NJ Bill Honors Exonerated Long Branch Man

A bill in the New Jersey legislature would expand the state's wrongful-conviction compensation law for individuals like Dion Harrell. Harrell, of Long Branch, was exonerated through DNA evidence in 2016 for a 1988 rape he did not commit.

Harrell served four years of an eight-year prison sentence and nearly 20 years on the sex-offender registry. Under the new bill, an innocent person would be eligible for $25,000 for every year they were on parole, probation or the sex-offender list.

Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso (R-Monmouth) discussed the bill Monday in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

For years, Harrell struggled with homelessness and getting a job and wasn't allowed to see his children, Harrell said. Click here for more on Harrell's story from the Innocence Project.

“Our laws do not align with our judicial system. The one that we all believe in so much,” DiMaso said in a statement. “This legislation would make that correction and ensure these innocent individuals, who have suffered so much already, were able and are able to pursue a monetary recourse.”