Man wrongfully convicted of murder sues Evanston police, alleging ‘coercion, threats, fabrication and misrepresentation
Jesús Sánchez, who was wrongfully convicted and served over four years in prison for murder, filed a lawsuit April 10 against the Evanston Police Department and two of its officers.
According to the suit, the two EPD detectives, Joe Bush and Phil Levy, used “coercion, threats, fabrication and misrepresentation” to force a false confession out of Sánchez and other witnesses. The complaint accuses the police departments of Wheeling, Wilmette, Skokie and Lincolnwood as well. Sánchez’s conviction was reversed in April 2018 by the Illinois Appellate Court.
In November 2014, Sánchez, then 18 years old, was convicted for the murder of Rafael Orozco. Orozco was killed in May 2013, outside a Wheeling apartment complex. Sánchez was in the vicinity and heard the shots, according to the suit. After the incident, Sánchez and the people he was with tried to get to his car, which was parked near the location of the murder.