Bring Earnest Jackson Home: Advocating For Equitable Justice In The Criminal Justice System
Earnest Jackson has spent 20 years in the Nebraska State Penitentiary. According to advocates and lawyers involved in the case, Jackson doesn’t belong in prison.
Jackson’s supporters have been confused for the past two decades with the result of his trial. Questions have been raised, and advocates note concerns in the court transcripts.
“Earnest wasn’t even there, his aunt said during his trial,” said Jason Whitmer, friend and advocate. “But he was friends with Shalamar and Dante; they were close, interchangeable with each other. Because of this, he was associated with being there the day of the shooting.”
In 1999, at the age of 17, Jackson and two other young men, Shalamar Cooperrider and Dante Chillous, were accused of the fatal shooting of another young man, Larry Perry. Jackson’s aunt testified he was at her house at the time of the shooting, but a witness present at the shooting testified that Jackson was there. The three young men decided to be tried separately, and Jackson was the first to go to trial.
Jackson hoped to use Cooperrider and Chillous as witnesses to state he wasn’t present, but both Cooperrider and Chillous pled the fifth, which then made it unethical to put them on the stand in Jackson’s case. Jackson ended up being charged with first degree murder, but not with possession of a weapon, and was convicted to a life sentence. Later, not only were Cooperrider and Chillous acquitted and not convicted, Cooperrider admitted on the stand that Jackson was not there during the shooting. Despite this, Jackson’s sentence did not change.
Jackson himself maintains his innocence, and a community of supporters started the Bring Earnest Jackson Home project, which is nationally organized by the Racial Justice Coalition, which advocates for his release and brings attention to his story.
“The system isn’t failsafe, mistakes can happen,” said Daniel Medwed, law professor at Northeastern University, founding board member of the Innocence Network and lawyer involved in Jackson’s case. “It doesn’t mean people did things wrong, but we need to give these cases a close second look.”
According to the Prison Policy Initiative, between all its criminal justice facilities, Nebraska has an incarceration rate of 601 to 100,000. This includes prisons, jails, juvenile correctional facilities and immigration detention centers. Information indicates that Nebraska has a higher incarceration rate than that of most other countries. According to the Crime and Justice Institute, Nebraska ranks second highest state for over-crowding.
Criminal justice reform organizations seek restorative justice; transforming confined people, families and communities. Groups like Rise and Compassion In Action and the Nebraska Prison Fellowship direct reform around community-based approaches that focus on prevention and support. Bring Earnest Jackson Home supports these community aide methods, and through working with groups like the Racial Justice Coalition, it wants to spotlight the issues within Nebraska’s criminal justice system; a system keeping an innocent man confined.
Jackson has been considered an accomplice to the shooting of Perry, which equates to just as harsh a sentence as the actual shooter. What leaves advocates perplexed is that neither Cooperrider nor Chillous ended up convicted. Combined with the testimony of his aunt and concerns found in the court transcripts, many wonder if justice was served.
“The lawyer for Earnest Jackson had reached out to me, and he got me really interested in the case,” said Medwed. “He sent over some materials, and it just became one of these things where I took a closer look, and I became increasingly concerned about a miscarriage of justice.”
According to Medwed, this case is strange, because a jury finds Jackson guilty as an accomplice to homicide, but later, the person believed to perpetrate the homicide, Cooperrider, is not convicted, and acquitted on self-defense. Cases like this are often considered legally inconsistent. Those involved with his case want to consider Jackson’s potentially factual innocence because they believe the case against him was threadbare.
This seems to be the consensus among supporters of Jackson. Bring Earnest Jackson Home was created by Brenda, Jackson’s mom, his wife Tracy and friends and family and community members, sure of his innocence and dedicated to his release.
In attempts to appeal for his release, Jackson’s misconduct reports during his confinement have been brought up. His case is complicated and has several components, but advocates insist these reports are an excuse to deny his release, despite evidence of his innocence.
“The governor talked about his misconduct reports, but ignored the fact that a child was raised in an adult prison system and expected him to not have behavior,” said Whitmer. “You’re packed together with people with trauma, and this system is not nurturing, and a kid is around all this. You can’t identify him with just his bad behavior and expect him to move forward.”
Last year, Jackson was denied relief by the three-member board overseeing parole and clemency appeals, siting his misconduct reports, and decided to keep him in prison. According to Medwed though, almost all of Jackson’s disciplinary infractions occurred within his first 10 years of his confinement. He was young and, “that it's quite common for innocent people to have a poor disciplinary record at first because they don't know how to process their frustration about the injustice that has occurred,” said Medwed.
Jackson has spent the last several years working on himself. He’s been involved in intentional peer support which teaches people to use life experiences and create a mutual bond, without positions of power. According to Whitmer, Jackson relied on this teaching to resolve a conflict without aggression and violence. Jackson also received his college degree and married his love, Tracy, all while confined. He received a certificate of completion of Hustle 2.0, a mail-based correspondence program, exploring, healthy relationships, entrepreneurship, employment, reentry and more. “No one is talking about the positive with Earnest,” said Whitmer.
The goal is to reinvestigate Jackson’s case. This process is broad, and can include everything from scouring court transcripts, to interviewing witnesses and those who knew all parties involved, to potentially working with a private investigator. The procedural rules in Nebraska are known for being tough, but lawyers believe if strong evidence can be found, it will compel the courts to release Jackson. A team of lawyers, law students and the Midwest Innocence Project have been assembled, and are working diligently to send Jackson home.
“Like all systems designed by people, our criminal justice system isn’t perfect, and sometimes, mistakes are made,” said Medwed. “If you think maybe an innocent person is behind bars, it takes dedicated lawyers to reinvestigate the case and figure out whether a mistake might have been made.”
Information about Jackson and his case is frequently updated by the: www.sendearnesthome.com/who-is-earnest-jackson It can also be found on Facebook and Twitter. Whitmer encourages people with a social media presence and those who are influencers to bring attention to Jackson and share his story. “If you’re a content creator, be creative and post about Earnest,” said Whitmer.
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