My name is Juan Roberto Melendez-Colon. I was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised on the island of Puerto Rico. I was exonerated and released from Florida’s death row on January 3, 2002 after seventeen years, eight months and one day.

I am the ninety-ninth death row inmate in the United States to be exonerated and released from death row since 1973. Right now one hundred and seventeen death row inmates have been exonerated and released because of innocence. Although it was not true in my case, some of the exonerees came within minutes of being executed. For this reason, it is very important to have procedures in place to halt the execution if there is a last minute stay.

I can say with certainty that I was saved more by luck than because of the system. My case was upheld three times on appeal by the Supreme Court of Florida. If it hadn’t been for two very, very fortunate circumstances, I would not be alive today. First, after many years with the same judge, my case was moved to another county and fell into the hands of a courageous female judge—the honorable Barbara Fleischer. I can sincerely say that I owe my life to her. Second, was the very fortunate discovery of the taped confession of the real killer—sixteen years after I had been sentenced to death. These tapes existed all along, but had never been used at my trial. The prosecutor should have dismissed the charges against me because of these tapes, but instead I lost more than 17 years of my life. Had it not been for what some call pure luck or what I like to think of as miracles, the state of Florida would have killed me.

The death penalty nearly killed me, but it also brings tremendous suffering to the family of the death row inmate. I can honestly say that my mother and five aunts were mentally tortured for seventeen years, eight months and one day while I was on death row. My mother, in particular, suffered terribly. She probably suffered more than I did. I remember receiving a letter from her that said, “Son, I just built an altar. I put a statue of the Virgin of the Guadalupe in there and I cut roses. I pray five rosaries everyday, seeking for a miracle. I know you didn’t do this. I know I didn’t raise no killers. Have faith, put your trust in God and that miracle will happen. One day, you will be free.” Her unwavering belief in my innocence and her faith in God gave me strength—it gave me hope and it gave me the will to live. But at times it was hard. At times I wanted to commit suicide. I wanted out of there. It was hell and I wanted out of there. A lot of my friends did commit suicide. Every time I wanted to commit suicide, our creator would send me an awesome dream—a dream of happier times—a dream of my childhood—a dream of hope: Hope that one day I would be free.

My mother is a person of very strong faith, but I dread to think what would have happened to her if I had been executed. I can’t even imagine it.

Another aspect of the constant torture of death row was when your fellow inmates were taken out of their cells and killed. This happened to me many times. These were people who I had shared my deepest thoughts with for more than a decade. People who were like family to me. And some of them were innocent: Jesse Tafero, Leo Jones and probably Pedro Medina. I know that carrying out the executions was really hard on the prison staff, too. Especially for these guys because so many people thought they might be innocent.

I am lucky that I lived long enough to be able to prove my innocence, but they did not. I know that their families have suffered terribly.

To conclude, I ask you to get rid of the death penalty in New Jersey. It causes far too much suffering. No matter how hard you try to fix the law, it is a human law, it is made and administered by humans and humans make mistakes. Sooner or later a mistake will be made and an innocent person will be executed in New Jersey. As long as you have the law, it’s only a matter of time.

But you know, governments shouldn’t be in the business of killing the guilty anyway. Even when we kill guilty people, it hurts so many others. Even if a person has done a horrible thing, they are still human beings too, just like you and me. They have loved ones. They change. When the state of Florida killed one of my friends, it was not killing the same person who committed the crime. It was killing a man who had changed for the better. A man who was teaching others to read and write and speak English, a man who had found God or Allah or Buddha and was teaching others to respect, to have compassion, and to love.

As long as you do have the death penalty, you must make sure that you have in place procedures to stop the execution if there is a last minute stay. Also, you must make sure to provide access to the media so that society understands exactly what is happening in the lethal injection chamber. Also, you should make sure that you provide counseling and assistance to the guards who are forced to carry out this cruel act. Peace and Love to you all.

Respectfully submitted,

Juan Roberto Melendez