0:06

Today, actually,

0:09

marks a very special anniversary. It

0:11

sure does. Today

0:14

I celebrate one year after

0:16

my release. I

0:19

fought for my release almost 24 years. These

0:24

last 12 months have

0:26

been a lot different than

0:29

the last 24 years. I'm

0:31

sitting with JJ in an office at NBC

0:34

News. We've spent a lot

0:36

of time together since his release. A

0:38

year ago today was one of the greatest feelings

0:41

in the world.

0:43

I always had this vision

0:45

of, you know, the day

0:48

that would come and I would be able to

0:50

reunite with my family. And

0:53

a year ago, that became a reality.

0:56

And I remember just walking

0:58

outside of Sing Sing,

1:01

and right there at the front where they released

1:03

me, hugging my mother and

1:05

my two sons. And

1:07

it was like, I never

1:09

wanted to let go.

1:13

I never wanted to let go. I'm

1:17

Dan Slepian, and this is the

1:19

final episode of Letters from Sing

1:21

Sing.

1:33

Episode 8. The Apology

1:38

On September 9, 2021, JJ

1:41

walked out of Sing Sing and began his new

1:43

life. He and his family headed

1:45

to a party thrown by friends and supporters,

1:48

people who'd helped JJ get out and

1:51

help his mom Maria keep going.

2:00

it was down and i've felt like i couldn't

2:02

go any more there was always a call

2:05

either from their know somebody that said

2:07

maria this is gonna happen we're going

2:09

here we're gonna do this we're gonna do that he's

2:11

gonna come home we're gonna get em all and

2:14

they never gave up his rival cable

2:17

and that's why i never gave up

2:19

on see because they held me

2:22

up i love you and thank

2:24

you thank you very

2:29

hard and

2:30

then killed

2:39

after the party wrapped up jj spent

2:41

his first night of freedom in his mom's home

2:43

where he be living i

2:47

went home and night my mother

2:49

had all once i guess there and

2:51

i start open a up been almost felt like christmas

2:55

so we had christmas on september nine moving

2:58

up all these gifts i'm caught up in

3:00

just the ambiance that was created

3:03

by the love you and

3:06

surfers night i slept on a couch downstairs

3:09

and couches about

3:13

fifteen to twenty times more

3:15

comfortable than that slab

3:17

that i called the

3:19

for two and a half decade i

3:24

didn't know how much he slept that night but

3:27

i sure didn't i couldn't wait

3:29

to experience gg first few

3:31

days of freedom with him so

3:33

i volunteered to be his chauffeur one

3:35

of our first stops upgrading

3:37

that sofa to a real bad saw

3:42

what he needed other things simple

3:44

things so i took jj to a walgreens

3:47

to get a toothbrush soap moisturizer

3:51

and you get pretty good scaring as it is

3:54

scrub prism of i

3:57

kept waiting for jj to have some

4:00

sort of big emotional moment to

4:02

break down or cry or

4:04

something i don't know what i was

4:06

expecting a even said to

4:08

jj a few times you seem so

4:10

normal one is it gonna hit you that

4:12

you're actually free but

4:15

he just kept telling me this

4:17

is what's normal this is where

4:19

i belong that

4:22

afternoon i went with jj and his boys

4:24

to an archaic that we

4:26

played earhart

4:27

and

4:29

bowl watching

4:33

jj have fun with his boys felt so

4:36

good but it also hurt so

4:38

much time had been last time

4:40

they could never get back

4:42

and so much in the world had changed

4:45

when i left the main thing the main

4:47

can mode of communication was a bieber

4:50

may you got people were have the whole

4:52

world that typically a fingers i

4:55

remember one time i was trying to get my printed

4:57

work into wireless printer and

5:01

my

5:01

son made it work and from me so i know

5:03

it works i'm trying to print something

5:05

he's at work i need to get

5:07

this like done everybody

5:11

told me if you can't figure out

5:13

what to do as siri ago

5:15

you to i

5:17

spent five hours watching

5:19

all these videos trying

5:22

all these things my

5:25

oldest son happens to come over

5:28

and like yeah listen i need to get something

5:30

printed i'm getting frustrated i

5:33

need some help jacobs not around

5:35

he

5:35

went upstairs impressed is no been in the back

5:38

in my friend the start working

5:40

i am believe they they say

5:43

they are you to

5:47

jj also needed to find a job many

5:50

people who get out of prison have a hard time doing

5:53

a felony record scares off a lot

5:55

of employers with that didn't happen

5:57

to jj is years of work

6:00

and programs on the inside paid off.

