Once on death row, man released after 39 years behind bars gets $1M for wrongful imprisonment
An Ohio man imprisoned for 39 years based on false testimony in a murder case has been awarded more than $1 million in compensation.
Ricky Jackson, now 59, cried last year when he learned he was going to be released by Cuyahoga County, according to the Associated Press and an earlier story by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. A Court News Ohio article provides more details.
Jackson and two others were convicted in 1975 based on the testimony of a 13-year-old boy named Eddie Vernon, who as an adult has admitted that he had lied on the stand. Vernon signed an affidavit in 2014 saying that his testimony had been coerced by police, and his recantation was corroborated.
A ruling last month by a court of common pleas judge established that Jackson had been wrongfully convicted. The court of claims then determined that he is entitled to receive $1,008,055.80 for the 14,178 days he served in prison. The two men who were convicted along with Jackson were also exonerated and will receive compensation, but the amounts have not yet been determined.
Jackson may be the longest-serving inmate ever to be exonerated in the U.S.
