Not guilty. After four hours of deliberation, a Baltimore City Circuit Court jury acquitted Ernest Harris Jr., 56, of Churchville, in the slaying of Arden Shirley Epps, even though police matched fingerprints from the 1984 murder scene at the victim’s Southwest Baltimore home to Harris in 2005.

Harris’ defense attorney, Margaret Mead, said while the police had six prints that matched Harris from the scene, none was incriminating.

“He lived in the neighborhood,” she said. “His fingerprints were on an outside pole that could have been put there anytime. He had two prints on a screen door and one on an envelope. This is not enough for a conviction. What’s so sad and so tragic is this woman was a really honest and good human being and (the case) should have received a thorough investigation from the beginning.”

Mead said several other people could have committed Epps’ murder, but those leads were ignored by police.

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Police received “numerous anonymous calls” after the incident implicating two other men, but those individuals were never brought in for questioning, Mead said. Another potential suspect was caught with a gun that belonged to Epps, but never investigated, Mead said.

“My client stood and cried,” she said of the verdict. “He is so relieved. He never did this. He knew Ms. Epps and was very upset when she was murdered.”

Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Margaret Burns said prosecutors respect the jury’s decision.

“Prosecutors were faced with difficult obstacles including very old evidence and lack of witnesses,” Burns said. “This was a one-fingerprint case that was not matched for many years, obviously raising doubt in the jurors minds.”

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com