6:02

I was offered a job right away within, I

6:05

would say the first three weeks to

6:08

a month, I was offered a job

6:10

and it was a dream

6:12

job. It was being

6:14

a program director for the Frederick

6:16

Douglass Project for Justice, which

6:19

gives me an opportunity to continue

6:21

increasing awareness about the humanity that

6:23

exists in prison and

6:26

how important it is for individuals

6:29

that are incarcerated to be treated

6:31

with dignity. JJ had spent nearly

6:33

a quarter century trying to get himself out

6:35

of prison. And now he was voluntarily

6:38

going back in to prisons

6:41

all over the country,

6:42

including Sing Sing. What we

6:44

do is we bring individuals

6:47

from outside in the community inside

6:50

to the incarcerated community. And

6:54

we create this safe space where

6:56

people can, you know, listen,

6:59

learn, and share, but more

7:01

importantly, show each other compassion

7:03

and treat each other with human dignity. And

7:07

that works wonders for individuals inside, of

7:09

course, because that's not a norm for them. But

7:12

it also works

7:12

wonders for individuals that come from outside

7:15

because they're able to ask these questions

7:17

to real people in real time

7:20

and get real answers to real questions.

7:26

Let me tell you about a time when

7:29

the world didn't believe in me. I

7:31

was falsely accused of taking

7:33

a retired police officer's life. It

7:37

didn't matter that when this crime

7:39

took place in Harlem, I

7:41

was in a Bronx. This work

7:43

has become JJ's new life. He's

7:46

given talks, run workshops. He's

7:49

gotten a lot of invitations, including

7:52

a big one last fall. When

7:54

he told me about it, I literally thought he

7:56

was kidding.

7:58

JJ was going to watch. Washington to

8:01

meet the President of the United

8:03

States.

8:16

On October 18th, 2022, JJ

8:19

met with President Biden in the East Wing

8:21

of the White House. JJ,

8:24

your question is for the President. Thank you. He'd

8:27

been invited to be part of a panel of rising

8:29

leaders to discuss key election issues.

8:32

It was sponsored by NowThis News. Good

8:35

afternoon, President Biden. Obviously,

8:38

being wrongfully convicted is

8:41

one of America's worst nightmares.

8:43

It certainly was for me for almost 24 years.

8:46

Fortunately for me,

8:48

I was able to

8:51

be released through executive clemency.

8:54

My question is, how

8:57

can we create clear uniform standards

8:59

for clemency so that incarcerated

9:02

people are motivated to change and

9:04

know what they need to accomplish to show

9:07

that they are ready to return to their families and

9:09

communities?

9:10

And then the president said something that JJ

9:13

could have never imagined. First

9:16

of all, on

9:19

behalf of all society, I apologize for

9:21

it. 23 years. My

9:24

God, I admire the hell out of you. I

9:29

couldn't believe it. JJ had

9:31

gotten an apology from the President

9:33

of the United States, the most powerful

9:36

person in the country.

9:38

That night, JJ recorded his thoughts.

9:42

It is now 828 on October 18th,

9:48

And I just came back from the White

9:51

House and for the very

9:53

first time in

9:55

almost 25 years, I

9:58

finally achieved

10:00

one of my objectives, which

10:02

was to get a public apology

10:05

for the 23 years, 7 months, and 8 days

10:08

I spent incarcerated

10:11

suffering for a crime I did not

10:13

commit. The President

10:16

of the United States extended a

10:18

sincere apology to me while

10:21

he looked me in my eyes and

10:23

told me that he was sorry

10:26

that I went through what I did. But

10:29

the president's apology didn't change

10:32

one important thing. JJ

10:35

was still convicted of murder.

10:39

He was under state supervision in New York.

10:41

He had to get permission from his parole

10:43

officer just to make that trip to DC

10:47

to get that apology. JJ

10:50

will be on parole until 2024. That

10:54

means he has a curfew. He needs to be

10:56

at home by 9 every night. He

10:59

needs permission to travel out of state.

