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17+ Years. Andrew Hayes' Wrongful Conviction Story

Andrew Hayes has been incarcerated for 17 years.

Shelby County DA Steve Mulroy says he's innocent.

Below is a timeline of Hayes' efforts to overturn his wrongful conviction.

For a deep dive into the case investigation, please check out Stephanie Tinsley's podcast Everything They Missed.


Andrew Hayes' Current attorney: Jason Gichner. He is represented by the Innocence Project.

Important Resources:

Andrew Hayes Wrongful Conviction Playlist (My Deep Dives + Interviews, Coverage From Other Sources:

YouTube

Andrew Hayes Wrongful Conviction Updates


Everything They Missed Podcast by Stephanie Tinsley:

YouTube

Everything They Missed Podcast

Host Stephanie Tinsley explores a case that for more than a decade has been considered settled… but to this day, there are far more questions than answers. With exclusive audio and new evidence, this podcast threatens to unravel what many would like to forget. What do they have to hide? From StephTown Studios, this is Everything They Missed.


Quick Summary:

FOX13 Memphis

DA Mulroy says wrong man convicted in deadly beating in 2007, announces new arrest

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy announced Thursday that a man who was imprisoned for a deadly 2007 beating in Cordova was wrongfully convicted.

Case Summary

Background (Danny Harris case)

Danny Harris was a 55-year-old retiree living in Cordova (a Memphis suburb). He was found murdered in his apartment roughly two months after he died. The people closest to him at the end were tied to a messy web of prostitution, stolen property, ATM withdrawals, pawn shops, and stories that keep shifting.

The first names in the orbit

Tammy Vance shows up immediately. She’s often described as Danny’s on-and-off girlfriend who “turned tricks” in his apartment. They met through Mega Mates' phone hotline, Telemates. When Danny’s body is discovered, Tammy is connected to his truck, checks and retirement money, the TV, and other property.

Sarah Lucas Reidel (Tammy’s daughter) is in the mix early too. She’s interviewed, denies involvement, but evidence points to her pawning Danny’s items and being tied to activity right after the murder.

The “Wayne” thread that puts Andrew Hayes on the Map

Detectives start chasing a “Wayne” lead. Tammy tells police about a man named Wayne Bobo and claims a key to Danny’s apartment went missing from the key ring after Wayne had access to the truck keys.

Then the case swings hard because of a name overlap: Andrew Wayne Hayes gets pulled in. He was a young father connected to the same household circle, and he also went by “Wayne.” That overlap becomes a turning point.

The case becomes a confession case

From there, the case turns into a confession case. Andrew ends up giving a “confession” after a marathon interrogation that was not fully recorded. The details do not match basic facts of the case, including the apartment layout, injury descriptions, and even the timeline of how long Danny had been dead. It reads like a statement built to close a case.

Major Red Flags

  • No physical evidence tying Andrew to the murder, while other evidence points elsewhere.
  • The confession includes details that do not line up, including an upstairs apartment that does not exist.
  • Phone records and location data were not treated like the backbone they should have been.
  • Danny’s ATM card was used repeatedly after the murder, and the pawn trail points back toward Tammy and Sarah’s orbit.
  • Fingerprints from a checkbook found in Danny’s truck did not match the early suspects.

Extra "WHAT?" details (Check out Everything They Missed for More)

If you want a few “wait, what?” specifics that come straight from the episodes:

  • Tammy and Sarah have a recorded jail call where Tammy keeps saying Sarah “corroborated” her story. Stephanie flags it because it “doesn’t sound like normal human speech,” it sounds like strategizing.
  • Andrew’s interrogation was described as 27 hours, and Tennessee does not require interrogations to be recorded. Tammy’s was recorded, Andrew’s mostly was not.
  • Andrew’s background matters: a defense investigator says Andrew was tested around age 12 with an IQ of 62 and had been on SSI since childhood.
  • The state had a live alternate suspect track (Wayne Bobo), but once Andrew is “Wayne,” the focus pivots.
  • Phone and medical timeline: Danny’s pacemaker data is used to narrow the window of death, and the podcast describes Danny’s phone making calls shortly after that window, including multiple calls to family connected to Tammy.
  • Sarah has her own trail: the podcast talks about pawn shop activity involving Danny’s property and that law enforcement did not immediately run certain prints against her until later.
  • At trial, Sarah’s testimony came with a lot of “benefits” described in the transcript: flight and hotel, plus warrants cleared before she testified, then she left again.
  • Jury issues: jurors describe being sequestered, being tired and rushed, and one juror reportedly worked for the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, which raises obvious discomfort questions.

