“The worst law is when the government kills, the state kills, and it is in our name,” Juan Melendez said in a Friday lecture at The Elon University School of Law.
Melendez has some experience in these matters: he spent more than 17 years on death row in Florida before being exonerated from a capital murder charge.
He came to the School of Law on Friday to share his experiences as a wrongfully convicted man in prison, to share the story of his release, and to urge people in the community to become involved in the movement to abolish the death penalty.
In 1984, a Florida court convicted Melendez of murder and sentenced him to death for the 1983 killing of Delbert Baker. No physical evidence was presented at the trial. Two witnesses whose credibility was later challenged testified against Melendez. In December 2001, a Florida Circuit Court overturned his conviction after it found prosecutors had withheld critical evidence that undermined the guilty verdict.
“Without knowledge of and access to the suppressed evidence, the defendant did not receive a fair trial,” the Judge Barbara Fleischer wrote in the opinion that overturned the conviction.
It is for this reason that Melendez said “I was not saved by the system. I was saved in spite of the system.”
Since his 2001 release, Melendez has become and advocate for the abolition of the death penalty, noting that, “The death penalty was created by human beings, and it is administered by human beings, and we all know that human beings can make mistakes.”
He urged the approximately 80 people in attendance, many of whom are students in the inaugural class of the Elon University School of Law, to become involved in the movement to abolish the death penalty and to exonerate those who are innocent.
There are more than 3,300 people on death row in the United States, according to a U.S. Department of Justice report released in 2005. That’s a number that Melendez would like to see decline significantly.
“Just like we got rid of segregation, just like we got rid of slavery, we can get rid of the death penalty,” Melendez said, noting that a disproportionate number of those executed are minorities.
The Elon University School of Law opened in downtown Greensboro, N.C., in August 2006 with a charter class of 115 students. The school is creating a national model of engaged learning in legal education with an innovative academic program, distinguished faculty and a signature program in leadership education. The North Carolina Business Court is located at the law school, giving students the opportunity to observe a working court. Students also benefit from mentoring relationships with preceptors – practicing attorneys and judges who provide personal evaluations and performance reviews.
For more information about this event or the School of Law, contact Margaret Robison Kantlehner at (336) 279-9205 or at mkantlehner@elon.edu.