DNA Frees Byron Halsey After 19 Years of Incarceration

46-year-old Released from Prision After DNA Clears His Name

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."