Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
A trio facing charges related to the wrongful conviction of Alan Hall in the 1980s have entered not guilty pleas to all charges.
Hall was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1985 for the murder of Arthur Easton, but acquitted by the Supreme Court in 2022 and paid $5 million in compensation.
In August, assistant commissioner of investigations Paul Basham said three men had been charged.
"We have been in contact with the Hall and Easton families through this process, and we have advised them of today's development," he said at the time.
The three men were excused from appearing in Manukau District Court on Tuesday morning, on medical grounds, by Judge Ali'imuamua Sandra Alofivae.
Their lawyers - David Jones KC, Fletcher Pilditch KC and Paul Wicks KC - all asked for interim name suppression and the trio were granted bail.
Alofivae granted the men interim name suppression, as well as suppressing their occupations and the charges they face.
The men will next appear in court on 29 November.
The wrongful conviction of Alan Hall
Hall was convicted for the murder of 52-year-old Arthur Easton in 1985, after Easton was stabbed by an intruder who broke into his home.
A key witness statement in the case, was changed to remove the description of a man seen fleeing the scene as Māori, while Hall is Pākehā.
Hall was senteced to life in prison at the age of 23 for the crime and ended up spending 19 years in prison before the Supreme Court rules there had been a miscarriage of justice and his conviction was overturned.
It was the largest payout to a wrongfully convicted person in New Zealand.
