Exonerated by DNA Evidence: What Happens Now?

Byron Halsey, a New Jersey man who spent more than 20 years in prison before being exonerated by DNA testing in the rape and murder of two Plainfield children, has filed a lawsuit against authorities.

Although Halsey had confessed to the brutal 1985 murders of his live-in girlfriend's 7-year-old daughter and her 8-year-old son, he maintains that the confession was coerced. According to the Star-Ledger:

While "still suffering the effects of alcohol," Halsey was taken to the Plainfield police station the day after the crime and "questioned aggressively and in an accusatory manner for the next 12 hours," according to his lawsuit. No evidence was found on his clothing, and Halsey made no admissions, but the following day he was interrogated for another 12 hours until he signed a detailed confession, the lawsuit states.

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The case of Halsey, 48, brings the number of post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States to 238 since 1989.

Black men make up an overwhelming majority of those who have been freed through DNA evidence, according to the Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization that worked on the Halsey case and provides research and legal help for prisoners seeking to have their cases overturned by DNA evidence.

This year alone, 12 innocent people who were convicted have been exonerated, according to the Innocence Project.

Last month, former Tennessee death row inmate Paul House had all charges dropped in his 1986 murder conviction after DNA tests on key evidence failed to match House.

In upstate New York, Steven Barnes served nearly 20 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. He was freed last month after a DNA examination of the murder victim found evidence from another person.

Once a wrongly convicted prisoner gets through the years of legal appeals and court appearances to unearth the evidence needed to be freed, he often finds getting compensated (if there is any just compensation for losing years of freedom) for the wrongful conviction difficult.

There is no federal standard for compensation, so the wrongly convicted find themselves at the mercy of a patchwork of state laws that determine whether they'll be compensated at all and if so how much.

Halsey is seeking unspecified damages in the suit after serving 22 years. He had faced the death penalty after his conviction in 1985.

After numerous appeals, DNA evidence from the case was released in 2006. It was discovered that DNA taken from the crime scene matched Halsey's neighbor and co-worker Clifton Hall. Hall is scheduled to stand trial for the murders in September.

Meanwhile, Halsey struggles to reintegrate into society. When arrested, he was 24 years old and held a steady factory job, according to the Star-Ledger. After his release, an attorney on his case said he struggled to find work and reconnect with family. He now has a job at Newark Airport and lives alone.

"He's done everything he can in his power to make the transition, but the littlest things are hard, [his attorney] said. "He is understandably angry.