#369 Jason Flom with Kwame Ajamu

M On May nineteenth, nineteen seventy five, a money owner salesman named Harold Frank was leaving a Cleveland, Ohio convenience store when two men demanded his briefcase. When he resisted, they clubbed him in the head with a pipe, threw acid in his face, and fatally shot him twice in the chest. The store's co owner, Anne Robinson, saw the whole thing go down, and she suffered a bullet wound before the men sped off in a green car with

Thank you.

I'm glad to be here.

And with him, there is a man named Terry Gilbert. Terry is a renowned criminal defense and civil rights attorney as well as a community activist, and importantly, he's a death penalty abolitionist. And I am absolutely thrilled and honored to have you here as well. Terry, thanks for joining us.

Thanks Jason, I appreciate it.

Okay, So, Kwame, I'm going to start with you. You were born Ronnie Bridgeman and grew up with your brother Wiley, as well as your childhood friend and later co defendant, Ricky Jackson, who's been on the show before. We'll have his episode linked in the buyout. But anyway, I've invited you here to give your own unique side of this story. Let's go back to the beginning. You all grew up on the same block, same street, Right.

We did it? Yeah, three holes is apart.

In Kuyahoga County, right.

Yeah, Kyhoga County.

And people that listen to the show have heard so many cases from Kuyahoga County because it's arguably the epicenter of the whole wrongful conviction world, which is there's a lot of competition for that awful distinction. But tell us about Kyahoga County. Where is it? What's it like?

So Kuyahoga County is more affection known as Cleveland, Ohio, and that is the city within the Jewish diction of Cayahouga County. Cleveland, Ohio is a cess fool, if you will. We have three different sides to it. All of those sides are policed very heavily, as Kerry will let you know in a few when you talk. But I was born in nineteen fifty seven, so my youth in Cleveland was through two riots, sixty seven and sixty eight riots, all infused by the poor, the disadvantaged, redlined people, people

The situation on the streets of Cleveland and the black community were horrific in the sixties and the seventies, as it was across the country, and assassination of Martin Luther King, Robbie Kennedy, they're so called riots that were happening in that context. There was a war against the black community. And we had a mayor in the city of Cleveland, the first African American mayor in the country of a major city, named Carl Stokes, who was elected during this period.

But those reforms never.

Took hold because of the resistance of the establishment, the police union, the political climate.

The Cleveland police force was indeed a faction to deal with it that particular time. They were beyond corrupt, and as history will show, they're still corrupt to this day. And so I come up in that, you know, I come up in the apthampa that actually because I was seventeen years old in nineteen seventy five when all of this happened to me.

So you're still really a kid, You're a teenager, and I'm sure where you had dreams and aspirations like every other seventeen year old kid in the country. And I know Ricky Jackson and your brother Wiley had already both been through the military at this point. So what were your plans for the future.

I tell people all the time that I wanted to be a cop. Wow, I had big aspirations and how do you say ideologies of how police worked, And it was either going to be a cop or a fireman. And in the end, in nineteen seventy five, on that terrible day May nineteenth, nineteen seventy five, and mister Harold Franks entered our neighborhood there in fair Hill and Cedar

And this particular crime. Fifty nine year old white guy and Harold Franks, who was a money oral salesman, and when he left the neighborhood grocery store on Fairhill Road, he was confronted by two men demanding his briefcase. That's two not three. When he resisted, they clubbed them in the head with a pipe and splashed acid in his face. One of the robbers then shot him twice in the chest and fired a shot through the glass front door

No, my brother did own a black and white plymous slaberine. They did find that green car. Somebody had it and everything in the yard all that nothing came of it.

And it sounds like a very organized type of a crime, like maybe even a professional criminal who knew that this money order guy was going to be there through acid in his face. What would a seventeen year old kid who wants to be a copy doing with acid and I mean and a gun in this case, let us not forget this case wasn't a complicated one. They had the green car, they had suspects. They also had Missus Robinson, right, didn't Missus Robinson know you guys?

