A “Sing Sing” actor ushered within the “finish of a mistake” after New York prosecutors determined he was wrongly convicted of killing a retired police officer within the Nineties.
Borough of Manhattan. Attorney Alvin Bragg announced His workplace reportedly overturned the homicide conviction of actor Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez on Monday, citing “newly found DNA proof” that prosecutors stated proved his innocence. “JJ Velazquez has lived within the shadow of his beliefs for greater than 25 years, and I hope at present brings with it a brand new chapter for him,” Bragg stated.
Velazquez, 48, was convicted in 1999 of taking pictures retired police officer Albert Ward. Ward was shot and killed in 1998, when he tried to foil an armed theft and shot two suspects, together with the shooter, in a clandestine Harlem betting parlor. Velazquez, who stated he was within the Bronx and on the telephone together with his mom on the time of the taking pictures, was sentenced to 25 years to life in Sing Sing Prison. He was granted early launch and clemency in 2021 by then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The district legal professional’s workplace, which stated it rejected motions to overturn Velazquez’s conviction in 2014 and 2018, stated Monday it has lastly reviewed the actor’s case, prompting the chief medical expert to check the person’s DNA. actor with DNA current on a betting slip belonging to the shooter.
“Testing discovered that Velazquez’s DNA was excluded – or was not discovered – from a mixture of DNA on the betting slip dealt with by the killer,” Monday’s assertion learn, including that “one of these DNA comparability DNA was not out there” on the time of the homicide. the actor’s trial within the Nineties.
The district legal professional’s transfer to clear his title this week is “not a celebration,” Velaquez advised media exterior a courtroom. Surrounded by family members and sporting a black cap with the words “End of a mistake” Velazquez advised reporters that this second was “an indictment of the system.”
Velazquez shares the display screen with Colman Domingo and Paul Raci in Greg Kwedar’s drama “Sing Sing.” The movie highlights the Rehabilitation Through the Arts theater program for males incarcerated in New York jail. “Sing Sing” additionally stars former incarcerated actors Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, Sean “Dino” Johnson, David “Dap” Giraudy and Patrick “Preme” Griffin as themselves. In her evaluate for the LA Times, critic Katie Walsh praised their “rattling good performances”.
“‘Sing Sing’ is a strong argument for humanity’s existence inside an area designed to dehumanize,” Walsh wrote.
