Cook County prosecutors announced Thursday they will not oppose a certificate of innocence for a man whose murder conviction hinged on the testimony of a legally blind witness.
Darrien Harris, 31, was convicted in 2011 of fatally shooting Rondell Moore at a South Side gas station and was sentenced to 76 years in prison.
There was no physical evidence linking Harris to the shooting. But Judge Nicholas Ford, who presided over Harris’ bench trial, cited the testimony of Dexter Saffold, who identified Harris as the shooter.
Saffold told the judge he saw the shooting from less than 20 feet away while riding his motorized scooter home and was so close that the shooter bumped into him as he ran off.
After Harris spent 12 years in prison, Judge Diana Kenworthy ordered his conviction and sentence vacated in December after attorneys presented evidence that Safford had been declared legally blind in 2002.
Lawyers working on Harris’ appeal found court records in several lawsuits Safford filed against a college, a landlord and two employees in the years before Harris’ trial documenting Safford’s vision problems.
Prosecutors agreed that Harris’ conviction should be vacated, but said they still believed Harris was the gunman and said they planned to try him again.
But less than a month later, prosecutors announced they would not seek to retry Harris and he was released from jail.
“I’m happy. I finally made it,” Harris told reporters outside the jail. “Twelve and a half years, I made it.”
Harris’ attorneys then filed a motion to grant Harris a certificate of innocence in the case, which would require Harris to prove actual innocence and would entitle him to money from a state fund for people who have been wrongfully convicted.
Prosecutors said they would not oppose Harris’ motion and a judge set a hearing next month. The case will be reviewed by Judge Erica Reddick.
Harris is also suing the city of Chicago, alleging misconduct by police officers who investigated Moore’s killing.
“Mr. Harris’ wrongful conviction was caused by the egregious misconduct of the defendant Chicago police officers,” the suit states, alleging they “fabricated evidence, including false witness statements and identifications through such tactics as coercion, threats, fact-feeding, and promises of leniency.”
The lawsuit, filed in federal court last month, seeks unspecified damages.
