A 17-year-old high school graduating teen wrongly convicted of murder in 2011, now walked out of jail after spending 12 years in prison when a key witness was proven legally blind.
Darien Harris, now 30, was put in prison due to a wrongful accusation of killing Rondell Moore, year 2011. The then-teenager Harris was originally sentenced to 76 years to rot in jail for a crime he never confessed to, because of a legally blind so-called “witness “ insisting he saw Harris committing the crime.
December 19, Mr. Harris finally proves his innocence of the crime and walks out of Chicago’s Clark County Jails, which stole his remaining teenage years and his entire twenties when he should have been graduating from high school, college, and building his future.
According to Mr Harris, during the time of the incident, he was at home and watching basketball. However, the key witness positively identified Mr Harris’ presence in the crime scene, causing the man’s greatest downfall in life.
Despite the wrong conviction, Mr Harris did not lose his determination to prove his innocence. While serving his time in prison, he found out that the witness who linked him in the incident was legally blind, thus making the witness inadmissible in the court, or simply, unacceptable.
Mr Harris’ attorney, Lauren Myerscough-Mueller, asserted that there was no solid evidence, including forensics, that points out the crime to the convicted, yet the court proceeded with its ruling. She also expressed her dismay that it took 12 long years to be seen, echoing Mr Harris’ sentiments.
A report says that according to the attorney, the key witness did not disclose proper information about his poor eyesight at the trial which will make it impossible for him to stand in court as a key witness.
Setting aside the poor justice system, Mr Harris talks about what he could do more rather than how many years and the quality of life he lost.
“I missed some of my best years, but man, I’m [gonna] live some good years now,” he said in an interview with CBS News, moments after he was sent free.
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