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The Case of Jacques Rivera
📻 Episode #243
🎙️ Hosted by Guest Host Patrick Pursley
📅 Feb 02, 2022
About This Episode
In 1988, 16 year old Felix Valentin was shot in his car in an alley on the West Side of Chicago. Before slipping into a coma and eventually death, he was able to identify his shooter and the getaway driver, 2 members of the Imperial Gangsters. An 11 year old eyewitness named Orlando Lopez initially…
Case status as carried in this site's original 2026 profiles. Independent record verification is rolling out episode by episode — statuses are being re-checked against court and registry sources and date-stamped as verified.
The Case
In 1988, 16 year old Felix Valentin was shot in his car in an alley on the West Side of Chicago. Before slipping into a coma and eventually death, he was able to identify his shooter and the getaway driver, 2 members of the Imperial Gangsters. An 11 year old eyewitness named Orlando Lopez initially identified Jacques Rivera, a member of the Latin Kings. Shortly after, Lopez realized his mistake, but Detective Reynaldo Guevara would not listen. Guevara claimed that the victim had identified Jacques as well, and the juvenile witness went along with it. Jacques went to a bench trial in front of Judge Michael Close who had recently been a focus of Operation Greylord, one of the biggest judicial corruption investigations in US history. Judge Close would not admit the victim's initial ID's as evidence, and Jacques was sentenced to 80 years. 23 years later, the Center on Wrongful Convictions eventually unearthed the reluctant witness, who greeted them with relief, saying that he’d been waiting to tell the truth. Detective Guevara's corruption has cost the citizens of Chicago over 50 million dollars so far, in addition to the freedom of over 20 innocent men and women.
https://www.innocentdemandjustice.com/
https://www.law.northwestern.edu/legalclinic/wrongfulconvictions/
https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/155-jason-flom-with-marilyn-mulero/
https://lavaforgood.com/with-jason-flom/
We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.
In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts
Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.
00:05:01“Speaker 2: and we haven't even started yet. But Jocks, let's talk Speaker 2: about your life. What was your life like growing up Speaker 2: in the city of Chicago during this time. Speaker 3: Yeah, growing up on the northwest side of Chicago, the Speaker 3: Humble Park area during the late seventies, all of the eighties,”
00:17:47“Speaker 3: he picked me up the second time, so she vectually Speaker 3: got a lawyer that was a family lawyer to a Speaker 3: friend of hers. Speaker 2: Now leading up to the actual trial, did you take Speaker 2: a jury or a bench trial? Speaker 3: I asked her. Feel my friends and they're like, well,”
00:29:37“Speaker 3: taking care of Felix Valentine while he was set in Speaker 3: intensive care. The doctor said it was impossible for the Speaker 3: Felix Valenteer to identify anybody because at that stage he Speaker 3: had stipped into a coma. So very fabricated that whole Speaker 3: line of procedure. And when my lawyers asked for that lineup,”
Listen to the Episode
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Also on the podcast: #420 Wilson Rivera