Man convicted of Chicago murder based on blind witness’ testimony sues city, police
CHICAGO– A Chicago man convicted of murder based in part on testimony from a legally blind eyewitness is suing the city and its police department.
A judge convicted Darien Harris in 2014 in connection with a fatal shooting at a South Side gas station in 2011. He was 12 years into a 76-year sentence when he was released in December after The Exoneration Project showed the eyewitness had glaucoma. and lied about his vision problems. Harris was 30 years old when he was released.
Harris filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in April alleging that police fabricated evidence and coerced witnesses to give false statements, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday. He told the newspaper that he is still struggling to get his life back on track.
“I have no financial help. I’m still (treated like) a criminal, so I can’t get a good job. It is difficult for me to go to school,” he said. ‘I’m so lost. … I feel like they took a piece of me that is hard for me to get back.”
A message left by The Associated Press on the city’s legal department main line Monday seeking comment was not immediately returned. The department provides attorneys for the city, its departments and its employees.
Harris was an 18-year-old high school student when he was arrested. The legally blind eyewitness picked Harris out of a police lineup and identified him in court. The eyewitness testified that he was riding his motorized scooter near the gas station when he heard gunshots and saw a person pointing a gun. He added that the gunman bumped into him.
Harris’ trial attorney asked the witness if his diabetes affected his vision. He said yes, but denied he had vision problems. But the man’s doctor deemed him legally blind for nine years before the incident, court records show.
A gas station attendant also testified that Harris was not the shooter.
The Exoneration Project has helped release more than 200 people since 2009, including a dozen in Chicago’s Cook County alone in 2023.