{"id":746412,"date":"2022-07-15T06:35:01","date_gmt":"2022-07-15T06:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innocenceproject.org\/?p=41747"},"modified":"2022-07-15T06:35:01","modified_gmt":"2022-07-15T06:35:01","slug":"john-galvan-and-arthur-almendarez-walk-free-in-chicago-after-35-years-in-prison-for-arson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/07\/15\/john-galvan-and-arthur-almendarez-walk-free-in-chicago-after-35-years-in-prison-for-arson\/","title":{"rendered":"John Galvan and Arthur Almendarez Walk Free in Chicago After 35 Years in Prison for Arson"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/p>\n

John Galvan as a child (courtesy of the Galvan family for the Innocence Project).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Today, Innocence Project client John Galvan was released on an “I bond” from Cook County Jail in Chicago, Illinois, after spending 35 years in prison for a crime that he did not commit. Mr. Galvan was released with his co-defendant Arthur Almendarez, the latter of whom is represented by Joshua Tepfer of The Exoneration Project<\/a>. Both men have steadfastly maintained their innocence over the last three and a half decades for a 1986 fire that killed two men in Chicago.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We have been waiting for this day for 35 years,” Mr. Almendarez’s sister Laura Guevara told CBS News, <\/a>while waiting outside the jail for her brother to be released. “It’s overdue.”<\/p>\n

Mr. Galvan and Mr. Almendarez \u2014 who were teenagers at the time and never given pre-trial bond \u2014 were convicted and arrested in 1987 of aggravated arson and first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Galvan was convicted based on a coerced confession he maintains involved the use of police torture \u2014 including being handcuffed to a wall and beaten \u2014 and <\/span>invalidated arson science testimony by a Chicago a<\/span>rson investigator. Similar evidence and misconduct were used to convict Mr. Almendarez.<\/span><\/p>\n

Upon their release today, Mr. Galvan and Mr. Almendarez were awaiting a new trial granted to them by the First Judicial Appellate Court on two occasions in <\/span>2019<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>2022<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

John Galvan with his family (courtesy of the Galvan family for the Innocence Project).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The post John Galvan and Arthur Almendarez Walk Free in Chicago After 35 Years in Prison for Arson<\/a> appeared first on Innocence Project<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, Innocence Project client John Galvan was released on an \u201cI bond\u201d from Cook County Jail in Chicago, Illinois, after spending 35 years in prison for a crime that he did not commit. Mr.<\/p>\n

The post John Galvan and Arthur Almendarez Walk Free in Chicago After 35 Years in Prison for Arson<\/a> appeared first on Innocence Project<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32995,4498,51178,51180,864,51182,21753,4469,2510,4,848,529,438,1,51186],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746412"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/302"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746412"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":796297,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746412\/revisions\/796297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}