Police and Crown Law have both launched reviews after Alan Hall’s conviction for murder was thrown out yesterday by the Supreme Court.
Crown Law's review will be led by independent lawyer Nicolette Levy QC, and will look into the role of all Crown lawyers involved in the case, from the trial in 1986 to now.
Hall was wrongfully convicted of the murder of Arthur Easton at his home in Auckland's Papakura in 1985. He spent 19 years in prison and a further 17 years on strict parole.
Hall spent a total of 19 years behind bars for Arthur Easton's murder in Auckland - a crime he did not commit. (Source: 1News)
The police will review its original investigation of Easton’s murder. It will be an internal investigation overseen by Detective Superintendent Dave Lynch.
"A review is logically the first step of any re-investigation process in determining what avenues of investigation may still be available," said a police spokesperson.
Read more: Alan Hall has murder conviction quashed after 36 years
Hall always denied killing Easton and yesterday he finally got justice.
The Crown now admits a key witness statement was altered.
The witness told police they had seen a six foot tall, powerfully-built Māori man running away from the area. Hall is a five foot seven slightly built Pākehā.
The description of the man as Māori was removed from the statement and never presented to the court.
The Crown said this deliberate failure led to a miscarriage of justice.
Alan Hall spent 19 years in jail for a murder he didn’t commit – now his name has been fully cleared by the Supreme Court. (Source: 1News)
It’s still not clear who changed the statement and Hall, his family and legal team are calling for inquiries to get more answers.
Hall’s lawyer Nick Chisnall plans to apply for compensation for his client in the coming weeks.
Compensation is decided by Cabinet and the process can take up to a year.
But Chisnall hopes it will be dealt with quickly.
“It’s in everybody’s best interest to deal with this swiftly,” he said.
He expects if Hall is compensated, it will be the biggest pay-out ever for a wrongful conviction in New Zealand.
Teina Pora, who was twice convicted of Auckland woman Susan Burdett's murder before having his convictions quashed by the Privy Council, was awarded just over $3.5 million. He spent two decades behind bars.
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