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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Murder |
Sentence: |
50 years to life imprisonment |
Years Imprisoned: |
16.58 |
Year Crime: |
1996 |
Year Convicted: |
2011 |
Year Cleared: |
2017 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
New York |
County or Region of Crime: |
Westchester |
City of Crime: |
Eastchester |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Selwyn Days was wrongly convicted twice in the murders of Archie Harris and Betty Ramcharan in Harris' home in Eastchester, New York on November 21, 1996. Harris and Ramcharan were beaten and stabbed to death. Days was arrested on February 15, 2001 for violating a protection order by contacting ex-girlfriend Cherlyn Mayhew, when that afternoon Mayhew anonymously called the police and told them he should be investigated as a suspect in the more than four year-old cold case murders of Harris and Ramcharan. The next day, after being interrogated for close to a day, Days was charged with the murders of Harris and Ramcharan, based on his videotaped "confession" to the crimes, which Days recanted as coerced. Days was indicted for two counts of first-degree murder by a grand jury in April 2001. Days defense was that on the day of the murders he was in Goldsboro, North Carolina, 520 miles south of Easterchester, which was corroborated by several alibi witnesses. Days first trial ended in a mistrial on December 17, 2003 after the jury was unable to reach a verdict after four days of deliberations. After a retrial, Days was convicted of second-degree murder by a jury on April 16, 2004 (The jury acquitted Days of first-degree murder.) During his sentencing hearing on June 21, 2004 Days was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison, after he told the judge: "I didn't commit this crime. I do not know who did. They convicted an innocent man." Days conviction was affirmed on direct appeal. He filed a post-conviction motion for a new trial that was granted by a Westchester judge because of ineffectiveness of his trial counsel: his lawyer should have done more to pursue Days' alibi he was in North Carolina at the time of the killings, and his lawyer failed to take advantage of DNA evidence at the crime scene that did not match Days DNA. The State appealed, but the judge's ruling was affirmed. Days' third trial that began on February 7, 2011, ended in a hung jury on March 10, 2011. Days' fourth trial began on Sept. 21, 2011, and on October 26, 2011 the jury found Days guilty of second-degree murder. On December 20, 2011, with Days protesting his innocence, he was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison. Days appealed. On September 2, 2015 the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division reversed Days conviction and ordered a new trial because the trial judge erred by refusing to allow a false confession expert from testifying as a defense witness. Days fifth trial began on August 17, 2017. With the jury hearing the testimony of the false confession expert and his alibi defense of being in Goldsboro, NC on the day of the murders, Days was acquitted on September 12, 2017. Days was released later that day." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On September 12, 2017 Selwyn Days was acquitted by a jury after his fifth trial." |
Defendant Aided By: |
NY attorneys Roberto Finzi and Glenn Garber who began working on Days case in 2008. |
Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
36 |
Age When Released: |
53 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"Mount Vernon man found not guilty in fifth retrial, By Staff, News 12 (Westchester, NY), September 12, 2017" |
Information Location 1: |
http://westchester.news12.com/story/36348739/mount-vernon-man-found-not-guilty-in-fifth-retrial |
Information Source 2: |
"Selwyn Days acquitted in fifth trial for Eastchester double homicide, By Jonathan Bandler, Lohud.com, September 13, 2017" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/2017/09/12/selwyn-days-not-guilty-slayings/654531001/ |
Information Source 3: |
"Timeline: The Selwyn Days case, By Jonathan Bandler, Lohud.com, August 17, 2017" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/crime/2017/08/17/timeline-selwyn-days-case/575577001/ |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org