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N.J. man dies suddenly after winning decades-long fight to clear his name and help wrongfully convicted
Updated Jan 22, 2021;
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He died suddenly Jan. 15.
He was found outside his Long Branch home. No foul play was suspected, and Harrell’s family said they believe he suffered a medical episode.
He was 53.
Harrell was wrongly convicted of raping a 17-year-old girl in 1988, a case of mistaken identity. He served four years in prison and spent more than two decades on a sex offender registry, trying to clear his name.
His first victory came in 2016, when the Innocence Project obtained DNA testing showing Harrell was not the rapist state prosecutors made him out to be.