A Chicago man sentenced to 76 years in prison for murder has now been released after serving 12 years behind bars after it was revealed that a key eyewitness is legally blind.
The conviction of Darien Harris, now 30, was overturned earlier this month and will not be retried in connection with a fatal shooting, prosecutors said Tuesday.
“These 12.5 years of being gone weren't easy at all,” Harris said CBS upon his release. “But I fought, and now I'm here.”
Harris was an 18-year-old high school student when he was charged with murder after an ambush-style attack at a South Side gas station in June 2011 that left one man dead and another seriously injured.
Dexter Saffold, a passerby at the time of the shooting, identified Harris as the shooter, but it has been revealed that Saffold was registered as legally blind during the trial due to his glaucoma.
A Cook County judge officially dropped all charges against Harris and he was released as a free man on Tuesday around 6 p.m.
Darien Harris, who was sentenced to 76 years in prison for murder, has now been released after spending 12 years behind bars and fighting for a new trial
Harris was an 18-year-old high school student when he was charged with murder after an ambush-style attack at a South Side gas station in June 2011 that left one man dead and another seriously injured.
Harris will not face a new trial in a fatal shooting because the key witness, Dexter Saffold, was found to be legally blind, prosecutors said Tuesday
'All this time I was trying to tell people he was lying. He's lying,” Harris said of Saffold, the key witness against him in his trial. 'This is what happened. He really lied.'
On Tuesday morning, Cook County prosecutors agreed to drop all charges and not retry him after reviewing the case.
“We remain committed to the work of justice in pursuit of safe and healthy communities,” Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx said in a statement.
Harris has always maintained his innocence, claiming that at the time of the shooting he was watching LeBron James play in the NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks at his home.
Earlier this month, a judge overturned his conviction, but that only led to a new trial. He was then transferred from the state's Menard Correctional Center to the Cook County Jail to await retrial.
'I'm so excited right now. I don't even have the words to explain how grateful I am,” Harris' mother, Nakesha, said Chicago Tribune Tuesday outside the court.
'This will be his first Christmas in twelve years with all his brothers and sisters. He has a 5-year-old sister whom he has not yet met. This will be the best Christmas ever,” Nakesha said.
It has been revealed that Saffold was legally blind for at least a decade before the 2011 shooting, as records from 2002 show he filed disability lawsuits.
Earlier this month, a judge overturned his conviction but decided to retry him. He was then transferred from the state's Menard Correctional Center to the Cook County Jail to await his retrial
'All this time I was trying to tell people he was lying. He's lying,” Harris said of Saffold, the key witness against him in his trial. 'This is what happened. He really lied
Harris told it CBS from Cook County Jail last week: “Look at the symbol of justice. It is a blindfold with the scale pointing in favor. This is how we as black men enter the system. We come into the system blind, without knowing the law, without knowing anything.”
Harris was arrested in 2011 for the murder of Rondell Moore and convicted at trial in 2014.
Moore, 23, pulled into a BP gas station in Woodlawn after 8 p.m. on June 7, 2011 due to car trouble and was assisted by a local mechanic who arrived at the station shortly afterwards on his bicycle.
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 showed a person walking away from a black Lexus and around the gas station building toward where the shooting occurred.
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, Saffold, said he saw the shooting while on his way home from a fast food restaurant.
Rondell Moore, 23, was shot and killed after driving into a BP gas station in Woodlawn after 8 p.m. on June 7, 2011, due to car trouble.
The station's surveillance system did not capture the shooting, but prosecutors said the video showed a person walking away from a black Lexus.
Saffold picked Harris out of the police lineup during the investigation and also identified him in court during the trial.
Cook County Judge Nicholas Ford said he based his ruling primarily on Saffold's testimony.
It has been revealed that Saffold was legally blind for at least a decade before the 2011 shooting, as records from 2002 show he filed disability lawsuits.
Saffold acknowledged in a 2019 interview with CBS that he was blind and confirmed that the medical records were authentic.
“They didn't do anything wrong because they didn't know,” he said, “I didn't have to tell anyone about my medical history.”
Saffold picked Harris out of the police lineup during the investigation and also identified him in court during the trial
Saffold acknowledged he was blind in a 2019 interview with CBS and confirmed the medical records were authentic
Harris' attorney, Lauren Myerscough-Mueller, said in court that Harris was wrongly convicted based on inaccurate eyewitness testimony and without physical evidence linking him to the crime.
'The law should be blind. The eyewitness cannot be blind,” Myerscough-Mueller said. 'That's not how you should judge someone. That's not how the legal system is supposed to work.'
“He spent his formative years in prison. He is still quite young, so the good news is that he has time to build a very beautiful life. We are very grateful to Kim Foxx's office for doing the right thing,” she said after Harris was released.
“I believe Kim Foxx herself looked into the matter and determined that it was not something they would support given the evidence that justice required this action,” the attorney added.
'He had to grow up largely in prison, but he has remained so positive. He is such an inspiration to so many,” she said.
Earlier this month, Cook County Judge Diana Kenworthy overturned Harris' conviction and sentence, simply saying, “So we're going to start over.”
The judge, citing the serious nature of the charges at the time, refused to release Harris while he awaited his retrial.