Man Utters Four Heartbreaking Words After Walking Free Following 25 Years Behind Bars for a Crime He Didn’t Commit

A man who spent more than two decades behind bars for a crime he did not commit spoke out on April 27, after a judge overturned his murder conviction. Justice was finally served, but it took 25 years.

A man named Harry Ruiz was convicted and sentenced at the age of 25. However, a review of his case revealed new evidence that was withheld by prosecutors, including thousands of dollars in payments made to the mother of a key witness. The findings resulted in a judge vacating his murder conviction during a hearing on April 27 in a New York City courtroom.

Ruiz, after his conviction was overturned on April 27, said, “I feel like I can finally breathe again,” while leaving the court. The new evidence in Ruiz’s case led a Manhattan judge to vacate the conviction.

Ruiz has maintained his innocence since 1994, despite a conviction for the fatal shooting of Emmanuel Felix, an alleged drug dealer in Harlem. Ruiz, who is now 58, was released on parole in 2019.

On April 27, Judge Robert Mandelbaum took the unusual step of rebuking the former assistant district attorney who handled Ruiz’s trial for her “troubling” refusal to participate in the reinvestigation. “To this court, that speaks volumes,” he said.

The case first gained renewed interest after the New York City detective Carlos Vasquez discovered the file while investigating another killing and became convinced of Ruiz’s innocence.

When the Manhattan District Attorney’s post-conviction review unit opened an inquiry two years ago, it found prosecutors had provided payments and housing worth $17,000 to the mother of a 13-year-old girl who was the only witness to identify Ruiz as the shooter.

The review found no evidence that those payments were disclosed to the defense as required by law. When investigators contacted Sturm, the trial attorney, to discuss the matter, she refused to be interviewed.

“What do you want me to say? That I feel bad that he was convicted?” she said on the phone. “You dont get a long sentence without evidence,” she added. She also said she did not remember the exact details of the case.

According to the post-conviction review, the teenager's statement shifted dramatically throughout the trial. At one point, when asked to identify Ruiz, she pointed to someone in the courtroom audience. Despite three family members vouching for his alibi, Ruiz was convicted by a jury of second-degree murder.

As part of the review, investigators also learned that a federal informant in 2002 had confessed to paying someone to kill Felix and that Ruiz was not involved. A second person came forward the same year to corroborate that account, according to the review.