Harry Ruiz’s 1994 murder conviction was thrown out on Monday by a Manhattan judge after a post-conviction review turned up evidence that prosecutors may have failed to disclose and new information that undercut key parts of the case. Ruiz had served 25 years in prison and was released on parole in 2019. At the hearing, the judge said Sturm’s refusal to participate in the reinvestigation “speaks volumes,” and Ruiz left court saying, “I feel like I can finally breathe again.”
The judge, Robert Mandelbaum, took the unusual step of rebuking Sturm, the former assistant district attorney in charge of Ruiz’s trial, after she declined to be interviewed by investigators looking into the matter. Sturm, reached by phone, said she believed the judge’s comments were “inappropriate,” adding that she was not required “to go over a case from 30 years ago.” She said by phone that the prosecution had followed relevant disclosure laws, and she said she did not remember the exact details of the case.
Prosecutors’ reinvestigation began after a New York City detective, Carlos Vasquez, stumbled on Ruiz’s file while investigating another killing and became convinced of Ruiz’s innocence, according to the record described in court proceedings. When the Manhattan district attorney’s post-conviction review unit opened an inquiry two years ago, investigators found the case involved the only witness who identified Ruiz as the shooter, a 13-year-old girl.
That review concluded prosecutors provided payments and housing worth $17,000 to the witness’s mother, and it found no evidence that those payments were disclosed to the defense as legally required. The review also described how the teenager’s testimony shifted during the trial, including an instance in which she picked someone in the courtroom audience when asked to identify Ruiz. Prosecutors under then-Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau were aware of developments the review later found, but the office did not reopen the case or disclose the information to Ruiz’s appeal team, court filings said.
Ruiz had maintained his innocence since his 1994 conviction for the fatal shooting of Emmanuel Felix, an alleged drug dealer in Harlem. At trial, family members presented an alibi, but a jury convicted Ruiz of second-degree murder. Judge Harold Rothwax sentenced Ruiz to 25 years to life when Ruiz was 25, and the judge was nicknamed Prince of Darkness for his harsh sentences, according to the account described by the sources.
The review also cited information that a federal informant admitted in 2002 to paying someone to kill Felix, and that Ruiz was not involved. A second person came forward in 2002 to corroborate that account, the review said. In announcing the court action, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said that “dozens of interviews and an in-depth document review had produced new evidence that ‘significantly undermines the case presented at trial.’”
Ruiz’s attorney, Ron Kuby, argued that the case did not resemble other wrongful convictions tied to small or unintentional errors. He said, “This wasn’t the result of some terrible mistake,” and added, “This conviction was obtained through repeated and calculated misconduct by a former district attorney’s office in suppressing evidence.” After the decision, Ruiz said he hoped the outcome would prompt additional reviews of other cases, saying, “There are a lot of people in there who are the same as me, who deserve justice,” and, “I hope this never happens to anybody ever again.”