Two police officers have gone on trial accused of deliberately withholding crucial witness evidence that prosecutors say led to the wrongful murder conviction of Alan Hall, who spent 17 years in prison for the 1985 killing of Arthur Easton before his conviction was overturned in 2022.
The officers, who have pleaded not guilty and remain protected by name suppression, are charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice by allegedly excluding statements from eyewitness Ronald Turner, who repeatedly described seeing a large Māori man fleeing the scene rather than Hall, who was a slight Pākehā man.
Crown prosecutors argue the omitted evidence would have fatally undermined the case against Hall and described the alleged conduct as an “unforgivable miscarriage of justice”, while defence lawyers reject the claims, arguing the prosecution has overstated the significance of the witness evidence and pointing to other evidence relied on at trial. The High Court trial is expected to last about two weeks.
