Wrongly convicted man released after 39 years

[xvii 849]

 

A US man who was convicted based on the lies of a 12-year-old boy and spent 39 years in jail is set to be released.

Ricky Jackson, 57, will be freed today after he was exonerated over the 1975 murder of an Ohio man, Cleveland.com reports.

"I can't believe this is over," a sobbing Mr Jackson said when he was told the news.

"I'm coming home. I'm coming home.

"I didn't expect this to happen. I really didn't."

Jackson's life sentence was based solely on the testimony of a then 12-year-old boy, Eddie Vernon, who this week recanted his story in a Cleveland court.

"Everything was a lie. They were all lies," Mr Vernon, now 53, told the court.

In 1975, Mr Vernon told police he had seen Mr Jackson and two brothers, Wiley and Ronnie Bridgeman, murder a money order collector, Harold Franks. But Mr Vernon had not seen the men, he was on a school bus at the time of the murder and witnessed nothing. He said he identified the men based on what a friend had told him, thinking he was "doing the right thing".

"I told the officer, 'I know who did it'," Mr Vernon said.

All three men were initially sentenced to death but had their sentences changed to life in prison after the death penalty was revoked in Ohio in 1978. One of the other men convicted of the murder, Ronnie Bridgeman, was released from jail after 25 years, while his brother Wiley is still in jail. Lawyers are now expected to work on getting him released.

 

Source

[ForkSpoonz 2,646]

we have a great justice system, relying largely on witness testimony that is often no true or just outright lies

[Btcc22 691]

Good example of why the death penalty shouldn't be a thing.

[TCK 2,158]

I hope he gets a large settlement.

[Weps 1,365]

Good example of why the death penalty shouldn't be a thing.

 

Will you be paying for the housing of all prisoners that receive life sentences because of the absence of Capital Punishment? 

 

 

 

As of Oct. of this year, there are 3,035 death row inmates. 

 

Based on the average of 40 states, the cost per prisoner, per year is $31,286. 

You're looking at an average of $94,952,010 per year. 

 

 

 

109,000 prisoners are serving a life sentence without parole. 

 

Using the same average from above, that's $3,410,174,000 per year. 

 

 

51,000 are serving a life sentence with a chance of parole. 

 

Using the same average again, that's $1,595,586,000 per year.

 

 

So, we're looking at around $5,005,760,000 per year as is. 

 

Now lets dump another $95,000,000 on top. 

 

Now, do we house these prisoners in with the rest of the prison populace?

 

What security level do we institute at the prisons with a mixed population? 

 

 

 

Lets, talk about Capital Punishment and the Eighth Amendment. Under the Eighth Amendment Capital Punishment can only be exercised against aggravated murders (aggravated is a caveat that implies judicious intent, such as brutal nature of the murder, victim was raped before being murdered, the murder was premeditated, the murder was committed in the commission of another crime, or use of a deadly weapon to murder). 

 

An example of aggravated murder; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jennifer_Moore

 

Even then, it is up to the AG to charge to plantiff with aggravated murder and a jury to convict. 

 

 

Now lets talk about the execution rate. In the year 2012, a total of 43 inmates were executed or 2% of those on death row. 

Since 1976, the year Capital Punishment was re-instituted by the Supreme Court a total of 1,392 or an average of 36 people per year. 

 

On average, 2% per year out of the death row population and a total of 0.000018% of the entire prison population during a given year. 

 

Death row inmates can also not be executed during repeal or under a claim of mistrial. Additionally, after a conviction, the appellate courts preforms a "direct review" of the case an evidence. Even then a "State collateral review" can be initiated to contest the "direct review" if the direct review has not found any legal errors or misrepresentation. Even then, a convict can file for "Federal habeas corpus" to have the case brought to federal court. Of course, courts can refuse to file a writ.

 

The system is detailed and well thought out. It is the execution and management of the system that is corrupted and twisted. Paid off witnesses, corrupt judges, lawyers, and law enforcement. DA/AG gunning for high convict rates, cops looking for high arrest and conviction rates, lawyers looking for high conviction rates, and judges looking for higher conviction rates. High conviction rates means more votes, money, and power. 

[DiSiAC 1,345]

It is less than a 2% cost increase using your numbers to abolish the death penalty.  Is a 2% increase worth the death of Ricky had he been sentenced to death?

[Weps 1,365]

I hope he gets a large settlement.

 

From who?

[TCK 2,158]

From who?

The government that failed to give him justice and stole 39 years of his life.

[ForkSpoonz 2,646]

I was under the impression that wrongly imprisoned people got settlements. Do they have to sue?

[Weps 1,365]

It is less than a 2% cost increase using your numbers to abolish the death penalty.  Is a 2% increase worth the death of Ricky had he been sentenced to death?

 

Either Ricky was sentenced or he wasn't, you can't be tried for the same crime twice.

 

I may also add, Ricky was in a state that uses Capital Punishment. What's even more aside is Ricky was tried and convicted in 1975, during the Furman Suspension, so his chances of death row conviction were 0%. 

 

It's also not as simple as a 2% increase in expenditure. You're looking at a bandaid to fix a hemorrhaging chest wound.

 

So what happens if the death penalty is abolished, yet conviction rates soar because of it? Because it emboldens DA/AG's and cops to lean on witnesses harder? How man innocents will receive a mistrial? 

 

What if crimes are recategorized? Making lesser offenses, into greater offenses?

 

What about "States Rights"?

 

What do we do with the psychopaths and serial murders?

 

Why has the incarceration rate steadily risen to more than 2,000,000 in the past 75 years?

 

Meanwhile the system is still full of corrupt people, twisting it to achieve what they want. 

 

This isn't a black and white issue with a simple answer. 

The government that failed to give him justice and stole 39 years of his life.

 

The State of Ohio, which doesn't have a monetary printing press. So, in actuality it will be the tax payers who get to carry that burden. 

 

Meanwhile, a state government which illegally kidnapped a man and imprisoned him, will go on as it always has. It will offset it's taxes to make up what is given in a settlement and the cycle will repeat itself...again.

I was under the impression that wrongly imprisoned people got settlements. Do they have to sue?

 

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2012/03/us/table.wrongful.convictions/

 

 

Also, the article is full of shit. Ohio has never abolished or suspended the death penalty and the Furman Suspension was from 1972-1976. 

 

Further proof it's full of shit, Lockett vs. Ohio.