PUBLISHER'S NOTE Part 2) So where were the records which led to Vernon Horn and Marquis Jackson actually found? A Yale Law School publication tells us that the massive team investigating on the two men's behalf informs us that, following a lead and 2500 hours of investigation) "an investigator then tracked down 137 pages of phone records that were still sitting at a retired detective’s house and had never been logged into the New Haven Police Department’s evidence room." Who stored the phone records at the retired detective's house? Still working on it. Can't wait to find out! And how did the box of cassettes contain the withheld tape inside which ultimately led to Tim Rees exoneration? During the charge withdrawal hearing, Mme. Justice Jane Kelly stated on the record, "the fact that the recording was not disclosed and was found in a box of tapes stored in the police chief's office raises more questions than answers." That's not good enough! Tim Rees deserves an answer. We all do. I'm working on it. Stand by! There should be a independent public inquiries on both of these cases - The wrongs go so very deep. (But don't hold your breath!)
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY; "They were both convicted of killing 22-year-old Caprice Hardy — Mr. Horn was sentenced to 70 years in prison and Mr. Jackson to 45 years. But they were freed in 2018 after federal public defenders reinvestigated the case and found that New Haven police officers had withheld crucial evidence."
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STORY: "New Haven to Pay $30.5 Million to 2 Men Wrongfully Convicted of Murder," by Reporter Maria Cramer, published by The New York Times, on August 14, 2026. (Maria Cramer is a New York Times reporter covering the New York Police Department and crime in the city and surrounding areas. Her job, along with the other police reporters at The Times, is to help readers understand the mammoth organization that is the New York Police Department. The beat ranges from reporting on breaking news to enterprise stories that examine crime trends, policing strategies and how public safety decisions by city leaders affect the average New Yorker.)
SUB-HEADING: "Two teens were accused of killing a man in a Connecticut deli in 1999. Their lawyers said the police hid evidence and intimidated witnesses.
GIST: "The city of New Haven, Conn., agreed on Tuesday that it would pay $30.5 million to settle federal lawsuits filed by two men who were wrongfully convicted of murder more than 25 years ago.
In the early morning on Jan. 24, 1999, Vernon Horn and a young woman stopped by a deli, just after a customer had been fatally shot in the back and the store owner had been shot in the shoulder. Three masked men had stormed into the shop, opened fire, and then stole more than $2,000 before fleeing.
Mr. Horn, then 17, had been with the young woman at the home of his friend, Marquis Jackson, 19. The two young men had gone to a club earlier that night, before Mr. Jackson left to see another woman.
But the police set their sights on Mr. Horn and Mr. Jackson after the lead detective in the case became convinced of their guilt under a theory that perpetrators usually return to the scene of a crime.
They were both convicted of killing 22-year-old Caprice Hardy — Mr. Horn was sentenced to 70 years in prison and Mr. Jackson to 45 years. But they were freed in 2018 after federal public defenders reinvestigated the case and found that New Haven police officers had withheld crucial evidence.
Each man will get $15.25 million as part of the federal lawsuit settlement with New Haven. Mr. Horn had already received $4.8 million from the state for the wrongful conviction. Mr. Jackson had received $5.3 million.
“It’s bittersweet,” said Mr. Horn, now 45. “I’m so elated. I’m grateful. I’m happy it’s over.”
Mr. Horn’s fateful trip to the deli marked him as a suspect, and Mr. Jackson was swept into the investigation simply because he had been hanging out with him, the two men’s lawyers said in their federal complaints.
“Bad luck and terrible policing then turned into some seriously disturbing policing,” said Ilann Maazel, one of Mr. Horn’s lawyers.
One judge said the police engaged in tactics that kept jurors from hearing evidence that would have given them serious doubts about the case. Most notably, they failed to hand over to prosecutors 137 pages of records, including those from a phone stolen from the deli that night that showed calls between the actual culprits and members of a Bridgeport gang they were part of. A detective kept the records in the basement of her house for 17 years, providing them only after an investigator working for one of Mr. Horn’s lawyers asked about them.
Investigators told one witness that if he did not help implicate Mr. Horn, the witness could be charged with murder, and they also relied on eyewitness identification from people who were on drugs that night or did not get a good look at the gunmen, according to court records.
Both Mr. Horn and Mr. Jackson were released after the state attorney for New Haven filed a motion to vacate their convictions.
A spokesman for the New Haven Police Department referred questions to Mayor Justin Elicker’s office. In a statement announcing the settlement, Mr. Elicker, who was elected in 2019, after Mr. Horn and Mr. Jackson were released, apologized to the men and said “no amount of money can give them back the years they’ve lost.”
The city, Mr. Elicker said, has “an obligation to do what we think is right, to account for any miscarriage of justice and to provide Mr. Horn and Mr. Jackson with some sense of peace moving forward.”
Mr. Jackson, now 47 and the father of two girls, still resides in New Haven, in the same house where he was living in 1999. He recalled how the police had kicked down the door to arrest him. After his release, he bought the house, which he said was dilapidated and under foreclosure, and renovated it.
