Queens Man Jailed Eight Years For Crime He Didnt Commit

For almost eight years Gerald Harris had spent his holidays in a jail cell, known to the justice system as a convicted felon. But last week, in Queens Supreme Court, the former Golden Glove boxers name was cleared as he was told he could finally spend Christmas at home with his family and friends.
A State Supreme Court justice reversed a jury verdict last Friday convicting the former light heavyweight boxer of a 1991 robbery which his brother later confessed to. Harris, 32, has maintained his innocence ever since a Queens jury convicted him in 1992 of holding up a couple in the garage of their Jamaica Estates home. He was sentenced to 9 to 18 years in prison by Justice Randall Eng, the same judge who let him go free Friday afternoon.
Eng said the "long-overdue testimony" of Harris brother Harold, who is now serving time in an unrelated case, finally convinced him of Harris innocence.
Harold Harris, 34, told the courtroom he was one of the thieves who held up the couple while his brother, at that time, was at home watching video tapes of his Golden Glove bouts.
Defense attorney Philip Smallman and Brooklyn law professor William Hellerstein argued recently before Eng in favor of setting aside the verdict. They presented the testimony of two alleged participants in the robbery who were never prosecuted and who testified that Gerald Harris was not present during the robbery.
Gerald Harris was arrested one month after the robbery as he rode around with the driver of the getaway car used in the Jamaica Estates holdup.
At the original trial, the two victims identified Gerald Harris as the man who robbed them on Dec. 18, 1991. Gerald and Harold Harris are exactly the same height and weight, with similar features. Gerald had no idea his brother was involved in the crime until after his conviction. Harold Harris said he was going to confess to the crime eight years ago, but was later convicted of drug charges in South Carolina and sentenced to 25 years to life.
Harris said he plans to return to boxing. But first he said he will visit his mother in Baltimore and then go to Atlantic City for Christmas.
This latest overturned conviction is only one in many cases that have put the wrong man in prison. Just last week, in Staten Island, James ODonnell was released after spending three years in state prison for sexual assault. Also, Tavaris Parker, a working man with two full-time jobs and no criminal record, went out for a haircut in Brooklyn and was grabbed for murder by two detectives. It took 10 months before he would be exonerated and released from prison. Last July, Lee Anthony Long, a Kew Gardens native convicted of rape, was set free after spending six years in prison.