But the headline sure reads like an Onion article.
Tue, May 28, 2024 at 7:42 AM CDT·2 min read
Darien Harris was 12 years into a 76-year prison sentence when he was freed in December 2023 - Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times
A man who spent 12 years in prison for murder is suing Chicago police after being convicted on an eyewitness account from a blind person.
Darien Harris was serving a 76-year sentence when he was freed in December after The Exoneration Project, an Chicago-based organisation fighting for the rights of the wrongly convicted, showed that the eyewitness had advanced glaucoma and had lied about his eyesight issues.
Despite being declared legally blind by his doctor nine years before the incident, the eyewitness picked Mr Harris out of a lineup and identified him in court.
The witness testified that he saw Mr Harris riding a motorised scooter near the gas station when he heard gunshots and saw a person aiming a handgun. He also claimed the shooter bumped into him.
The judge convicted Mr Harris, then an 18-year-old student, in connection with the fatal shooting at a gas station in 2011 in South Side Chicago.
When asked by Mr Harris’s lawyer whether his diabetes affected his vision, the witness said yes but denied that he had vision problems.
However, court records show that the man had been declared legally blind almost a decade before the start of the trial. A petrol station attendant also testified that Mr Harris was not the shooter.
Now 30 years old, he told the Chicago Tribune he is still struggling to put his life back together.
“I don’t have any financial help. I’m still [treated like] a felon, so I can’t get a good job. It’s hard for me to get into school,” he said.
“I’ve been so lost. I feel like they took a piece of me that is hard for me to get back.”
The Exoneration Project has helped clear the names of more than 200 people since 2009, including a dozen in Chicago’s Cook County in 2023 alone.
www.yahoo.com
Man convicted of murder sues Chicago police after eyewitness revealed to be blind
Lorna PettyTue, May 28, 2024 at 7:42 AM CDT·2 min read
Darien Harris was 12 years into a 76-year prison sentence when he was freed in December 2023 - Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times
A man who spent 12 years in prison for murder is suing Chicago police after being convicted on an eyewitness account from a blind person.
Darien Harris was serving a 76-year sentence when he was freed in December after The Exoneration Project, an Chicago-based organisation fighting for the rights of the wrongly convicted, showed that the eyewitness had advanced glaucoma and had lied about his eyesight issues.
Despite being declared legally blind by his doctor nine years before the incident, the eyewitness picked Mr Harris out of a lineup and identified him in court.
The witness testified that he saw Mr Harris riding a motorised scooter near the gas station when he heard gunshots and saw a person aiming a handgun. He also claimed the shooter bumped into him.
The judge convicted Mr Harris, then an 18-year-old student, in connection with the fatal shooting at a gas station in 2011 in South Side Chicago.
When asked by Mr Harris’s lawyer whether his diabetes affected his vision, the witness said yes but denied that he had vision problems.
However, court records show that the man had been declared legally blind almost a decade before the start of the trial. A petrol station attendant also testified that Mr Harris was not the shooter.
‘I’ve been so lost’
Mr Harris filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in April alleging that police fabricated evidence and coerced witnesses into making false statements.Now 30 years old, he told the Chicago Tribune he is still struggling to put his life back together.
“I don’t have any financial help. I’m still [treated like] a felon, so I can’t get a good job. It’s hard for me to get into school,” he said.
“I’ve been so lost. I feel like they took a piece of me that is hard for me to get back.”
The Exoneration Project has helped clear the names of more than 200 people since 2009, including a dozen in Chicago’s Cook County in 2023 alone.
Man convicted of murder sues Chicago police after eyewitness revealed to be blind
A man who spent 12 years in prison for murder is suing Chicago police after being convicted on an eyewitness account from a blind person.
