Wrongfully convicted man exonerated after damn near 20 years behind bars. Crime never committed it. Let's put it up full mass. Marvin Haynes, 36-years of age, do the math. [00:00:17] A Minnesota man went to prison as a teenager. He was 16. He has been released almost two decades after his wrongful murder conviction was vacated. [00:00:36] Haynes has always maintained his innocence in the deadly 2004 robbery that took place in a flower shop and killed 55-year-old Randy Sherer, according to The Associated Press. [00:00:51] In May of that year, a man walked into the store and brandished a revolver at Sherer's sister, Cynthia McDermid, who was working there at the time, and ordered her to hand over money and security footage, the outlet reported. [00:01:09] McDermid has since passed away, but Sherer's family still maintains she identified the correct suspect, KARE 11 reported. Sherer came out from the back and said they had no money on them and [00:01:26] the intruder fired two shots as McDermid escaped, according to the outlet. She later picked a man from a lineup that did not include Haynes as the assailant. The man had an alibi, prompting police to look elsewhere. [00:01:44] Police followed up on the tip that pointed toward the young, teenage Haynes and then showed McDermid a photo of Haynes from two years prior, when he had shorter hair that [00:02:01] resembled the shooters, according to the outlet. McDermid claimed Haynes was the shooter, even though he was shorter than the alleged robber. Put up prosecutor here. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said that Haynes' [00:02:21] conviction was based almost exclusively on eyewitness accounts and the trial lacked any forensic evidence. At trial, prosecutors also did not present any videos connecting him to the crime, [00:02:36] and authorities never found a murder weapon at all. Okay, prosecutors said in a statement, quote, that should have made any prosecutor hesitant to bring charges because eyewitness identifications are often unreliable and [00:02:54] one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions. We inflicted harm on Mr. Haynes and his family, and also on Harry Sherer, the victim, his family and the community, she said in a statement, and apologized for [00:03:13] all the life experiences Haynes missed during his time in prison. We cannot undo the trauma experienced by those impacted by this prosecution, but today we have taken a step toward right this wrong, the prosecutor said. [00:03:29] Let's put up the family. The young man is smiling, okay? But he went through 20 years of extreme, unbelievable anxiety, anger, all of it. [00:03:49] Haynes spoke outside of the prison after being released, thanking the current personnel in the DA's office, his lawyers, his family members. Quote, it took 19 years, but I'm here. [00:04:06] I just want to move forward and get my life back, that's it. He gave a special recognition to his sister, saying, and I quote, my sister lost so much fighting for my innocence. [00:04:24] Words cannot describe what she means to me and my family. There's a GoFundme. We want to help them. [00:04:43] Maybe the government does the right thing at some point, three, four years, maybe five years later, okay? But we have a right now opportunity. There's a GoFundme that's been set up. We are delighted to see Marvin finally regain his freedom for [00:05:03] the truth of his innocence to win out. Exonerated after 19 years, support Marvin Haynes, I want you to make a contribution. Do the very best you can. Christmas is coming up. I want them to have a great Christmas, right? [00:05:19] Professor, thoughts? >> Speaker 2: I love that you just did that. I think that, how can you take 19 years? I mean, just think how formative that is for people, for their families, for everything. So I love that you ended that story with support. Honestly, I think that's what needs to happen and support for [00:05:38] people who are in these horrible situations. But also, I wish there were more resources for things like the Innocence project that make sure, I mean, some people are in prison because they committed a crime, and some people are there because it's an easy prosecution or because of the system. [00:05:55] And so I wish we had more resources also just to give people support who are in prison for the wrong reason. >> Speaker 1: Yeah, and I want to echo something. The police, they broke their own protocol by showing a photo two years earlier. [00:06:14] So what does that mean? That means they showed a photo of a 14-year-old child in order to convict a 16-year-old child for a crime that the child never committed. Which means also, whoever killed this person got away with it. [00:06:30] Victims received no justice. As a matter of fact, it simply created another injustice and by proximity, another injustice, because the family has to endure this, and it goes on and on. [00:06:46] It's an ecosystem. We're glad that exoneration happened in this case 19 years later. Do the very best you can with the GoFundme, all right?