Schoharie County Judge George Bartlett's decision came a day after jurors said for a third time they couldn't reach a verdict on whether Calvin Harris killed Michele Harris. She vanished after leaving her boyfriend's apartment.
Prosecutors said Calvin Harris, wealthy from his family's car dealerships, killed Michele when she returned to the Southern Tier home they shared with their four young children. Michele Harris' body was never found, and prosecutors relied on a largely circumstantial case.
Defense lawyers argued that authorities overlooked other people that Michele Harris associated with as her marriage broke up and she took a waitressing job for extra money. The trial judge severely limited the defense team's ability to call witnesses implicating other suspects.
A jury found Calvin Harris guilty of second-degree murder in 2007. But that conviction was overturned after a local farmhand belatedly came forward saying he saw a blond woman who looked like Michele Harris in the driveway that morning with a younger man.
