CHICAGO — For a few moments Tuesday morning, the typically dreary halls of the Leighton Criminal Courthouse were full of robust cheers and waves of relief.

The joyous outbursts — the kind of noisy interruptions judges are normally loathe to tolerate — came after Cook County prosecutors signaled that they would no longer prosecute another case tied to disgraced former Chicago police detective Reynaldo Guevara.

Nelson Gonzalez, 53, was arrested in 1993 and charged in connection with a West Side murder. He was later convicted and sentenced to prison, where he remained until 2016.

He’s since pledged his support to other victims of Guevara and said Tuesday that he hopes to become an attorney.

“There was many obstacles in our path, but we kept pushing forward, and we’re going to keep pushing forward,” Gonzalez said. “We want every Guevara victim — either they’re free, finished their sentence, still incarcerated, [or] have passed away — to receive the justice that they deserve.”

“This was a conspiracy created by Mr. Guevara and other agents,” he added.

Marilyn Mulero is the first woman to be exonerated in a case linked to Guevara. She was arrested when her two children were still very young and spent several years on death row before her release.

“I stayed strong, I maintained my faith in God, and I had to be a strong individual because I had two toddlers when I was incarcerated,” Mulero, speaking through tears, told reporters in the courthouse lobby. “And I had to fight for them and I had to be strong for them, and here I am.”

Before Tuesday wave of exonerations, about 20 other murder convictions tied to Guevara were already thrown out. The former detective, who retired in 2005 and has since moved to Texas, has repeatedly invoked his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination when questioned under oath about his misconduct.

While seven defendants saw their cases dismissed on Tuesday, another four — whose cases are also tied to Guevara — are set for court hearings next week.

The city of Chicago has already spent more than $75 million to defend, investigate and settle civil cases brought by Guevara victims.