NEVADA (USA): HA'IM AL MATIN SHARIF RELEASED AFTER SPENDING 28 YEARS ON DEATH ROW

June 7, 2017:

Ha'im Al Matin Sharif, 48, Black, was released from prison today, June 7, after spending more than 28 years on Nevada's death row. When he was arrested for murder in 1988, he was just 19 years old, and his name was Charles Robins. A Clark County jury sent him to death row in December 1988 for allegedly beating to death his girlfriend’s 11-month-old daughter, Britany Smith, in April 1988. He was released after medical evidence revealed that the baby died from infantile scurvy, rather than from physical abuse. Prosecutors agreed to amend the charges against Sharif and release him on time served after a prosecution doctor confirmed that Brittany Smith actually died of Barlow's disease, a form of scurvy affecting infants. The child's autopsy showed broken bones and hemorrhages, a local medical examiner listed the cause of death as blunt force trauma, and Las Vegas police accused Sharif of torturing her. “I was confused as to the nature of the injuries they described, because I had done nothing,” Sharif said. The child's mother initially told police that Sharif was not abusive, but then testified against him. She later recanted her testimony and told Sharif's appellate attorney that police had coerced her into providing false testimony implicating Sharif by threatening to take her other children away. During Sharif's appeals, medical experts who reviewed the baby's X-rays to rule out disease as the cause of death said the injuries were likely caused by scurvy. On September 22, 2016, the Nevada Supreme Court unanimously decided that Mr. Sharif "had presented specific factual allegations, that if true, would show that it is more likely than not that no reasonable juror would have convicted him of first-degree murder and child abuse beyond a reasonable doubt or found the single aggravating circumstance used to make him death eligible.” Prosecutors agreed to a deal in which Sharif would plead guilty to second-degree murder and be sentenced to time served. Although Sharif continues to maintain his innocence, he agreed to the reduction in charges to obtain his immediate release.