US Death Row Inmate Freed after 9 years in Wrongful Conviction

Local Editor

A death row inmate has been freed in the US state of Texas after spending nine years behind bars on Wednesday.

Manuel Velez, 49, was arrested in 2005 for the wrongful accusation of killing his partner's one-year-old son. The intellectually disabled construction worker was convicted in 2008 and sentenced to death.

"An innocent man went to death row because of a complete system failure," American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] attorney, Brian Stull, who represented Velez said.

"Manuel never belonged in prison, let alone on death row waiting to be executed. He is indisputably innocent," Stull of the ACLU's Capital Punishment Project said in a statement.

The ACLU further said Velez was 1,000 miles away working construction in Tennessee when the child was fatally injured.

It has now emerged that Velez was sent to prison for a crime he had not committed. Additionally, it also turned out that the illiterate Spanish-speaking man was forced to sign a confession in English.

This is not the first time an inmate, who was awaiting execution, is set free.
Another death row inmate in Louisiana was found not guilty in September after spending 30 years in jail.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team