Yeah right?

So here it is. She's just been shot and she's the only one who actually saw the perpetrators. And we know I would his identification is unreliable, but not when you know the people right, right, So think about it. So why don't you fill the audience in on how these guys became the sole focus of these people who ultimately framed them for this crime.

In addition to the climate that existed at the time. Specifically, what happened was a twelve year old boy named Eddie Vernon who was on a bus coming home from school at the time, and the shooting occurred. The bus was in some proximity to the store down about a block away, and when they got off the bus and they saw the commotion after the shooting, they started talking and one kid says, well, I bet you I know who did it, and he referred to the nicknames of Ricky, Kwame and Wileye.

Eddie Vernon, I've known him since he was a small kid. My brother went to school one of his sisters, and we knew the family. Plus he was a paperboy in the neighborhood. Anyway, on that particular day, May nineteen, nineteen seventy five, myself and Ricky Jackson was just down the street at the other end of Burnt Street talking with a guy by the name of Lynn Garrett and his girlfriend,

At this point, they were only looking for two assailants, not three, so they took Edward down to the police station without his parents to get a statement that was more faithful to the crime scene. And remember, like Terry said, Edward's pardon, this just started off as I bet you I know who did it.

They went and started feeding him more details of the crime, creating a narrative to the point when they pushed him to say, well, these are the guys that you saw commit this murder, which we know now is impossible because other people on the bus we interviewed to show that there was no way Eddie could have seen this from

You know, later on we would find out that his mother had Ovarian Canton was dying, and so you know, you asked yourself, who would you choose, guys in the neighborhood or your mother, you know. So he came out of that interrogation room, and obviously he wanted to say what he thought was his mother from being put in the prison for him, and so he went along with the details that had been written in.

So May twenty fifth, nineteen seventy five. They've now heard what they wanted to hear, or they've forced Edward to say what they wanted to hear, and they're now ready to take this to the next level and go arrest kids who I believe they knew were innocent. They had the green car, they had suspects. Had they even wanted to do just a tiny bit of actual police work, they probably would have landed on the two guys who actually did this.

The whole investigation took about a week. There were other suspects that were far more viable in terms of who did this crime, suspects that were older, I think even had a green car, and that had committed other similar crimes that was not disclosed to the defense console before the trial.

There were at least six other men who had been simultaneously picked up, arrested, and put into Cuyahoga County jail.

But they ignored these other viable avenues and took the easy route with a coerced twelve year old boy. And at that point they were only looking for two assailants. So their narrative only named Ricky and Wilie, but you Kwame were soon written into the story. After the night that they scooped all three of you up again. This

That's exactly what happened at my house.

You know.

I was sound asleep and I felt something hitting my foot. I locked up, cops everywhere, guns pointed, But I didn't think about myself, my safety and none of that, because I knew that my mother was in the next room, and my mother all of my life had suffered from heart trouble, which is what she died from, a massive heart attacked in nineteen ninety. But I just voted past the cops and got into the room where my mother was at There was more cops and guns, and I

So, as the summer of seventy five was coming to a close, You, Wiley, and Ricky were all tried separately. He went in front of Judge John Angelata and the chief prosecutor at that time, John T. Corrigan, had been in office since nineteen fifty six and also presided over the wrongful conviction of Tony Ipanovitch and god knows how many others. But the trial prosecutor was Dominic del Baso. So what did he present?

Basically, what we had is the three guys lived in the neighborhood were young black men, no physical evidence, no evidence other than that this twelve year old boy testified and the jury believed him.

