Exploring the In-Between: Justice for Ricky Jackson

The TEDxMet event on Saturday, September 26, is built around the theme of "The In-Between" and will include talks and performances from a broad range of disciplines. In the second of three posts leading up to the event, the Ohio Innocence Project's Liza Dietrich and Mark Godsey profile Ricky Jackson—the longest-serving person in United States history to be exonerated, who will share his story on the TEDxMet stage.

«Wrongful conviction and imprisonment does occur, and it is a painful reality. In just the past few decades, over 1,600 people in the United States have been freed from prison after new evidence had proven them innocent. For these individuals, the path to freedom is not an easy one, as it takes years of litigation to overturn a conviction. For thirty-nine years, Ricky Jackson was one of these individuals.»

Left: Ricky Jackson

In 1975, at nineteen years old, Ricky was convicted of shooting and killing a money-order collector outside of a grocery store in Cleveland, Ohio. Ricky was tried alongside his good friends, brothers Ronnie and Wiley Bridgeman. All three men were implicated in the crime by twelve-year-old Eddie Vernon, the state's key witness, who told the jury that he witnessed Ricky and his friends commit the crime.

Ricky and Ronnie and Wiley Bridgeman were convicted of capital murder. Ricky was originally sentenced to death, and two years later his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment due to an error in jury instructions. He remained in prison for nearly four decades. During that time, the innocence movement developed and the Ohio Innocence Project was founded at the University Of Cincinnati College Of Law. After Ricky contacted the Project asking for help, the organization accepted him as a client and began the investigation.

With the case back in court and new testimony supplied, all charges against Ricky were dropped. Thirty-nine years after the original convictions, he was declared innocent and released from prison.

Ricky Jackson's release from prison, November 2014. Photo by John Kuntz, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Hear Ricky Jackson's story at TEDxMet: The In-Between on Saturday, September 26. The main stage at The Met Breuer is sold out, but a limited number of tickets are still available for the second venue at the Main Building's Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium. The full TEDxMet program will also be streamed live.

Related Link
Met Museum Presents blog: "Exploring the In-Between: Kim Benzel on Her Upcoming TEDxMet Talk" (September 18, 2015)