Clayton County, GA | July 29, 2009
After waiting over two and a half years for a ruling, the court denied Erik Heard’s habeas corpus petition on June 1, 2026.
Erik Heard has spent more than 17 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit. Wrongfully convicted in 2012, the State’s case relied on one unreliable eyewitness identification and an incentivized jailhouse informant.
CRIME
At 10:49 a.m. on July 29, 2009, a young woman (LP) in College Park, Georgia, called 911 to report that two men had entered her home and shot her sister (SP). SP later died due to her gunshot wounds.
INVESTIGATION
Officers from the Clayton County Police Department transported LP to the police station, where she reported that two unmasked Black men with guns entered her home demanding money. After receiving no money, “the Shooter” shot SP twice. The second man, “the Guard”, held LP at gunpoint during most of the attack. A sketch artist from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation composed sketches of the two suspects based on LP’s descriptions.
WRONGFUL CONVICTION FACTORS
Based on LP's lack of confidence that the sketches resembled the men who committed the crime (she rated them between a 3 to 5 out of 10 for accuracy), the sketch artist said the sketches were not worth circulating. The detective circulated the sketches to local tv stations anyway. As a result, a woman called to report that the sketches looked like a man she knew (Erik Heard) and a friend of his, whose name she did not know. This woman had no reason to believe Erik had anything to do with the home invasion or shooting of SP.
Once Erik became a suspect, LP was shown a highly suggestive photo array (below). LP described the Shooter as a dark-skinned man with glasses who was 20-25 years old. Erik, who was 33 years old, was one of only two dark-skinned men in the lineup, and the other was not wearing glasses or a similar age. LP, using a process of elimination, thought that Erik “look[ed] more like'' the Shooter than the rest of the men in the lineup.
Despite her initial inability to positively identify the Shooter, by the time of the trial, LP claimed her identification was made “without a doubt in [her] mind.” It is not uncommon for witnesses to become more confident in what was initially a shaky eyewitness identification, but research shows that a witness’ initial confidence level is the most accurate. Her confidence was likely bolstered by the fact that her family had the completely false impression that there was DNA evidence and a gun linking Erik to the crime. Although it is unclear how the family came to believe this incorrect information, they communicated their belief to the DA’s office, who never corrected them or shared the family’s misimpressions with Erik’s attorneys.
The second component of the State’s case against Erik was a statement provided by jailhouse informant, Sterling Flint. Flint, whom you may recognize from another of GIP’s cases, again accepted a benefit in exchange for false testimony. While he was being questioned in jail for unrelated crimes after Erik’s arrest, he suggested to police that he knew about a case he saw on TV but would only share if he got something in return. After the police agreed to give Flint a bond in exchange for information, Flint claimed he overheard Erik make incriminating statements about shooting someone. His claims contained no specific details of the crime–not even who, when, or where.
TRIAL
Flint fully recanted his statements at trial. Another witness that Flint had included in his statement also confirmed that his story was completely false. On March 12, 2012, Erik Heard was convicted of murder, despite the only evidence against him being an unreliable eyewitness ID and a recanted statement by an incentivized jailhouse informant. Notably, Erik’s friend and co-defendant, SF, was never tried. Before trial, SF’s legal team presented LP with the photo of an alternate suspect who had committed similar crimes (with an accomplice who is not Erik). LP positively identified the alternate suspect, retracting her earlier identification of SF. The State then dropped the charges against SF but still proceeded against Erik.
EFFORTS BY GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT
Following years of investigation, Georgia Innocence Project partnered with attorneys from Alston & Bird and the Mercer Habeas Project to pursue state habeas relief in April 2023. The habeas corpus petition raised numerous constitutional violations related to Erik’s conviction like the State’s failure to disclose evidence, including fingerprints from the crime scene that did not match him, as well as failing to correct false and misleading testimony. At Erik’s three-day evidentiary hearing in October 2023, his legal team called several witnesses and presented significant evidence to show that Erik was denied a fair trial and did not commit this crime.
After waiting over two and a half years for a ruling, the court denied Erik Heard’s habeas corpus petition on June 1, 2026.
In the next month, Georgia Innocence Project, along with co-counsel at Alston & Bird and the Mercer Habeas Project, will be filing an appeal to ask the Supreme Court of Georgia to review the habeas court’s decision. Unfortunately, this appeal is not automatic. There is no set timeframe for the Supreme Court of Georgia to make a decision about whether they will hear the appeal. This initial decision can take a year, or longer, in most cases. Erik’s case is an example of the enormous amount of time and resources that can be required to free innocent people from wrongful convictions under Georgia’s current criminal legal system.
Erik and his legal team are determined to continue the fight for his freedom.
