A campaign to raise money for two men in Ohio who spent 39 years in prison for a murder they did not commit has raised more than $30,000 in five days.
Ricky Jackson and Wiley Bridgeman were convicted in 1975 of murdering a Cleveland money-order collector, and sentenced to death by electrocution. But the Ohio branch of The Innocence Project, a non-profit legal organisation that works to overturn wrongful convictions, succeeded in exonerating the pair after an “exhaustive” four-year investigation.
The original conviction was based entirely on the testimony of Eddie Vernon, who was 12 at the time of the crime. But earlier this year Vernon recanted his testimony, saying that police pressured him to identify the two men.
Other than Vernon’s testimony, there was no evidence against the two men. But at a hearing in November, Vernon told the judge that the information had been fed to him by the police, and that “everything was a lie.”
Prosecutors formally dropped the case against Jackson and Bridgeman on 21 November, saying “the state concedes the obvious.” The pair were released from prison Friday.
Jackson and Bridgeman’s 39-year term is now the longest case of wrongful incarceration in the history of the state of Ohio.
After 39 years in prison, Wiley and Bridgeman now find themselves out in the world with practically nothing. The Ohio Innocence Project, whose attorneys helped them win their freedom, set up two crowd-funding sites to raise money for the two to begin rebuilding their lives.
Jackson’s GoFundMe site has raised $29,038 in the five days since it was set up. Bridgeman’s site, which was set up later, has raised $2,506 in two days.
Donors to both campaigns have left comments offering condolences and wishes for good luck. “Words cannot really capture this injustice,” says one. Another: “I wish you the best going forward. You have endured more than most of us would dream possible.”
