protest.g to we going to shut down the system. we want to make a content just decision to opt out of the system. >> we also hear from the rev. al sharpton and benjamin crump, attorney for the brown family. then we speak to ricky jackson who has just been freed from prison after spending 39 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. >> how does it feel? i am very happy. no words can describe how i feel right now. just glad to be out. >> he is a longest holding prisoner ever to be exonerated. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. protests are set to begin for a third day a row in ferguson, missouri over granger's decision not to indict officer darren wilson for killing unarmed black teenager michael brown. dessert governor jay nixon to play more than 2000 national guard troops to patrol the st. louis area. police said more than 40 people were arrested. some property damage was reported, before less than monday night when buildings were burned and broken into. protests against police brutality erupted in more than 170 cities across the united states. in los angeles, more than 100 people were arrested. from oakland, california to providence, rhode island, protesters walked on to major highways and shut them down. blockedork, protesters traffic across the city including at the lincoln tunnel, the manhattan bridge, williamsburg bridge, and the queens midtown tunnel. more than 1000 protesters marched on the fdr drive, one point shutting down traffic in both directions. protester henoc montes was among those who rallied in times square. voicing our opinions little harder today and making sure we are a little louder. which is why we decided to push us and get out their shields and throw pepper spray and all this nonsense and arrest people. i'm happy to see everybody at least attempting to be part of this. it is good. something new is happening in the city. i just hope we can all keep it up. i hope this is a lifetime thing and not just this week. next i protested new york came on the heels of monday's protest when demonstrator shut down three bridges and through fake blood onto the new york city police commissioner. president obama responded to the unrest in ferguson tuesday by calling for calm and remarks that restrict contrast to his more impassioned remarks last year on the killing of trayvon martin. obama condemned the destruction of property by some protesters in ferguson. for have no sympathy at all destroying euro and communities. but for the overwhelming majority of people who just feel becauseed and pained they get a sense that maybe some communities aren't treated fairly or some individuals aren't seen as worthy as others. i understand that. i want to work with you and i want to move forward with you. your president will be right there with you. >> ferguson police officer darren wilson has spoken publicly for the first time since he fatally shot michael brown. in an interview broadcast on abc news, wilson recounted how he shot brown repeatedly because he feared for his life. he was interviewed by george stephanopoulous. >> is there anything you could've done differently that would have prevented that killing from taking place? >> no. >> nothing? >> no. >> and you're convinced when you look through your heart and mind that if michael brown were white, this would have gone down exactly the same way? >> yes. >> no question? >> no question. >> stephanopoulos also asked wilson whether the killing of michael brown would always haunt him. >> i don't think it is haunting. it will always be something that happened. >> you have a very clean conscience. >> i know i did my job right. >> in his testimony, released after the grand jury decision, wilson compares michael brown to a "demon," and says he -- "when i grabbed him, the only way i can describe it is i felt like a five-year-old holding onto hulk hogan." protests are by the grantor's decision not to indict wilson are set to continue as a national day of action planned for black friday, the biggest consumer holiday of the year. active is our organizing a national boycott of retail venues and protests against police brutality. the actions will coincide with a wave of actions by walmart workers who are demanding a $15-an-hour wage and the right to form a union. this year marks the third time in a row walmart workers have gone on strike on black friday, and organizers say it will be their biggest action to date. in syria, the regime of the shyla side has bombarded the raqqa, killingf at least any five people. according to the syrian observatory for human rights, more than half of those killed were civilians. it's one of the deadliest attacks to hit raqqa in years. in southwestern pakistan, gunmen have killed three female pakistani polio workers and their driver. militants have targeted health workers in such attacks after it was revealed the cia used a fake vaccination program to help locate osama bin laden. meanwhile, a u.s. drone strike killed seven people in the region of north waziristan. officials said the dead were suspected militants. in yemen, u.s. commandoes have conducted a raid alongside yemeni troops to rescue eight hostages held in a cave by an al qaeda affiliate. the united states reportedly intervened at the behest of yemen's president to rescue the hostages, who included yemeni citizens, a saudi and an ethiopian. at least seven militants were reportedly killed in the raid. in nigeria, a double suicide bombing has killed more than 40 people in the northeastern city of maiduguri. the bombers were two teenage girls who entered a bustling marketplace