52 Years in Prison for Boy Wrongfully Charged With Murder As a Child

Romarr Gipson was wrongully accused at age 7 of the rape and murder of 11-year-old Ryan Harris in 1998

In 1998 two young boys, ages 7 and 8, were charged with the rape and murder of 11-year-old Ryan Harris after his body was found in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago.

As a result of DNA evidence charges were eventually dropped against the boys.

One of those boys, Romarr Gipson, now 21, has just been sentenced to 52 years in prison for his involvement in a shooting in 2006 in Calumet Park, the Sun Times reports.

Cook County Judge Brian K. Flaherty sentenced Gipson Friday, after convicting him in 2010 of attempted murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated discharge of a firarm into a vehicle.

In June of 2006 Gipson and his stepbrother Roman Foreman started shooting inside of a parked car outside of a gas station at 123rd and Halsted with 9mm handguns, injuring 2 people in the car. Gipson's gun jammed before either were killed, according to authorities.

The shooting was caught on security cameras, and after being taken into custody Gipson was released on bond.

After being wrongfully accused in 1998, the city of Chicago exonerated Gipson, and gave him a $2 million settlement.

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