John —

In September of 1986, an early-morning fire broke out in an apartment building in Chicago, killing siblings Guadalupe and Julio Martinez.

Soon after, police arrested teenagers John Galvan, Arthur Almendarez, and Francisco Nanez. The three men were wrongly convicted and spent a collective 105 years in prison for a crime they didn’t commit.

But yesterday, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office dismissed their cases and now John, Arthur, and Francisco are fully exonerated.

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When police began investigating the fire and interviewing survivors and neighbors, a surviving relative and several neighbors told them that a woman from the neighborhood had threatened to burn down the building. They questioned her, but she denied involvement, and police came to focus instead on John..

John, Arthur, and Francisco were then interrogated and intimidated for hours. John, still a teenager, falsely confessed after police handcuffed him to a wall and beat him. Arthur also gave a coerced confession after similar abuse. Their case is part of the long and documented history of confessions coerced by the Chicago Police Department, particularly from young Black and brown men, using violence, threats, and intimidation.

This false confession, along with now invalidated arson science, were the key pieces of evidence used to convict John and his co-defendants.

“This case is representative of the many wrongful convictions stemming from the pervasive misconduct by Chicago law enforcement, as well as invalidated forensic techniques. We have to address these recurring issues if we are to have truly fair and equitable systems of justice in this country,” said Tara Thompson, John’s Innocence Project attorney.

Years of post-conviction litigation work and appeals by the Innocence Project (representing John Galvan), the Exoneration Project (representing both John Galvan and Arthur Almendarez) and the Cook County Public Defender (representing Francisco Nanez) went into getting justice for these three men.

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With gratitude for your continuing support,

— The Innocence Project Team

P.S. Restarting your life after 35 years of wrongful incarceration isn’t easy. So if you’d like to help cover basic expenses as John and Arthur figure out what the future holds for them, make a donation to their personal fundraising page now.

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The Innocence Project works to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone. Founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, the organization is now an independent nonprofit. Our work is guided by science and grounded in antiracism.

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