before blowing themselves up. suspicion has centered on the militant group boko haram. in sierra leone, striking burial workers in the eastern town of kenema have dumped the bodies of ebola victims at the entrance to a hospital in an act of protest over pay. the workers say they have not received their weekly hazard payments in nearly two months despite the dangers of their work. officials said the workers would be fired for mistreating the bodies. the protest comes as dr. aiah solomon konoyeima has become the eighth sierra leonean doctor to contracted ebola. all seven others have died. in the united states, michelle flournoy, who was considered the top contender to replace outgoing defense secretary chuck hagel, has taken herself out of the running for the post. citing family concerns, flournoy said she would keep her position as head of the center for a new american security, a think tank with close pentagon ties which receives key financial backing from military contractors. the move comes after another possible contender, rhode island democratic senator jack reed, also removed his name from consideration. obama announced hagel's departure monday after pressuring him to resign, but he will stay on until a replacement is confirmed. the united states is reportedly poised to increase the number of u.s. troops it's keeping in afghanistan next year. in may, obama vowed to reduce u.s. troop levels to 9,800 by the end of this year, with further reductions to come. but according to reuters, the administration will instead add up to 1,000 extra troops in order to bridge a gap left by other members of the nato coalition. countries that have left. the move came after obama signed a secret order to broaden and extend the u.s. role in afghanistan, contradicting his earlier promise the u.s. military would have no combat role in afghanistan next year. a united nations panel has adopted a resolution expressing concern about mass surveillance. the proposal was drafted by germany and brazil, which, according to revelations by edward snowden, have both been subjected to extensive u.s. spying. but the measure was toned down following pressure from the united states, britain, and other allies. a reference to the intrusive nature of collecting metadata -- details like which phone numbers were involved in a call and how long the call lasted -- was spiked. brazil's deputy ambassador to the u.n. said the measure could have been stronger. >> the consensus was reached, but it is important to recall the compromises that were made to achieve such an outcome. references to the principles of necessity and proportionality or not as strong as they should have been. surveillance programs, as in the activity that poses a threat to human rights, should be necessary and proportionate to the pursuance of legitimate names. as some members were not in a position to acknowledge these basic principles of international law, we could not affirm them in the strongest of terms. >> the obama administration is releasing new limits on ozone, the most widespread form of air pollution, and the main ingredient in smog. ozone, which is formed through a reaction of pollutants from power plants, factories and cars, has been linked to asthma, heart disease and premature death. u.s. restrictions imposed under president george w. bush remain far looser than those in the european union and canada. environmental groups have sued the obama administration for tighter standards, prompting a court to order new draft regulations by december 1. according to "the new york times," the rules would reduce the current threshold for ozone pollution from 75 parts per billion to between 65 and 70 parts per million. the news comes as environmental groups have sued the obama administration over its program of leasing federal land to coal companies. the lawsuit demands the bureau of land mangement conduct an analysis of the environmental impact of the program, which it says accounts for 14% of u.s. carbon dioxide emissions. the blm has never studied the program's impact on climate change. president obama has vowed to veto a proposed $440 billion tax deal which the white house says favors corporations and neglects working families. the bulk of the deal between house republicans and senate majority leader harry reid would serve to enrich businesses, while the deal excludes measures to enshrine two key breaks for working-class families -- an earned income tax credit and a child tax credit. the center on budget and policy priorities estimates more than 16 million people would fall into poverty, or deeper into poverty, if the provisions are not made permanent. and about half of all people with hiv in the united states are not receiving treatment. according to data from the centers for disease control and prevention, less than a third of people in the united states currently living with hiv have been able to get their infections under control. most patients have already been diagnosed, but factors including poverty, homelessness and other barriers are preventing people from accessing drugs. and those are some of the headlines, this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. begin for a set to third consecutive day in ferguson, missouri over a grand jury's decision not to indict officer darren wilson for killing unarmed black teenager michael brown. missouri governor nixon deployed more than 2000 national guardsmen to patrol the st. louis area. police repeatedly fired smoke arms and tear gas to scatter protesters gathered near ferguson city hall. some property damage was reported, but far less than