Freed Men Sue Chicago PD and Cook County for Wrongful 42-Year Incarceration
HOODLINE CHICAGO
October 22, 2024
After over four decades behind bars for crimes they did not commit, James Soto, alongside his cousin David Ayala, is bringing their long quest for justice into the courts with a lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department, Cook County prosecutors, and the City of Chicago.
Missteps and malfeasance by law enforcement have left deep, indelible scars on the lives of these two men, with Soto only now embarking on the arduous task of rebuilding what was unjustly taken from him.
In December, just shy of the holiday that many spend wrapped in the warmth of family and tradition, Soto and Ayala were freed after a judge ruled their 1981 convictions for a double murder in Little Village to be baseless.
As reported by ABC7 Chicago, their release marked the end of what is believed to be the longest wrongful conviction incarceration in the state of Illinois.
Soto's lawsuit, filed Tuesday, reveals a tale of fabricated evidence and dubious witness testimony that kept him locked away for 42 years.
Details brought to light in the ongoing case showcase a harrowing campaign by authorities to secure convictions.
According to the lawsuit, “Defendants built an entirely false case against Mr. Soto by fabricating false evidence and suppressing exculpatory evidence that Mr. Soto could have used to defend himself in the criminal trial against him.” This information, first made public by CBS News, depicts a troubling narrative of justice derailed.
Soto's legal team alleges that not only did the police coerce a man to falsely implicate him in the murders, they later relied on this sole witness in court while suppressing any contradictory evidence.
The lawsuit further claims that initially, witnesses identified two other suspects, yet police arrested only one, without proceeding with his case.
Instead, they are accused of pinning the crime on Soto and Ayala, crafting a narrative involving a gang meeting that never transpired.
To support their concocted story, Soto’s lawsuit accuses police of “convincing the star witness in the case to falsely claim that, on the day of the shooting, there was a gang meeting in the basement of Ayala's home”, where a murder plot was allegedly hatched.
Again, per the lawsuit, none of the individuals said to be at that fictive meeting confirmed the star witness's account.
The consequences of Soto's wrongful conviction resonate beyond the courtroom and into his personal struggles with reintegration.
In a statement reported by CBS News, he expressed a personal turmoil many of us could scarcely fathom: "At times, I'll wake up in the middle of the night and I know I'm out. And it's like, I'm sweating and I'm crying. Why am I crying? I should be so happy; joyful I'm out," said Soto, "but I just feel like I don't belong here." These words pierce through the legalese to touch the human core of Soto's ordeal, an innately personal struggle amid his legal battle.
Today, Soto pursues a future that challenges the past that shackled him. Graduating magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University's prison education program, just before his exoneration, he now works as a paralegal and eyes a law degree.
