Why Wasn't The Juan Johnson Jury Told About His Gang Affiliation??
In reporting on the recent jury verdict received by Juan Johnson, the media is reporting that Johnson was a member of the Spanish Cobras street gang and was accused of beating and killing a member of the rival Latin Eagles street gang. Attorney Jim Sotos, who represented Reynaldo Guevara, a retired Chicago gang specialist, noted that "There were two witnesses who specifically testified that they saw [Juan Johnson] commit this murder. And the two [witnesses] that changed their story did so at the behest of gang leaders." Indeed, it was gang members who recanted their prior testimony and .jpg)
changed their story to claim that Guevara coerced them into identifying Johnson in the murder. Yet, the jury was not allowed to hear any evidence about gangs at all and was not told that the murder involved a fight between two rival gangs and that Johnson was a member of one of the gangs involved in the street brawl. Nor was the defense allowed to introduce evidence that the gang members changed their story in order to get back at Guevara, who was a Chicago Police gang specialist.
