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Homicide

Recanted testimony likely to result in 3 Cleveland men convicted of 1975 murder to be cleared

Associated Press
Published | Updated
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    This photo provided by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections shows Wiley Bridgeman. The Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office has filed a motion dismissing aggravated murder cases against three men falsely accused of killing a businessman outside a corner store in Cleveland in 1975. Fifty-seven-year-old Ricky Jackson, 60-year-old Bridgeman and his brother, 57-year-old Ronnie Bridgeman, were sentenced to death during separate trials in 1975 for the slaying of Herman Franks. Their convictions were based solely on the testimony of a 13-year-old boy who in 2013 recanted and said he was coerced and threatened by Cleveland police detectives.(AP Photo/Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections) (The Associated Press)

  • 10dd8eae-
    Image 2 of 3

    This photo provided by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections shows Wiley Bridgeman. The Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office has filed a motion dismissing aggravated murder cases against three men falsely accused of killing a businessman outside a corner store in Cleveland in 1975. Fifty-seven-year-old Ricky Jackson, 60-year-old Bridgeman and his brother, 57-year-old Ronnie Bridgeman, were sentenced to death during separate trials in 1975 for the slaying of Herman Franks. Their convictions were based solely on the testimony of a 13-year-old boy who in 2013 recanted and said he was coerced and threatened by Cleveland police detectives.(AP Photo/Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections) (The Associated Press)

  • fdfe273b-
    Image 3 of 3

    This photo provided by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections shows Ricky Jackson. The Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office has filed a motion dismissing aggravated murder cases against three men falsely accused of killing a businessman outside a corner store in Cleveland in 1975. Fifty-seven-year-old Jackson, 60-year-old Wiley Bridgeman and his brother, 57-year-old Ronnie Bridgeman, were sentenced to death during separate trials in 1975 for the slaying of Herman Franks. Their convictions were based solely on the testimony of a 13-year-old boy who in 2013 recanted and said he was coerced and threatened by Cleveland police detectives. (AP Photo/Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections) (The Associated Press)

CLEVELAND – The prosecutor's office in Cleveland has filed a motion dismissing aggravated murder cases against three men falsely accused of killing a businessman outside a corner store in 1975.

Fifty-seven-year-old Ricky Jackson, 60-year-old Wiley Bridgeman and his brother, 57-year-old Ronnie Bridgeman, initially were sentenced to death during separate trials for the slaying of Herman Franks. Their convictions were based solely on the testimony of a 13-year-old boy who last year recanted and said he was coerced and threatened by Cleveland detectives.

Wiley Bridgeman's attorneys say their client was three weeks from being executed before his death sentence was stayed. He and Jackson are expected to be freed as soon as Friday. Ronnie Bridgeman, now known as Kwame Ajamu, was released in January 2003.