Jon-Adrian Velazquez

Last updated
Jon-Adrian Velazquez
JJ Velazquez in 2023.jpg
Velazquez in 2023
BornNovember 11, 1975
New York City, NY
Other namesJJ Velazquez
Alma mater Mercy University
Occupation(s)Co-Founder and Executive Director of Voices from Within
Partner
Geraldyne Tiu
​
(m. 2023)​
Children2
Website jonadrianjjvelazquez.com


Jon-Adrian Velazquez (born November 11, 1975) also known as "JJ" Velazquez, is an American criminal legal reform activist who was wrongfully convicted of a 1998 murder of a retired police officer. He was serving a 25 years to life sentence at maximum security Sing-Sing prison in New York. His case garnered considerable attention from the media ten years after his conviction, due to a long-term investigation by Dateline NBC producer Dan Slepian [1] [2] and celebrity support from actor Martin Sheen [3] actress Alfre Woodard [4] music executive Jason Flom [5] and entertainment company Roc Nation. [6]

Contents

On May 8, 2022 The New York Times published an extensive feature on how Velazquez was Slepian's "one man innocent project" inside Sing Sing prison to help free several innocent men. [7]

‘Letters from Sing Sing’

On February 20, 2023, NBC News announced the launch of ‘Letters From Sing Sing’ an eight-episode podcast, the first from NBC News Studios, detailing Slepian's 20-year search for the truth and his journey with Velazquez along the way. [8]

The case

Retired NYPD officer Albert Ward was murdered during an attempted robbery of his illegal gambling establishment in Harlem, New York on January 27, 1998. Ward was involved in the running of the establishment at the time. Witnesses initially claimed that the two assailants were both black, and that the shooter was a black man with braids. [9] Velazquez is Latino and had short hair at the time.

Dateline NBC investigation

Beginning around 2002, Velazquez wrote letters to Dateline NBC producer Dan Slepian, [1] after hearing about another one of Slepian's documentaries that resulted in getting another conviction overturned. Dateline producers began an investigation that lasted ten years, tracking down and interviewing witnesses and others involved in the case. [10]

Velazquez contends that he was speaking on the phone with his mother at the time of the murder, a claim that is supported by phone records showing a call between Velazquez's residence and his mother. The prosecution contended that it was his girlfriend on the phone at the time. One witness who testified in court incorrectly identified a juror instead of Velazquez when asked to point out the perpetrator. Other witnesses were a heroin addict and a drug dealer. Velazquez was misidentified in the case by presenting one of the witnesses with hundreds of images of people previously convicted of unrelated crimes. [10]

The broadcast about Velazquez's case aired nationally on NBC on February 12, 2012 and was nominated for three Emmy Awards. [11]

The broadcast sparked a review of Velazquez's case by the Manhattan District Attorney's Conviction Integrity Unit. [10] On April 5, 2013, the unit decided to let the conviction stand. [12] In response to the DA's unwillingness to further pursue his bid for innocence, on May 2, 2013 his legal council officially files a motion 440 with the court in New York City. [13]

On December 5, 2014, Velazquez 440 motion—his request to have a hearing—was denied, but he appealed [14]

On June 27, 2017, Velazquez once again entered a 440 motion due to newly discovered documents that were never provided by the District Attorney's office to his original defense. This "Brady Material" was the basis for his new motion and as late as November 2017 even more undisclosed documents pertinent to his defense were discovered.

Executive clemency

On August 17, 2021, after nearly 24 years of imprisonment, Jon-Adrian Velazquez was granted clemency by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. [15] Jon-Adrian's legal team and family issued the following statement. "We are elated that JJ Velazquez, a man who has spent more than two decades in prison for a crime he didn't commit, will finally be going home. And of course, we are deeply grateful to Governor Cuomo for this enlightened exercise of his executive clemency powers."[ citation needed ]

On September 9, 2021, After 23 years, 8 months and 7 days of imprisonment, Jon-Adrian Velazquez was freed from Sing Sing Correctional facility." [15]

Presidential apology

On October 18, 2022, President Joe Biden sat down with Velazquez to discuss criminal legal reform in part of NowThis's [16] presidential forum. President Biden apologized to Velazquez on "behalf of all society" for his wrongful conviction.

"Voices From Within"

In 2013, Velazquez led the formation of "Voices From Within" a comprehensive multimedia education initiative that addresses the epidemic of crime and incarceration directly through voices of incarcerated individuals living with the consequences of their choices, and the victims left in their wake [17] while inside Sing Sing.

