Michael Harris is a resident of Los Angeles, and an employee of Hollywood Wax & Shine. In the late 90's he lived in an apartment on Beverly Blvd. near the CBS studios. He had a prior record for burglary and assault for which he did time in Corcoran state prison.
In June of 1998, Harris was arrested for the abduction of Stacey Kincaid after his fingerprints were found on a schoolbook in Kincaid's bedroom. He was interrogated for three days by Robbery-Homicide detectives, including Frankie Sheehan, by the end of which Sheehan had pulled a plastic bag over Harris' head and another detective had punctured Harris's eardrum with a Black Warrior No. 2 pencil in order to force him to confess. By the third day, Kincaid's body was discovered by two homeless men in a lot two blocks from Harris's apartment, and Harris was taken to trial.
Harris was represented by criminal defense attorney John Penny, who successfully raised reasonable doubt in the case by arguing that the fingerprints found in Kincaid's bedroom had been planted by detectives. In addition, Penny's questioning of the victim's step-father elicited a racist response which turned opinion in Harris' favor. Harris was found not-guilty, and proceeded to employ civil rights attorney Howard Elias to sue the LAPD for $10 million for police brutality.
After Elias's murder in April of 1999, Harris was interviewed by LAPD detective Harry Bosch and Inspector General Carla Entrenkin. Harris was later exonerated by Bosch for Kincaid's murder when Bosch retraced Elias' private investigation by Jenkins Pelfry and discovered that Stacey had been murdered by her stepfather. A key piece of evidence was the discovery that Stacy's mother had taken her car to Hollywood Wax & Shine, and Stacy's books had been in the car, explaining Harris' fingerprints.