2 men freed after judge dismissed 1975 Ohio case

CLEVELAND (AP) — Nearly 40 years after being convicted for a 1975 Cleveland slaying, Ricky Jackson and Wiley Bridgeman left the county jail as free men.

A Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge dismissed the cases against the two men today after the key witness against Jackson, Bridgeman and his brother Ronnie Bridgeman at trial, a 13-year-old boy, recanted last year and said Cleveland police detectives coerced him into testifying that the three killed businessman Harry Franks the afternoon of May 19, 1975.

Cuyahoga County prosecutors on Thursday filed the motion to dismiss all charges against the three men, who were sentenced to death at the time of the conviction. Ronnie Bridgeman, 57, who is now known as Kwame Ajamu, was released from prison in January 2003. He attended the hearings of both men today.

When he dismissed Jackson's case, Judge Richard McMonagle said, "Life is filled with small victories, and this is a big one."

"The English language doesn't even fit what I'm feeling," Jackson, 57, said as he left the building. "I'm on an emotional high."

Bridgeman, 60, said he never lost hope that he would be freed for good.

"You keep struggling, you keep trying," he said.