Marvin Haynes files wrongful conviction lawsuit after spending nearly 20 years in prison for murder he did not commit
MINNEAPOLIS — A wrongful conviction lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Marvin Haynes, a man released from prison in 2023 after spending almost two decades behind bars for a murder he did not commit.
Haynes was sentenced to life in prison when he was 17 for the murder of flower shop employee Randy Sherer. He always maintained his innocence, and no physical evidence tied him to the crime. A judge overturned his conviction in December of 2023.
The lawsuit filed by the national civil rights law firm Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freidenberger, LLP seeks damages for the 19.5 years Haynes spent in prison.
The complaint named the City of Minneapolis and five police officers within the homicide department. It claims the officers used suggestion and coercion to fabricate a case against Haynes while "ignoring clear evidence that he had no connection to or knowledge of the crime."
"The Minneapolis Police Department officers who framed Mr. Haynes and the Department that allowed this injustice need to answer for their actions," Emma Freudenberger, a partner with NSBHF, said.
The lawsuit claims Haynes' Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated.
When WCCO asked for a statement on the lawsuit, a Minneapolis city spokesperson said "the city has no comment."
Last November, Haynes filed a compensation claim with the Minnesota Supreme Court seeking nearly $2 million in damages.
Haynes' sister Marvina fought for years to clear his name, and in 2021 the Great North Innocence Project took his case. The original murder case for Sherer has not been solved.
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