The line that sums up the problem

The part that really sticks out to me is this: once law enforcement and the prosecution team have Andrew’s confession, everything narrows around him.

But Stephanie Tinsley helped find a family member who gave more context about Tammy and Sarah. This relative described a letter that is now part of the record:

“Sarah, I protected you from ever, ever going to jail or prison and let an innocent man take your place. I’m not even sorry I did that because I never want to be with one of my girls in jail or prison.”

The Wrongful Conviction

Andrew Hayes was convicted in 2010 of first-degree murder and aggravated robbery and was sentenced to life in prison. A woman named Tammy Vance also pleaded guilty in the case and is serving a life sentence.

Post-Conviction Relief Efforts have been denied at the trial court, COA, and State Supreme Court levels. But now. DA Steve Mulroy hShelby County's district attorney said the wrong person has been imprisoned for a Memphis murder nearly 20 years ago, and a new suspect has been arrested in Oklahoma.

Steve Mulroy said his office was righting a wrong in the murder of Danny Harris, who was beaten to death in his apartment in 2007. His decomposing body was found months later.

"Our investigation has concluded that Andrew Hayes was wrongfully convicted of that murder," Mulroy said.

Lawyers have filed a petition to vacate Hayes' sentence, and Mulroy said his office would not oppose the petition.

Watch Mulroy's press conference:

14:50

YouTube

New update in 2007 Memphis murder case

2012

Direct Appeal

Appeal Filed

2010.12.23

Decision

Affirm 2012.08.06

2012 Direct Appeal

Appeal Filed: 2010.12.23

Decision: Affirm 2012.08.06

Parties

JAMES CURWOOD WITT, JR., J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which JOSEPH M. TIPTON, P.J., and ALAN E. GLENN, J., joined.

Lance R. Chism (on appeal); and Coleman Garrett and David Stowers (at trial), Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Andrew Hayes.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Clarence E. Lutz, Assistant Attorney General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and Patience Branham and Jennifer Morris, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee

Direct appeal (2012) Conviction was affirmed by Court of Criminal Appeals at Jackson

2012.11.28 Appeal Application Denied (State Supreme Court wouldn't hear the appeal.)

Case Nos:

W2010-02641-SC-R11-CD

W2010-02641-CCA-R3-CD

2013 Petition for Post Conviction Relief

Attorney James Jones Jr.

  • Petition for PCR filed 2013.01.14
  • Amended Petition filed 2014.11.07
  • Hearing 2015.06.15
  • 2015.10.05 Request for PCR denied by Judge Paula Skahan.
  • Attorney Jones missed Notice of Appeal deadline of Nov 5th, 2015
  • Multiple Requests for an Extension to file Brief
  • Court issues final deadline of December 30, 2016
  • 2017.02.02 Brief filed Order to SC dismissed.
  • NOTE:
  • Technical Record 1 Original
  • Transcript of Evidence 1 Original
  • Exhibits 4 Original
  • 2017.06.28 COA Denies Appeal
  • 2017.11.20 Application for Appeal to higher court denied.

Case Nos:

W2016-00280-SC-R11-PC

ANDREW HAYES v. STATE OF TENNESSEE

W2016-00280-CCA-R3-PC

ANDREW HAYES v. STATE OF TENNESSEE

2017 Appeal of Denial of Petition for PCR

Docket No.

