DNA Frees Byron Halsey After 19 Years of Incarceration

Byron Halsey, 46, sat in the Union County Courthouse hand cuffed Tuesday with tears streaming down his face as a judge overturned the murder conviction of 1988 that has left Mr. Halsey locked up for the past 19 years, the New York Times reported. Mr. Halsey was convicted of two counts of felony murder and other charges in 1988. He was sentence to two life terms plus twenty years. Mr. Halsey served 19 of those sentenced years behind bars before DNA evidence proved he did not commit the crimes.

In 1988 Prosecutors sought the death penalty for the brutal murders and assault on two children that took place in 1985. They were the children of the woman that Mr. Halsey lived with at the time. Margaret Urquhart's two children Tina and Tyrone were found murdered in the basement of the rooming house that Halsey and Urquhart lived in together. Tina, 7 was raped and strangled and her brother, Tyrone, 8, was found dead with four nails hammered in to his head by a brick.

A judge overturned Halsey's conviction when Halsey's attorney presented DNA evidence that would have cleared him if it were available at the time of his trial. In fact the DNA evidence points to Cliff Hall who testified in Halsey's trial in 1988 against him. Hall was a neighbor of the family at the time of the murders. Hall's DNA was available for comparison since he is currently serving time for three sexual assaults.

The children's mother Ms. Urquhart said, "I knew Bryon loved Tyrone and Tina. It didn't make sense to me that he could have done this. I always had my doubts, but I didn't know what to do about them. I am thankful that the DNA testing has identified who really did this to my children and the Byron is being released today. I want justice done in this case."

Byron Halsey is not quit yet a free man. He was released on $55,000 bail and has to wear a tracking ankle bracelet for the next 45 days. Prosecutor's say his is still facing charges of aggravated sexual assault, two counts of aggravated manslaughter, two counts of felony murder, child abuse and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. Representatives for Mr. Halsey said that he is scheduled to return to court on July 9^th when they expect Prosecutor's to drop the remaining charges.

Byron Halsey's case was revived by a Manhattan legal clinic, the Innocence Project.

Barry Scheck, co - director of the Innocence Project said, "It's a miracle that Byron is here with us, because if ever there was a case where there was a risk of executing an innocent man, it was this case. Because the facts of the cases were so horrible." Mr. Scheck went on to comment, "It was a minor miracle that he was not sentenced to death. At the trial, a few of the jurors just didn't believe in capital punishment."

Byron Halsey contacted the Innocence Project in Manhattan after exhausting all of his appeals. Halsey's case was overturned because of advancement in DNA technology that was not available during Mr. Halsey's first trial. Mr. Scheck said that in the 201 wrongful convictions that have been overturned due to the new DNA technology, about a quarter of them had been convicted due to confessions to crimes that they had not committed. In Byron Halsey's case he committed to the crime after 30 hours of interrogation. Mr. Halsey's attorney's also said that he had a sixth grade education level and severe learning disabilities.

Prosecutors said Tuesday night that they were looking into prosecuting Cliff Hall for the murder of the two young children.

(Tina Kelley, DNA in Murders Free Inmate after 19 years, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/nyregion/16dna.html?ref=nyregion)