Sing Sing activist Jon-Adrian Velazquez cleared in murder case – NBC New York

Jon-Adrian Velazquez He spent nearly 27 years in detention in the criminal justice system; He spent almost all of it behind bars in New York’s Sing Sing prison, convicted of a murder he insisted he did not commit.

It took just four minutes Monday to clear his name.

During a speedy trial in a Manhattan courtroom, a judge vacated a guilty verdict against Velazquez in the 1998 slaying of a retired New York City police officer with the consent of prosecutors (the same district attorney’s office that once put him behind bars). The office’s review of Velazquez’s conviction examined several factors, including recused eyewitness statements and DNA evidence.

“I want to recognize Mr. Velazquez’s extraordinary accomplishments throughout his time in incarceration and since his release,” New York Supreme Court Justice Abraham Clott told a packed courtroom.

After first being contacted by NBC News producer Dan Slepian in 2002, Velazquez’s dogged efforts to prove his innocence while in prison were chronicled over the years on NBC’s “Dateline.” 2012 investigation And 2023 podcast “Letters from Sing Sing.”

In 2021, then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo granted executive pardon to Velazquez, referring to his work He was held in Sing Sing on an initiative to educate incarcerated people to combat gun violence and was released after serving almost 24 years of a 25-year-to-life sentence.

In the courtroom Monday, Velazquez, 48, hugged his family as his ordeal finally came to an end. He wore a baseball cap with the words “End of a mistake” written on it as he stood outside surrounded by his mother, two sons and a group of supporters. He kissed one of his sons’ forehead and enjoyed the feeling of being officially exonerated.

“This is the first time I can breathe,” said Velazquez, who goes by the name JJ.

He later told NBC News anchor Lester Holt that he no longer identified himself as a prisoner.

“When we enter the system, they strip you of your ID, put you in the shower, strip you naked, shave off all your clothes, hose you down like a slave, then they give you a number and brand you,” Velazquez said. “And that wasn’t who I was. And I’ve been fighting for 27 years to tell them my name is Jon-Adrian ‘JJ’ Velasquez.”

Velazquez was 22 when he was arrested in the shooting death of retired police officer Albert Ward at an illegal casino in Harlem.

He was accused of pulling the trigger, but he said he had an excuse: He said he was at an incident 74 minute phone call with his mother. Another man, identified as one of the two armed robbers, pleaded guilty to a single count of second-degree robbery and was released in 2008.

Velazquez’s attempts over the years to have his conviction overturned have all been rejected. But in 2022, the Manhattan district attorney’s Post-Conviction Justice Unit agreed to re-investigate, including examining DNA on a betting slip known to have been used by the person who shot Ward; this test was not available at the time of the incident.

The results determined that Velazquez’s DNA was not included in the essential evidence.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said it believes the DNA test results, including Velazquez’s alleged alibi and inconsistent accounts of the perpetrator by witnesses at the scene, will play a role in how the jury evaluates the case.

Bragg said that in the past two years, the unit has overturned 10 convictions through reinvestigations and an additional 500 convictions involving law enforcement officers convicted of misconduct.

“These convictions have profound consequences for individuals and their loved ones, endanger public safety and undermine trust in the criminal justice system, which is why this work is of great importance to me.” he said in a statement Monday. “We will continue to review such cases with the rigor and fairness they require.”

After his release from prison, Velazquez used his experience to become an advocate for criminal justice reform and even starred himself in the 2023 TV series “Sing Sing,” based on a true story. Rehabilitation Through Art prison program. Podcast “Letters from Sing Sing” 2024 Pulitzer Prize finalist in audio reporting, and Slepian’s book about the case, “The Sing Sing Files: A Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and the Twenty-Year Fight for Justice,” was published this month.

In addition, MSNBC Movies The four-part documentary series “The Sing Sing Chronicles” will premiere on November 23 and 24.

“Dan is my hero, as well as my mom,” Velazquez told Holt. “Everybody knows that. Like if it wasn’t for Dan I’d still be sitting in the cage.”

But despite the renewed interest and relief, there was one thing the judge did not offer when addressing Velazquez on Monday: an apology.

Velazquez said she missed years of her sons’ lives and felt helpless when her mother had a heart attack in 2018, while she was in prison for someone else’s crime.

“After 27 years and four minutes, there is no apology,” Velazquez said.

The judge “talked about celebration,” he added, “after that same courtroom destroyed my life. This is not a celebration. It’s an indictment of the system.”