W2016-00280-CCA-R3-PC

Decision Date

2017-06-28

Court

Court of Criminal Appeals at Jackson

April 14 2017 Oral Arguments W2016-00280-CCA-R3-PC - Andrew Hayes v. State of Tennessee by tncourts https://soundcloud.com/tncourts/w2016-00280-cca-r3-pc-andrew-hayes-v-state-of-tennessee

Appeal Decision from Court of Criminal Appeals at Jackson

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fW6qERLZ1HTT9L4gGULyGeSNV9e0D8-W/view?usp=sharing

2022 Pro Se Federal Habeas Petition

US District Court, W.D. Tennessee

Hayes v. Genovese

United States District Court, W.D. Tennessee, Western Division

Mar 24, 2022

Order denying Certificate of Appealability: https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/623eb9a1b50db959d47cc292#p\_8

2024 Coram Nobis Petition + Other Relief

New Attorney Jason Gichner - Tennessee Innocent Project

Trial Court/Coram Nobis Court:

  • 2024.06.25 Hayes files "Motion to Reopen Post-Conviction Proceedings & Petition for Writ of Error Coram Nobis" at the Trial Court
  • 2024.08.29 Trial Court orders parties to address the motions separately as individual cases.
  • 2024.10.08 Coram Nobis Court asks for equitable tolling to be addressed (Clardy v. State)
  • 2024.10.25 Hayes filed Amended Petition for Writ of Error Coram Nobis + Brief addressing the impact for Clardy.
  • 2024.11.15 Court enters final order dismissing ECN petition.
  • 2024.11.26 Hayes and State of Tennessee file joint Motion for Reconsideration with trial/ECN court.

COA Appeal of ECN Dismissal

  • 2024.11.26 Hayes files notice of appeal while Joint Motion for Reconsideration is pending
  • 2025.02.27 Appellant's Brief Filed
  • 2025.05.30 State of Tennessee, Appellee's Brief filed

Case Nos

W2024-01770-SC-R11-ECN

W2024-01770-CCA-R3-ECN

State Supreme Court Appeal

Application Filed

2026.01.12

Case Number

W2024-01770-SC-R11-ECN

https://pch.tncourts.gov/CaseDetails.aspx?id=93543&Party=True

2026 ECN Petition

Petition for Writ of Error Coram Nobis:

January 15, 2026

District Attorney Steve Mulroy - Charges Filed Against Sarah Lucas Reidel

Yahoo News

New evidence leads to new suspect in 2007 Memphis homicide, D.A. says

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Shelby County’s district attorney said the wrong person has been imprisoned for a Memphis murder nearly 20 years ago, and a new suspect has been arrested in Oklahoma. Steve Mulroy said his office was righting a wrong in the murder of Danny Harris, who was beaten to death in his apartment in […]

Sarah Lucas Reidel: Facebook photo; used in Everything They Missed.

February 2026

Sarah Lucas Reidel extradited from Oklahoma in 2007 Cordova murder case

Sarah Lucas Riedel faces charges after wrongful conviction overturned in Danny Harris killing

Action News 5

Woman extradited from Oklahoma in 2007 Cordova murder case

Sarah Lucas was arrested earlier this year in Oklahoma and extradited back to Tennessee. Lucas' mother Tammy Vance and Andrew Hayes were convicted for killing Danny Harris.


Sarah Lucas Reidel is reported dead.

Oklahoma woman extradited to Memphis in 2007 beating death dies in SCSO custody, DA confirms | News | fox13memphis.com

FOX13 Memphis

Oklahoma woman extradited to Memphis in 2007 beating death dies in SCSO custody, DA confirms

An Oklahoma woman who was extradited to Memphis in connection to the 2007 beating death of a Cordova man died in jail custody, the Shelby County District Attorney's Office said Wednesday.

July - Hearing Delayed After Water Leak At Courthouse…

Criminal Justice Center to reopen Wednesday after water leak

Action News 5

Criminal Justice Center to reopen Wednesday after water leak

The Shelby County Criminal Justice Center will reopen on Wednesday after flooding caused two days of closures.

August 25-26 Evidentiary Hearing

Originally scheduled for August 24th, but was pushed in part because witnesses were traveling in from other parts of the country.

Day 1 | August 25, 2026