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Marvin Haynes 2004 murder: 'I am innocent' special
FOX 9's Paul Blume and Tim Blotz discuss the Marvin Haynes case and his effort to get his murder conviction overturned. Haynes, serving a life sentence, told a judge he did not do it, that he is an innocent man wrongly convicted in a 2004 Minneapolis flower shop slaying that rocked the community.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - After being exonerated in 2023 for a murder conviction he always maintained he didn’t commit, Marvin Haynes has filed a compensation claim with the Minnesota Supreme Court seeking $100,000 for each of the 19-plus years he spent wrongfully incarcerated.
What we know
Filed on Nov. 7, the nearly $2 million petition tallies the losses and damages allegedly suffered by Haynes, who was first arrested in May 2004 at the age of 16. He was exonerated in December 2023, at age 36.
People who have criminal cases exonerated and have no outstanding felony charges are entitled to a minimum of $50,000 per year for each year of incarceration in Minnesota.
In the days following his release, FOX 9’s Paul Blume spoke with Haynes, who said he was looking forward to rebuilding his life.
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Marvin Haynes reflects on long journey to freedom
Sunday marks a troubling anniversary for Marvin Haynes. On this day, 20 years ago, Minneapolis police arrested Haynes for a murder he insisted he never committed. Two decades later, Haynes is now a free man and fully exonerated after he was released from prison last December.
Flower shop murder
It was Sunday in May 2004 at about 11:30 a.m. when Randy Sherer was gunned down inside Jerry's Flower Shop, his family’s long-time business at 33rd and Lyndale Avenue North.
By all accounts, Sherer was killed protecting his sister during an armed robbery attempt. The young male assailant ordered a bouquet from her, supposedly for his mother's birthday. That is when he pulled out a silver handgun and demanded money. Sherer stepped out from the back of the store. His sister ran out the door as shots rang out, and Sherer was killed.
Following up on a tip, Minneapolis police would quickly zero in on their suspected gunman, 16-year-old Marvin Haynes.
Haynes was arrested, indicted, and ultimately convicted on a count of first-degree murder that would ultimately send the young man away for life.
In the end, there were no fingerprints, no DNA, no surveillance video, and no murder weapon tying Haynes to the slaying. Despite his insistence he had nothing to do with Sherer’s murder, a jury found Haynes guilty, and he was sentenced to life in prison.
With the assistance of his attorneys at the Great North Innocence Project, Haynes’ case received fresh judicial scrutiny.
His legal team demanded the court toss out the conviction due to what they argued were unconstitutional investigative tactics and reliance on questionable eyewitness identification.
The Source: FOX 9 used previous reporting for this report.