Alan Hall was just 23 when he was convicted of a 1985 murder he never committed. Photo / Greg Bowker
Alan Hall was just 23 when he was convicted of a 1985 murder he never committed. Photo / Greg Bowker
Alan Russell Hall claims he was jailed for a murder he didn't commit. Today the 60-year-old Auckland man might finally be free of the 36-year-old conviction that ruined his life.
Hall spent 19 years in prison for the 1985 murder of Arthur Easton but the Crown has admitted a miscarriage of justice in Hall's case.
In the Supreme Court at Wellington this morning the Crown supported quashing Hall's conviction, acknowledging that key evidence presented to the jury at Hall's 1986 trial was "materially altered".
Geoff Hall told Open Justice his brother was the victim of the prosecution, police and justice system.
Hall's lawyer Nick Chisnall said it had taken more than three decades for Hall to get to this point, reflecting his continued claims of innocence and the unwavering support of his family, who had travelled from around New Zealand and Australia to support their brother.
Hall was released from jail in the 1990s but sent back after breaching his parole in 2012 and only released in March this year.
This latest appeal against his conviction was Hall's fifth since 1987, including three attempts for a pardon under the royal prerogative of mercy.
The case centres around the violent home invasion and killing of 52-year-old Arthur Easton in his Papakura family home.
Alan Hall, his mother Shirley and brother Geoff at Shirley's home in August 2011. Shirley did not live to see Alan's murder conviction quashed. Photo / Greg Bowker
Easton and his two teenage sons were attacked in October 1985 by a bayonet-wielding intruder.
The father-of-five was stabbed in the liver during the frenzied attack and died from blood loss after emergency services arrived at the scene.
One of his sons, Kim Easton, landed three blows to the head of the intruder with a squash racket, but the three men, all over 182cm [6 ft] tall, were unable to fight the man off.
A description of the offender as a tall and broad-structured Māori, made by a witness that night, was omitted from the evidence before the trial.
Hall, a short, slimly built asthmatic Pākehā, was just 23 when police zeroed in on him as a suspect because he owned a bayonet and beanie like the ones found at the scene.
But his family, including his mother Shirley who was resolute in support of her son until her death in 2012, say Hall's bayonet and beanie had been stolen.
Hall was detained for questioning for a total of 23 hours, and following a 2019 diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, the Crown now accepts statements Hall made to the police back then may have been "unfairly obtained".
Chisnall said even if Hall's autism diagnosis was put to one side, it did not diminish the fact police knew Hall was a vulnerable suspect.
When Hall was first arrested, there was almost immediate questioning by police, Chisnall told the Supreme Court hearing today.
Hall was questioned about the bayonet and beanie when he was in the police car and what followed was multiple, lengthy sessions with police without the assistance of a support person or lawyer.
Chisnall said the police and prosecution exploited Hall's vulnerability and techniques used by police turned the questioning into an oppressive and unfair interrogation.
"Every step they took was designed to break him down," Chisnall said.
"It's important the Court does not sanitise this case in anyway ... this was not mere slippage on the part of the police. This was an intentional case of misconduct."
In its submissions filed to the Supreme Court in April, the Crown said it was "unassailable" and "incontrovertible" that "key evidence was materially altered" and "relevant evidence was concealed".
Key eyewitness Ronald Turner told police he saw the intruder fleeing Easton's home at the time of the invasion and described the man as Māori.
Alan Hall was the victim of a miscarriage of justice. His supporters say a 23-year-old Alan was vulnerable in 1985 and his autism diagnosis in 2019 confirms that. Photo / Greg Bowker
The reference to ethnicity was removed from the witness statement read to the jury.
Instead, added to the statement was that Turner identified a blue sweatshirt police seized from Hall as matching the top worn by the man he saw.
That was not true because Turner said he was not shown any clothing. And the blue jumper owned by Hall and used as evidence had been purchased in December 1985, months after the murder.
Evidence about the doctored statements has been in the Crown files since 1993, according to The Listener.
The 1986 jury was presented with an incomplete picture, according to Chisnall, and Hall's trial was rendered unfair by the misconduct of the prosecution and police.
Chisnall said the actions of the prosecution and police at trial were a blatant and intentional departure from best practice and that it was so prejudicial that it undermined Hall's right to a fair trial.
"There is a compelling argument that the Court [Court of Appeal] was misled in 1987 because of the information withheld by the Crown," Chisnall said.
Crown solicitor Madeleine Laracy said there was "no doubt" that statements made by Hall when questioned by police would be "entirely inadmissible", on the grounds they were oppressive.
"It must be taken that he was at the very least naïve and out of his depth, would have been struggling and would have been complying and needed more assistance in those interviews," Laracy said.
She said by today's standards it was a miscarriage of justice and more care should have been taken by the police for Hall when questioned about something so significant.
Laracy asked the court to quash Hall's convictions, acquit him and not call for a retrial.
She also acknowledged the Easton family, attending the hearing remotely, and said they were "innocent bystanders of the unravelling of the justice system if that is what occurs".
The case came before Chief Justice Helen Winkelmann, Justice Joe Williams, Justice Mark O'Regan, Justice Ellen France and Justice Steven Kós.
