A 48-year-old Manhattan man who spent greater than half his life behind bars for the taking pictures dying of a retired NYPD detective was freed Monday after he was cleared by new DNA proof.
Jon-Adrian Velazquez, who was simply 22 when he was sentenced to 25 years to life within the 1998 homicide of ex-cop Albert Ward throughout a botched theft in Harlem, was ordered launched by a choose as supporters cheered within the courtroom.
“I’m fortunate to be free,” Velazquez instructed reporters after the continuing.
“Although I spent 27 years wrongfully convicted, I requested myself, who am I? I’m a person who’s free solely due to a documentary, a number of podcasts, a film and a guide. They made sufficient folks cease and ask, ‘Did this actually occur?’ And the way might it?
“We must always not have a system the place it’s a lot simpler to imprison the poor than it’s to free the harmless,” he stated. “It has all the time been this fashion, nevertheless it doesn’t must be, as a result of we deserve higher. Why? As a result of we’re higher.”
He wore a cap that learn “Finish of an Error” as he spoke, a reference to a Joe Biden marketing campaign slogan.
Velazquez, who served almost 27 years behind bars, was the topic of a long-running marketing campaign to free him, together with with an Emmy-winning documentary about his conviction by NBC’s “Dateline” that aired in 2012.
Excessive-profile celebrities resembling activist actor Martin Sheen took up his trigger lately.
Velazquez was simply 22 when he was charged within the Jan. 27, 1998, slaying.
Authorities claimed Velazquez was certainly one of two thugs who had been committing a theft at a playing den on Frederick Douglas Boulevard when Ward got here on the scene and pulled a gun.
Throughout a wrestle, Ward was shot and killed by one of many males, who was recognized as “Tee.”
Velazquez was arrested, convicted and given a life sentence after cops maintained he was “Tee.”
However through the years, an increasing number of supporters rallied behind him, claiming he was harmless, along with his attorneys twice submitting motions to overturn the conviction in 2014 and 2018, solely to lose the bids.
In 2022, Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg ordered his company’s newly created Publish-Conviction Justice Unit to analyze the case, together with with a overview of the DNA proof.
The probe decided that DNA on a betting slip dealt with by “Tee” earlier than the taking pictures didn’t match Velazquez — clearing him of being the shooter.
“JJ Velazquez has lived within the shadow of his conviction for greater than 25 years, and I hope that at this time brings with it a brand new chapter for him,” Bragg stated in a press release.
“These convictions have deep penalties for people and their family members, compromise public security and undermine belief within the prison justice system, which is why this work is of the utmost significance to me,” the prosecutor stated.
The Manhattan DA’s Workplace stated the post-conviction unit has vacated 10 wrongful convictions.
“It’s really easy to imprison somebody on frail information when towering reality stands proper behind us waving its arms, warning us of the horrible miscarriage of justice that’s about to go down,” Velazquez stated.
“No person listens,” he added. “The authorized system now has an excessive amount of anger and presumption. And what it wants is equity and compassion.”