"Blind Injustice," the opera premiered by Cincinnati Opera in 2019, brought to life the remarkably true stories of six exonerees - just a few of the 42 people freed by the work of the Ohio Innocence Project (OIP) at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.
A rendition of this contemporary opera will be performed by the non-profit Chagrin Arts July 11-13 at the Outcalt Theatre at Playhouse Square in Cleveland. Cuyahoga Fall resident Brian Johnson will portray real-life OIP exoneree Ricky Jackson. The Akron Beacon Journal featured the upcoming presentation.
Jackson is one of six Ohio people whose real stories are portrayed in "Blind Injustice," which follows their journeys through jazz, hip-hop, blues and gospel music. With much of the libretto coming directly from interviews with the exonerees, the opera follows the Ohio Innocence Project's efforts to overturn the convictions of six men, women and teens who were wrongly imprisoned for violent crimes they didn't commit.
The contemporary opera is a collaboration between the OIP, Cincinnati Opera, the Young Professionals Choral Collective and the UC College-Conservatory of Music opera department, and based on casework by the OIP and the best-selling book "Blind Injustice" by UC law professor and OIP Director Mark Godsey.
Jackson, who entered prison at the age of 18 after being convicted of murder during a robbery, served 39 years in prison-at the time, the longest prison term for an exonerated defendant in American history. His conviction was based on the state's key witness, a 12-year-old boy who four decades later recanted his story, explaining that police intimidated him into testifying.
The Ohio Innocence Project, founded in 2003, has exonerated 42 people who collectively served more than 800 years behind bars for crimes they didn't commit.
Read about "Blind Injustice" in the Akron Beacon Journal online.
Learn more about the Ohio Innocence Project.
Featured top image of Ricky Jackson speaking with a class at the UC College of Law. Photo/Joe Fuqua II.
