A 35-year-old man who was sent to prison for the 2004 killing of a man in a Minneapolis flower shop was released Monday after a judge ruled the eyewitness evidence on which his conviction rested was unreliable.
Marvin Haynes, who was 16 at the time of the killing, was released from prison shortly afterward the judge’s ruling.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said it agreed with defense attorneys that Haynes had proven in court that admitting the shaky evidence violated his constitutional rights during his 2005 trial for the killing of Randy Sherer, 55, who was shot during a robbery.
“I just want to thank everybody that supported me through this whole journey,” Haynes told reporters outside the prison. “And now y’all can recognize that I’m actually innocent.”
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement that Haynes’ prosecution was a “terrible injustice.” She said his conviction depended almost entirely on eyewitness identification and that there was no forensic evidence, such as fingerprints or DNA, nor video connecting him to the crime.
“We inflicted harm on Mr. Haynes and his family, and also on Harry Sherer, the victim, his family, and the community,” Moriarty said. “We cannot undo the trauma experienced by those impacted by this prosecution, but today we have taken a step toward righting this wrong.”
Moriarty said nearly 28% of cases nationally in which convictions are thrown out involve problems with eyewitness identification.
Judge William Koch held that absent the eyewitness evidence, which he said was unconstitutionally admitted, “it is doubtful there would have been sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction.” He noted that there was no physical evidence linking Haynes to the killing and dismissed all charges with prejudice, meaning they can’t be filed again.
Koch, who held a two-day evidentiary hearing on the case late last month, said in his order that Haynes’ attorneys, from the Innocence Project,…
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