A heartwarming story with a chilling backdrop
Ricky Jackson and Wiley Bridgeman were freed yesterday after
spending 39 years in prison for a 1975 murder because a juvenile
witness, the then 12-year old, Eddie Vernon , finally admitted that
his testimony was “all lies.”
In a very emotional clip, which you can view above, Jackson is seen
leaving court as a free man for the first time in four decades. His
facial expression? Priceless
According to a Daily Mail report, Jackson and Bridgeman were
sentenced to death–their death row sentence was updated to life in
prison when the death penalty was outlawed in 1978–after Vernon’s
testimony of what he saw from a school bus after hearing gun-shots
at a Cut-Rite pharmacy played a key role in Jackson and
Bridgeman’s conviction. Other children from the bus testified that
there’s no way Vernon would’ve been able to see anything,
something Vernon–who is now 52-years old–has finally admitted.
Although Vernon’s testimony is what landed Bridgeman and Jackson
in jail for nearly 40 years in the first place, Jackson says he has no
ill will towards him, and can’t wait to “meet and hug” Vernon.

http://thesource.com/2014/11/22/two-former-death-row-inmates-freed-after-39-years-of-wrongful-imprisonment/

Good

There should be compensation