Dion Harrell, who spent 28 years trying to prove he was an innocent man after a 1992 conviction for rape, has died at the age of 53.
“We are saddened to share that our client Dion Harrell, 53, passed away unexpectedly on Jan. 15 in Long Branch,” the Innocence Project announced on its website. The cause of death was not released.
“Mr. Harrell was a proud father of two daughters and grandfather to three grandchildren whom he adored,” the statement said. “Mr. Harrell was wrongly incarcerated for four years and spent nearly two decades on the sex offender registry for a crime he did not commit.”
The Asbury Park Press chronicled Harrell’s story in a four-part documentary series, Conviction, in 2017.
An accusation, despite alibis and despite physical evidence got Dion 4 years in prison and 18 to 19 years of parole/megans law punishment and then the state of NJ claims a statute of limitations technicality to not pay for his wrongful conviction. He kept fighting and won compensation. Dion himself says it the best… “the system is corrupted” and then later “stand up and fight”. It wasn’t until a private lab proved he did not commit the crime and had his conviction exonerated. RIP Dion.
I know first hand what happens in prison. Dion was at the same prison I was at albeit a few years earlier. Even though that prison was classified as a low level prison during my time, I still saw rape, I still saw murder, I still saw many thing that continue to haunt me to this day. I’m not innocent of my crime; I still cried watching this. Again, RIP Dion.
And that’s how the system was built in the first place! Outlive the ones who fall through the cracks.
Meanwhile they hand out steak dinners served on the backs of the tax payer suckers that keep voting in the swamp creatures. Biden knows best!