Jon-Adrian Velazquez spent close to 27 years caught in the criminal justice system — nearly all of it behind bars in New York's Sing Sing prison, convicted of a murder he insisted he did not commit.

A criminal justice reform advocate featured in the movie “Sing Sing” has been exonerated in the 1998 killing of a retired New York City police officer.

Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez was exonerated in court on Monday after serving a 25-years-to-life sentence at Sing-Sing prison in New York for the murder of a retired police officer. Velazquez had long maintained his innocence in the 1998 murder of retired NYPD Officer Albert Ward,

Jon-Adrian "JJ" Velazquez, the former prisoner who now appears with Colman Domingo in the A24 prison drama Sing Sing, has been exonerated.

In 1998, Velazquez was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison despite not matching the suspect’s description. At the time, witnesses described the shooter as being a light-skinned Black man. Velazquez is Latino. He also had an alibi that was corroborated by phone records.

This is an indictment of the system.” Sing Sing actor Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez has finally been exonerated after more than 23 years of being wrongfully imprisoned for a murder he did not commit. The 48-year-old actor and activist,

Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez, who recently appeared in the movie Sing Sing, had his conviction overturned Monday, after being wrongfully imprisoned for murder for decades. Velazquez, now 48, was convicted by trial in 1999 of shooting and killing a retired police officer,