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Sing Sing actor JJ Velazquez exonerated after wrongful conviction

Velazquez was incarcerated for decades for a 1998 murder he didn’t commit before starring in award-winning A24 film

Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez fought back tears as he hugged friends and family outside the Manhattan district courtroom where he was exonerated for the 1998 murder of a retired policeman during an armed robbery at an illegal gambling den in Harlem. The campaign to free Velazquez gathered pace in 2002 when a Dateline NBC investigation led by producer Dan Slepian focused on evidence that the then 22-year-old was wrongly identified as one of two perpetrators of the deadly robbery at the center of the case. “These convictions have deep consequences for individuals and their loved ones, compromise public safety, and undermine trust in the criminal justice system, which is why this work is of the utmost importance to me.

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