The family of Jose Montanez gathers at the Chicago law offices of Loevy & Loevy. Montanez was released from prison June 20 after being wrongfully convicted of murder and serving 23 years of a 55-year term. (Kevin Beese/for Chronicle Media)

For more than two decades, Jose Montanez missed family events and parties, serving time for a crime he didn’t commit.

“Birthdays were a difficult time,” Montanez said. “So were anniversaries. I would think, ‘I’m still locked up.’”

Montanez, 49, and Armando Serrano, 44, were both convicted in February 1993 of the murder of Rodrigo Vargas and sentenced to 55 years in prison. This despite neither man confessing to the killing and there being no physical evidence or eyewitness linking either man to the crime.

After a review of the case, prosecutors asked a Cook County judge to vacate the convictions and dismiss all charges against the two wrongly convicted men. Both were released from prison June 20 after 23 years of incarceration.

Montanez said he kept to himself in prison for the most part, trying to stay out of trouble and just getting to the next day.

“It was tough. Being in a prison cell is tough,” Montanez said. “I was mad at first. It was frustrating being in there. I just tried to stay active and away from the violence in prison. It was rough. I am so glad I am done with that.

“I steered clear of the gangs. I stayed away from them. I wanted to be solo. I spent a lot of time working out. I worked during the day. I was always doing something. I became friends with some of the staff. I did cleaning work for the warden. I kept moving. I did all that. I spent a lot of time in the yard. I had a few friends. Doing legal work helped pass the time.”

Montanez’s break came when the administration of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel asked for a handful of cases involving Det. Reynaldo Guevara to be reviewed. The Montanez and Serrano convictions were among those investigated. The administration’s request was made after two other murder cases involving Guevara unraveled and court records showed numerous defendants claimed they were railroaded by the Area 5 detective, who has refused to testify in the reviews based on his Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself.

The Better Government Association revealed in 2015 that the city has paid nearly $20 million to review, litigate and settle Guevara-related misconduct cases.

The review by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office showed that the only evidence against Montanez and Serrano was manufactured by Guevara when he fed a heroin addict, Francisco Vicente, a false story implicating the two innocent men.

“My false testimony was given as a result of threats, intimidation and physical abuse by Detective Reynaldo Guevara,” Vicente would testify via affidavit.

Jose Montanez, falsely imprisoned for 23 years, gets a smartphone tutorial from his grand-niece Aniyah Vazquez. (Kevin Beese/for Chronicle Media)

Montanez said the actions of one police officer and loss of two decades of his life has not soured him on all law enforcement.

“I have friends who are police officers,” Montanez said. “They have a job to do in keeping everyone safe.”

Montanez and his lawyer, Russell Ainsworth, are fighting to get a certificate of innocence for the Chicago resident, clearing the murder charge and another conviction Montanez copped to while in custody from his record. Montanez said without vacating those judgments he will not be able to gain employment to help support his family.

Montanez said he was falsely accused of a murder in 1990, but was able to beat that charge. When charged again a couple years later, he expected the same outcome.

“I believed it was going to go the same way as before, but all of sudden when you convicted it sets you back,” Montanez said. “It was like time stopped.”

Montanez said he has been stunned with how quick the pace of life is now that he is back in the outside world.

“Everything is so fast now,” Montanez said. “People are putting phones in front of me and I’m like, ‘Wow, slow down.’”

Montanez said he was always confident about his release, but wished a psychic’s reading would have come true much sooner.

“My ex-girlfriend had a psychic tell her that I would be released when there was a black president,” Montanez said.

Ainsworth said changes must take place in the Chicago Police Department and the city has to stop pretending that its hands are tied because of the existing police contract.

“I think the city is protecting itself, saying it is powerless to change things,” said the lawyer, who focuses on wrongful conviction cases for the Loevy & Loevy law firm. “Each written contract has two willing participants. If the city did not want to have something in the contract, it could remove that element the next time the contract came up.”

Ainsworth said there is definitely a difference in the way Chicago police treat people.

“There is definitely a double standard,” he said. “Whether it is race or class, I don’t know. But if cops treated people in Lincoln Park like what we have been seeing, the citizenry would not tolerate it. They wouldn’t tolerate 5 percent of what’s been going on.”

He said people need to speak out about police misconduct and let the city know that they will not tolerate such behavior. He said it is only such a public outcry that will generate real change in the Chicago Police Department.

Ainsworth said video has been the biggest factor in getting the city to move toward reforming the department.

“The city reviewing cases and proposing oversight is because people are seeing what is happening,” Ainsworth said. “All we have seen with changes is because of video. People would not have believed it otherwise, but people are seeing what’s going on and they are not tolerating it.”

Ainsworth said the city is incorrectly trying to sell lower police salaries to the police union by lessening rules and regulations.

“The real crux of the problem is the city wants to pay police officers less and in order to sell that it will give and require less oversight of cops,” Ainsworth said.

He said he sees the misconduct issue being more about the closed ranks of the Chicago Police Department than anything else.

“It is not as much a race issue as it is police cinching up the ranks,” Ainsworth said. “They protect each other. Members are afraid to speak out against another officer.”

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