"Voices From Within" is operated under a public domain license currently used by politicians as a tool to approach issues of gun violence in New York City. The success of the program led Velazquez to create a series of workshops called CHOICES (Choosing Healthier Options In Confronting Every Situation) [18] about creating healthy communities through healthy decision making. These workshops empower young people impacted by crime and incarceration to realize the significance of making better life choices. In 2014, Velazquez curated the first TEDx Event held inside a New York State prison. [19]

Related Research Articles

Innocence Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal organization that is committed to exonerating individuals who have been wrongly convicted, through the use of DNA testing and working to reform the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. The group cites various studies estimating that in the United States between 1% and 10% of all prisoners are innocent. The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld who gained national attention in the mid-1990s as part of the "Dream Team" of lawyers who formed part of the defense in the O. J. Simpson murder case.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sing Sing</span> New York State maximum security prison

Sing Sing Correctional Facility, formerly Ossining Correctional Facility, is a maximum-security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, New York. It is about 30 miles (48 km) north of New York City on the east bank of the Hudson River. It holds about 1,700 inmates and housed the execution chamber for the State of New York until the abolition of capital punishment in New York in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barnett Slepian</span> American physician and murder victim

Barnett Abba Slepian was an American physician and abortion provider who was assassinated in his home by James Charles Kopp, a militant member of the US anti-abortion movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High Desert State Prison (Nevada)</span> State prison in Clark County, Nevada, US

High Desert State Prison is a state prison in unincorporated Clark County, Nevada, near Indian Springs, northwest of Las Vegas. It is the largest institution of the Nevada Department of Corrections and the newest, having opened on September 1, 2000. It has a capacity of 4,176.

Martin H. Tankleff is an American man who was wrongly convicted of murdering his parents, Seymour and Arlene Tankleff, on September 7, 1988, when he was 17 years old. After serving almost 18 years of imprisonment, his conviction was vacated and he was released from prison in 2007. He is now an attorney.

Gerald "Gary" McGivern was a felon found guilty in 1967 of the armed robbery of a gas station in Pelham Manor, New York, United States, during which two police officers were wounded. McGivern was tried with his partner in the robbery, Charles Culhane, and was sentenced to ten to twenty years in state prison. On September 13, 1968, McGivern, Culhane and a third convict, Robert Bowerman, were being transported by two deputies, from Auburn State Prison to a court hearing in White Plains. During a rest stop along the New York State Thruway, a deputy's gun was seized in an attempted escape. During the struggle inside the police car, a deputy and Bowerman were shot to death.

The murder of Terry King occurred on November 26, 2001. Terry Lee King, a resident of Cantonment, Florida, U.S., was bludgeoned to death by his two children, 13-year old Derek and 12-year old Alex King.

Dewey Bozella is a former professional boxer who is known for being wrongfully imprisoned. Convicted in 1983 for the murder of an elderly woman, Bozella served 26 years in prison before his conviction was overturned in 2009 after being proved innocent.

The innocent prisoner's dilemma, or parole deal, is a detrimental effect of a legal system in which admission of guilt can result in reduced sentences or early parole. When an innocent person is wrongly convicted of a crime, legal systems which need the individual to admit guilt — as, for example, a prerequisite step leading to parole — punish an innocent person for their integrity, and reward a person lacking in integrity. There have been cases where innocent prisoners were given the choice between freedom, in exchange for claiming guilt, and remaining imprisoned and telling the truth. Individuals have died in prison rather than admit to crimes that they did not commit.

The Illinois Innocence Project, a member of the national Innocence Project network, is a non-profit legal organization that works to exonerate wrongfully convicted people and reform the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Innocence Project</span> American legal non-profit founded 1999

The California Innocence Project is a non-profit based at California Western School of Law in San Diego, California, United States, which provides pro bono legal services to individuals who maintain their factual innocence of crime(s) for which they have been convicted. It is an independent chapter of the Innocence Project. Its mission is to exonerate wrongly convicted inmates through the use of DNA and other evidences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan W. Ferguson</span> Wrongfully convicted American (born 1984)

Ryan W. Ferguson is an American man who spent nearly 10 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a 2001 murder in his hometown of Columbia, Missouri. At the time of the murder, Ferguson was a 17-year-old high-school student.

Barry Allan Beach is an American who was sentenced to 100 years in prison without parole in 1984 for the 1979 murder of Kimberly Nees in Poplar, Montana. During the years following his conviction, Beach gained support from influential state and national advocates who said his murder confession, the lynchpin of his conviction, was coerced. In 2015, his sentence was commuted to time served, plus ten years on probation.