monday night. authorities said 44 people were arrested. demonstrations over the michael brown case spread across the country to over 100 cities. people took over interstates and held sit-ins, marches and protests across the country. in los angeles, nearly 100 people were arrested. in oakland, they blocked interstates and both directions. around 40 people were arrested. in new york, thousands block traffic across the city including at the lincoln tunnel, queens midtown tunnel and williamsburg bridge. at least 1000 demonstrators also marched in the nation's capital tuesday. a protester threw fake blood on new york police commissioner william bratton. at least 1000 demonstrators also marched in the nation's capital having marched the night before tuesday, from the white house to the steps of the supreme court. [chanting] >> nobody is asking that we be treated specially, but be treated the same. young white men are not killed by police at the same rates. ,ust to be treated as americans then this would not be a problem. >> hands up -- >> don't shoot! >> i would like to see black people and communities that are marginalized, committed these dish communities the face aggression by police officers in the state, i would like to see us take control of our communities. i would like to see as envision a society where we don't have to do this every year. >> at the dz protest, the lawyers committee for civil rights under law criticized st. 'suis prosecutor bob muculloch hemming of the case. >> i would say that was for family disappointing. i think even when you heard the prosecutor layout what he called the presentation of the facts of the case, you realize there was enough contested facts regarding this whole incident that this should have gone to a court and should of gone to regular curie to make a decision whether or not there had been a crime committed here. we are going to absolutely be persistent and making sure that the justice department does a thorough investigation and takes into consideration everything possible in its investigation of officer wilson. also, in its pattern of practice , lawsuit it has against the ferguson city police department for a pattern and practice of violating the civil rights of african-americans in that city. >> on tuesday, "the new york times" published an editorial -- about theesk prosecutor saying he handled it in the worst possible way. the editorial would on to say -- on tuesday, ferguson police officer darren wilson spoke publicly for the first time since he fatally killed michael brown. georgeinterviewed by stephanopoulos. >> is there anything you could have done differently that would've prevented that killing from taking place? >>. >> no. >> nothing? >> no. what's and you're convinced when you look to your heart and mind that if michael brown were white , this would of gone down exactly the same way? >> yes. >> no question? >> no question. >> we go to ferguson, missouri where we're joined by tory russell, activist fighting for justice in killing of michael brown, and an organizer with hands up united. i was with you yesterday at the church where reverend sharpton and others held a news conference. you then worked out in the streets through the night. start off by telling us about your response to the no indictment decision of the grand jury and how the protesters were dealing with this last night. night.nd straight what we saw was grieving and hurt people. i think the people are more politicized than ever in these last 100 something days, with opportunities to do political education, to express our opinion of what is going on. what is going on is -- out in the streets chanting in front of the police. they sent and more national guards. i've seen people snatched up, is what we call it. the police are describing people that are standing there. they push us back into the parking lot. people want to walk on the street and they just pick someone. most of the time, those people are not even chanting or yelling at the time. they are not breaking the law. i think that is what is keeping this thing going. people are hurting. people are being abused every day. people are not even being allowed to peacefully assemble or protest that is backed by the constitution. >> tory, this'll decision of the governor to bring in the national guard on the second night. what impact does that have? it makes it more of a police state. it is more intimidating. i think it is a ploy or sometime tacticome type of scare to deters from what we want. we have been basically asking for the same needs as we got off the plantation. we want education, proper housing, economic industries and we want to be able to control ourselves and be a part of this american dream, but they sold us a lie. the people have to go out in the street just to march and protest and do civil disobedience just to get a non-indictment. we are upset. we are hurting. send counselors. they don't send psychiatrist. they don't sit down with the leaders and say -- or even with the people and say, what do you guys need? they sent a more national guard. that lets you know what they care about. i am on most certainly don't care about the people. >> we were discussing this yesterday in the church, but the issue of the first night, the decision being handed down -- there's a big discussion before for quite a number of days and whether the decision would be held onto, bob muculloch would release it later to give people time to prepare. but in the end, they released it in the dark at night. which many people said led to much of the unrest. then there is the issue of the