AP
Darien Harris was sentenced to 76 years in prison in 2014 for a fatal shooting in South Side Chicago when he was just 18 years old -- before The Exoneration Project freed him in December.
Darien Harris is a free man after serving 12 years of a 76 year sentence -- but he's not yet satisfied that justice has been served. Harris was an 18-year-old high school senior when he was arrested and picked out of a police lineup in 2011 for a fatal shooting at a gas station in South Side Chicago.
In 2014, he was convicted of the crime and sentenced to what would effectively be the remainder of his life behind bars. There was just one problem. Per the Chicago Tribune, one key eyewitness who claimed he saw the crime, picked Harris out of that lineup, and visually ID'd him in court was legally blind.
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View StoryThe witness claimed he was riding his motorized scooter near the South Side gas station when he heard gunshots. He said he then saw a person, whom he positively ID'd as Harris multiple times throughout the legal proceedings, holding a gun.
While the eyewitness insisted it was Harris, a gas station attendant testified that he wasn't the shooter. The eyewitness' testimony was a key component in Harris' guilty verdict.
He was freed by The Exoneration Project, a Chicago-based organization seeking to right wrongful convictions. The organization has helped more than 200 people since 2009, and in December 2023, they helped Harris walk out of prison.
In fighting for his release, the Exoneration Project showed that the prosecution's key eyewitness had lied about his eyesight and was actually legally blind when he allegedly saw Harris commit the crime, much less when he later picked him out of a lineup and ID'd him in court.
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View StoryHarris' attorney during the trial had asked the witness if his diabetes impacted his vision, but the witness denied he had any vision problems. This was clearly a falsehood, as The Exoneration Project showed that court records showed the witness' doctor had declared him legally blind with advanced glaucoma nine years prior to the lineup.
Now 31 years old, Harris has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Chicago and the police department. Harris' suit is alleging that police fabricated evidence and compelled witnesses to make false statements.
Having been incarcerated his entire adult life, he says he's struggling to figure out his place in the world, or be accepted by it.
"I don't have any financial help. I'm still [treated like] a felon, so I can't get a good job. It's hard for me to get into school," he told the Tribune.
"I've been so lost," he continued. "I feel like they took a piece of me that is hard for me to get back."
