Free At Last: 57-Years Old Man Freed After 39 Years In Prison

(AP) — A man freed after nearly four decades in prison when a witness said he lied as a boy came to Cincinnati on Tuesday to thank the law project that worked to win his freedom. A beaming Ricky Jackson told members of the Ohio Innocence Project and others at the University of Cincinnati that he would have walked to Cincinnati from Cleveland if necessary to thank the people he says "saved my life."

"They came through like a knight in shining armour," he said of the project at UC's College of Law. It works to free people using DNA evidence but took Jackson's case despite the lack of DNA.

Jackson, 57, was released from prison Friday after a judge in Cleveland dismissed the cases against him and Wiley Bridgeman, 60. The witness, who was 12 years old at the time of the slaying, recanted last year and said Cleveland police coerced him into testifying that the two men and another man killed Cleveland businessman Harry Franks in 1975.

Jackson was imprisoned for 39 years, serving a life sentence for aggravated murder and other charges. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty has said the case fell apart after witness Eddie Vernon recanted his testimony. Vernon said he kept quiet because investigators threatened to imprison his parents.

Jackson said Tuesday that he did hate Vernon at first, but later realized he was just a child. He says he would like to meet with Vernon in private to tell him he forgives him and to thank him. "He made a bad thing right," Jackson said. When asked about his future, Jackson said he is just "living in the moment." "Life is so beautiful right now," he said.

A fund set up by the project to help Jackson as he tries to readjust to life outside prison has already raised almost $43,000, project Director Mark Godsey said.