It's really madness when you think about they were relying on obvious lives. I mean, the kid contradicted himself. Vernon originally told police he was on the bus coming home from school when he saw the attack. Then later on he testified that he had actually gotten off the bus already when he saw the attack. That's pretty hard to have both of those things be true. And then there

She said, I know them boys backwards forwards running away because they would come and work for me and my husband in the store. She said, believe you me, I wanted to get the person responsible for killing mister Franks and shooting me in my neck. But it wasn't now, you know, And that that says a whole lot, because she could have been on that train, you know. Ultimately her husband started paying it to the Edward Vernon thing.

But it was the testimony of Eddie Vernon which carried the day. The jury obviously thought, well, why would this kid make it up? You know, And so that was the ticket to death row.

So he would perfetuate this story not three but four times because Wiley my brother, got a retrial and went back and they sunk him again and put him in the exact same sale death row that they had originally put him in.

So now we go to September twenty seventh, nineteen seventy five, fatal day. Did you hold out any hope at this point you had seen a lot already but did you have any did you think that they would still see through all of this nonsense?

I gave up the ghosts. When the judge himself, he was instructing the jury. Now listen, because Edward burning up know how to spell certain words and can't differentiate east from west doesn't mean he's a liar. Doesn't mean that when he says that him and he pointed to me, is guilty, you see. So in my mind, he had already convinced that jury that I was fucking guilty, you know. So when they came in, now I'm looked up. They all looked down, you know. The women was holding their

This podcast is brought to you by Ohio Justice and Policy Center, a nonprofit law firm that seeks justice for people to directly impact it by Ohio's criminal legal system. OJPC provides free legal services to currently and formally incarcerated people through its Beyond Guilt Project. OJPC works to free over punish people who have rehabilitated themselves. Ojpc's Second Chance clinics help individuals with criminal records remove barriers to employment

So that morning, you know, the ride as they call it, they came in and got me and they give me a one nine fifty three, something that is embreedded in me. I'll never forget. Once I actually got to death role, it became one sale all day, every day. They stripped me, oh man storry, calling me girl, little sweetie and all that, making me bend over and spreading my butt cheeks. All that stuff I never, you know, know nothing about. But here's one that I'll never forget either, Jason. Before we

You good well, I mean, I mean, the idea that your mom lost two of her babies that were kidnapped by the police and then planned to be executed by the state is as a type of pain that I don't think anybody who's not experienced they could ever even begin to imagine, and that that is just a tragedy on the tragedy. But and here you were on death row down the hall from your own brother, like you could, were you guys able to see each other or just hear each other or how did that even work?

You know, everybody's hollering, screaming, So we could do that. We passed notes and this that, but one hour out of the twenty four hours that we weren't in the sale, and that hour, of course you got to go take a shot and walk them down the range and you know, pass messages for guys. So we got, you know, that little time to see each other in passing on the rains like that as well as.

Ricky and luckily, miraculously for you, Wiley, Ricky, and all the other guys on Ohio death throughout a critically important nineteen seventy eight Supreme Court decision came along.

Right. So, this was that famous Sondra Lockett case where she filed against the constitutionality of how everyone was sentenced that particular time, that if you got premeditated murder, you got sentenced to die. Every judge across the state was using the same application she filed, and she won, and that released everyone that had been previously sentenced to die.

Right. This case challenged what factors could be considered by the judge of jury when weighing whether or not to impose the death penalty, and so what they found unconstitutional In Layman's terms, the state had the ability to list un un limited reasons why the death penalty should be applied in your case, but there was a very small number of mitigating factors that were allowed to be presented by the defense.

The US Supreme Court struck down the Ohio death penalty law as they did in other jurisdictions, and then there was a wave of new death penalty statues that came in where there was more attention to how a jury would consider the aggravated circumstances versus mitigating factors. So they got off of death row and went into general population.

Right, So each of you were re sentenced to life sentences with the possibility for parole.

That happened in August of seventy eight. But yeah, there was an exception there. An exception was my brother, because this was the time that he had went back for the new trial.

