Cleared by DNA results, Norfolk man still dogged by people's perceptions

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Cleared by DNA results, Norfolk man still dogged by people's perceptions

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Shaka Harrell has big plans he wants to finish school. He wants to learn how to fix cars, wants to learn electrical engineering. He might go to college for computer training. He might study criminal justice.

"I just want to learn more about it," he said.

He learned about it firsthand earlier this year, when he was arrested and charged with raping two girls. Harrell, 16, spent two months in jail before DNA results cleared him of the crimes.

Harrell said this week, he's been working to clear his name and get his life back on track. He sometimes carries clippings of articles about the DNA results, so he can prove to people that he really was innocent of the charges.

He returned to work at Calz Pizza on Sewells Point Road; his boss, Brent Davis, had vouched for him in a letter to the court when Harrell sought bond. Davis had promised Harrell's job would be open when he could return to it.

At the police station, Harrell said, one of the detectives who interviewed him asked, "Can you look me in the eye and tell me you didn't do it?"

"Yeah," Harrell told him. "I looked him in the eye and said 'I did not rape two girls."

"They do lock up innocent people," Harrell said. "I thought I'd be one of them innocent people."

Last month, Harrell and his lawyer, Kenneth Singleton, filed a petition to have the charges expunged from his record, which is otherwise clean. Singleton said this week that the commonwealth's attorney's office does not oppose the expungement.

Although the charges were dismissed, Singleton said, they still show up on Harrell's record, and the nature of the charges raises a red flag for potential employers. An expungement would eliminate that.

No one apologized to him for the mistake, Harrell said.

He fears the police now.

"When I see a cop, I just freeze," he said. "It's not like I'm a criminal and run. I fear for my freedom."

"I'm just glad to be out."

source:  http://hamptonroads.com/2008/06/cleared-dna-results-norfolk-man-still-dogged-peoples-perceptions