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‘Without hope,
I probably would have committed suicide.’
— JUAN
MELENDEZ
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“THEY CAN GIVE me a billion dollars and they cannot pay for what
they did to me,” Juan Melendez said Thursday, carrying $100 that the state
provided after his release and wearing a new jacket purchased by his legal
team. “The only way they can compensate me is to give me my 18 years
back.”
Melendez was convicted on witness
testimony for the 1983 killing of cosmetology school owner Delbert Baker,
even though there was no physical evidence linking him to the
slaying.
During his years in prison, he lost
several rounds of appeals and had his death sentence upheld by the Florida
Supreme Court before a transcript of the other man’s confession to the
slaying was discovered in 1999.
Polk County
prosecutors announced Thursday they would not go ahead with a
court-ordered retrial because they no longer had enough evidence. One of
the only two witnesses against Melendez has recanted and the other is now
dead, said Chip Thullbery, administrative assistant state
attorney.
“That leaves us, frankly, with
nothing to proceed on,” Thullbery said. |
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Defense attorneys said the true killer, a now-deceased man named
Vernon James, confessed to at least four investigators or attorneys, but
none of those admissions was allowed in court.
“I’m happy to finally have it over and to have Juan released,” said
attorney Marty McClain, who pursued his appeal. “But it really is a sad
day that the system allowed this to happen and for it to go on so
long.”
Melendez said he planned to return to
his native Puerto Rico and live with his 73-year-old mother. He said he
has not decided whether he will sue.
Melendez is the 99th U.S. death row inmate freed after being cleared
by new evidence, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death
Penalty Information Center in Washington.
“I
want to tell you, I feel good!” said Melendez, with a broad smile.
“Without hope, I probably would have committed suicide.”
© 2002 Associated Press.
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,
rewritten or redistributed.
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Canadian
Coalition Against the Death Penalty page on Juan Melendez's
case
Woman charged in voodoo slayings