{"id":9155,"date":"2023-08-03T16:39:17","date_gmt":"2023-08-03T16:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=9155"},"modified":"2023-08-03T16:39:17","modified_gmt":"2023-08-03T16:39:17","slug":"nj-innocence-project-at-rutgers-helps-exonerate-man-after-20-years-of-wrongful-incarceration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2023\/08\/03\/nj-innocence-project-at-rutgers-helps-exonerate-man-after-20-years-of-wrongful-incarceration\/","title":{"rendered":"NJ Innocence Project at Rutgers Helps Exonerate Man After 20 Years of Wrongful Incarceration"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By Laura Cohen, Rutgers Law Professor and New Jersey Innocence Project Director<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The New Jersey Innocence Project at Rutgers University (NJIP) has helped
\nexonerate a Hudson County man who served 20 years for a crime he did not
\ncommit. Dion Miller, now age 54, was released from prison on July 27. He
\nwas represented by NJIP Director, Professor Laura Cohen [1<\/a>], and Managing
\nAttorney, Nyssa Taylor. Miller was wrongfully convicted of the
\nmurder of Romeo Cavero in 2007 and sentenced to a term of 30 years in
\nprison without the possibility of parole.<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s conviction was based entirely on three false confessions
\nthat detectives obtained after subjecting him to 17 hours of grueling and
\ncoercive interrogation. Those statements were inconsistent with each other
\nand inconsistent with the other evidence in the case, and bore many of the
\nknown hallmarks of false confessions. Miller steadfastly pursued every
\navailable legal avenue to establish his innocence over two decades, often
\nwithout the benefit of legal representation.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the New Jersey Attorney General\u2019s Conviction Review
\nUnit launched an extensive reinvestigation of the case and concluded
\nthat Miller was innocent of the crime. The Unit joined in the NJIP\u2019s
\nmotion for a new trial, which Hudson County Judge Mitzy Galis-Menendez
\ngranted. The Attorney General\u2019s Office then moved for a dismissal of the
\nindictment with prejudice. Miller\u2019s exoneration is the second sought
\nby the Unit since its formation in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Miller, his family, and the New Jersey Innocence Project at Rutgers
\nUniversity are deeply grateful to Attorney General Platkin, Director
\nMurray, and the entire team of the Conviction Review Unit for their
\nvigorous, thorough, and thoughtful work on this case, and for their
\ndetermination to correct this grave injustice,\u201d said Professor Cohen.
\n\u201cWe hope that the lessons learned from this matter, particularly with
\nregard to the causes and frequency of false confessions, will lead to
\nexonerations of other innocent people and help prevent future wrongful
\nconvictions from occurring in New Jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officially launched in 2022 under the aegis of the Rutgers Criminal and
\nYouth Justice Clinic, the NJIP represents factually innocent people in
\nNew Jersey in their efforts to vacate their wrongful convictions and obtain
\ntheir freedom from incarceration. It is the first New Jersey affiliate of
\nthe National Innocence Network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Laura Cohen, Rutgers Law Professor and New Jersey Innocence Project Director The New Jersey Innocence Project at Rutgers University (NJIP) has helped exonerate a Hudson County man who served 20 years for a crime he did not commit. Dion Miller, now age 54, was released from prison on July 27. He was represented by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[186],"class_list":["post-9155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9157,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9155\/revisions\/9157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9155"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=9155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}