“As we stand here today, I can announce that Mr. Miller is a free man,” New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin said Friday. He announced that Dion Miller of Jersey City — who spent two decades behind bars for a 2003 robbery and murder — was released from prison Thursday, after the Conviction Review Unit in the attorney general’s office concluded he is not guilty.
“The state does not seek to set aside a jury verdict lightly. But given our findings in this case, it is the only just outcome for Mr. Miller,” Platkin said. “There was no doubt in my mind that our conclusion was right. He is an innocent man.”
Platkin said Miller always maintained his innocence and had filed a request for the CRU to review the details of his case. The murder occurred at a Jersey City senior center, where someone robbed 74-year-old Romeo Cavero and struck him on the head. Cavero died days later, and police arrested Miller. The CRU found multiple problems with the case, starting with a 17-hour interrogation of Miller.
“The only evidence that tied Mr. Miller to the crime were three false confessions elicited by three now-retired members of the Jersey City Police Department and the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office — who used tactics that are no longer permissible,” Platkin said. He said his office is now investigating whether the three officers who interrogated Miller might also have been involved in other cases with questionable outcomes.
