Witness Admits He Falsely Testified In Murder Trial That Sent An Innocent Man To Prison For 20 Years
Chicago (CBS) -- Chris Richmond shielded his face from the news cameras Thursday afternoon, but in court he said he falsely testified more than 25 years ago when he fingered Robert Bouto for an Albany Park murder.
"I really didn't see who the shooter was," Richmond admitted.
Richmond said Reynaldo Guevara, back then a Chicago police detective, forced him to testify against Bouto all those years ago.
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"I was going to point out Bouto or he was going to make my life miserable," Richmond said. "I was scared of the man. I did what he told me to do. I wanted to keep Rey Guevara off my back."
Dozens of convictions linked to the now-retired Guevara have been thrown out. He's been accused of manufacturing false evidence and framing the innocent.
Attorney Jon Loevy with the Exoneration Project spoke about Guevara's tactics.
"He grabs guys, decides who did it and then makes the witnesses tell his story," Loevy said. "For a long time, it went unquestioned, and a lot of men went to prison who shouldn't have gone to prison."
Robert Bouto went to prison at 17 and spent 20 years behind bars. When he was released from prison last April, he said the next step was to seek a declaration of innocence.
Chris Richmond said he was watching the CBS 2 morning news last year when he saw Robert Bouto had been freed from prison. He said he decided then he wanted to come forward and admit his testimony 25 years ago was a lie.
