Who is JJ Velazquez? Actor declared innocent after serving 24 years in maximum security prison

JJ Velazquez is now a free man after he got exonerated for the 1998 murder he didn't commit. The actor spent almost 24 years in prison after he was convicted of killing a retired policeman during an armed robbery that happened at an illegal gambling den in Harlem in 1998.

Velasquez was initially given a life in prison sentence, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced on Monday, September 30, that his office would vacate Velazquez's wrongful murder conviction.

Bragg explained that prosecutors have found him innocent after a "newly discovered DNA evidence" came out. He further said, as quoted by LA Times on Monday:

"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."

JJ Velazquez starred in A24's American drama movie Sing Sing in 2023, a screenplay by Greg Kwendar and Clint Bentley about a man named Divine G (played by Colman Domingo) imprisoned at Sing Sing prison for a crime he didn't commit.

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JJ Velazquez said he's a "lucky man" as he is exonerated of a murder he didn't commit

Outside of the court on Monday and after the Manhattan judge vacated his wrongful conviction, JJ Velazquez spoke with reporters while donning a baseball cap with a phrase that reads, "End of an Error."

As he and his mother raised their hands in victory, Velazquez addressed his supporters and the media, saying:

"Who am I? I'm a very lucky man. I'm lucky that so many people believed in me. There are so many people in my life who became the life support for me to be able to breathe when I couldn't breathe myself because my circumstances were too thick."

However, Velazquez also weighed in on his newly granted freedom, wondering if it was only given to him because of the notoriety of his case. He also criticized the justice system, saying:

"We should not have a system where it's so much easier to imprison the poor than it is to free the innocent."

Velazquez was convicted in 1999 in a murder case that was largely based on the accounts of four witnesses. He and his mother maintained his innocence, with both stating that he was in his Bronx home and was on the phone with her at the time of the murder.

In 2022, Bragg's office reopened the case with newly found DNA evidence from the betting slip handled by the murder suspect. When Velazquez's DNA was compared to the DNA on the betting slip, it came out negative.

In the recent hearin, prosecutors noted that no physical evidence connected JJ Velazquez to the crime, and the results of the DNA testing also cleared his name.

Moreover, the prosecutors mentioned that statements from the supposed eyewitnesses were inconsistent.

Over the two decades that he spent in jail, JJ Velazquez has earned a bachelor's degree, enlisted his fellow inmates in starting gun violence prevention, launched youth mentorship and other programs, and helped other inmates appeal their convictions.