Chicago City Wire

A review of court documents has shown that the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (CCSAO) failed to respond to a federal judge’s order to explain why it dropped its opposition to the awarding of Certificates of Innocence (COIs) to two suspects convicted in a1998 double murder.

On May 12, Judge Steven Seeger of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said that he “had concerns” after reading a motion by City attorneys asking for an extended discovery period to investigate CCSAO’s reversal of its position in the case involving convicted murderers Gabriel Solache and Arturo DeLeon-Reyes.

“As an aside, this Court does not understand why the CCSAO has 20,000 emails about the Certificates of Innocence in question,” Stevens wrote. “Is that right? Are all of those emails external? How many emails does the CCSAO have with Plaintiffs' counsel, or members of his team? Has CCSAO talked with the custodians in question, and asked them if they ever told anyone why the CCSAO was dropping its opposition to the Certificates of Innocence? That's a good place to start.”

The judge gave the CCSAO, headed by Kim Foxx, until May 19. But a review of court documents showed no response, and a spokesman for the office told the Chicago City Wire that it had no comment.

In November, a judge awarded the COIs to Solache and Reyes, who both confessed to the murders of 43-year-old Mariano Soto and his 35-year-old wife, Jacinta, and the kidnapping of their two children. The two later claimed that Det. Reynaldo Guevara, who was investigating the case, had forced them into confessing. The CCSAO had initially opposed the COIs but then reversed itself without explanation.

The awarding of a COI to a once-convicted murderer means an almost certain payoff by the City in a wrongful conviction case.

In 2000, Solache was sentenced to death and Reyes to life in prison. Also convicted and sentenced to life in prison was 23-year-old Adriana Mejia, who presented the kidnapped two-month-old child as her own. Mejia, who remains imprisoned, maintained for many years that all three were involved in the murders.

Some are still convinced that Solache and Reyes are guilty of the crimes.

“There is no doubt in my mind, or the mind of anyone who has worked on this case, that Mr. Solache and Mr. Reyes are guilty of these crimes,” Eric Sussman, former first assistant state’s attorney, told CBS Chicago when the charges against the men were dismissed in 2017. “It is a tragic day for justice in Cook County.”

A motion by City attorneys for the reopening of discovery to investigate the CCSAO’s reversal on the COIs was filed in the Northern District, where Solache and Reyes in 2018 filed a civil action seeking damages for wrongful conviction. Solache is being represented by plaintiffs’ attorneys Loevy & Loevy and Reyes by the People’s Law Office.

City attorneys asked to see all “communications between the CCSAO (State’s Attorney) and third parties including Plaintiffs, their counsel and other advocates on topics relating to Solache’s and Reyes’s COIs.”

Judge Stevens extended discovery on the “limited issue” of the COIs until June 30.