Man Who Spent 17 Years Wrongly Imprisoned On Death Row Speaks
Juan Melendez spoke in hartford to high school students
By Jeff Cohen - WNPR
Published: Dec 03, 2010
Audio Playlist
Death Penalty Debate
On Thursday, a state court judge sentenced Steven Hayes to death for the gruesome 2007 Cheshire murders. Today, a man who spent 17 years wrongly imprisoned on Florida’s death row spoke to Hartford high school students. WNPR’s Jeff Cohen has more.
Juan Melendez was sitting under a Pennsylvania apple tree when he was picked for murder up by police. An extradition to Florida and a short trial later, Melendez was on death row.
“I spent 17 years, eight months, and one day on Florida death row for a crime I did not commit. I’m lost in there. So the thoughts in my mind is – they killing people in her every week. How long it’s gonna be before they get me?”
Prison was a long road. Breakfast with rats and roaches, dreams of Puerto Rico, hopeful letters from his mother, thoughts of suicide, friends dying in the prison yard, friends dying in the prison’s execution chamber.
Melendez says it was eventually revealed that his defense attorney had a copy of a taped confession of the man who was the real killer in his case. That began a process that lead to Melendez’s release. As he was leaving, corrections officers offered him a snack.
“They offered me sandwich and soda pops. I say, ‘I don’t want no sandwich. I don’t want no soda pop. I want to go back to my cell, pack everything up, and get the hell out of here.'”
When he did, reporters were waiting. One asked him what he planned to do.
“I told her that I want to see the moon, I want to see the stars, I want to walk on grass, on dirt, I want to hold a little baby in my arms and play with him. Of course, I told her, ‘I want to talk to some beautiful womans.’”
Melendez told the students they need to advocate for the death penalty's repeal.
“We always can release an innocent man from prison, but we can never release an innocent man from the grave.”
Student Irisabel Soto wasn't alone when she said the death penalty leaves her mixed.
“If an innocent man is getting the death penalty for something he didn’t do, then it should be abolished. But at the same time, I believe that Steven Hayes did something really terrible, and I think he should get the death penalty. So it’s just kind of confusing for me.”
Melendez was a guest of the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty.
For WNPR, I’m Jeff Cohen.
Send to friend
Printer-friendly version
Comments
crime
I talked about this with a depuy hip recall lawyer and he told me that sometimes the system can get it wrong. In this case it was an awful mistake, but what about the real murderers who got what they deserved? You can't motivate your choice by just looking from one perspective when there are so many.
Post new comment