×
You've used up your 3 free articles for this month. Subscribe today.
Wrongfully Convicted Actor Exonerated After 24 Years in Prison
Loaded on Dec. 1, 2024
published in Criminal Legal News
December, 2024, page 33
Filed under:
Wrongful Conviction.
Location:
New York.
Jon-Adrian Velazquez’s wrongful conviction for the 1998 murder of retired NYPD detective Albert Ward was vacated on September 30, 2024, after spending over 23 years behind bars. Leaving court on that momentous Monday, Velazquez, now 48, wore a baseball cap that read, “End of an Error.”
Velazquez was arrested at ...
Full article and associated cases available to subscribers.
As a digital subscriber to Criminal Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login
More from this issue:
- Forensic Genetic Genealogy: Police Are Searching Genetic Genealogy Companies’ Databases Regardless of Whether They Have Permission, by Ann Foster, Matthew Clarke
- Montana Supreme Court: Expert Witness Testimony Presented Via Two-Way Video Conferencing Technology Violates Confrontation Clause, by Sam Rutherford
- Indigent Defense: Appointed Counsel Does Not Mean Free Counsel, by David Reutter
- Parole Rate Plummets in South Carolina, by Matthew Clarke
- Washington Supreme Court Announces Prohibition Against Use of ‘In-Court Holding Cell’ for Court Proceedings Without Individualized Determination of Need, by Sam Rutherford
- False Confessions and Wrongful Convictions: Known Causes and Steps to Eliminate Them, by Douglas Ankney
- Federal Court Rules Michigan’s Sex Offender Registration Laws Violate Constitution, by Dale Chappell
- Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Announces Prosecution’s Duty to Provide Discoverable Evidence Upon Request Applies to Discoverable Items in Law Enforcement Agencies’ Possession Unbeknownst to Prosecution and Exclusion Is Appropriate Remedy for Violation, by Sam Rutherford
- Second Circuit Holds Full De Novo Resentencing Hearing Required Based on Partially Successful Habeas Petition Where Resentencing Judge Not Original Judge and Changed Circumstances Plausibly Alleged, by Sam Rutherford
- Michigan Supreme Court: Fundamentally Unfair to Deny Indigent Defendant Funds to Retain False Confession Expert Where Genuineness of Confession Key Issue at Trial, by Sam Rutherford
- Ninth Circuit Grants Habeas Relief to California Prisoner on Napue Claim Because Prosecution Failed to Correct Informant’s False Testimony That He Did Not Receive Any Benefit In Exchange for His Testimony, by Sam Rutherford
- Nevada Supreme Court Announces Incorporated Probable Cause Affidavit Cannot Broaden Scope of Warrant’s Description of Places and Persons to be Searched or Items to Be Seized, by Anthony Accurso
- Wrongfully Convicted Actor Exonerated After 24 Years in Prison
- Missouri Man Awarded Record $38 Million After Insurance Company Refuses to Pay Wrongful Conviction Settlement, by Sam Rutherford
- California Supreme Court Announces Uncharged and Unproven Offense-Specific Enhancements May Not Be Imposed Under § 1172.6(e) Resentencing, by Sam Rutherford
- Arkansas Supreme Court Announces Petition for Testing Forensic Evidence Based on Advances in Technology Under Act 1780 of 2001 May Be Filed by Anyone Convicted of a Crime, Not Just Those Still in State Custody, by Anthony Accurso
- Rhode Island Supreme Court: Officer Lacked Reasonable Suspicion for Terry Stop Based on Unsubstantiated, Anonymous Tip, by Sam Rutherford
- Third Circuit: Despite ‘Expressly and Repeatedly’ Requesting Low-End Sentence, Government Breached Plea Agreement by Emphasizing ‘Heinous’ Nature of Offense and Presenting Victim-Impact Evidence at Sentencing Thereby Undermining Recommendation, by Sam Rutherford
- Indiana Supreme Court: Defendant Entitled to Discharge by Showing No Court ‘Congestion’ After Trial Court’s Unexplained Denial of Speedy Trial Motion, by Sam Rutherford
- Mississippi Supreme Court: Defendant’s Guilty Plea Not Knowing and Voluntary Because He Was Not Informed of His Habitual Offender Status, by Sam Rutherford
- Washington Supreme Court: Judgment and Sentence Facially Invalid Based on Miscalculated Offender Score Despite Defendant’s Stipulation to Exceptional Sentence, by Sam Rutherford
- Cell-Site Simulator Proposal: A Glimpse Inside the Black Box Whose Secrets Are Protected by NDAs and Obfuscation, by Michael Thompson
- Chula Vista’s Police Drones, by Michael Thompson
- News In Brief
More from these topics:
- Kansas Supreme Court Denies Compensation to Former Prisoner Whose Conviction Was Overturned, May 1, 2025. Wrongful Conviction, Damages - Compensatory.
- New Orleans Public Defender’s “Redeem Team” Says: “Re-entry Is Never Over”, May 1, 2025. Settlements, Wrongful Conviction, Life without Parole (LWOP), Juveniles, Post-release, ex-offender, re-entry, Remands/Rehearings/Resentencings.
- Texas Courts, Legislature at Odds over Executing Potentially Innocent Death Row Prisoner, May 1, 2025. Wrongful Conviction, Death Penalty/Death Row, Actual Innocence/Claim of Innocence, Opposition to the Death Penalty, Lethal Injection Method of Execution.
- Los Angeles County Pays $24 Million to Two Former Prisoners Wrongly Convicted as Teens of 1997 Murder, May 1, 2025. Informants, Settlements, Wrongful Conviction, False Exculpatory Statements.
- Beyond a Reasonable Doubt? Fingerprint Evidence’s Troubling Flaws, April 15, 2025. junk science, Wrongful Conviction, Fingerprint Evidence.
- Nearly 150 Exonerations in 2024 Highlight Persistent Flaws in U.S. Criminal Justice System, April 15, 2025. Criminal justice system reform, Wrongful Conviction.
- Connecticut Compensates Exonerated Prisoners, Reforms Policing, April 15, 2025. Police Misconduct, Settlements, Wrongful Conviction.
- Biden Clemency Recipients Included Virginians Sentenced for “Acquitted Conduct”, April 1, 2025. Wrongful Conviction, Pardons/Clemency, False Confessions, Drug Laws/Offenses.
- $7.15 Million for Oklahoma Prisoner Exonerated After Nearly 50 Years, April 1, 2025. Settlements, Wrongful Conviction.
- Nebraska Supreme Court Announces ‘Working Days’ for Purposes of ‘Temporary Domicile’ SORA Reporting Requirement Means Weekdays, Excluding Legal Holidays, and Reverses Conviction for Failure to Register, March 15, 2025. Sex Offender Registration, Wrongful Conviction.