Marvin Haynes, Exonerated After Almost Two Decades, Sues Over Wrongful Conviction

Suit seeks justice for wrongful conviction which led to legislative change

(MINNEAPOLIS, MN) The national civil rights law firm Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, LLP (NSBHF) today filed a wrongful conviction lawsuit on behalf of Marvin Haynes, who was arrested at 16 and served almost two decades in prison for a murder he did not commit. Haynes never wavered in proclaiming his innocence, even as a teen subjected to hours of aggressive interrogation and lies by investigators.

“The complaint we filed today tells my story—one I’ve been telling since I was arrested in 2004,” said Haynes, now 37. “I’m grateful that people are now listening, but it is devastating that it took so long for the truth to come out. My life was destroyed by the officers who wrongly chose to fabricate a case against me, and I have a long road in front of me to heal.”

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty called Haynes’ prosecution a “terrible injustice,” “egregious,” and apologized for all he had missed while wrongfully incarcerated. The Minnesota Legislature also recognized the terrible harm done, passing two pieces of legislation which were signed into law by Governor Tim Walz in May 2024: to guard against the recurrence of this injustice by prohibiting law enforcement from using deceptive interrogation tactics with juveniles, and to create a procedural path for the wrongfully convicted to seek justice when new evidence is discovered.

“We cannot change the fact that Mr. Haynes was wrongly incarcerated for almost 20 years, or give him back the formative years he spent in prison, but today we have begun the process of seeking justice and accountability for him,” said Emma Freudenberger, a partner with NSBHF. “The Minneapolis Police Department officers who framed Mr. Haynes and the Department that allowed this injustice need to answer for their actions.”

As the lawsuit describes, no physical, forensic, or surveillance evidence ever tied Haynes to the crime. In the absence of any actual evidence establishing his guilt, investigators used improper suggestion and fabricated and coerced statements from vulnerable teens to implicate Haynes. He spent years behind bars seeking assistance to demonstrate his innocence, and in 2022, the attorneys at Great North Innocence Project (GNIP) began investigating the case. Multiple witnesses came forward to tell GNIP that Minnesota Police Department investigators pressured them into providing false evidence. The Hennepin County District Court vacated Haynes’s conviction on December 11, 2023, after finding that it had been based on unconstitutionally suggestive identification procedures.

The lawsuit seeks damages for the more than 19 years Haynes was incarcerated for the unsolved murder of Harry Sherer and the assault of his sister, Cynthia McDermid, at Jerry’s Flower Shop in North Minneapolis on May 16, 2004. The complaint names the City of Minneapolis and five police officers (four detectives and a supervisor) within the Homicide Department. It details how the officers, aware that the sole eyewitness to the crime was unable to provide a reliable identification, used suggestion and coercion to fabricate a case against Haynes, all the while ignoring the clear evidence that he had no connection to or knowledge of the crime. Haynes brings claims under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, including his right to be free from prosecution without probable cause and from the deprivation of liberty without due process of law.

Attorneys Emma Freudenberger, Amelia Green, Katrina C. Rogachevsky, Sophia Villarreal and paralegal Joanne Park of Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, LLP, along with Oliver Nelson of Magna Law Firm, LLC, are representing Mr. Haynes. The lawsuit, captioned Haynes v. City of Minneapolis, et al., Docket No. 0:25-cv-00547, was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. The complaint is available here.

Read coverage of the complaint by Minnesota Public Radio here.

Watch Fox 9’s coverage of the case here, and CBS News’ coverage of the case here.

Read the Minnesota Star-Tribune’s coverage of the complaint here (note: content is behind a paywall).

Read coverage of the complaint by KSTP Eyewitness News here.

Coverage of the complaint by The Latin Times can be read here.