Actor JJ Velazquez Is Now Free After Decades In Prison For A Crime Not Committed

Jon-Adrian Velazquez also known as “JJ” Velazquez has finally been exonerated after spending over two decades in prison for a crime he did not commit.

He was serving a 25 years to life sentence at maximum security Sing-Sing prison in New York.

In 1998, Velazquez, who appeared in the movie “Sing Sing,” was found guilty of shooting and killing Albert Ward, a former police officer, during a robbery at a Harlem gambling parlor.

After Andrew Cuomo, the governor at the time, commuted his sentence, he was freed from prison in 2021.

The Post-Conviction Justice Unit reopened the case in 2022, and testing revealed that a mixture of Velazquez’s DNA found on the betting slip handled by the shooter did not contain Velazquez’s DNA.

Due to the fact that the DNA results might have affected the jury’s consideration of other trial evidence, such as Velazquez’s alibi and the fact that there was no evidence directly linking him to the crime, this development worked in Velazquez’s favor.

After all charges were dropped, Velazquez told reporters outside the court,

“It is so easy to imprison someone on frail facts, but the towering truth stands right behind us.”

He went on to express his dissatisfaction and stressed the necessity of reforms to stop wrongful convictions and guarantee that justice is served.

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Colman Domingo, Velazquez’s co-star in “Sing Sing,” said,

“This moves me to tears. It is his commitment to his own justice that led to justice finally being served. It came late, but it came, and JJ can lovingly, joyfully, and purposefully live again”.

He called JJ an exceptional man who has worked to make people aware of the problem and has been a vocal supporter of reforming the criminal justice system.