NEW JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — A man previously jailed for murder in 2003 is now free after his conviction was overturned by the New Jersey Attorney General Office.
On Jan. 5, 2003, the office says 74-year-old Romeo Cavero was outside a Jersey City senior center when he was struck in the head and robbed. Cavero was then taken to a nearby medical center where he died four days later from his injuries.
In 2007, now 54-year-old Dion Miller of New Jersey was convicted of felony murder, robbery, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and unlawful possession of a weapon for assaulting and robbing Cavero that night in 2003. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison without parole.
On Friday, Attorney General Matt Platkin said, after a thorough investigation his office determined three previous confessions by Miller, which were the only evidence against him, were coerced by police who used tactics that are now banned.
He says the confessions contained various inconsistencies and none matched Cavero’s description of the incident.
Miller told the detective who came forward with this information during the Conviction Review Unit’s reinvestigation that “he did not commit this offense and he only confessed to it because he was afraid of being hurt.” It was also later discovered Miller and Cavero knew each other and lived in neighboring apartments.
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The first trial against Miller for the beating death of Cavero was a mistrial. Miller was convicted at the second trial and sentenced to 30 years. The verdict was upheld on appeals over the years until the Conviction Review Unit cleared him.
“There’s nothing the state or the criminal justice system can do to right these wrongs, but we stand here today acknowledging the life-altering mistake that was made in the hopes that Mr. Miller and his family can find some small measure of solace in the long-delayed recognition of his innocence,” Platkin said.
Platkin says his office is now focusing on finding the real suspect to deliver justice to the Cavero family.
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