Chicago man convicted of murder and sentenced to prison for 76 years to get new trial after key eyewitness turned out to be BLIND

A Chicago man convicted of murder and sentenced to 76 years behind bars has had his conviction overturned and will be retried after a key witness was found to be legally blind.

Darien Harris was an 18-year-old high school student when he was charged with murder after a shooting at a South Side gas station in June 2011.

The shooting left one man dead and another seriously injured in an ambush-style attack.

Harris, now 30, has always maintained his innocence, claiming he was home at the time of the shooting to watch LeBron James play in the NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks.

However, Dexter Saffold, a passerby at the time of the shooting, identified Harris as the shooter.

It has now been revealed that the key eyewitness was registered as legally blind due to his glaucoma, which was not revealed at trial.

Harris' attorney, Lauren Myerscough-Mueller, said in court filings that Harris was wrongfully convicted based on inaccurate eyewitness testimony and without physical evidence linking him to the crime.

On Tuesday, Cook County Judge Diana Kenworthy overturned Harris' conviction and sentence, simply saying, “So we're going to start over.”

Harris will be retried on charges of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm.

The judge, citing the seriousness of the charges, declined to release Harris while he awaits his retrial.

Harris, handcuffed at the ankles and wearing blue prison scrubs, said nothing during the brief court hearing.

He waved to his wife, mother and an uncle who were in the courtroom before he was led back to jail.

Nakesha Harris, Darien's mother, told reporters after the hearing that she had hoped her son would be released without being retried.

“They are wasting taxpayers' hard-earned money,” she said.

“We retry a case without physical (or) DNA evidence. All the witnesses recanted (and) changed their stories, and the judge based his judgment on the testimony of a blind man.”

The defendant's wife, Jessica Harris, told reporters, “I thought I was going to have him home for the holidays, so it's disappointing in a way to see them retry him.”

“But I'm confident he'll be home soon.”

Rondell Moore, 23, drove into a BP gas station in Woodlawn after 8 p.m. on June 7, 2011, due to car trouble.

Moore was assisted by a local mechanic who arrived at the station on his bicycle shortly afterwards.

Moore was shot three times and died in a nearby parking lot as he tried to flee.

The 51-year-old mechanic survived with gunshot wounds to his back and arm.

The station's surveillance system did not capture the shooting, but prosecutors said the video did show a person walking away from a black Lexus and around the gas station building toward the area where the shooting occurred, then running away shortly afterward.

The video showed a man whose thin build and short haircut generally matched Harris, but the suspect's face was not visible.

Days after the shooting, Harris was arrested after a witness, Dexter Saffold, said he witnessed the shooting while on his way home from a fast food restaurant.

Saffold picked Harris out of a police lineup and also identified him in court during the trial.

Cook County Judge Nicholas Ford said he based his ruling primarily on Saffold's testimony.

Prosecutors vowed to pursue a new trial, claiming they have credible evidence from other eyewitnesses pointing to Harris' guilt.

Myerscough-Mueller alleged that police misconduct played a role in these identifications.

Harris is due back in court on December 19, where a trial date may be set.