Man exonerated for 2012 murder in Philadelphia arrested in connection with recent deadly shooting
PHILADELPHIA - A man is now in police custody after he was identified as a suspect in a recent murder. That same man was released from prison last year after his 2012 murder conviction was exonerated.
Police on Thursday shared a mugshot of 32-year-old Jahmir Harris who had been linked to a deadly shooting that happened Sept. 5 on the 1700 block of North 56th Street. Friday afternoon, authorities announced that Harris had turned himself in.
Prosecutors say Harris was identified by security footage as the driver of a vehicle that two gunman exited before shooting 50-year-old Charles Gossett in the back of the head around 2 a.m.
Harris was previously convicted in the shooting death of 45-year-old Louis Porter just two days before Christmas 2012 in the parking lot of a Walgreens on Oregon Avenue.
Porter's son was in the backseat of the car when investigators say more than a dozen shot were fired, but the 5-year-old was not injured. Harris was later arrested and convicted in the murder of Porter.
Man exonerated for 2012 murder in Philadelphia being sought in recent deadly shooting
Authorities say a man who is being sought in connection to a recent deadly shooting was exonerated last year from a 2012 murder conviction. "That’s just horrifying, I feel sick to my stomach all over again, and I don’t even know how that could even happen," Linda Cruz, the sister of a 50-year-old Charles Gossett, said. "And the other family, I really feel devastated for them."
Harris' lawyer appealed to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner to re-examine the case, which lead to his sentence being vacated. In a statement to FOX 29 News, the DA's Office said it found "Harris' constitutional rights had been violated at the time of his prosecution because information implicating another individual as the likely shooter had not been turned over to the defense council."
Court transcripts from last year's combative hearing show Judge Rose Marie de Fino Nastasi was highly critical of the way the DA's Conviction Integrity Unit handled the case and was not confident in their investigation.
"This court wonders how the commonwealth felt confident in releasing a murder suspect from prison when the commonwealth said one page earlier that the criminal investigation in this matter was still ongoing," Judge de Fino Nastasi said.
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Porter's wife spoke to the Philadelphia Inquirer after Harris was set free, asking "you're telling me my husband's murderer is able to walk the streets? Now what message are you sending to the city?"
More than a decade after Porter's murder, the Philadelphia Police Department is again searching for Harris and asked anyone with information on his whereabouts to come forward.
Krasner shared a statement with FOX 29 on Wednesday justifying his office exonerating Harris:
"Wrongful convictions warrant correction by the criminal justice system because they undermine confidence in the system, and because the actual persons responsible for serious and violent crime are not held accountable. The facts alleged in the new arrest warrant for Harris have no bearing on the overturning of Harris’ 2012 conviction."