Right, Your brother was granted a new trial, reconvicted and sent back to death row, only to await the paperwork that would see him into general population with the same sentence as the rest of you a year or so later, and Edward Vernon, fifteen years old at the time, had testified for a fourth time at that new trial. But I understand that his resolve began to waver after that, as it had at the lineup before they threatened to put his sick mother in prison.

As time went on, he would go and try to recanis stirring, always to the same cops, always to the same two cops that had him hooked up in that interrogation room in the first place.

Yeah, that was detectives. Eugene Terpe and James Farmer, and.

Of course they would pat him on his back and soothe it over. And long came his life where he started getting into trouble and did a prison sentence itself. And I would imagine that's long about the time that he stopped, you know, trying to be helpful in the sense of, you know, telling the.

Truth, which unfortunately kept that truth hidden for far too long. And in the meantime, you were all in general population now and eventually eligible for parole, so you built a solid record inside.

I was very active in sports. I can really box. But one of the things that I did in Lucasville more than anything, was barber But I got out of Lucasville. I went to Lima Correction Institution in nineteen eighty four because Lima had transitioned from being the state hospital, so so half of the joint was still medicated. It was nothing. Therefore, it was no recreation. Most of all, it was no school.

So even though this was parole and not exoneration, tell us about your newfound freedom in two thousand and three.

Oh great, The very first day was like I was floating. To make it even sweeter, you know, months later I would meet the greatest thing that ever happened to me, which was my wife, Lashan Ajamul, you know, and I married her a year after I got out of prison.

That's beautiful. Now that you were out, you were on a Mission to clear all of your names in free Wiley and Ricky from prison. And Wiley had actually been paroled the year before, but was soon sent back because of none other than Eddie Vernon.

Wiley was at the City Mission while he was on parole and runs into Eddie who was working there as a I guess a security guard. They exchanged some words, no threats or anything like that. He says, man, why don't you do something about it, you know, go to the authorities. And he says, ah, you know, I'm afraid they're going to prosecute me for perjury and all this stuff is Somehow that conversation got to the parole board and they looked at it as a guy on parole

So Eddie Vernon held on to his guilty secret for another eleven or twelve long years, right, and by now he reached out to Terry for help.

I remember this talk. He said, we need to some kind of way put more light on the subject, you know, And he told me about this kid, twenty four year old kid named Kyle Swinson who wrote for the Cleveland Scene magazine. So when I met with this kid, I came back to tell my wife like, well, damn, I've

I remember this scene at the hospital with the pastor and he said to Eddie, is there something that you want to tell me?

You're in the hospital.

You know, obviously we hope everything works out, but is there something on your mind? You want to get off your chest And he then breaks down sobbing and basically admits that he had lied in the trial and he put three innocent men in prison. And you know, the Innocence Project was representing Ricky Jackson. They sent over somebody to get an affi David, which was the foundation for the motion for a new trial, which then took place

Right, I understand that the prosecutor in twenty fourteen, Timothy McGuinty, was not an unreasonable man.

That was a different prosecutor than we have now. Now we have a prosecutor doesn't believe in wrongful incarceration. He doesn't believe that people should get compensation. But the one that we had back in twenty fourteen saw that there was no evidence that they were the perpetrators.

So Ricky actually called me that day that he got exonerate the very moment my wife breaks that went bad on her truck and it's a friend of mine and I was changing the brakes and I'm up under the car and my phone rang, so, you know, put it on speaker and you have a collect call, you know. That's what they said. It's Ricky. So, so what's going on, brother? You know? And he's almost incoherent, you know, because so he's so ecstatic, you know, And I said what he said?

You know?

He said, Man, it's all over. God, damn you hear me, you know, and uh man almost dock the damn car down.

Ricky was on a Wednesday.

We didn't want Wiley to spend even one day more than he had to, and we were able to get before the judge on Friday, and Wiley was exonerated. And I'll never forget when Wiley comes out of the jail doors into the lobby. These two guys, the moment that they hugged was one of the most emotional and ratifying moments.

