[1] In August 2023, the Government agreed to pay him $5 million in compensation, the largest nominal payout for wrongful conviction in New Zealand history.
The Supreme Court of New Zealand acknowledged a substantial miscarriage of justice had occurred and overturned his conviction on 8 June 2022.
[4] In 2024, two police officers and a prosecutor were charged with perverting the course of justice, and a reward of $100,000 was offered for information leading to the conviction of the real murderer.
Eventually, the offender fled, but left behind a bayonet stained with blood, a wool beanie, and a muddy footprint as evidence.
[7] Two months later Alan Hall became a suspect after police spoke with him when they were door knocking in the area looking for information.
[6] At the trial, the two Easton boys who had been attacked did not identify Hall as the intruder, and none of the eyewitness reports of whoever fled the scene matched his description.
For the next ten years, prison authorities insisted he complete an intensive child sex offender treatment programme.
Hall did own a blue sweatshirt, but the receipt showed it was purchased in December 1985, two months after the murder took place.
[20] In 2022, when the Supreme Court finally overturned Hall's conviction, the Court said: "The Crown accepts that, if the statement had not been inappropriately and deliberately altered in the way it was, then the jury would have heard evidence that a man who, on Mr Turner’s evidence could not have been Mr Hall, was seen leaving the location of the fatality at the relevant time".
When the Supreme Court finally overturned Hall's conviction in 2022, it said "the police should have disclosed evidence which tended to implicate the other suspect.
[23] Private investigator, Tim McKinnel, was also involved in Teina Pora's case, said it would have been obvious to the police that Hall was vulnerable and they took advantage of that.
Lawyer Gary Gotlieb told the Star-Times that after Bruce's documentary aired,[27] people came forward with more information, including former police officers concerned about how the case was handled.
One officer contacted Bruce anonymously suggesting Hall had been "set up" because Police wanted a quick result.
[28] Bruce concluded his broadcast saying that the "engineering of a false statement to go before the jury, and dubious experiments to change witness evidence, were the most blatant example of official tampering he had ever seen".
[26] In 2018, former Detective Senior Sergeant Kelvin McMinn, told Wesley-Smith that the incriminating alterations to Ronald Turner’s statement were made on the advice of the Crown prosecutor at the time.
They said they had “no record of being notified by anyone that Mr Turner’s statement was altered, prior to receiving documentation from [Alan Hall’s lawyer] relating to the current [Supreme Court] appeal in January 2022.
Remarkably, on behalf of Crown Law, Madeleine Laracy and Emma Hoskin finally conceded Hall had suffered a serious miscarriage of justice and should be acquitted.
[31] Arthur Easton's family said they were "shaken and appalled by the revelations of deliberate manipulation and non-disclosure of evidence by the police and prosecution, not only at the initial trial but also during the 1987 appeal".
They thanked Tim McKinnel, Alan Hall, his family, and supporters for pursuing the truth for so long and bringing the deceitful actions of the police to light; they expect the police to reopen the investigation "to bring the real killer to justice.”[32] On 9 June 2022, Una Jagose, the solicitor general of New Zealand announced an investigation would be held into the case, led by Wellington criminal barrister Nicolette Levy QC.
The second is a more targeted probe examining the circumstances around their failure to disclose all relevant evidence, the deception at the heart of Hall’s appeal.
[26] Hall’s lawyer, Nicholas Chisnall, said the family would be seeking financial compensation for the 19 years he spent in prison.
[39] A retired high court judge, Rodney Hansen was appointed to review whether Alan Hall is innocent 'on the balance of probabilities'[40] and therefore eligible for compensation.
[41] In August 2023, the Government agreed to pay him $4,933,725 in compensation, the largest nominal payout for wrongful conviction in New Zealand history.
Afterwards, Geoff indicated he was pleased with the crown’s decision to investigate what went wrong and hopes that individuals in the police and prosecution who contributed to the miscarriage will eventually be cross-examined under oath.
[43] Hall's lawyer, Nick Chisnall said the case "demonstrates how hard a palpably innocent person has to work to overturn a conviction” [44] and does not believe the investigation by Nicolette Levy will lead to significant changes in what he says is "a deeply flawed criminal justice system".
Chisnall points out it took 36 years for the conviction to be overturned and that "the justice system had repeatedly turned a blind eye to Hall’s situation, despite extensive proof of what had gone wrong with his case sitting in officials' files for decades".
[44] Christopher Stevenson, a leading criminal defence attorney in New Zealand, said the cases where the convictions are overturned are the 'tip of the iceberg'.
[45] In October, 2024, police reopened the investigation into the murder of Arthur Easton and offered a $100,000 reward information leading to a conviction, together with immunity for anyone who had assisted or protected the killer.