Man charged with killing Ryan Harris Prosecutor says case was mishandled

A 30-year-old man was charged Thursday with murdering 11-year-oldRyan Harris, while Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine saidthe two young boys initially accused of the slaying "should neverhave been charged."

This time authorities are sure they have the murderer in FloydDurr, Devine said. "Our goal is putting together a case that can wina conviction in court," he said. "And we believe we have."

The case against the boys, ages 7 and 8, fell apart after semenwas discovered in the victim's underwear and DNA tests in Octoberlinked Durr to the crime. Durr has said he committed a sex act onthe body but did not kill her.Police, stung by charges that the boys had been framed and facinga $100 million lawsuit, have insisted the boys knew things about thecase they couldn't have known without being involved.But Devine said prosecutors were no longer interested in the boys"as defendants," though his office hinted it might seek to put themon the stand as witnesses against Durr."We would welcome all cooperation from the (boys') families andattorneys to help solve the murder of Ryan Harris," Devine spokesmanBob Benjamin said. Asked if the boys would be granted immunity fromprosecution, Benjamin said, "In effect we have done it by saying theyare not defendants."But former Appellate Judge Eugene Pincham, attorney for the 8-year-old, responded, "Hell, no," when asked if the boys could becompelled to testify.G. Flint Taylor, attorney for the 7-year-old, was asked if thefamilies would cooperate. "Given the sordid record of the police andthe state's attorney in this case, no. How can they say in regard toour client, `Trust us, bring your kids in and let them talk?'"My child is under psychiatric care, precisely because of whatthey did to him," he said of his client. "Any contact with policeand the state's attorney's office would rekindle all the nighmarishfears that he harbors because of how he was treated in this case."But Richard Kling, a veteran lawyer and a professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, said there is "no question" that Devine's officehas the power to grant the children immunity and could seek to compeltheir testimony. "The state's attorney has the same power to filecharges against minors as he does against adults, and the same powerto grant immunity to minors as to adults," Kling said.Saying charges should never have been brought against the boys,Devine said, "I regret that they were, and I regret the pain that hasbeen caused to the boys and their families."Chicago Police Supt. Terry Hillard, attending the same newsconference, acknowledged the bungled investigation, saying, "Therewere errors made in the handling of this case."The investigation of Harris' murder also led to a new chargeagainst Durr - aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girlwith whom he fathered twins.