CLEVELAND, Ohio — A court has awarded a Cleveland man convicted and sentenced to death just over $1 million, or about $71 for every day the state falsely imprisoned him.
The court awarded the money Thursday to Ricky Jackson, 58, for the 14,178 days he spent in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. The Court of Claims filed a request with the State Controlling Board to pay Jackson
A judge’s ruling last month opened the door for Jackson and two other men wrongly imprisoned for the 1975 slaying of a businessman in Cleveland to seek state compensation.
Ohio Court of Claims Judge Patrick McGrath then issued a preliminary judgment that calls for the payment of 50 percent of the calculated damages, just more than $1.01 million, into an annuity account to pay Jackson for “damages for physical injury caused by wrongful imprisonment.”
According to the National Registry of Exonerations, at the time of his release Jackson was considered the longest-serving person in the nation’s history to be exonerated for his crime, have spent 39 years behind bars.
Kwame Ajamu was released in 2003 after 27 years in prison. Wiley Bridgeman and Jackson were released in November after nearly four decades behind bars.
Jackson was convicted of the 1975 murder of Harold Franks and maintained his innocence throughout his incarceration.
Eddie Vernon, who was 12 at the time of the murder, revealed to a Cleveland newspaper in 2012 that he had lied about Jackson and two other men’s involvement in the murder because he wanted to help the police.