‘My life was destroyed’: Marvin Haynes sues city of Minneapolis for wrongful incarceration
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
Marvin Haynes — a man who spent nearly 20 years in prison before a judge vacated his conviction — has filed a wrongful incarceration lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis and five police officers.
Haynes was 16 years old when he was sentenced to life in prison for the killing of Harry “Randy” Sherer inside a north Minneapolis Flower shop in 2004, despite no physical evidence tying him to the shooting. He was released in 2023 after a judge vacated all convictions, determining the identification procedures used by police were “unnecessarily suggestive.”
The lawsuit filed Tuesday accuses officers of fabricating a case against Haynes — ignoring obvious evidence of his innocence and coercing teenage witnesses into giving false statements that implicated Haynes.
The complaint seeks a trial by jury and punitive and compensatory damages for the years Haynes spent wrongfully incarcerated, after being “thrust immediately into life-threatening conditions in adult prison” as a teenager and losing formative years of his life.
Turn Up Your Support
MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.
”Haynes spent his days worrying about his safety and fighting to prove his innocence, isolated from the people who cared for him, and forced every day to confront the terror of carrying a life sentence for a crime he did not commit,” the complaint reads.
“I’m grateful that people are now listening,” Haynes wrote in a statement. “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.”
The counts raised include malicious prosecution, civil rights conspiracy and the deprivation of liberty without due process of law.
As their employer, the city of Minneapolis is liable for the claims brought against the officers.
A spokesperson said “the city does not have a comment.”
Last year, Haynes also filed a claim for nearly $2 million from the state — $100,000 for each of the years he was in prison.
Correction (Feb. 12, 2025): Harry “Randy” Sherer’s last name was spelled incorrectly in a previous version of this story. The story has been updated.