Two Ohio Men Freed After Serving 39 Years For Wrongful Homicide Conviction

Free men: Wiley Bridgeman, below, and Ricky Jackson, above, were released Friday from Cuyahoga County Jail after 39 years behind bars. They were originally on death row, but had their sentences commuted to life following a Supreme Court decision in 1978 outlawing the death penalty as it then existed.




[From article]
Two men who faced the death penalty for a 1975 murder have walked free from prison when all the charges against them were dismissed after a witness said his testimony was 'all lies'.
Ricky Jackson and Wiley Bridgeman, 57 and 60, were convicted of murdering Harry Franks, a businessman in Cleveland, Ohio - based largely on the testimony of a 12-year-old who said he saw the murder.
The two, along with Bridgeman's brother Ronnie, were given death sentences after Eddie Vernon testified in court.
[. . .]
Two men who faced the death penalty for a 1975 murder have walked free from prison when all the charges against them were dismissed after a witness said his testimony was 'all lies'.
Ricky Jackson and Wiley Bridgeman, 57 and 60, were convicted of murdering Harry Franks, a businessman in Cleveland, Ohio - based largely on the testimony of a 12-year-old who said he saw the murder.
The two, along with Bridgeman's brother Ronnie, were given death sentences after Eddie Vernon testified in court.
[. . .]
In the initial court hearings, Vernon said he was on a bus with other schoolchildren when he heard gunshots near the a grocery store called Cut-Rite.
Other children on the bus have said Vernon would not have been able to see anything from his seat - and he has since admitted that was true.
He now claims detectives talked him into testifying, then said if he claimed he was lying his parents could be put in prison for perjury.
When he dismissed Jackson's case, Judge Richard McMonagle said, 'Life is filled with small victories, and this is a big one.'
'The English language doesn't even fit what I'm feeling,' Jackson, 57, said as he exited the building Friday. 'I'm on an emotional high.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2843670/Prosecutors-drop-charges-3-men-40-years-later.html

Free after 39 years: Emotional moment former death row inmates wrongly convicted of murder in 1975 walk free after child witness admits he lied after 'police coercion'
Ricky Jackson, 57, and Wiley Bridgeman, 60, were convicted of murder
Originally faced the death penalty for killing businessman in Cleveland, Ohio
Sentences were commuted to life in 1978 following Supreme Court ruling
Men served jail sentence until today - based on 12-year-old's testimony
Convictions were quashed after witness recanted his original account
By Kieran Corcoran for MailOnline and Associated Press
Published: 12:57 EST, 21 November 2014 | Updated: 08:57 EST, 22 November 2014