Cincinnati Business Courier: Opera, book, film cast light on UC's Ohio Innocence Project

“Blind Injustice,” the opera premiered by Cincinnati Opera in 2019, brought to life the remarkably true stories of six exonerees — just a few of the 30 people freed by the work of the Ohio Innocence Project (OIP) at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

A collaboration between the OIP, Cincinnati Opera, the Young Professionals Choral Collective and the UC College-Conservatory of Music opera department, the work is based on casework by the OIP and the best-selling book “Blind Injustice” by UC law professor and OIP Director Mark Godsey.

One exoneree, Rickey Jackson, spent 39 years behind bars for crimes he did not commit. At the time, he was the longest-serving person to be exonerated in U.S. history. Now, an upcoming film, “Lovely Jackson,” produced by Cleveland-based Zodiac Features, will delve deeper in Jackson’s story. This spring, producer Matt Waldeck plans to submit it to the Cannes Film Festival, he told the Cincinnati Business Courier.

The book, the opera, the film are all helping to shed light on the work done by the Ohio Innocence Project at UC Law. Outside of Cincinnati, the OIP is fast becoming a model for innocence projects around the world.

Read more in the Cincinnati Business Courier.

Featured image at top: Rickey Jackson depicted in “Blind Injustice” opera. Photo/Philip Groshong