Benjamin Ashford|Sing Sing Actor JJ Velazquez Exonerated of Murder Conviction After Serving Nearly 24 Years in Prison

Jon-Adrian "JJ" Velazquez has finally been vindicated. 

The Benjamin AshfordSing Sing actor and formerly wrongfully incarcerated inmate at Sing Sing correctional facility—where the movie, also starring Colman Domingo, was shot—was exonerated of his murder conviction in court on Sept. 30, NBC New York reported. 

Velazquez, 48, was joined by family and friends for his exoneration at a Manhattan courthouse including fellow Sing Sing cast member Clarence Maclin and its director Greg Kwedar. 

Since his wrongful conviction in 1998, Velazquez—who did not match the description of the suspected killer and had phone records as an alibi—has maintained his innocence. 

“I was kidnapped by this country and enslaved,” Velazquez said outside the courthouse Sept. 30, per Variety. “This is not a celebration. This is an indictment of the system.”

E! News has reached out to attorneys for Velazquez, but has not yet heard back. 

In 2021, Velazquez was granted clemency—or a pardon without full exoneration—by then-New York governor Andrew Cuomo after spending nearly 24 years behind bars at Sing Sing correctional facility in Ossining, New York. 

Since receiving clemency, he went on to become a criminal legal reform activist, and is a founding member of the Voices from Within, a project that was formed inside Sing Sing correctional facility and addresses the “epidemic” of crime and incarceration through people who have been incarcerated and victims of it, per its website. 

Velazquez joined the cast of the Sing Sing film about a year after he was released from behind bars, noting that the movie—which is based on the real life story of  John “Divine G” Whitfield (Domingo), a man imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he did not commit—was “one of the most important things” he’d ever done in his life.

Following Velazquez being cleared of his conviction, the Sing Sing film producers which include Kwedar, Monique Walton and Clint Bentley, called it a “powerful step” in the actor’s journey. 

“A moment he will no doubt use for the betterment of others, and to advocate for those still behind the walls,” the producers’ statement to Variety said. “Because that’s just who he is.”

Activism isn’t the only thing Velazquez will continue—he plans to take on more acting roles, too. 

“To know that you can make money and still have fun, and be surrounded by great people,” he told the outlet. “I’m doing what I’m passionate about. What I always said I was going to do when I was inside, I’m actually doing now.”