Politics

City Lawyers Again Urge City Council to Settle Lawsuit From Wrongfully Convicted Man Who Spent 17 Years in Prison — But For $650K More

Ten months after the Chicago City Council refused city lawyers’ recommendation to pay $7.6 million to a man who spent 17 years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of a 2001 murder, city lawyers will again urge alderpeople to resolve the case — but the price tag is now $8.25 million, records show.

The lawsuit filed by John Velez, who spent 17 years in prison before his conviction in the murder of 26-year-old Anthony Hueneca in Little Village was overturned, is set to go to trial on July 21 before U.S. District Court Judge Edmond Chang, court records show.

Chicago taxpayers have already spent $3.2 million to defend the officers’ conduct, according to records obtained by WTTW News through the Freedom of Information Act.

The decision to reject the proposed settlement came after Deputy Corporation Counsel Jessica Felker warned members of the City Council’s Finance Committee that a jury could award Velez between $18 million and $34 million if it determined officers framed him for the murder.

The Finance Committee is scheduled to weigh that recommendation on Monday, and a final vote by the full City Council could come as soon as Wednesday.

The city of Chicago has already exhausted the $82 million officials set aside to cover police misconduct settlements and judgments in 2025, records show.

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.

It is unclear why city lawyers recommended settling the lawsuit for $650,000 more than they did in July, nor was it clear how much Chicago taxpayers have paid private lawyers to defend the officers since then as preparations for the trial began.

If it is approved, it would be the second time in as many years that City Council members have rejected a proposed settlement only to reverse course several months later and ratify the settlement.

The series of events that led to Velez’s conviction began when he was wounded in a drive-by shooting. Detective Michael Bacardo was assigned to that probe, as well as the investigation of Hueneca’s murder.

Bacardo took a picture of Velez, who was then 18, during the probe of his shooting. Bacardo later showed that picture to two people who said a man threatened them shortly before Hueneca was shot and killed.

Those two witnesses, as well as one of their friends who told police he saw the shooting, later identified Velez as the shooter in a photographic lineup, after Bacardo showed one of them Velez’s pictures, according to Velez’s lawsuit.

Bacardo was never disciplined in connection with his investigation of Velez.

Two days after Hueneca’s murder, Christina Izquierdo, Velez’s girlfriend, was shot and wounded. Izquierdo, who was 5 months pregnant at the time, told police that Velez believed he had been the intended target of the shooting because he shot Hueneca, a Latin King, to avenge the killing of his uncle Gent Velez, who police said was a Satan Disciple along with John Velez, according to Bacardo.

But when John Velez went to trial, Izquierdo testified that what she told police was false; she said she only signed a statement after police threatened to take away her daughter. That statement was taken by former Assistant State’s Attorney Megan Goldish, who has been a Cook County judge since 2014.

The witness who said he saw Velez shoot Hueneca and run away also later told officials he lied, after police agreed to give him a break in an unrelated drug possession case. That fact was never shared with the jury, records show.

In addition, the jury never heard evidence that Gent Velez was not a member of the Satan Disciples, but belonged to another gang, undercutting the motive presented by prosecutors.

Nor did the jury hear evidence that Velez was actually in Cicero at the time of the shooting and could not have run from the scene of Hueneca’s murder because he had been shot in the knee several months earlier and was using a cane.

No physical evidence ties Velez to the murder.

After prosecutors moved to vacate Velez’s convictions and dismiss the charges, Velez sued Cook County and Goldish. That suit was resolved for $2.4 million in January.

Velez never sought a certificate of innocence from a judge, and of the four witnesses who testified against Velez, two witnesses are prepared to testify that they saw him shoot Hueneca, Felker told the Finance Committee.

One witness is prepared to testify that she lied during Velez’s trial when she testified that her initial statement to police implicating Velez was false, Felker said. The other witness has also given “inconsistent testimony,” Felker said.

The other two witnesses cannot be located, Felker said.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]

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