'Sing Sing' actor JJ Velazquez has been exonerated after spending 23 years in prison for a wrongful murder conviction: 'This isn’t a celebration. This is an indictment of the system.'
actor Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez has finally been exonerated after more than 23 years of being wrongfully imprisoned for a murder he did not commit.-fronted film, was convicted by trial in 1999 of shooting and killing retired police officer Albert Ward, amid a robbery in Velazquez’ Harlem gambling parlor. He was released from the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in 2021, when he had his sentence commuted by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Clott said that in light of the new DNA evidence, he would set aside Velazquez’s verdict, in a decision supported by Manhattan prosecutors.Velazquez addressed the decision outside of the courthouse, where he wore a baseball cap bearing the phrase, “End of an error.” He added, “There are many JJ’s still fighting for their liberation of being wrongfully convicted and serving time.”
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Rehabilitation through the arts remains multi-act story following ‘Sing Sing’ fameThroughout the film 'Sing Sing,' characters “trust the process,” whether putting together a comedy production or challenging a wrongful conviction.
Read more »
Dallas Screenwriter Clint Bentley's Emotional Journey to Sing SingThe film about Sing Sing Correctional Facility stars former real-life inmates.
Read more »
“This Chose Me”: Why Dateline’s Dan Slepian Can’t Leave Sing Sing BehindThe NBC producer speaks to Vanity Fair about his riveting new book, ‘The Sing Sing Files,’ which chronicles a two-decade odyssey probing wrongful convictions, and how reforming mass incarceration looks like the “next incarnation of the civil rights movement.
Read more »
Incarcerated men at Sing Sing will judge NY’s first known prison film festivalThey’ll judge documentaries about the criminal justice system.
Read more »
Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon Sing Through the Apocalypse in ‘The End’Shannon, director Joshua Oppenheimer, and costars Moses Ingram and George MacKay on their genre-defying musical.
Read more »
Apple Brings RCS to iPhone, But Not Yet With End-to-End EncryptionApple has finally added support for the Rich Communication Services (RCS) protocol to its iPhone messaging app, allowing iPhone users to message Android users with features like high-quality media sharing, read receipts, and typing indicators. However, Apple's implementation of RCS does not yet include end-to-end encryption (E2EE), a feature that Google says it is working on bringing to RCS chats as soon as possible.
Read more »