national guard. when we were in the streets on monday night, the first night of the decision, in front of the ferguson police department, there was national guard and riot police. they were really going after the protesters. they tear gassed them. they went after them. but down the road in west florissant, the white area ferguson -- that was the white area ferguson. down on the west florissant where the businesses were burned and broken into, we did not see police, we did not see state troopers. it was free reign. what are your thoughts about that? know not onlyou does this country value property over people, even put a special caveat on whose property. if you go to clayton, go to kirkwood, go to some of these fluid places in the city, national guard and a look these people of their. you go to the black communities come on west florissant, or the businesses,mall they did a press conference you're talking about they cared about the community and people were destroying their dreams. their dreams weren't being protected. meanwhile on self lorcet were the white poverty is, their dream was protected -- meanwhile come on south florissant, where what property is, their dream was protected. we have to find channels. there was also, to me, it was disrespectful to the family. i talked to mike brown, senior who said they called him 20 to 25 minutes before they made the announcement to even tell him about his son. he said it felt like they killed my son twice. that lets you know how they value black people and black property in america. >> and what is your hope from here on in, either in the possibility of the justice department stepping in with its own investigation and potential indictment and also the call at the press conference yesterday for systemic reform of having police outfitted with cameras through out the country? obs. we sat in a room with the department of justice in the was a lot of committee leaders. a 19 pointthem police reform initiative, not just for ferguson, but around the country. they said they don't even know if they can agree to all those demands. police're saying is, you are communities, serve us, we should be allowed to tell you what policing should look like. clearly, there's a problem with policing and police brutality. police abuse and police killing. i have to make a point to say that darren wilson went on the tv and he said he felt like a five-year-old boy up against whole cogan. i will take you this. you don't give a five euro boy a gun and riot gear let him patrol my community. so a ferguson pd is not properly training people and have everybody making everybody seem like if you are a black person, you look like incredible hulk when you walked on the street, then there needs to be a serious reform in a needs to come from the people. the people have spoken. we don't always have to vote. we vote to we don't get what we want. so poor people go in the street and we vote with our feet. we are tired of it. you see it across the country. i'm getting calls from places i've never talk to. i had the weirdest phone book ever because people are tired of it. we are going outside. we refuse to be silent. you must hear us. president obama, you must hear us. we're outside. please, have some super the for us. please, care about the people who voted for you and got you in. >> tory russell, thank you so much for being with us activist , fighting for justice in killing of michael brown, and an organizer with hands up united. when we come back, the lawyer for the brown family speaks out. stay with us. ♪ [music break] >> "strange fruit." it is about lynching. holiday, theie original singer of the song, said every time she sang the song, she had to throw up afterwards. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. on tuesday, family of michael brown held a press conference at a church not far from ferguson. uncle brown, senior was present but did not speak. he wore a red st. louis baseball caps and much of the one his son had when he was killed by officer darren wilson. the first speaker was the brown family's attorney benjamin crump, who was skeptical of st. louis county prosecutor bob mucculloch's handling of the evidence before the grand jury, leading to the decision he announced monday night. and myself weys objected back in august to this prosecutor. we've and wrote a letter to requesting anixon special prosecutor to be appointed. ed when he informed us the process that he was going to use that was different than anything else, different than any normal grand jury that you would have presented. and now after we watched him comments, wed his strenuously objected to this prosecutor in this process. after we, likeg, all of you, went through as much of the information -- i think it was described as a don't -- dump --we went through as much evidence as we could and saw how unfairly this process was, we object publicly and loudly as we can on behalf of michael brown, junior's family that this process is broken. the process should be indicted. ofshould be indicted because the continuous systematic results that is yielded by this process. let's be very honest about this process. whoave the local prosecutor has a symbiotic relationship with the local police and the sit inolice officers who judgment whether they indict the police when they brutalize or kill our young person from our community. normally, that prosecutor has no relationship or no regard for the in person of color. as we predicted at the beginning, we could for see what the outcome was going to be. and that is exactly what occurred last night. that was benjamin crump, the