Byron Halsey, center, hugs one of his attorneys, Vanessa Potkin, as attorney Barry Sheck, right, smiles after charges were dropped against Halsey on Monday in the Union County courthouse in Elizabeth, N.J. Since his release from prison in May, Halsey has been trying to piece his life back together.

Elizabeth, N.J. ? Prosecutors on Monday said they would not retry a man who spent 22 years in prison for the murder and rape of two children and was recently freed after DNA testing exonerated him.

In a statement released before a court hearing Monday, Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow said he decided not to pursue the charges following “careful re-evaluation of the case” against Byron Halsey.

Halsey, 46, was released from prison May 15 after a judge threw out his convictions. New DNA testing, not available when he was convicted, linked a neighbor to the crime.

However, until Monday, Halsey could have been retried on charges of aggravated sexual assault, aggravated manslaughter, felony murder, child abuse and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

Instead, on the prosecutor’s recommendation, a judge dropped all charges.

Outside the courtroom, Halsey thanked prosecutors for “acknowledging the truth.”

“I want to thank my Lord savior for carrying me through the years,” said Halsey, who also thanked his grandmother, standing behind him in a crowd of supporters.

Halsey said he is trying absorb his new freedom, which began Monday with the removal of an electronic ankle bracelet that monitored his whereabouts.

Though he said he is still angry, he doesn’t have immediate plans to sue the state.

Halsey had been convicted in 1988 of murdering and sexually assaulting Tyrone and Tina Urquhart, the children of his girlfriend, with whom he lived at a Plainfield rooming house.