.
In 2022, an appellate court vacated the convictions of Galvan and Almendarez’s convictions and the charges against them were dismissed. Nanez was also exonerated and released.
Chicago taxpayers spent a total of $200 million between January 2019 and June 2024 to resolve lawsuits brought by more than three dozen people who were wrongfully convicted based on evidence gathered by the Chicago Police Department, according to an analysis of city data by WTTW News.
Since September 2024, two federal juries have ordered the city to pay $170 million to three men convicted of murders they did not commit, setting a new standard for verdicts in wrongful conviction cases.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