11:02

And he can't have a single incident with

11:04

a police officer. Technically,

11:06

even getting a speeding ticket could be enough

11:09

to send him back to prison.

11:11

And JJ's dealing with more than just

11:14

the restrictions of parole.

11:16

Yeah, I'm not free because

11:18

there's still

11:21

like mental and emotional

11:23

bondage that you have to

11:25

be released from. And no

11:28

judge has that key or

11:30

that authority. No prosecutor

11:33

can help you with that. And

11:35

a lot of times that's where people

11:38

get lost. Like they think,

11:41

oh, he did all this time, they released him, he

11:44

can get his life back together.

11:47

But the truth of the matter is like,

11:50

how do you compensate for that gap? You

11:53

know, it was over 20 years of my life.

11:56

How do you deal with it? I haven't

11:59

fully dealt with it yet.

12:00

You just do it one day

12:02

at a time, every day. You continue

12:04

to struggle and you remember what

12:06

you've been through. And the

12:08

fact that what you're going through is a lot different

12:12

and a lot better. And

12:13

no, I'm not free, but

12:17

I'm freer.

12:24

On a snowy day a few weeks ago, JJ

12:26

and his oldest son, John, stopped by my house.

12:29

so much had changed in

12:31

their lives since JJ had been released. It's

12:35

March 14th, 2023. And

12:39

here we are in the same room together. JJ

12:42

and John, father and

12:44

son. How long have you been out of prison

12:46

now? 18 months. And

12:50

how does it feel to be sitting here together in the

12:52

same room right now for you, John? Feels

12:55

great. This is something

12:57

that I thought was impossible

12:59

before. And now it happens on

13:02

the regular. It's wonderful. And you gave your

13:04

father, shortly,

13:06

you know, a year or so after he came home,

13:08

you gave him two very,

13:10

very special gifts. Yeah, now I got

13:12

two twin beautiful girls and that's

13:15

definitely a gift I gave him. Like, I

13:18

was running around my whole life. Now it's

13:20

time, you know, settle down. I found me a good girlfriend

13:22

and that's exactly what happened. Baby

13:25

girls. Yeah, we playing for one, but

13:28

nothing goes playing when it comes to me. Got

13:31

to. I

13:36

love you. I

13:40

love you. She said it. You heard her.

13:42

What's the name of the girls? Got

13:45

Harley and Chase Mariah. That's

13:48

my girl. That's my daughter. They

13:53

make me just want to change the world.

13:55

make it better for them. What

13:58

is it like to be a grandfather? Well,

14:00

it's great to be a grandfather because

14:02

I get to hang out with the kids and

14:04

enjoy them. And then when they get a little bit

14:07

overwhelming, I get to give them back, right?

14:09

So that's the greatness of being a grandfather.

14:14

But the reality is I've been blessed.

14:16

I have these two beautiful babies who

14:19

like, I can be upset,

14:22

I can be miserable. When

14:24

I look at the glimmer in their eyes

14:27

and they smile at me,

14:29

everything changes. I

14:31

feel great. And JJ will soon

14:34

be a grandfather again. His younger

14:36

son Jacob is also about to become a

14:38

father. As for John, he

14:41

says fatherhood has centered his life. Before,

14:44

I felt like I didn't

14:47

know what to do with myself. And now, I

14:49

feel like I'm at peace. I

14:51

could just stay at my home. And I'm at peace.

14:54

I really feel like. I

14:57

don't know, I used patience,

14:59

I never had patience. I wanted everything

15:01

to happen right now, right then and there. If

15:04

I seen something and I wanted it right now, it's like

15:06

now it's like, I could wait for that. Wait

15:08

till I do what my grandma does. I'll wait till I go

15:10

on discount. You know what I'm saying?

15:12

I could do that now when before it was like, whatever

15:15

it was, I wanted it, I needed it that second.

15:18

So, yeah.

15:19

I'm curious

15:21

if you have any questions for your son

15:25

Or if you have any questions for your dad. I'd

15:28

rather say some things to him because questions,

15:31

I don't really have any questions. But

15:33

I just want to tell my father

15:35

that I'm proud of him. Like I don't

15:37

think I'd tell him that much. I'd tell him

15:39

like I call him a superstar because that's what he is

15:41

to me. Like I don't

15:44

think I would

15:46

have been able to do the same thing he did in his position.

