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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Second Degree Murder |
Sentence: |
25 yrs to life imprisonment |
Years Imprisoned: |
3.2 |
Year Crime: |
2001 |
Year Convicted: |
2009 |
Year Cleared: |
2016 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
New York |
County or Region of Crime: |
Tioga |
City of Crime: |
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Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Calvin Harris was wrongly convicted twice of the second-degree murder of his estranged wife Michele Harris, who disappeared on September 11, 2001 from her home in Tioga County, New York. Harris was indicted in September 2005, four years after Michele disappeared, largely based on the prosecution's circumstantial contention that Harris, 38, was worth $4 million and he didn't want to lose half his money in a divorce from his 35-year-old wife. Harris' wealth came from his family's car dealerships. After Michele's disappearance, her body was not found, so the prosecution speculated she was killed in the house she lived in with Harris while their four children were asleep upstairs, based on the finding of several very small blood spots. Harris' defense was that there was no direct evidence linking him to either her disappearance or her alleged murder, and that the police and prosecutors overlooked possible suspects she met during the wild life she led as her marriage broke up. Harris' first conviction by a jury was in June 2007. Prior to Harris' sentencing, Broome County Judge Martin Smith vacated Harris' conviction based on a new witness who came forward following the trial and said he saw a woman he believed was Michele Harris, arguing with a man who wasn't her husband at the end of her driveway by the road, at a time that was hours after the prosecution claimed he had supposedly killed her. Harris was retried by the Tioga County DA's Office, and after his second trial he was convicted by a jury on August 5, 2009. Harris' $500,000 bail was revoked and he was taken into custody. Harris was sentenced on October 5, 2009 to 25-years to life-in-prison. Harris' conviction was affirmed on appeal. Harris appealed that ruling, and his conviction was overturned on October 18, 2012 by the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest appellate court, which described the prosecution's case as "purely circumstantial" in ordering a new trial. The state Court of Appeals ruled that while there was "legally sufficient" circumstantial evidence to support Harris' conviction, the trial judge mishandled hearsay testimony and failed to issue a proper limiting jury instruction regarding that hearsay testimony, and the judge erred by refusing to remove for cause a prospective juror who admitted having a pre-existing opinion about the case, although she was excused as a prospective juror by the defense's use of one of its peremptory challenges. The appeals court also recommended moving the from Tioga County to try and find jurors uncontaminated by pre-trial publicity. On October 25, 2012 Harris was released on $500,000 bail after 3 years 2 months in custody. Harris third trial was moved to Schoharie County. Before his third trial began on January 22, 2015, Harris recovered evidence from the property where the uninvestigated suspect lived in September 2001. The man, Stacy Stewart, was known to be consorting with Harris's wife and he was seen with her on the day she went missing. Stewart's property was seven miles from where Michelle and Harris lived, and in a buried outdoor burn pit burned clothing and other physical evidence was discovered. The evidence included: a knife blade, a button, what could be a shoulder strap from a bra, a woman's bathing suit or purse, and two fragments of charred fabric - one dark blue or black, one a lighter color. It is known that the fabric colors match the clothing Michele was wearing the night she disappeared. With the jury seeing the new evidence, but with the judge limiting Harris' ability to call witnesses supporting that Stewart could have killed Michelle. During the trial Harris believed the judge's rulings were biased for the prosecution, and at one point he accused the judge of "continuously siding with the prosecution." Harris' third trial, that included 11 weeks of testimony, ended in May 2015 with a mistrial because the jury that began deliberations on April 30, couldn't reach a verdict after deliberating for 11 days. The judge only declared a mistrial after the jury had told him three times that they were hopelessly deadlocked. The Tioga County DA's Office proceeded with a fourth trial. For his fourth trial Harris waived his right to a jury trial, and after a bench trial, Supreme Court Justice Richard Mott acquitted him on May 24, 2016 after 2-1/2 days of deliberation. After Harris' acquittal Tioga County District Attorney Kirk Martin, who prosecuted the case, said Michele Harris is still considered a missing person. During Harris' ordeal his four children supported him and expressed their belief in his innocence. On October 24, 2016 Calvin Harris filed a lawsuit in Cortland County, New York to regain the 45% ownership of two automotive dealerships that he claims his former partner Joseph Reagan fraudulently gained full ownership of after Harris' conviction. Harris claims that Reagan violated a shareholder's agreement to fraudulently gain ownership of the two businesses in Cortland -- Royal Chevrolet and Royal Nissan, that also sells Subaru." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"After his first two trial ended in convictions that were overturned on appeal and his third trial ended in a mistrial, for his fourth trial Harris waived his right to a jury trial, and after a bench trial, Supreme Court Justice Richard Mott acquitted him on May 24, 2016." |
Defendant Aided By: |
"Attorneys Aida Leisenring, Donna Aldea and Bruce Barket." |
Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
48 |
Age When Released: |
51 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"Millionaire who has been tried FOUR TIMES for the murder of his wife who vanished on 9/11 breaks down as he's cleared again, By James Wilkinson (For Dailymail.com), Daily Mail (London, UK), May 24, 2016" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3607351/NY-man-not-guilty-wifes-death-4th-murder-trial.html |
Information Source 2: |
"Mistrial declared in 3rd murder trial of NY millionaire, By Crimesider Staff, CBS News & AP, May 15, 2015" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mistrial-declared-in-3rd-murder-trial-of-new-york-millionaire-cal-harris/ |
Information Source 3: |
"People v Harris, 2012 NY Slip Op 06990 (NY Ct. of Appeals, October 18, 2012) (Reversing conviction based on trial court errors and ordering a new trial.)" |
Information Location 3: |
http://law.justia.com/cases/new-york/court-of-appeals/2012/174.html |
Information Source 4: |
"TIMELINE: The complete Cal Harris saga, By Staff, Press & Sun-Bulletin, May 27, 2016" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/local/2016/05/27/cal-harris-timeline/85036744/ |
Information Source 5: |
"Acquitted of murder, dealer wants his stores back: Calvin Harris sues the friend who took over, By Jamie LaReau, Automotive News, November 12, 2016" |
Information Location 5: |
http://www.autonews.com/article/20161112/RETAIL07/311149992/acquitted-of-murder-dealer-wants-his-stores-back |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org