MINNEAPOLIS — Nearly two decades into a life sentence, Marvin Haynes walked out of prison a free man on Monday.
He was serving time for the murder of flower shop clerk Randy Sherer back in 2004.
Dozens of family members, friends and supporters were there to watch as Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty formally apologized to Haynes. She says back in 2005, prosecutors relied almost exclusively on eyewitness identification but no forensic evidence, surveillance video or a murder weapon that connected Haynes to Sherer's murder.
"That should have made any prosecutor hesitant to bring charges because eyewitness identifications are often unreliable and one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions," said Moriarty.
"It takes the community to recognize things to change it, so I just appreciate everybody for their support and their love," said Haynes, who worked with the Great North Innocence Project to gain his freedom.
The vacating of Haynes' murder conviction comes after a hearing Nov. 28 during which his legal team raised a number of challenges to the murder conviction, among them that the suspect lineups used to convict were constitutionally defective.
Meanwhile, Sherer's family calls Monday's news a "travesty." They're also standing by his sister, Cindy, who was the only eyewitness that day. Sherer's sister-in-law, Dawn Sherer, also worked at the family flower shop.
"Randy was always at the store to protect us girls," said Dawn. "That was his main purpose."
Cindy has since passed away, but the family is confident about what she saw that day.
"He pointed a gun at Cindy, Randy jumped in and started fighting with him," said Dawn. "There's an alley right behind the flower shop, she saw him run from there and get into a car. She actually saw him, that's when she testified to."
"Mr. Haynes was younger, 50 pounds lighter, significantly shorter, had much longer hair and a different manner of speech than the man she described to the police," Moriarty asserted during her press conference.
The flower shop would eventually close down and a few siblings moved away – taking solace that the killer had been caught. News of Haynes' release now has some whom KARE 11 spoke to fearful, while others, like Dawn, are fired up.
"As far as I'm concerned, this is all bulls*&%," said Dawn. "And you can conjure up all kinds of proof but there's something else going on there."
Moriarty said her office regularly provides a victim's advocate, but in this case the contacts within the Sherer family had all passed away, making the news of Haynes' release even more surprising for them.
At the noon news conference, Haynes said the first he planned to do was go visit his mother in a nursing home, while thanking Moriarty and his family for the support.
"Now you all can recognize that I'm actually innocent," said Haynes.
When asked for reaction to the vacating of Haynes' murder conviction, Minneapolis police shared a written statement, adding that the murder of Randy Sherer remains under review.
"Justice is a right for everyone, and the justice system requires fundamental fairness in all prosecutions, especially those accused of the most serious crimes," said department spokesman Officer Garrett Parten. "Over the last two decades, there have been significant advances in eyewitness identification procedures as well as technological advances like facial recognition, the widespread presence of cameras, license plate readers, and cell phone tracking. These investigative tools can sometimes identify additional or different evidence to supplement existing information."
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