Justice finally found Marvin Haynes

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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Marvin Haynes joyfully walked out of prison last week after spending more than half of his 36 years behind bars because of a flawed murder conviction.

Haynes' case and others like his demonstrate the importance of efforts like the Great North Innocence Project and Minnesota's Conviction Review Unit — initiatives that merit continued support.

Haynes was convicted and imprisoned in connection with a nearly 20-year-old killing. In 2004, a robber shot and killed Randy Sherer in his family's flower shop in north Minneapolis. Sherer's sister, Cynthia McDermid (now deceased), was an eyewitness and described the killer as a thin Black man who was nearly 6 feet tall and 180 pounds. Even though Haynes did not fit that description — and there was no physical evidence linking him to the murder scene — he was convicted and received a life sentence.

But last week, Hennepin County Judge William Koch signed an agreement between Haynes and the County Attorney's Office — which had charged him for the murder — and ruled that a flawed investigation violated Haynes' rights by wrongfully convicting the then-17-year-old.

In a message to staff last week, current County Attorney Mary Moriarty called Haynes' exoneration "an important day for justice."

"Sometimes doing the right thing means we must seek to undo the harms of the past, not defend them," Moriarty said. "And that is what we have tried to do in this case. It is not easy to admit and correct our wrongs. But it is necessary."

Haynes was freed thanks to the work of the Great North Innocence Project attorneys. That group helped form Minnesota's relatively new Conviction Review Unit. The two groups work in partnership through state Attorney General Keith Ellison's office to collect applications to review cases of those who believe they have been wrongly convicted.

Since it was launched, the unit has received over 1,000 applications — about one-tenth of the state's prison population.

Haynes told reporters that he will spend time with his family and start to re-establish his life on the outside. He said he'd like to work with efforts to free others who are wrongly incarcerated. He previously told the Star Tribune that would work on finding a job that would pay him enough to live independently. In prison, he earned 25 cents an hour.

Legally in Minnesota, Haynes is eligible to be compensated for the lost wages and other damages from his wrongful conviction.

His case is yet another example of the need to provide avenues to have convictions reviewed. These types of exonerations also reveal a critical flaw in the death penalty, which Minnesota rightly does not have: The justice system is imperfect.

Marvin Haynes will never regain those years in prison, but at least he has the chance to build a new life as an innocent man.