The homicide conviction of a Chicago man who has spent 12 years behind bars has been overturned – as a result of a key eyewitness was legally blind.
Darien Harris, 30, was discovered responsible after a 2011 taking pictures left 23-year-old Rondell Moore useless and one other individual critically injured.
Harris, who’s black, was 18 on the time and has at all times maintained his innocence.
He will now face a brand new trial, his lawyer says, after his conviction was vacated.
“Mr Harris has spent 12 years wrongfully imprisoned, having been arrested when he was just 18,” the Exoneration Project mentioned.
“His conviction was secured almost solely through the testimony of a blind eyewitness, who the court repeatedly referred to as credible when wrongfully convicting Mr Harris.
“We stay up for persevering with to struggle for his freedom.”
The witness was allegedly affected by superior glaucoma on the time of the crime, the organisation mentioned.
He had severely restricted visibility, and surveillance video from the scene revealed that he was a lot additional away than he initially claimed to be, it added.
Read extra from Sky News:
University chief quits over ‘genocide of Jews’ testimony
Hunter Biden says Republicans are attempting to ‘kill’ him
Several years in the past, Harris’ household and authorized group had urged Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to take a look at the case, arguing the witness had allegedly did not disclose that he was legally blind, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Mr Moore, the sufferer, had pulled into a neighborhood fuel station to take a look at his automobile when he was shot thrice.
He ran from the fuel station and died in a close-by parking zone.
A neighborhood mechanic who was serving to Mr Moore was additionally injured within the taking pictures.
Source: information.sky.com”