A Chicago man who says he pleaded guilty to a crime he did not commit simply because he was tired of fighting the case has lost his bid for an official declaration of innocence, even though he was acquitted of a separate murder charge that was also tied to disgraced CPD Detective Reynaldo Guevara.
Oscar Soto spent nearly two years in Cook County Jail before pleading guilty in July 1999 to attempted murder in a nonfatal shooting. He received a six-year prison sentence, but sentencing credits meant he spent only about nine more months in custody, officials say.
As he entered his guilty plea, Soto told the judge he had been jailed too long for something he did not do. He had just been acquitted of a separate murder charge, but the attempted-murder case kept him behind bars…