Of my life as a lawyer.

I'm sure that moment is etched in your mind and your soul as well.

Without a doubt.

And so Ricky was exonerated, then two days Wiley, and then a month later we were able to get Kombe exonerated.

But thinking about both my brother Wyley and Ricky Jackson haven't spent thirty nine years. These guys had lost so much time. When I got out of prison again parole, I had an eleven year run. No matter how fucked up it was, I still had an eleven year life without them, And to this day I feel kind of bad about that. You know, had I had a wife, went through seven cars. Right, So as a man, as a human being, as a person, I wasn't able to make that equal. And I always feel something there, you.

Know, kind of like a survivor's guilt.

Right.

And so even though no amount of money could ever replace what you all lost, you were all at least finally eligible for state compensation. You also won your civil suits against the city and the estates of the detectives. But then life took a dire turn again. Your brother Wiley had lung cancer, and if that wasn't enough, another tragedy struck.

He had accident, had an auto accident, and it called someone's life. He was already in bad shape, in and out of the hospital. He actually had an oxygen tank in the car with him prior to his death. He would like have coughing spells and pass out. And so I believe that that's what happened to him on the night and questioned. He was driving his car late at night, rode by a construction site, end up hitting two guys, and rolled for another four miles before you a car

Wow, that's so much. It's just too much, and I'm so sorry, and our condolences of course to the family of that construction worker as well. So I guess if there's a silver lining to this story, it's that you two were there for each other in prison and did have a number of years of freedom together before his passing, and during that time, all three of you guys, as well as your wife, Lashawn, have been quite active in a movement that is near and dear to my heart, which is death Penalty abolition.

My wife is a member of the OSSI, which is Ohio Wants to Stop Executions nineteen ninety seven, ninety eight, I think it was her brother was murdered, and so she is also a family Victim's member. She do a lot of advocating for the people having family members being murdered and how the system leaves them. And I am very active with their organization OSSI, as there is with my organization, Witness to Innocence. I'm the chairman of Witness

Let me just read you something here from the Death Penalty Information Center. This is a quote. In February twenty twenty one, a special report the Innocence Epidemic found that Kyahoga ranked second among US counties, tied with Philadelphia. We know how bad that is. That's me talking now. But back to the quote. For the most exonerations of death row prisoners who have been wrongfully convicted, all of those

The name of the book is Trying to Trying Times, a lawyer's fifty years struggle fighting for.

Rights in a world of wrongs.

It goes back to the late sixties, early seventies up until twenty twenty one. It's really about inspir wh werening younger activists and lawyers to take up the fight for people's rights.

Well, I'll be linking that in the bio as well and grabbing a copy myself. So now we've come to my favorite part of the show. Of course, it's called closing arguments, and this works very simply. First of all, I'm going to thank you guys, Terry Gilbert and Kwameajamu for being here and courageously sharing your story. So here's how it works. I'm going to turn my microphone off for closing arguments, kick back in my chair, and just listen to anything else you guys want to share with

The movement has grown against wrongful imprisonment. It's important for people to be aware that the system is flawed, that trials are not the end of justice, that things go wrong, and people need to understand the nature of the criminal system and fight for what is a better avenue to achieve justice. Also, I just want to make a note that I don't even know if kwamean was this. I mean,

I just want to say that with Terry Gilbert, the Innocence Project, and all of the many women who stand in force to protect those who are down trodden and who have been subjugated and arbitrarily and capriciously put in prison for absolutely no reason. I am one who will stand in every corner that the fight is going on, a gang's capital punishment, wrong for incarceration and the cohots

Mark's thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction. I want to thank our production team Connor hall, Any, Chelsea, Lyla Robinson, Jeff Clyburn and Kevin Warns. The music in this production was supplied by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction, on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction podcast, and on Twitter at wrong Conviction, as well as at Lava for Good. On all three platforms, You can also follow me on Instagram