Appeals Court Upholds Jones Habeas Ruling

The Second Circuit left in place a ruling that the 1995 conviction cannot stand because trial counsel never investigated a contradictory eyewitness. That is not a jury acquittal, and the state can still seek review or a retrial. Harp is dead, and this order does not decide who killed him.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a federal order granting Maleek Jones habeas relief from his 1995 murder conviction in the killing of Eddie Harp. Judge Richard Sullivan dissented.

Harp was shot and killed in his car outside Saint Raphael's Hospital in New Haven on Oct. 14, 1992. Jones was convicted in March 1995 and sentenced to 65 years. He was released in 2023 after U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall granted the petition. The appeals court agreed that his trial lawyer, Leo Ahern, never investigated Sheila McCray, a nurse at the hospital who told police she saw two shooters and did not identify Jones. The state's case rested mainly on Tyrone Spears, who had confessed to the shooting and implicated Jones. No physical evidence placed Jones at the scene.

His lawyer, Alex Taubes, said the state could still ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case or could try Jones again. The state's attorney's office had not said which it will do.

All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.