Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., today announced his Office joined in an application to vacate the conviction of Jon-Adrian Velazquez (“JJ” Velazquez), 48, for the murder of Albert Ward, 59, in 1998. Velazquez, who was 22 when he was indicted, was convicted at trial in 1999. He served more than 23 years in prison until his sentence was commuted in 2021.
The Office joined in Velazquez’s request to vacate the conviction and moved to dismiss the indictment in the interest of justice based on newly discovered DNA evidence. The motion was granted today by Judge Abraham Clott.
The vacatur is the result of a collaborative investigation conducted by the Office’s Post-Conviction Justice Unit (“PCJU”) and defense counsel for Velazquez.
“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,” said District Attorney Bragg. “I am grateful to our Post-Conviction Justice Unit for its commitment to impartially uncovering the facts and evidence in this case. Since the creation of the Unit in 2022 we have vacated 10 convictions through reinvestigations and 500 more related to law enforcement members convicted of misconduct. 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. We will continue to review these types of cases with the thoroughness and fairness they require.”
On January 27, 1998, two individuals committed a robbery of a gambling parlor on Frederick Douglas Boulevard in Harlem. During the robbery Albert Ward, who was a retired police detective, pulled out a gun and a struggle ensued with one of the armed robbers, who identified himself as “Tee.” Ward was eventually shot and killed by “Tee.”
The Office opposed two motions from Velazquez to vacate his conviction in 2014 and 2018, both of which were denied by the court. In 2022, PCJU opened a new reinvestigation, which included having the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner compare Velazquez’s DNA to a betting slip that “Tee” handled before shooting Ward. The testing found that Velazquez’s DNA was excluded – or not found – from a mixture of DNA on the betting slip handled by the shooter. This type of DNA comparison was not available at the time of Velazquez’s trial.
The reinvestigation found that the results of the DNA testing could have impacted the jury’s consideration of other trial evidence, including Velazquez’s alibi, the fact that no evidence connected him to the crime, and that the eyewitnesses provided inconsistent descriptions.
The reinvestigation was conducted by Assistant D.A.s Elizabeth Seymour, Jenna Dunton, Talia Gooding-Williams, Supervising Investigative Analyst Karina Patel, and former Investigative Analyst Thomas Martin, under the supervision of Assistant DA Terri Rosenblatt (Chief of PCJU).
About the Post-Conviction Justice Unit:
The Post-Conviction Justice Unit (“PCJU”) was created by District Attorney Bragg to review the Office’s closed cases. PCJU conducts independent and impartial post-conviction reinvestigation done in collaboration with impacted individuals and their counsel to determine whether a conviction should be vacated or modified where there is no longer confidence in the outcome. Since its creation the unit has successfully moved to vacate ten convictions, including five homicide convictions. It has also successfully moved to vacate and dismiss more than 500 convictions tied to police officers accused of misconduct.
###