15:49

I'm proud of him. Like, he's trying to make

15:51

something happen in this world. Jay,

15:55

you're the reason. You're the reason

15:58

why I do everything that I do. Me

16:00

seeing how the system impacted you, how

16:03

it's impacted me, how it's impacted

16:05

Jacob, how it's impacted mommy.

16:08

You guys were like

16:12

my strength. You were the rock

16:14

that kept me solid, right?

16:16

And had

16:19

it not been for you and

16:21

Jacob and mommy, I wouldn't

16:23

have had the desire to

16:26

overcome my circumstances and

16:28

to thrive as hard as I did. So

16:31

just understand that when people

16:33

appreciate me, they appreciate

16:35

me because of you. So

16:38

they appreciate you and I appreciate

16:40

you and I love

16:41

you. Love

16:44

you too.

16:51

JJ continues his fight to be exonerated

16:54

and he might actually get a new chance to clear

16:56

his name. In 2021,

16:59

Manhattan voters elected a new district

17:02

attorney, Alvin Bragg. One

17:05

of his campaign issues was wrongful

17:07

convictions. That issue of how

17:09

many people are falsely incarcerated

17:11

is one that's never far from me. We're

17:13

gonna be looking at these matters

17:15

anew with a fresh eye, with

17:18

a fresh team, and mindful

17:21

of the shortcomings of our system.

17:24

Bragg succeeded Cyrus Vance Jr. And

17:27

in his first months in office, Bragg disbanded

17:30

the CIU, the one that reviewed

17:32

JJ's case 10 years ago.

17:34

He replaced it with his own post-conviction

17:37

justice unit. I think

17:39

that we will, based upon looking

17:42

at things like false confessions and faulty

17:44

science and eyewitness issues, that

17:46

they will take us where we need to go. That

17:49

unit is now taking a new look at JJ's

17:51

case. The DA's decision

17:53

could come at any time now.

17:55

So JJ waits.

18:01

Ultimately, after living with this for

18:03

more than two decades, I'm not

18:05

really sure whether this is a happy story

18:08

or a sad story.

18:10

Maybe it's a little bit of both.

18:13

At JJ's sentencing all those years ago,

18:15

he stood before the court and made a statement.

18:18

He called the process that led to his conviction,

18:21

some type of gain. He said,

18:24

we're all losers here.

18:27

JJ will get exonerated. Maybe

18:30

one day he'll truly be free.

18:34

But after all these years, it's

18:36

hard to feel like that's a win. Especially

18:40

in the face of a system that so often

18:42

refuses to acknowledge the truth. And

18:46

JJ is just one story. For

18:48

every JJ, can you imagine how many

18:50

others don't get out? One

18:54

thing I know for sure, it shouldn't

18:56

be this hard to make things right. The

19:00

truth should be enough. Letters

19:13

from Sing Sing was written and produced by

19:16

Preeti Varathan, Rob Allen, and me.

19:18

Our Our associate producer is Rachel

19:20

Yang. Our story editor is

19:23

Jennifer Goran. Original score

19:25

by Christopher Scullion, Robert Reel, and

19:27

Four Elements Music. Sound design

19:29

by Cedric Wilson. Fact checking by

19:31

Joseph Frishmuth. Bryson Barnes

19:33

is our technical director. Preeti Varathan

19:36

is our supervising producer. Sariah

19:38

Gage, Reed Gerlin, and Alexa Danner are

19:40

our executive producers. Liz Cole

19:43

runs NBC News Studios. Special

19:46

thanks to Sean Gallagher, Kim Ferdinando,

19:48

Madeline Harringer, Elizabeth Fisher, Nick

19:51

Offenberg, Tracy Iars, Commissioner

19:53

Anthony Anucci, Superintendent Michael Capra,

19:56

Tom Malley, and Mary Buono.

19:59

most of all Thank you to my friend

20:01

JJ and his family. Letters

20:05

from Sing Sing is an NBC

20:07

News Studios production. Thanks

20:10

for listening.

20:12

you