diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/playground/gatk/walkers/ReadErrorRateWalker.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/playground/gatk/walkers/ReadErrorRateWalker.java
index 128dde640..c6d5e4cd3 100755
--- a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/playground/gatk/walkers/ReadErrorRateWalker.java
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/playground/gatk/walkers/ReadErrorRateWalker.java
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ public class ReadErrorRateWalker extends ReadWalker<boolean[], int[]> {
      * @return true if the read can be processed, false if it should be ignored
      */
     public boolean filter(char[] ref, SAMRecord read) {
-        return (read.getCigar().numCigarElements() == 1 && read.getReadLength() > ref.length);
+        return (read.getCigar().numCigarElements() == 1 && read.getReadLength() <= ref.length);
     }
 
     /**