NJ Man Cleared in 2003 Flag Burning

Another man admits he torched the American flag when he was 13

A judge has cleared a New Jersey man who was convicted as a teenager of charges stemming from the burning an American flag in 2003.

Declan Devlin has always denied he was responsible for torching the flag in Madison ten years ago.

Devlin was 16 when the judge found him guilty of causing public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm by creating a hazardous or physically dangerous condition. He was sentenced to 50 hours of community service.

During Thursday's hearing, 22-year-old Michael Sullivan of Chatham testified he had set the flag on fire when he was 13 and never knew that Devlin was charged.

Devlin, who now works in real estate in New York, tells The Daily Record of Parsippany it was important for him to clear his name.

"I didn’t want my name associated with this," Devlin told the paper. "I’ve been waiting to right this wrong for 10 years and it’s just important the truth is told."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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