Man who spent 19 years in jail for murder was wrongfully convicted, Crown admits

Tuesday, 7 June 2022

Alan Hall served 19 years in prison for murdering Arthur Easton. He was released on parole in March. Now, the Crown has admitted he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

On the eve of a crucial Supreme Court hearing, the Crown has admitted Auckland man Alan Hall, who spent nearly two decades in prison for murder, shouldn’t have been convicted, because police deliberately hid vital evidence from the jury.

In an extraordinary submission to the Supreme Court, Crown Law, which oversees criminal prosecutions in New Zealand, has conceded “a substantial miscarriage of justice occurred in Mr Hall’s case, and that his convictions should be quashed”.

Hall was 23 when police targeted him for murdering Auckland father of five Arthur Easton in 1985.

Easton was fatally stabbed by a bayonet-wielding intruder who broke into his family’s Papakura home, and also wounded two of Easton’s sons, Brendan and Kim, during a prolonged struggle.

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Alan Hall was 23 when he became the police’s prime suspect in the murder of Arthur Easton. He is now 60.

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Solicitor-General Una Jagose is the head of Crown Law, which oversees all criminal prosecutions in New Zealand.

Hall served nine years in prison before being paroled. He was recalled to prison for parole breaches in 2012, and only released in March this year.

On Wednesday, Hall, now 60, his family, and supporters, including investigators Tim McKinnel and Katya Paquin, will be at the Supreme Court, hoping to hear that his conviction has finally been quashed, after numerous previous appeals and 35 years trying to prove his innocence.

In a remarkable sign that it now accepts Hall didn’t commit the murder, Crown Law has admitted Hall’s claim that his case was a trial gone wrong, “is lamentably correct”.

“Succinctly put, the Crown accepts that justice substantially miscarried in Mr Hall’s case … the Crown acknowledges the unacceptable truth that an unanswerable cause of miscarriage here, and of unfair trial, was deliberate failure by those responsible for the prosecution to disclose material that would have plainly been important in Mr Hall’s defence,” Crown Law stated in its submissions to the Supreme Court, filed last week.

The most blatant example of this was the intentional alteration of a key witness’s statement.

Investigator Tim McKinnel, along with associate Katya Paquin, have spent four years gathering evidence to prove Alan Hall was wrongfully convicted of murdering Arthur Easton.

Ronald Turner saw a man running from the direction of the crime scene just after Arthur Easton was stabbed, and in several statements was adamant the man was Māori.

However, these statements were never handed over to Hall’s lawyers. And by the time Turner’s evidence was read to the jury at Hall’s trial, the prosecution had removed any reference to the person being Māori, without telling Turner it had doctored his statements.

Crown Law has admitted Turner’s statement was “unjustifiably altered”, and relevant evidence was “concealed from Mr Hall, his defence team, and from the jury”.

Several other key witnesses also described the offender as Māori, and being powerfully-built and 6ft (1.83m).

Their statements were also hidden from Hall’s lawyers.

Alan Hall was a 5ft7 (1.70m), slightly-built, asthmatic Pākehā.

Brendan and Kim Easton initially described the attacker as right-handed. Hall is left-handed.

The prosecution also failed to hand over all the information about another suspect police investigated.

Hall, who has an intellectual disability and has recently been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, was interrogated by police for eight hours on one occasion, and 15 hours on another.

Lawyer Nick Chisnall, who is representing Alan Hall in the Supreme Court tomorrow.

He didn’t have a lawyer present during these interviews, despite several times asking for one.

Crown Law now admits there is evidence that much of Hall’s police statements “was unfairly obtained” and that “there was a point where, more likely than not, the interviews became unfair and oppressive”.

It said concerns about Hall’s conviction were “clear and compelling”, and noted longstanding attempts by Hall, his family and his supporters to have his conviction overturned.

“The Crown acknowledges that significant parts of the criminal justice process have failed Mr Hall, and serious hara (transgression or offence)/harm has been caused.

Alan Hall, left, with his brother Geoff. Hall’s family has supported him for more than three decades in an effort to prove his innocence.

“The first step in relation to ea (settlement/satisfaction) and redressing the legal wrong, is public acknowledgement by the Crown in this Court that Mr Hall should be acquitted.”

Alan Hall’s lawyer, Nick Chisnall, said in his written submissions to the Supreme Court that “it is not hyperbolic to assert that a starker example of a trial gone wrong would be hard to find”.

“The prosecution adopted a deliberate strategy to deceive Mr Hall and his trial counsel. This constitutes grave misconduct.”

Chisnall said the jury was also deceived by the prosecution.

Alan Hall, left, in 2008, with his mother Shirley and brother Geoff. Shirley had to sell the family’s home to pay for legal costs associated with Alan’s appeals. She died in 2012.

“The real killer remains at large.”

Chisnall said what had occurred “inevitably undermines public confidence in the integrity of the judicial process”.

“It is an indictment on the integrity of New Zealand’s criminal justice system that the State has, since 1988, known about the profoundly unfair way in which the prosecution dealt with disclosure before Mr Hall’s trial…Yet it did nothing.”

Alan Hall will be accompanied by more than 20 family and supporters at Wednesday’s Supreme Court hearing in Wellington, including his four brothers and sister.

One of his brothers, Greg Hall, said the family was looking forward to the hearing after more than 35 years trying to overturn Alan’s murder conviction.

“It was so obvious Alan wasn’t guilty.

“And it dumbfounded us why the authorities wouldn’t take this information on board and fix it. But you were just talking to a brick wall, with all the appeals.

“It all comes down to the New Zealand justice system – it’s not made to remedy things, it’s made to put people away.

“And once they’re away, they’re forgotten about.”

Another brother, Geoff Hall, said the last three decades had been difficult for the whole family, including their mother, Shirley, who was Alan’s biggest supporter but died in 2012.

“You fight and fight for your brother, and he keeps on being found guilty, inside a judicial system that’s supposed to work out the truth. You lose total trust in our system.

Geoff said every time they appealed, they filed paperwork and evidence, confident justice would be done.

“Because we know we’ve got the truth, and we’ve got honesty, and we’ve got the integrity.

“And we’re fighting deception, and corruption, and lies from the police.

“So we have to win, don’t we?

“No, no we don’t – Alan stays in jail.”

If Alan Hall’s convictions are quashed, it is expected he will apply to the government for compensation for his wrongful conviction and the time he spent in prison.