6,446 Days on Death Row

by Matt Kelley · 2009-07-24 05:52:00 UTC
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Juan Melendez (above) spent more than 17 years (6,446 days) on Florida's death row for a murder he has always said he didn't commit. He was finally freed in 2002 based on errors in his conviction and mounting evidence of his innocence, including a confession from the real perpetrator of the crime.

A documentary film about his conviction and release - "Juan Melendez - 6446" will be featured next week as part of the New York Latino Film Festival. Sister Helen Prejean saw the film and wrote yesterday that watching it with Juan and his mother was "was heartbreaking and maddening and it stirred the soul."

Watch a trailer and get details here.

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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