lawyer for michael brown jr.'s family, speaking tuesday. democracy now! was there and inside the news conference to ask questions after the reverend how sharpton spoke. >> days after michael brown junior was killed, we had a major rally in this very church. , with hisat night parents present, that we had little to no faith in the grand jury by the local district attorney. we said that night that we wanted the federal government to come in. that sunday we had a unity rally where thunder days -- thousands came and joined us. we repeated it. all the way through the funeral where i eulogized. last night, the appearance by the district attorney made it clear to everyone why we had little faith in a state prosecution. i have been involved in civil rights all my life. we have seen cases go ways that we felt were right and ways that we felt was wrong. i have never seen a prosecutor hold a press conference to discredit the victim. [applause] way toe went out of his go point by point in ,iscrediting michael brown, jr. who cannot defend himself. how do you and explaining why you're not indicting a man get killed try and convict the young man for shoplifting that can't explain the tape, try to convict him for interfering in a police car when you don't hear his side of the story. have you ever heard a prosecutor go in a press conference and explained to the press why the one that did the killing is not going to trial, but the victim is guilty of several things that no one has established? usalso was very strange to that he lectured the media -- a media that he and others had no problem with when they leaked the video tape of michael brown in the convenience store, a media that you had no problem making all kinds of favorable stuff for the prosecution, a media you had no problem making things for the officer -- leaking things for the officer. it seems to me he had the use of the media and then has a strange beenion in a town that has been, in a town that has forecast to have all kinds of problems, his solution is, let's announce it at night after dark. [applause] that all there kids are home, that all the students are back for thanksgiving break, and it is dark outside. and we gonna announce it and then i'm going to get up in the dark and castigate the character mike brown, jr. i think it was the responsible. i think it was unnecessarily provocative. but i think it only cleared by many of us said, let's go to the federal government from the first place. he implied last night that the federal government and the state investigation ran hand-in-hand and ended last night. that is not the case. the attorney general has released a statement sing the federal government's investigation continues and the anding and in the review, mr. macola's statement last night but others to believe differently. let me be very clear. we were not surprised by what the outcome was. certainly, it is painful for the mother and father, certainly, there will be emotional reaction. i've never seen a case where there was an. you are dealing with their flesh and blood. the let the record be clear. hearts, butken our you have not broken our backs. >> yesterday, the grand jury .anded down a decision in washington, president obama awarded presidential medal of freedom to three civil rights killers were their not indicted by the state, but by the federal government. are you hoping to the same thing here? and number two, last night, as we covered the protests in front of the ferguson police station, it was packed with riot police, state troopers were there, all the advanced weaponry was there. when we went over to west florissant and expected to be stopped there by the police, as we were at the protest months ago, it was wide open. we saw no state troopers and we hardly saw police. do you think the authorities let ferguson burn? >> yep. [applause] >> let me say to the first part of your question, because i think the second question has been answered. ,he first part of your question and you are probably more aware than most of the media -- if not all -- that are here, it is been the legacy of the civil rights movement they euros had to go to the federal government -- that you always had to go to the federal government and could not depend on the state. whether it was michael brown, junior or schwerner and cheney. we are not in a strange place. we hoped we would be in a different place, but it is not strange. i think it is interesting that on the day that goodman, chaney, and schwerner were given the medal of freedom was the day that bob muculloch decided in the dark hours to announce his state decision on the michael brown case. and eight years ago today, sean bell was killed by police in new york. so all of these things come together. sayink the lawyers -- i , this is not about color. we will do with this [indiscernible] >> that was rev. al sharpton. let's go to president obama's comments monday at the presidential medal of freedom ceremony where among those honored, posthumous, james chaney, andrew goodman, and mickey schwerner, who were killed 50 years ago by the ku klux klan after traveling to mississippi to register black voters. in a white house ceremony, obama noted it took more than four decades to bring the organizer of the murders, edgar ray killen, to justice. >> on june 21, 1964, three young men -- two white and one black -- set out to learn more about the burning of a church in mississippi. james earl chaney, 21 years old. andrew goodman, 20 years old. , 24ael henry schwerner years old. young men. in that freedom summer, these three americans refused to sit on the sidelines. their brutal murder by a gang of ku klux klan shook the conscience of our nation. it took 44 days to find their bodies. 