$1 million compensation for spending 40 years wrongly in Jail.Yea,this happened in the US.Can we say that this is human imperfection of the Justice department.Can we say that this is simply fate? Can we say that someone may have acted wickedly in the past for this man to have suffered so much? If he had been working since then,would he have been able to save that much? or would he have been so rich like Bill Gates? What more can we say? All that I can pray for everyone that is reading this this moment is may you not suffer in life for Crime that you did not commit in Jesus name.May you always be guided to a place of favor and not to a place where you will be molested,harassed or treated badly in Jesus name amen.
An African American man who spent nearly 40 years behind bars in the
US state of Ohio for a murder he did not commit will receive $1 million
from the state for his wrongful imprisonment.
On Thursday, an Ohio Court of Claims judge ordered that just more than $1 million be paid to Ricky Jackson.
Jackson said he learnt about the payment from a reporter who had
called him on Thursday afternoon to get his reaction over the court
order.
“Wow, I didn’t know that,” Jackson said. “Wow wow wow, that’s
fantastic, man. I don’t even know what to say. This is going to mean so
much.”
Michele Berry, his attorney from the Innocence Project, said a
financial advisor will help Jackson to handle the money in the wisest
way.
After hearing the news of the court order, Berry became emotional and
expressed her appreciation for all that the innocent black man went
through.
“It’s been an honor to work for and with Ricky,” she said. “He’s probably the wisest person I’ve ever met.”
In November, Jackson, 57, and Wiley Bridgeman, 60, were both
exonerated in a 1975 murder after a key witness against them, who was 13
years old at the time, admitted in 2013 that he lied during his
testimony.
Eddie Vernon, now 53, told a minister who visited him at a hospital
in 2013 that he had never actually witnessed the crime. He said
Cleveland police detectives coerced him into testifying that the men
killed businessman Harry Franks on May 19, 1975.
The Ohio Innocence Project, which took up their case, said Jackson
and Bridgeman’s 39 years imprisonment mark them as the longest-serving
exonerees in US history.
According to a study released in April, one in every 25 death row
inmates in the United States is innocent. Approximately 3,000 US
prisoners are waiting to be put to death.
African Americans are also far more likely to be arrested and
imprisoned by police than any other racial group, according to a recent
analysis by USA TODAY.
Experts say the dramatic gap in arrest and prison rates reflects
biased policing as well as the vast economic and educational
inequalities that plague much of the US.
Credit:Wetinhappen.
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