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Harron Burnett, 20, of University Park, Ill., was released Thursday after more than two years in the Howard County Jail.
He had been extradited to Kokomo in August 2006 from La Crosse, where he had pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana with the intent to deal and was given time served.
“God is the greatest Lord,” his mother, Diana Burnett, said outside Howard Circuit Court.
Police early May 9, 2006, had found Steven Harvey, of South Bend, on a Kokomo street, shot multiple times in the head and lower body. The 20-year-old died soon afterward.
Howard County Deputy Prosecutor Jeremy Peelle had capped off the final day of testimony by calling two former jail inmates who claimed Burnett told them he shot Harvey as revenge for Harvey snitching on him.
An earlier witness, Rachel Woodard, told police she was with Harvey and Burnett in
La Crosse when all three were arrested for possessing a large amount of marijuana. She said the men had a falling out, and Burnett suspected Harvey of being a snitch.
La Crosse police later confirmed Harvey had been an informant.
Burnett did not testify in the trial, but had told police he and Harvey were friends and he did not shoot him.
One of Burnett’s attorneys, Stephanie Doran, said Harvey had a lot of enemies who could have killed him.
She proposed a “mysterious shooter” had carried out a hit arranged by Harvey’s cousin, Leonard Harvey, who wanted Steven Harvey dead for supposedly snitching on him in Wisconsin.
Leonard Harvey, 25, hanged himself in the La Crosse County Jail on April 6, 2006.
Jurors took about 41/2 hours to reach a verdict Thursday.
Peelle declined to comment afterwards.
