NEW YORK (AP) — After serving nearly 24 years in prison before being granted clemency and starring in last year’s movie “ Sing Sing ,” Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez has officially been exonerated of a murder prosecutors now say he didn’t commit. A Manhattan judge on Monday vacated the 48-year-old’s wrongful conviction in the killing of retired New York City police officer Albert Ward during a robbery in 1998. Outside of court, Velazquez donned a cap with the phrase “End of an Error” and he and his mother raised their hands in victory.
He told reporters he considered himself a “lucky man” that so many people believed in him over the years. But Velazquez said he also wondered if he was free only because of the notoriety of his case, which has been the subject of a documentary, podcasts, a movie and a book. “We should not have a system where it’s so much easier to imprison the poor than it is to free the innocent,” he said.
“It has always been this way, but it doesn’t have to be, because we deserve better.” The judge’s order came after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office joined in Velazquez’s request to vacate the conviction. Prosecutors, in filings ahead of Monday’s hearing, cited newly discovered DNA evidence that they argued cleared Velazquez’s name.
“JJ Velazquez has lived in the shadow of his conviction for more than 25 years, and I hope that today brings with it a new chapter for him,” Bragg said in a statement. Ve.