Mr. Jackson, now 47, is the father of two girls.Credit...via Ken Rosenthal, Mr. Jackson’s lawyer
“I’m happy,” Mr. Jackson said. “I just want to move on.”
Mr. Horn, who remains in Connecticut but no longer lives in New Haven, said he plans to open a hair salon and is focused on helping to raise his 8-year-old daughter. She was born after he was initially released from prison in 2014, when a judge agreed he had not gotten a fair trial.
The state appealed and he was put back in prison in 2016, when his daughter was about 10 months old. Mr. Horn said he did not see his daughter for two years until his release in 2018, and he had become so depressed he went on a hunger strike.
“I just didn’t want to live anymore,” he said. “Don’t think just because a dollar comes that this trauma is gone and I’m healed.”
The entire story can be read at:
SUB-HEADING: "Two teens were accused of killing a man in a Connecticut deli in 1999. Their lawyers said the police hid evidence and intimidated witnesses.
GIST: "The city of New Haven, Conn., agreed on Tuesday that it would pay $30.5 million to settle federal lawsuits filed by two men who were wrongfully convicted of murder more than 25 years ago.
In the early morning on Jan. 24, 1999, Vernon Horn and a young woman stopped by a deli, just after a customer had been fatally shot in the back and the store owner had been shot in the shoulder. Three masked men had stormed into the shop, opened fire, and then stole more than $2,000 before fleeing.
Mr. Horn, then 17, had been with the young woman at the home of his friend, Marquis Jackson, 19. The two young men had gone to a club earlier that night, before Mr. Jackson left to see another woman.
But the police set their sights on Mr. Horn and Mr. Jackson after the lead detective in the case became convinced of their guilt under a theory that perpetrators usually return to the scene of a crime.
They were both convicted of killing 22-year-old Caprice Hardy — Mr. Horn was sentenced to 70 years in prison and Mr. Jackson to 45 years. But they were freed in 2018 after federal public defenders reinvestigated the case and found that New Haven police officers had withheld crucial evidence.
Each man will get $15.25 million as part of the federal lawsuit settlement with New Haven. Mr. Horn had already received $4.8 million from the state for the wrongful conviction. Mr. Jackson had received $5.3 million.
“It’s bittersweet,” said Mr. Horn, now 45. “I’m so elated. I’m grateful. I’m happy it’s over.”
Mr. Horn’s fateful trip to the deli marked him as a suspect, and Mr. Jackson was swept into the investigation simply because he had been hanging out with him, the two men’s lawyers said in their federal complaints.
“Bad luck and terrible policing then turned into some seriously disturbing policing,” said Ilann Maazel, one of Mr. Horn’s lawyers.
One judge said the police engaged in tactics that kept jurors from hearing evidence that would have given them serious doubts about the case. Most notably, they failed to hand over to prosecutors 137 pages of records, including those from a phone stolen from the deli that night that showed calls between the actual culprits and members of a Bridgeport gang they were part of. A detective kept the records in the basement of her house for 17 years, providing them only after an investigator working for one of Mr. Horn’s lawyers asked about them.
Investigators told one witness that if he did not help implicate Mr. Horn, the witness could be charged with murder, and they also relied on eyewitness identification from people who were on drugs that night or did not get a good look at the gunmen, according to court records.
Both Mr. Horn and Mr. Jackson were released after the state attorney for New Haven filed a motion to vacate their convictions.
A spokesman for the New Haven Police Department referred questions to Mayor Justin Elicker’s office. In a statement announcing the settlement, Mr. Elicker, who was elected in 2019, after Mr. Horn and Mr. Jackson were released, apologized to the men and said “no amount of money can give them back the years they’ve lost.”
The city, Mr. Elicker said, has “an obligation to do what we think is right, to account for any miscarriage of justice and to provide Mr. Horn and Mr. Jackson with some sense of peace moving forward.”
Mr. Jackson, now 47 and the father of two girls, still resides in New Haven, in the same house where he was living in 1999. He recalled how the police had kicked down the door to arrest him. After his release, he bought the house, which he said was dilapidated and under foreclosure, and renovated it.
Mr. Jackson, now 47, is the father of two girls.Credit...via Ken Rosenthal, Mr. Jackson’s lawyer
“I’m happy,” Mr. Jackson said. “I just want to move on.”
Mr. Horn, who remains in Connecticut but no longer lives in New Haven, said he plans to open a hair salon and is focused on helping to raise his 8-year-old daughter. She was born after he was initially released from prison in 2014, when a judge agreed he had not gotten a fair trial.
The state appealed and he was put back in prison in 2016, when his daughter was about 10 months old. Mr. Horn said he did not see his daughter for two years until his release in 2018, and he had become so depressed he went on a hunger strike.
“I just didn’t want to live anymore,” he said. “Don’t think just because a dollar comes that this trauma is gone and I’m healed.”
The entire story can be read at:
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog. FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project; FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true;
