Years After Conviction In Slaying Is Tossed, Case Takes A New Turn

EASTCHESTER, NY — Investigators say there are new suspects in a 1996 double homicide, years after a previous conviction in the case was overturned, Westchester District Attorney Miriam Rocah announced on Monday.

"An extensive and ongoing investigation undertaken by my Conviction Review Unit, following a request in 2023, has identified two individuals involved in the murders of Archie Harris and Betty Ramcharan and no connection to Selwyn Days, who was previously charged," Rocah said in her remarks. "As we undergo a change in administration at the DA’s Office this week, it is my hope that these significant developments lead to continuing investigation and action so that justice can be achieved for the families of Mr. Harris and Ms. Ramcharan."

Days was acquitted by a Westchester County jury in 2017, after the fifth time he was tried for the killings of Harris, 79, and his home health aide Ramcharan, 35, in an Eastchester home nearly three decades ago. In the four earlier trials, two ended in hung juries and two resulted in the overturning of Days' convictions for second-degree murder after an appellate court ruled that there were significant legal errors.

An investigation by Rocah's office was led by the Criminal Investigators Squad's dedicated CRU/Cold Case investigator, James Menton, a 30-year law enforcement veteran and former NYPD detective, who served on the FBI Safe Streets Task Force.

The new direction of this case caps a commitment by the outgoing DA to make certain that justice doesn't have an expiration date.

Since the district attorney launched the unit in 2021, CRU investigations have led to the county's first two, separate large-scale vacaturs, involving a former Yonkers detective convicted of perjury and secret recordings by a whistleblower alleging misconduct inside the MVPD.

In 2023, CRU's review led to the exoneration of a man who served more than seven years in prison for a 1975 rape he did not commit. CRU investigators found the actual perpetrator who confessed to the crime. It is the longest-known wrongful conviction in U.S. history to be overturned by DNA evidence.