Kevin Jackson's conviction overturned after 23 years of insisting he had nothing to do with murder
CHICAGO (CBS) -- For more than 23 years, Kevin Jackson has been pleading for people to believe he had nothing to do with the murder that sent him to prison as a teenager.
On Friday, his conviction was finally overturned. He also sat down exclusively with CBS News Chicago.
Jackson read from the ruling from the opinion issued by the First Judicial District of the Illinois Appellate Court on Friday.
It read in part:
"Everything about this case has been extraordinary—from the troublingly thin evidence upon which Mr. Jackson was convicted, to the disturbing facts that have been uncovered regarding the tactics employed by the detectives in this case, to the State publicly taking the position that it does not oppose the extraordinary relief that Mr. Jackson seeks and that it would not retry Mr. Jackson for these crimes.
"It is not every day that an authoring justice of this court is willing to reconsider her prior ruling in response to a defendant's petition for rehearing, or that a concurring justice of our supreme court implores the State to further investigate improprieties that may have led to false convictions. It is not every day that SASAs are appointed to conduct a monthslong independent review in addition to the review of the CIU. And it is not every day that individuals so appointed unequivocally conclude that a defendant's convictions cannot stand. All of this, to say the least, has been extraordinary."
Kevin Jackson Decision by Adam Harrington on Scribd
Jackson has been waiting for this specific decision since his release from prison two weeks ago. But really, he has been waiting for his name to be cleared for 23 years.
Jackson has always insisted he had nothing to do with the May 2001 early-morning murder of a man named Ernest Jenkins at a Citgo gas station on the corner of Damen Avenue and Garfield Boulevard on the cusp of the Back of the Yards and West Englewood communities. At the time, Jackson was 19 years old.
"It's hard to tell somebody to be patient when you're incarcerated for something you didn't do," he said.
Now 42, Jackson showed CBS News Chicago his electronic monitoring bracelet—soon to be cut off.
He has been learning how to make a call and send a text on his first ever cell phone. But he said the most stunning thing he has come across so far is the change to the experience of driving a car.
"The car telling you where to go, exactly where to go. GPS yeah, that's like crazy," he said. "A lot. A lot, Megan. I missed a lot."
Jackson was still processing everything when CBS News Chicago met up with him and his family this morning.
"It was s probably the most extraordinary moment in my legal career to date, being able to tell him that he was a free man, that the First District had vacated his conviction," said one of Jackson's attorneys, Elizabeth Bacon.
"There were a lot of days over the last decade that I never thought this day would come," added another of his attorneys, Brandon Clark.
The main detective in Jackson's case, Brian Forberg, has long been accused of coercing witnesses to make false statements. No other evidence tied Jackson to the 2001 shooting, and all four witnesses recanted.
After exposing serious concerns about a potential conflict of interest between Forberg and his wife, who worked in the Cook County State's Attorney's office Conviction Integrity Unit, the case was reinvestigated.
"We needed to shine a light on what was actually going on," said Bacon.
The result was a 77-page report that found significant flaws in the case. But the report in question has been out for at least 16 months—a fact CBS News Chicago first exposed in an investigation last year.
Just this past summer, Cook County Criminal Court Judge Angela Petrone said the report was not enough to convince her to overturn the conviction.
"It's beyond frustrating it show that this justice system is actually not designed to seek justice its designed to maintain convictions," Bacon said.
The First District Appellate Court felt much differently. The appellate panel's findings were so significant that today Illinois Appellate Court Justice Mary L. Mikva wrote "new information has emerged that casts real doubt on the integrity of a judgment—civil or criminal."
Justice Mikva's description of the case as "extraordinary" was not for a good reason at all.
"The trial court judge made significant errors here, and the ruling that set us back in June was truly wrong," said Clark, "and I'm so pleased the appellate court came to that decision so quickly."
Why is the decision so important? Because Jackson is one of about 20 current and former inmates—primarily Black men—who also claim Officer Forberg coerced and manipulated witnesses into lying. Jackson knows those other former inmates' names by heart—Rico Clark, Andre Mosley, Keith Pikes…
"That's the most important, because them guys really was looking towards my case to being overturned to get relief," Jackson said. "It gives them hope."
And for people in the position in which Jackson spent so many years, hope is important.
"It keeps you alive," he said.