Black Deaf man Ricardo Harris says he was wrongfully convicted; seeks writ of habeas corpus
A Black Deaf man named Ricardo Harris has been saying for years that he is innocent of his murder conviction in Georgia. He and his partner, Krystal Starks, are trying to raise $25,000 to retain an attorney to fight for his innocence using a petition for habeas corpus.
RICARDO HARRIS:
My name is Ricardo Harris. People call me Rico.
KRYSTAL STARKS:
Hello, my name is Krystal Starks. I am from Rochester, New York. I’ve been in a relationship with Ricardo since May 2010. We still have a strong relationship. It’s hard being away from him, but we are keeping true love and not breaking our bond.
THE DAILY MOTH:
Harris has a life sentence and is currently into his seventh year of being imprisoned. He has tried to appeal his case all the way up to the Georgia Supreme Court, but his request for a new trial has been denied every step of the way.
An appellate attorney in Georgia said Harris’ conviction is “final” because all justices in the Georgia Supreme Court agreed on it, so his next step is to file and litigate a writ of habeas corpus and proceed either on his own or hire an attorney. In this case, a judge will review evidence on if there is a lawful basis to hold the person in prison.
HEARD, a deaf/disabled criminal justice advocacy organization, has worked with Harris for years. They said the courts and his attorney failed him.
Ricardo Harris was detained in Cobb County, Georgia on New Year's Day 2013 on suspicion of murdering Yvonne James at a hotel. This is an account of what happened during the initial contact with law enforcement.
Harris went to a gas station to dial 911. A police officer questioned him and then he was brought to a police headquarters to provide statements. An “interpreter” named Barbara Bell was brought in. Bell was not a professional interpreter but was a law enforcement dispatcher who seemed to know some signs and fingerspelling.
Here is a video of the interview in the police headquarters building.
[Video clip description: Harris is sitting on a table. Two white police officers are seated opposite him. A white man, who is Harris’ attorney, is seated next to him. A white female, who is the “interpreter” is seated at the side of the table. The “interpreter” signs some words and finger spells some words. There is a period of time where the “interpreter” sits down and doesn’t make any attempt at translation when others are speaking.]
[Image description: A photocopy of a note. One person writes, “Can you understand the interpreter? Harris responds in writing, “Somewhat yes mostly I don’t used spelling words since my language is different from different state as National Deaf of Institute. The person writes, “If you have any trouble, let me know?” Harris responds, “Will do.”]
HARRIS:
I stayed for 14 hours. My mind was not fresh. I waited for 14 hours in the interview room. The detective called for me and said an interpreter was present. But the interpreter kept on fingerspelling and I was confused. She didn’t look like a professional interpreter, but I went with it. I had to sign again and again. She didn’t understand my ASL. So I resorted to pen and paper. The detective compared it against what the interpreter said and said there were mixed messages and that I was lying. I said no. My primary language is ASL. They said I was lying and arrested me on a murder charge. I was stunned.
STARKS:
They used a retired police officer who knew fingerspelling. But she was not a certified interpreter. So the stories were twisted up, his statement was twisted.
THE DAILY MOTH:
HEARD explained that Harris’ family "immediately found and hired an attorney, but the attorney—like many other attorneys in cases involving deaf people—failed to follow federal laws and legal procedure which require that attorneys provide effective communication and equal access to deaf/disabled clients. This attorney aided law enforcement in collecting inaccurate statements by allowing an unqualified police employee to attempt to “interpret” during a serious interrogation without himself understanding the language, culture, context, etc. Again, this is very common in the wrongful conviction cases HEARD investigates.”
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In appeals to his conviction, Harris has contended that Bell did not correctly translate his statements and tried to argue that his initial statements to police should not be admitted as evidence, but it has been denied every step of the way up to the Georgia Supreme Court in January of this year.
I asked Harris and Starks if racism was a factor.
HARRIS:
Yes, racism was very much a factor. In the courtroom, the jury was mostly white. The DA was white. All the detectives are white. It is a disadvantage against Black Deaf individuals.
STARKS:
Yes, racism was definitely a big part of it. Because where he is in Georgia, there are many incidents of racism. There are many Black people living in the area. He’s experiencing double oppression because he is deaf and he is also Black. So it is a part of systemic racism.
Now, Harris and Starks hope to fight the conviction based on habeas corpus, but it requires an attorney specializing in this, and that’s why they are trying to raise $25,000.
STARKS:
A habeas corpus is very different from the regular court system. You have to present new evidence or a new argument. You can’t use the same old arguments. During the trial, they did not bring up a lot of things we talked about, such as ADA awareness, accessibility for deaf people, sign language, having a certified interpreter can prevent a wrong move to be made.
HARRIS:
I have kids. And recently my firstborn daughter graduated from high school. I feel so stuck. They know that dad doesn’t do that type of crime. All the deaf and hearing community knows me well. I’m not that kind of person with that crime, no. I was a RIT student on a visit during winter break. Wrong time, wrong place! It’s impacted me very much. It’s really hard, my situation. I just talked with my mother the other day. She saw me and said she wished I was coming home. She said she knew I didn’t do that crime and that I am innocent. I told my mom, “Don’t cry. Don’t give up. You told me not to give up.” My mother said I was right and told me to not give up.
THE DAILY MOTH:
Thank you Rico and Krystal for sharing your stories, as well as to HEARD for their statements. They consider this their “last chance” to fight for their freedom.
I will close with a statement from HEARD.
"Wrongful convictions are not uncommon. Racism, classism, ableism and other oppressions play a huge role in wrongful convictions. In the 2017 report, Race and Wrongful Conviction in the United States, the National Registry of Exonerations notes that Black people represent just 13% of the U.S. population, but represent the majority of innocent defendants who are wrongfully convicted—with Black people accounting for 47% of the 1,900 exonerations listed in the National Registry of Exonerations as of October 2016 (Gross, et al., 2017).
Disabled people, including deaf people, have a much higher risk of wrongful conviction than non-disabled people. Deaf people are more likely to be wrongfully arrested. Once arrested and incarcerated, deaf people are less likely to be provided access to effective communication and support from attorneys and advocates due to barriers to communication access in the legal profession and in prisons.
Ricardo Harris’ case is very similar to dozens of other deaf—mostly deafdisabled—people’s wrongful conviction cases that HEARD has been investigating for over a decade. HEARD has noticed that in each of these cases, almost every step of the legal process is tainted because of systemic ableism within policing and legal systems. There are often numerous cross-cultural miscommunications and misunderstandings on top of the other factors that lead to wrongful convictions. Some of the common reasons wrongful convictions happen are eyewitness misidentification; police and prosecutor misconduct or mistake; old or improper science; false or forced confessions; and because of plea agreements.
HEARD has ASL information about wrongful convictions of deaf/disabled people and the importance of asserting our right to not communicate during police interviews and interrogations on all of our social media accounts."
Fundraiser: https://bit.ly/2BBs6yg
HEARD: https://bit.ly/2NqlJjT
Supreme Court: https://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/supreme-court/2020/s19a1572.html