Court rules former Plainfield man can sue police over wrongful murder conviction

[Disir]

A federal appeals court today ruled that a former Plainfield resident who served 22 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of killing two children in 1985 can sue city police who he claims fabricated his confession.

Writing the decision in the case of Byron Halsey, Judge Morten Greenberg of the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia said “we can hardly conceive of a worse miscarriage of justice.”

The decision overturned a lower court ruling that denied Halsey the right to sue Plainfield police and the Union County Prosecutor’s Office.

Prosecutors had said Halsey confessed to the murder. However, today's ruling said the confession contained details investigators must have inserted because Halsey could not have known that information.

Halsey’s lawyer, David Rudovsky of Philadelphia, said the evidence showed this was a case of “malicious prosecution.”

“We have a legitimate reason to bring this before a jury because the case was based on a falsifications of evidence,” he said.

Court rules former Plainfield man can sue police over wrongful murder conviction | NJ.com

22 years, man.

 

[tinydancer]

Whoa just whoa. You know what I dont get? How can you let a man suffer like this knowing you know the truth. I don't get this at all.

 

[Disir]

I know, right? It's just a life.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

People like Nancy Grace come to mind, she was a prosecutor and her personal opinion has always been if accused you are guilty. The problem is we have prosecutors not doing their job.

The majority believe conviction rate is all that matters. The reality is their job is to get justice for the people of the community they work in. Not convict innocent people just because they can.

 

[Mr. H.]

Aren't all murders wrongful?

 

[westwall]

Some DA's are very, very good. Then you have political assholes like Mike Nifong and clearly these assholes. IMO they should be tried for false imprisonment and sentenced to life imprisonment if they are convicted.

That's the only way this bullshit will stop. You have to really, really, hurt them.

 

[Noomi]

Imagine if this man had been sentenced to death. He would have been wrongfully executed. How many other men in his situation have been killed?

 

[MikeK]

Some DA's are very, very good. Then you have political assholes like Mike Nifong and clearly these assholes. IMO they should be tried for false imprisonment and sentenced to life imprisonment if they are convicted.

That's the only way this bullshit will stop. You have to really, really, hurt them.

The typical criminal trial is analogous to a sporting event in which neither the prosecution nor the defense is concerned with justice but rather with winning. And there are far too many police officials who would not hesitate to promote the conviction of an innocent person just to close a case.

Unfortunately the American public's impression of the criminal justice system is shaped by the proliferation of fictional crime drama they are subjected to in movies and on television. Rarely are they afforded a glimpse of the real world of crime and punishment -- which is utterly and perversely corrupt.

 

[Disir]

People like Nancy Grace come to mind, she was a prosecutor and her personal opinion has always been if accused you are guilty. The problem is we have prosecutors not doing their job.

The majority believe conviction rate is all that matters. The reality is their job is to get justice for the people of the community they work in. Not convict innocent people just because they can.

I so agree.
Nancy Grace is a vile blight on humanity. She knows how the system works and then heads the opposite direction. It wouldn't be so bad but she takes advantage of people's ignorance.

 

[Disir]

Some DA's are very, very good. Then you have political assholes like Mike Nifong and clearly these assholes. IMO they should be tried for false imprisonment and sentenced to life imprisonment if they are convicted.

That's the only way this bullshit will stop. You have to really, really, hurt them.

I agree.

Mike Nifong. You know, if those boys did not have money then it would have been all over for them. I think that terrifies me as a parent.

There has been an attempt to redeem him.
The attempted rehabilitation of Mike Nifong

 

[oldfart]

Imagine if this man had been sentenced to death. He would have been wrongfully executed. How many other men in his situation have been killed?

Quite a few. Just look at the Innocence Project record. And now John Paul Stevens says he was wrong to be the swing vote for resumption of the death penalty. He thought then that the states were working in good faith and could be trusted to impose the death penalty in a fair and constitutional fashion. I think he has a lot of letters to write to families on this one.

But then pushing for the death penalty means you never have to say you're sorry. Beside, some of them might even have been guilty.

 

[tinydancer]

Imagine if this man had been sentenced to death. He would have been wrongfully executed. How many other men in his situation have been killed?

I have flipped over all these years. I will eat my shorts over it. Well with some decent bbq sauce.

I've always been a huge law and order fan. But what I have witnessed lately, no way on the planet should anyone be put down unless its a clear and done case of murder. No way. No way jose.

 

[JakeStarkey]

People like Nancy Grace come to mind, she was a prosecutor and her personal opinion has always been if accused you are guilty. The problem is we have prosecutors not doing their job.

The majority believe conviction rate is all that matters. The reality is their job is to get justice for the people of the community they work in. Not convict innocent people just because they can.

DAs far too often confuse themselves as "the law" with enforcing the law.

Many coppers have the same emotional problem.

 

[westwall]

Imagine if this man had been sentenced to death. He would have been wrongfully executed. How many other men in his situation have been killed?

Just one is too many....and I am positive it has occurred.

 

[westwall]

Some DA's are very, very good. Then you have political assholes like Mike Nifong and clearly these assholes. IMO they should be tried for false imprisonment and sentenced to life imprisonment if they are convicted.

That's the only way this bullshit will stop. You have to really, really, hurt them.

I agree.

Mike Nifong. You know, if those boys did not have money then it would have been all over for them. I think that terrifies me as a parent.

There has been an attempt to redeem him.
The attempted rehabilitation of Mike Nifong

Looks like Cohan is a world class asshole. How unsurprising he would support that paragon of assholedom, Nifong.

 

[Katzndogz]

The system works. He wasn't executed.

 

[westwall]

The system works. He wasn't executed.

The system FAILED. He was railroaded by a corrupt DA. Yours is one of the STUPIDEST statements I have ever heard.

 

[Disir]

Some DA's are very, very good. Then you have political assholes like Mike Nifong and clearly these assholes. IMO they should be tried for false imprisonment and sentenced to life imprisonment if they are convicted.

That's the only way this bullshit will stop. You have to really, really, hurt them.

I agree.

Mike Nifong. You know, if those boys did not have money then it would have been all over for them. I think that terrifies me as a parent.

There has been an attempt to redeem him.
The attempted rehabilitation of Mike Nifong

Looks like Cohan is a world class asshole. How unsurprising he would support that paragon of assholedom, Nifong.

Paragon of Assholedom. I'm thinking that I might have to borrow that phrase.

 

[whitehall]

Jurors are often influenced by the horrific nature of the crime and it seems that the crime in question was indeed horrific. We expect the Police and the District Attorney to submit an honest prosecution but if they were deliberately and criminally negligent in this case they need to answer for it. Who knows what a law suit will bring out?

 

[westwall]

Jurors are often influenced by the horrific nature of the crime and it seems that the crime in question was indeed horrific. We expect the Police and the District Attorney to submit an honest prosecution but if they were deliberately and criminally negligent in this case they need to answer for it. Who knows what a law suit will bring out?

They need to be CRIMINALLY prosecuted.