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After spending four years in jail and than many more on parole and on the sex offenders registry, Dion Harrell fights for compensation after he was exonerated. Asbury Park Press

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From the time Dion Harrell of Long Branch was wrongly convicted of rape as a 22-year-old, New Jersey’s justice system has failed him — time and again. The state has a moral and financial obligation to make amends. 

Despite an alibi, on the basis of eyewitness testimony Harrell was convicted of raping a 17-year-old girl in a Long Branch parking lot 31 years ago. He served four years of an eight-year prison sentence before being set free. 

Thanks to DNA testing, he was finally proven innocent of the rape in 2016. But because of the rape conviction, he was placed on Megan’s List, where he remained until his conviction was overturned three years ago.  That scarlet letter followed him for three decades, severely limiting his employment opportunities,  housing options and any hope for a normal life.

Video: Harrell – The system’s really messed up

After Harrell’s release from prison he spent more than two decades trying to prove his innocence. At the time of his release, access to DNA testing was limited to convicts still behind bars. The Legislature only made it available to freed convicts in 2015. But even then, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office first rejected Harrell’s request to turn over the DNA evidence for testing. Public pressure eventually forced the Prosecutor’s Office to allow the testing.  Once the DNA was analyzed, Harrell’s conviction was vacated.

The latest injustice has come at the hands of a state appellate court, which ruled last week that Harrell, now 53, wasn’t entitled to the $50,000 annual payment provided for in the state’s Compensation for Persons Mistakenly Imprisoned Act because he did not apply for it within two years of getting out of prison. That would have been impossible for Harrell, who wasn’t released until 1997. He did apply for it within two years of his being exonerated, but that didn’t move the court. 

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Dion Harrell’s case headed to court with an eyewitness identifying him as the man who raped her in a dark parking lot in Long Branch, New Jersey in 1988. He maintained his innocence.

The judges said they rejected Harrell’s arguments “as they effectively request that we rewrite a clear and unambiguous statute and ignore the Legislature’s clear manifestation that claims like Harrell’s must be filed within two years ‘after his release from imprisonment’ or ‘after the grant of a pardon.’”  

In addition, Harrell’s request for $25,000 a year for every year he was required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law also was rejected. That’s a modest sum for the impact being a registered sex offender has on one’s prospects.

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Should the law regarding compensation for those wrongfully convicted be changed? Absolutely. A bill that would do so sponsored by state Sen. Declan O’Scanlon got nowhere in the last legislative session. But it has been reintroduced in the Senate, along with a companion Assembly bill. The injustice suffered by Harrell should improve its prospects for passage this time. 

In the meantime, in the interest of righting an injustice, the state should back off its refusal to recognize Harrell’s claims and compensate him accordingly.  Having effectively ruined his life through the wrongful rape conviction and his subsequent inclusion on Megan’s List, that’s the least they can do.

Randy Bergmann, a Westfield native and lifelong resident of New Jersey, has been covering the state as a reporter, editor and opinion page editor for four decades. Contact him at rbergmann@app.com or 732-643-4034. 

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