An Essex County prosecutor wants a state judge to reject a Newark man’s bid to vacate his murder conviction.
Former Gov. Phil Murphy commuted Darren Boykins’ prison sentence in January after Boykins spent 45 years behind bars, but Boykins continues to fight for exoneration because he has always maintained his innocence in the 1981 murder of a carpet salesman.
In a brief filed Thursday, Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Nidhi Goel urged state Judge John I. Gizzo to deny Boykins’ request for a hearing, calling his claims of injustice “subjective.”…