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| Florida death row inmate
to be released after 17 years VICKIE CHACHERE, Associated Press Writer |
Thursday, January 3, 2002
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(01-03) 10:34 PST TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- A man who spent 17 years on death row will be freed after prosecutors decided Thursday not to pursue charges in a murder case that fell apart after another man confessed to the slaying. Juan Melendez, 50, was convicted of killing a cosmetology school owner in 1983. His sentence was upheld by the Florida Supreme Court, but a transcript of Vernon James' confession was discovered two years ago. Defense attorneys say James, now deceased, confessed to at least four investigators or attorneys, but none of the admissions was admitted as evidence. A judge last month said Melendez deserved a new trial. Polk County prosecutors decided against another trial because one of the two witnesses against Melendez has recanted and the other is dead, said Chip Thullbery, administrative assistant state attorney. "That leaves us, frankly, with nothing to proceed on," Thullbery said. He offered no apologies for the way the case was handled. "You have a lot of people looking back over a lot of different years and you have somebody in prison who decided to recant his testimony," said Thullbery, who was not involved in the original prosecution. "We can't try the case now, but it certainly was a case that needed to be tried then." Prosecutors did not know how long it would take for Melendez to be freed. The Department of Corrections said that information was not immediately available. "I'm happy to finally have it over and to have Juan released," said Marty McClain, an attorney who pursued Melendez's appeal. "But it really is a sad day that the system allowed this to happen and for it to go on so long." Melendez is the 99th death row inmate to be freed nationwide since 1973 after being exonerated, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington-based anti-death penalty group. |
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