Byron Halsey's Stolen Decades

Posted: July 9, 2010 2:44 pm

Beginning in 1993, Halsey repeatedly requested access to post-conviction DNA testing, but it wasn’t until July 2002, when New Jersey’s law granting post-conviction access to DNA testing took effect, that Halsey’s pursuit of post-conviction DNA testing finally moved forward. In 2006 the Innocence Project secured testing of evidence from the crime scene; the test proved Halsey’s innocence while implicating another man, Clifton Hall, who had briefly been a suspect at the time of the crime. When the test results came back, Hall was already in prison for three separate sex crimes.

In about 25 percent of the 255 wrongful convictions overturned through DNA testing to date, the defendant has given a false confession or admission. The videotaping of custodial interrogations can prevent false confessions and help law enforcement improve investigations and conduct training. In 2005, a special committee appointed by the New Jersey State Supreme Court recommended that custodial interrogations in major felony cases be recorded.

Other reforms are making significant progress in New Jersey as well. On June 21, a Special Master appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court issued a landmark report strongly endorsing the Innocence Project’s recommendation for a new legal architecture to evaluate the reliability of eyewitness testimony. Read more about the report here.
   
Other Exoneree Anniversaries This Week:
Keith Brown, North Carolina (Served 4 Years, Exonerated 7/7/97)

Alan Newton, New York (Served 21 Years, Exonerated 7/6/06)