Thanks to New Jersey’s Conviction Review Unit that was established two years ago in the Office of the Attorney General, a 34 old New Jersey man who was in prison for the last 16 years is now free.
Taron Hill, 34, was convicted in 2006 of two counts of murder and related weapons offenses in the shooting deaths of Robin Battie and Tinesha Lewis on Sept. 25, 2004 in the City of Camden. He was sentenced to 60 years in state prison without possibility of parole.
His freedom now marks the first time that such a conviction vacation was undertaken by the Conviction Review Unit (CRU), which was formed by the Attorney General in 2019 as one of the nation’s first statewide conviction review units, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and Director Carolyn Murray of the CRU announced.
Mr. Hill submitted a claim of actual innocence to the CRU in August 2019 stating that he did not commit the crime. The CRU conducted an extensive re-investigation of the facts and review of new evidence relevant to Mr. Hill’s conviction, and concluded that there is clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Hill should not have been convicted of the crime. This evidence reviewed and obtained by the CRU was not available to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office at the time of Mr. Hill’s trial or post-conviction hearings.
CRU’s review of the record revealed that there was a single eyewitness who saw the assailant with a gun, who identified Mr. Hill through an identification procedure that used only a single photo. Although this evidence was admitted at trial, it is not an investigative best practice under current identification procedures.
While two jailhouse informants originally corroborated the eyewitness identification, both subsequently recanted their testimony. At the time, use of jailhouse informant testimony was subject to fewer safeguards. In October 2020, Attorney General Grewal issued Directive 2020-11 to establish uniform higher standards statewide for this type of testimony.
The murder weapon was not recovered in the case, and no forensic evidence such as fingerprint or DNA evidence existed tying Mr. Hill to the murder. In addition, post-conviction recorded conversations support Mr. Hill’s claims. Mr. Hill and his family members did not come forward with what they knew about the offense until after his trial and conviction.
Attorneys for the CRU appeared yesterday in court in Camden before Superior Court Judge Edward J. McBride Jr., who granted a request by the CRU to vacate Mr. Hill’s conviction. Mr. Hill appeared via video conference from New Jersey State Prison in Trenton.
“This is an important milestone for the Conviction Review Unit we established two years ago,” said Attorney General Grewal. “We are committed to ensuring that our criminal justice system operates fairly and justly for all people, and we are committed to taking action when we determine that a criminal conviction can no longer be sustained.”
“Where the work of our Conviction Review Unit ended, the work of our Cold Case Network began, as we now are conducting a new investigation into the unsolved murders of Ms. Battie and Ms. Lewis,” added Attorney General Grewal. “I know today is an extremely difficult day for their families, and we want to assure those families that we are working diligently to bring closure to this terrible episode.”
“I want to recognize the excellent work of all involved in our review and extensive re-investigation of Mr. Hill’s case,” said CRU Director Murray. “Our duty is always to do justice. As a longtime prosecutor, I know the satisfaction of securing justice by convicting a defendant who has committed a serious crime like murder. But we must always be vigilant and that is the critical mission of the Conviction Review Unit.”
