It was a sad beginning that led to a joyful occasion as Ricky Jackson became a free man after 39 years on death row. The Cleveland native was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of a store owner on May 19, 1975; because of a lie told by Edward Vernon, who was 12 years old at the time. Vernon was an alleged eyewitness to the killing, yet he was blocks away from the scene of the crime on a school bus. It was the police who fed the young boy details of the crime and helped him finger Jackson as the shooter.
According to Vernon, he just wanted to be helpful and please the police. He stated, “All these years I’ve been holding the shame and guilt inside, wanting to release it, wanting to come forward and do the right thing.” Finally he confessed his lie to his pastor, Anthony Singleton, who helped him lift his burden by going to the Ohio Innocence Project. The organization has been instrumental in freeing wrongfully convicted felons. Based on Vernon’s recantation of his testimony, the Innocence Project was able to push for a new trial for Jackson, who had spent all of his adult life behind bars for a crime he did not commit.
Jackson’s murder conviction was overturned by the courts and he is now a free man, and also a forgiving one. The wrongfully convicted felon met with the boy, now a man, who put him in jail and forgave him for his lie. Jackson told Vernon that they were both victims of a crime perpetrated by police, who railroaded the accused and the witness into the situation. Vernon was overwhelmed by the action and stated, “Wow, how could this man hug and embrace me after all these years?”
Jackson has started to reclaim his life by getting an apartment, driver’s license and library card.