41 years to bring the lead perpetrator to justice. and while they're often remembered for how they died, we honor them today for how they lived. for their idealism and the courage of youth. james, andrew, and michael could not have known the impact it would have on the civil rights movement or in future generations. and here today, in spite of other sacrifice, we continue the fight for the ideals of equality and justice for which they gave their lives. today, we're honored to be joined by james his daughter angela and injures brother david and michael's white rita. >> the presidential medal of freedom is the nation's highest civilian honor. we turn now to excerpts from a documentary titled "neshoba: the price of freedom," which tells the story of the three civil rights activists. quick the civil rights workers have arrived to mississippi to begin a summerlong campaign. they were trained for it on a college campus in ohio. this week another long -- group of volunteers is being taught what to expect to mississippi and how to cope with it. >> they are taught how nonviolently to protect themselves when attacked. >> we're china face a real situation that will occur, namely, there will be a mop at the courthouse. we also want the white students were playing the mob to get used to calling people niggers and nigger lovers. >> there's some mystery and fear concerning three civil rights workers, two whites and new york city and a negro for mississippi. police say they arrested the three men for speeding yesterday but released them after they posted bond. they have not been heard from since. >> first, the known facts. james chaney, andrew goodman, and michael schwerner went to mississippi to help register negroes as voters. chaney was a veteran of the civil rights movement in his home state. he assisted in the training classes. goodman, a new york college student, who never participated in the civil rights movement but a friend says he could never understand how some people could be so lacking in compassion. yorkrner, a seasoned new social worker, left mississippi where he had worked since january to assist in the training school at oxford, ohio. walks the film "neshoba" goes on to document the role local mississippi law enforcement agents and the ku klux klan played in the murder of james chaney, andrew goodman and michael schwerner. >> civil rights workers were missing. they were last seen going up to investigator church burning in neshoba, county. than 12 mostiles, along delaware the church have been burned. that afternoon, the three were seen at the church site at the home of its leader. about 2:30, they headed west towards the little fear. >> chaney was outside changing the tire and he had a flat. there was price. when they pulled up he said, i'm arresting cheney for speeding. schwerner and goodman, for investigation. >> seasonal price, deputy sheriff takes him into jail. somehow, someway the message gets out to the klan and then they have to organize. >> edgar killen gathered a group of guys, one of them go get gloves so they would not have fingerprints. >> by 10:00, price that he located a justice of the peace to find the trio $20. >> they paid the fine and i release them. that is the last time we saw any of them. . >> the boys were driving back from the county jail and started down the road toward meridian and they were stopped by a police car. there would be this group of klan people. >> they arrested them and put them in prices car. >> turn onto a gravel, rural road. >> alton wayne roberts grabbed schwerner and said to him, are -word" lever? >> he said, i understand how you feel. bam the shot him. grabbed goodman. c shot him. han, honestly realizing what is going downey, took off. we know he was shot by several people. him.also apparently beat >> an excerpt from the documentary, "neshoba: the price of freedom." president obama just awarded the presidential medal of freedom to the three civil rights activists posthumously, murder by the klan 50 years ago. james chaney, andrew goodman, and mickey schwerner. john doerr died earlier this month at the age of 92. he was awarded the presidential medal of freedom in 2012. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, we go to cincinnati to speak with a man who was just released from prison this week after almost 40 years, the longest held prisoner ever exonerated. stay with us. ♪ [music break] >> nina simone, "mississippi goddam." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. with juan gonzalez. >> an ohio man has been freed from prison after spending 39 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. ricky jackson, a 59-year old african-american man, had been jailed since 1975 on a murder conviction. the prosecution's case was based on the testimony of a 13-year old witness. after a 2011 investigation, the witness recanted his testimony, saying he had implicated jackson and two others under police coercion. the witness, eddy vernon, said police had fed him the story and threatened him with the arrest of his parents if he didn't cooperate. on friday, ricky jackson was freed after prosecutors dropped the case. >> how does it feel? extraordinary. no words can describe how i feel right now. i'm just glad to be -- >> where you going to go? >> you sit in prison for so long, you think about this day. when it actually comes, you don't -- you just want to do something. besides what you been doing for 39 years. >> when you heard the judge say