OIP Exoneree Rickey Jackson speaks with WVXU about his journey to freedom

WVXU’s Cincinnati Edition recently interviewed Ohio Innocence Project exoneree Rickey Jackson, who is the subject of the documentary titled, “Lovely Jackson.”  

The documentary, now available on Amazon Prime, tells the story of Jackson who survived 39 years of wrongful imprisonment.  “It was directed by Matt Waldeck and co-written by Waldeck and Jackson.

At the time of his release in 2014, Jackson was the longest wrongfully incarcerated person in U.S. history. Convicted at age 18 for a 1975 murder he did not commit, Jackson was sentenced to death based solely on the coerced testimony of a 12-year-old paperboy. He would go on to spend nearly four decades in Ohio’s most dangerous prisons, including three years on death row.

“Three-and-half years on death row I came perilously close to my own execution,” Jackson told WVXU. “At that time the Ohio death penalty law was in flux, dithering back and forth about what was constitutional and what was not. Fortunately, for myself and a lot of guys, men and women on death row, throughout Ohio who were given life sentences were commuted from death to life in prison.”

Brian Howe, a professor in the University of Cincinnati College of Law and an attorney on the Jackson case, was also featured in the documentary and joined Jackson for the interview with WVXU.

Founded in 2003, OIP has a goal of freeing every innocent person in Ohio who has been convicted of a crime they didn’t commit. Since its inception, the OIP’s work has led to the release of 43 wrongfully convicted Ohioans who collectively served more than 700 years in prison. This makes the OIP one of the top-performing members among the international innocence network.  

Listen to the WVXU interview online.

Learn more about the Ohio Innocence Project.

Learn more about Rickey Jackson online.

Featured top image of Rickey Jackson speaking to a group of UC Law students. Photo/Joe Fuqua.