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Death Row Exoneree To Speak At UNM Law School

A former death row inmate from Florida will speak at the University of New Mexico School of Law.

Juan Melendez is scheduled Wednesday to address to law school students and faculty about spending 18 years on Florida's death row for a crime he did not commit. Melendez was convicted of a 1983 murder but freed in January 2002 after the discovery that police withheld evidence, including a taped confession by another man.

He became the 99th death-row inmate to be exonerated and released since 1973.

Since his release, Melendez has become a vocal opponent of the death penalty.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.