Richard Eugene Glossip is an American prisoner currently on death row at Oklahoma State Penitentiary after being convicted of commissioning the 1997 murder of Barry Van Treese. The man who murdered Van Treese, Justin Sneed, had a "meth habit" and agreed to plead guilty in exchange for testifying against Glossip. Sneed received a life sentence without parole. Glossip's case has attracted international attention due to the unusual nature of his conviction, namely that there was little or no corroborating evidence, with the first case against him described as "extremely weak" by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelly Gissendaner</span> American criminal (1968-2015)

Kelly Renée Gissendaner was an American woman who was executed by the U.S. state of Georgia. Gissendaner had been convicted of orchestrating the murder of her husband, Douglas Gissendaner. At the time of the murder, Gissendaner was 28, and her husband was 30. After her conviction, and until her execution, Gissendaner was the only woman on death row in Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Semanchik</span> American wrongful conviction advocate

Michael "Mike" Semanchik is the Executive Director of The Innocence Center (TIC) and former Managing Attorney at the California Innocence Project (CIP). As part of his work with CIP, he has been involved in many cases involving the exoneration of previously convicted prisoners, working closely with the organization's director, Justin Brooks, and also preparing petitions for many of CIP's clients. After working at CIP while still a law student at California Western School of Law, following graduation in 2010 he became an investigator and then a staff attorney there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alissa Bjerkhoel</span> American wrongful conviction advocate

Alissa Leanne Bjerkhoel is an American litigation coordinator at the California Innocence Project (CIP), a law school clinic that investigates cases of factual innocence while training law students. Bjerkhoel was born in Truckee, California, and later graduated from California Western School of Law (CWSL) after previously obtaining a B.A. degree She has been an attorney with CIP since 2008. Bjerkhoel has served as counsel for CIP on numerous criminal cases, and achieved the legal exoneration of a number of convicted prisoners. Bjerkhoel serves as CIP's in-house DNA expert and also serves as a panel attorney with the nonprofit law firms Appellate Defenders, Inc. (ADI) and Sixth District Appellate Program (SDAP). She is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. Bjerkhoel has won a number of awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jabbar Collins</span> American man

Jabbar Collins is an American man who served 16 years for a crime he did not commit. He was convicted of second-degree murder following the February 1994 death of Orthodox rabbi Abraham Pollack in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The 20-year-old Collins, who lived in a nearby housing project, was arrested and charged with the murder. In March 1995, he was sentenced by a jury to 34-years-to-life in prison, sixteen of which he served.

References

  1. 1 2 "Investigations: U.S. & World News Investigations | NBC News". Archived from the original on 2023-02-04. Retrieved 2012-10-03.
  2. ↑ Guthrie, Marisa (February 11, 2012). "NBC News' 'Dateline' Examines 1999 Murder Conviction". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on February 4, 2023. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Martin Sheen: Latino Man Wrongly Convicted of Murder | Fox News Latino". 2011-12-06. Archived from the original on 2023-02-04. Retrieved 2012-02-13.
  4. ↑ Hollywood Actress Joins Movement to Get Murder Conviction Tossed Out
  5. ↑ Exec who launched stars like Katy Perry and Kid Rock is now helping free the innocent
  6. ↑ Team Roc, Roc Nation’s Activist Wing, Works in the Trenches
  7. ↑ Kilgannon, Corey (7 May 2022). "How 5 Convicted Murderers Banded Together to Get Out of Prison". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  8. ↑ A.J. Katz (February 13, 2023). "NBC News Studios Launches First-Ever Original Podcast Series". TVNewser.
  9. ↑ "Convicted Killer in Harlem Murder Hopes Prosecutors Reconsider Case | NBC New York". Archived from the original on 2023-02-04. Retrieved 2012-02-13.
  10. 1 2 3 "Open Channel - Witness error: How mind tricks can put the innocent behind bars". Archived from the original on 2012-02-13. Retrieved 2012-02-13.
  11. ↑ "The Nominees - 34th News & Doc Emmy Awards". Archived from the original on 2016-12-21. Retrieved 2016-12-21.
  12. ↑ "DA turns down exoneration bid, backed by Martin Sheen, from man convicted in 1998 NYC killing". Fox News. April 5, 2013. Archived from the original on April 10, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
  13. ↑ "440 Memo of Law" (PDF).[ permanent dead link ]
  14. ↑ Slepian, Dan (December 20, 2014). "'I've Been Dragged Through Gates of Hell,' Says Man Jailed for Murder". NBC News . Archived from the original on February 4, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  15. 1 2 "Governor Cuomo Grants Clemency to Ten Individuals". August 17, 2021. Archived from the original on August 17, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  16. ↑ Joe Biden and JJ Velazquez Discuss Criminal Legal Reform
  17. ↑ "ABOUT from Voices from Within".
  18. ↑ "CHOICES". THE CHOICES CONNECTION.
  19. ↑ "Voices from Within".
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