Byron Halsey spent 19 years in prison for the brutal rape and murder of his girlfriend’s two children in 1985. Halsey, who has a sixth-grade education and severe learning disabilities, was interrogated by New Jersey Police for over 30 hours before confessing to the crime. Halsey’s neighbor, Clifton Hall, was initially suspected, since his whereabouts at the time of the murders could not be confirmed, but he was ignored once Halsey confessed. Spectators at Halsey’s trial jeered loudly when he was convicted and “only” sentenced to life in prison, since he was not eligible for the death penalty.

Requests for DNA testing were repeatedly denied until 2006, when the Innocence Project took Halsey’s case and obtained exculpatory results that pointed to Hall, who was already in prison for separate sexual assaults and has since passed away. Halsey was officially exonerated three years ago this week.

Read more on this case.