The Supreme Court held Monday that a person convicted of a crime is exonerated not upon the reversal of a conviction but only when the door is shut on further prosecution for the crime.

The timing is important to the plaintiff in Rogers v. Cape May Co. Office of the Public Defender, A-63-10, and to other criminal defendants who sue their lawyers for malpractice, because the justices earlier held that the cause of action accrues upon exoneration.