Byron Halsey, who nar­row­ly escaped a death sen­tence in New Jersey in 1988, had his con­vic­tion vacat­ed after DNA tests point­ed to anoth­er man as the assailant. Halsey’s defense attor­neys from the New York-based Innocence Project and the Union County District Attorney’s Office had asked a state judge to grant a joint motion to vacate Halsey’s con­vic­tion for the sex­u­al assault and mur­der of two young chil­dren. The motion states that DNA test­ing on sev­er­al key pieces of evi­dence used to con­vict Halsey actu­al­ly indi­cat­ed the guilt of anoth­er man, Cliff Hall, who is already in prison for sev­er­al oth­er sex crimes in New Jersey and who tes­ti­fied against Halsey dur­ing his trial. 

“With New Jersey in the mid­dle of a seri­ous dis­cus­sion about whether the death penal­ty is worth its risks and costs, it is imper­a­tive that we learn the lessons of Byron Halsey’s case. The fact is that Byron Halsey is lucky he is alive to see DNA test results in this case. The state fought hard to exe­cute him for a crime that, two decades lat­er, sci­ence proves he did not com­mit,” said Barry Scheck, Co-Director of the Innocence Project. Last week, a New Jersey Senate com­mit­tee approved leg­is­la­tion that would replace the state’s death penal­ty with life with­out parole.

According to the Innocence Project, 201 peo­ple in the U.S. have been exon­er­at­ed through DNA test­ing, includ­ing four from New Jersey and 15 peo­ple from across the nation who had been sen­tenced to death. As in Halsey’s case, DNA in more than 37% of exon­er­a­tion cas­es also helped iden­ti­fy the true per­pe­tra­tor of the crimes. Halsey was released on bond, pend­ing the state’s con­sid­er­a­tion of its options to re-try him, though all charges may be dis­missed in July.

(Innocence Project Press Release, May 15, 2007; N.Y. Times, May 16, 2007). Read the Press Release about Halsey’s Case. Read the Joint Motion to Vacate Halsey’s Conviction. See also, Innocence.

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