Ricky Jackson, 57, was exonerated in November after serving 39 years behind bars for a 1975 murder that he did not commit—serving the longest prison sentence of any wrongfully convicted exoneree in U.S. history. In 1975, a money order salesman was robbed and murdered in Cleveland, Ohio. Police obtained a statement from 12-year-old Edward Vernon, who claimed he saw Jackson shoot the victim, even though he was several blocks away at the time of the shooting. Vernon additionally testified against brothers Wiley and Ronnie Bridgeman, who were also implicated for the crime. Jackson and the Bridgeman brothers were convicted and initially sentenced to death—despite no physical evidence linking the men to the murder.
With the help of the Ohio Innocence Project, Jackson’s murder conviction was overturned recently after Vernon recanted his false testimony, saying he lied in order to help police. Vernon also said that Cleveland police detectives coerced him into falsely testifying against Jackson and the Bridgemans. Ronnie Bridgeman was released in 2003 after spending 28 years in prison, and Wiley Bridgeman was released in November 2014.
Jackson recently met with Vernon to forgive him for the lies that sent Jackson to prison for all of his adult life. “For a lot of years I really hated him for what he did to us,” said Jackson. “But I knew I had to…because I desperately want to move forward with my life and the only way I can do that is to forgive him.”
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