Exonerated Darien Harris Spent 12 Years Behind Bars Before Key Witness Revealed To Be Blind: ‘I’ve Been So Lost’
A Chicago resident is suing both the city and the police department after investigators found a shocking missing element to his indictment.
Darien Harris was sentenced to 76 years in prison following a 2014 conviction for a fatal shooting at a south side gas station back in 2011 at the ripe age of 18. Harris spent 12 years behind bars for murder prior to being exonerated at the age of 30 after investigators found out that the key witness on the case was legally blind.
Another man has been exonerated after being convicted of murder! Darien Harris served 12.5 years in a Chicago prison before prosecutors decided to drop his charges after a key witness turned out to be legally blind. Christmas came early for Harris and his family! 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/15XyxBU39b
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) December 22, 2023
The Exoneration Project — a Chicago non-profit organization which provides legal services for the wrongly convicted — was able to prove that the key eye witness lied about the strength of his eyesight. The witness alleged he was riding a motorized scooter when he heard gunshots near the gas station and saw a person, who he identified as Harris, aiming a handgun.
During that time, a gas station attendant also testified that Harris was not the shooter.
According to the organization, the man reportedly struggles with advanced glaucoma, and was declared legally blind nine years prior to picking 31-year-old Harris out of a lineup. Harris' trial attorney questioned the witness regarding any vision problems, which he denied. Harris was freed in December.
Now presenting a lawsuit, Harris claims that the police fabricated evidence and compelled witnesses into making false statements, per the 'Chicago Tribune.' Despite receiving his GED and completing other educational programs while incarcerated, Harris admits he struggles to readjust.
"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... I've been so lost," he admitted.
In 2014, Darien Harris was sentenced to 76 years in prison for a shooting that killed one man and injured another in #Chicago. He was #exonerated in 2023 based on evidence the primary witness who identified him as the gunman was legally blind.
— Natl. Registry of Exonerations (@exonerationlist) January 4, 2024
Read more: https://t.co/RgHtrgNyQn pic.twitter.com/kHFxMD8Z04
Harris was looking forward to graduating high school with a clean record before police arrested him, ambush-style, at a gas station that left one man dead and another seriously injured in 2011.
"I feel like they took a piece of me that is hard for me to get back," he told the news outlet.
In addition to purported "egregious misconduct" by police officers who allegedly "fabricated evidence," the federal complaint also argues that Harris' wrongful conviction wasn't an "isolated incident," but rather a "part of patterns and practices of systemic police misconduct" at Area 2 headquarters.
