A Chicago man who proclaimed his innocence ever since being convicted of a murder more than 30 years ago was finally released from prison on March 16 after a judge vacated his 90-year sentence and prosecutors admitted they didn’t have enough evidence to retry him.
Lee Harris spent more than three decades behind bars for the 1989 murder of Dana Feitler. According to WGN 9 News, prosecutors said that there wasn’t enough evidence to retry the case after his 1992 conviction.
“I got 90 years for killing somebody I have never seen, somebody I never seen a day in my life,” Harris said to WGN 9 News.
Harris was accused of grabbing Feitler and forcing her to take $400 out of an ATM machine before he allegedly shot her in the back of the head in a dark alley. She was a 24-year-old college student at the time of her death, and it was reported by her family she had a promising future. The pressure was put on local detectives to solve the case because she was abducted “amongst the mansions of one of Chicago’s toniest neighborhoods” known as the Gold Coast, according to WGN 9 News.
Richard Zuley, a Chicago detective, was a part of the team tasked to solve the case. The early theory was that three African-American men initially did the murder.
The detective turned to Harris, who was an informant at the time, to help solve the case.
“They would say, ‘Lee, listen, we’ve got to solve this,’” Harris said. “They’d say ‘Listen, if you can help us, it’s worth $20,000, and I’ll make sure you get it.’ Again, I’m talking to my friends. There’s no reason not to believe them.”
Harris mentioned how he and the officers would go out for drinks, and they even attended his wedding. He also stated that the detectives gave him information, then put it in reports that were used to later convict him for the murder.
According to reports, Harris was a cooperating witness for months. The police took advantage of him when he fell…
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