Former death row inmate speaks out against the death penalty

Juan Roberto Melendez-Coln has lived the American nightmare: He was convicted and sentenced to death in Florida for a crime he didn't commit.

17 years later, he was exonerated and released from death row.

He testifies to the Death Penalty Study Commission in New Hampshire:

"At that time, I became the 99th person in the United States to be released from death row with evidence of innocence since 1973. Today, there are 139 of us. I suppose you could call us "the lucky ones." I wonder how many of the 1,193 who have already been executed, were not so lucky and were executed in spite of their innocence?

My case did not involve DNA. In fact, of the 139 death row exonerations, only 17 of them involved DNA. DNA will not solve the problem of wrongful death penalty convictions. It is quite limited because it is not present in the great majority of murder cases.

I was convicted and sentenced to death based on the testimony of 2 questionable witnesses. There was no physical evidence against me. Had it not been for the fortunate discovery of the taped confession of the real killer 16 years after I had been sentenced to death I would not be sharing my story with you today. When all was said and done, it was discovered that the real killer confessed to about 20 people. I was not saved by the system. I was saved in spite of the system. (...)

Lastly, I'd like to share a story with you about a good friend of mine on death row. Frank Lee Smith. A black man. Frank was on death row for 14 years. He always claimed that he was innocent. He became sick and was dying of cancer. He begged the State of Florida to do the DNA testing. He said the tests would show that he was innocent. Unfortunately, by the time the results came in, it was too late for Frank. He died of cancer before the tests showed that he did not commit the crime. And it was also too late for several young women who became victims of the real killer. While
Frank was on death row, the real killer could not stop killing. You see, this is not a system that protects our communities, it does not protect our children and it does not protect our law enforcement officers. When an innocent man is on death row, the real killer is most likely out on the streets, free to kill again. The huge amount of money that could be saved by getting rid of the death penalty in New Hampshire, could be used to get it right to protect the public from the real perpetrators. It could be used instead by your law enforcement departments, for better training, to
give your police officers the tools they need to properly investigate violent crime, to put the dangerous people behind bars where they belong and to develop programs that will reduce violence in your communities.

Sometimes we hear people say that those who commit horrible crimes deserve the death penalty. I think they've got it backwards. The question is not whether they deserve the death penalty; the question is whether we deserve the death penalty. Does New Hampshire deserve the death penalty? That is what I would ask you to consider. And I think the answer is clear. (...)

New Hampshire does not deserve a law that can kill an innocent person. The death penalty is a law that is made by human beings and carried out by human beings and we all know that human beings make mistakes. Once the punishment of death has been imposed, it can never be reversed. As my dear friend, another death row exoneree, Freddie Pitts, has said: you can always release an innocent person from prison from a sentence of life without parole but you can never release an innocent man from the grave.

For these reasons, I ask you to recommend that the Legislature of the State of New Hampshire abolish the death penalty."

Many other former death row inmates, such as John Thompson have testified how "lucky" they have been to finally see the truth come out, when some prosecutors do not hesitate to hide information to the defence, or use junk science, or corrupt witnesses to "win" a case. Numerous other mistakes can be made: No one in this world can simply reasonably say that justice is perfect.