in hour ago that you are freemen, goodbye, talk about what you are feeling. what was going on that we could not see? >> it was like an emotional roller coaster. the english language doesn't fit what i'm feeling right now. i'm just on an emotional high. >> with nearly four decades wrongfully behind bars, jackson is the longest-held u.s. prisoner to be exonerated. another defendant in the case who served slightly less time, wiley bridgeman, has also been released. well, for more, we go now to cincinnati, ohio, where we're joined by ricky jackson and his lawyer brian howe, a staff attorney with the ohio innocence project. ricky jackson and brian howe, welcome to democracy now! ricky jackson, how does it feel to be free? >> good morning. i'm still getting used to it. it has always been a week. i'm still getting adjusted and acclimated to being out here and not being inside those closed walls, you know. yearsing all of those that you were behind bars, did you ever lose hope or expectation that you would finally be exonerated? tell us about the emotional trials he went through all that time. previously, it is constantly at battle trying to stay positive and some days you get to the point where you don't think you're going to make it. it is just an up-and-down situation. always up-and-down. dance your question, there were times when i thought, this is it for me. this is it. >> ricky, tell us your story, what happened 40 years ago and how it was a 13-year-old child was the key witness against you who now, very ill 40 years later, wanted to come clean. >> well, the case happened in 1975. i was 18 years old at the time. there was a neighborhood store that was robbed by three assailants. vernon became involved in the case and went to the police and said he was a witness. myself, and the other two as the assailants. later, we weres arrested and taken downtown and arraigned. we were held before a lineup. we weren't picked out in a lineup, but unbeknownst to us, we did not know this. we thought everything was ok. nobody came out and said, you guys are being charged, or anything. so we assumed we were getting our obligatory phone call after you are rested and we thought we were going home. that did not turn out to be the case. a few months later, we all went on trial and were charged with capital crimes. lost ourtly, we all trials. we were sent to death row. we were sent to die in the ohio electric chair. we stayed on death row and lingered and wondered and worried for 2.5 years. >> go ahead -- >> there was a lot of debate about the ohio death penalty. nullifieded out, they the death penalty at that time and everybody back there was given a life sentence in prison. ofnow, there was a period time where you were offered the possibility of parole. could you talk about that and your insistence on your innocence? >> yes, sir. my attorney here, mr. brian howe , he came to me one day and said, listen, ricky, this is the situation. there is a deal on the table. you can walk out of here now a free man if you will plead guilty to the charges you're presently incarcerated for. i have to admit, it was a tempting offer. at that time, i have been imprisoned prison so long, i didn't even know what the sky looked like anymore. but it was just something inside of me that said, you can't do this. you've gone too long. you've struggled too hard. you can't do this. you are innocent. you know? yout admit to something didn't do, you are innocent. that was the decision i made. it was the right decision and really, the only decision i could have made. >> brian howe, could you talk about the process of exonerating ricky jackson, the role of dust some initial reporting on the case in the local newspaper and then the innocence project's involvement and the role of two people at the time who were schoolchildren on a bus in terms of being able to get him exonerated? >> yes, thank you. this case was really -- literally, years in the making. when the ohio innocence project first got this case it was before vernon had come fort and recanted. students had spoken with ricky that strongly and sincerely believed in his innocence. they were passionate about the case and that is what kept things going. around three or four years ago, there were some fantastic investigative journalism done by kyle swenson. he continued to find things that suggested maybe there was something wrong with the trial back in 1975 inconsistencies in vernon's stories. in 2013, ed vernon in a hospital room confessed to his pastor he had lied in 1975, and had carried that weight with them over 35, 36 years at that point. his pastor encouraged him to come forward to the innocence project. we continue to work on the case. we found schoolchildren who were with ed vernon on a school bus when the shooting happened. even as recently we for the hearing. the hearing. this was an effort by so many different people. over a dozen law students, the attorney on the case prior to me kerry wood, so many people have put a lot of work into this case. it was something special to be sitting next to ricky here today . it is not something we would have dreamed was possible. >> ricky, i want to go back to the 2011 article published by the cleveland scene laid out the weakness in the case against you. the article notes you were convicted based on the testimony of a 13-year-old boy with poor eyesight and conflicting stories. the boy, eddie vernon, is now a grown man -- and he's since filed an affidavit admitting that he never saw the murder. he also claims that he was threatened by police into identifying you as one of the murderers. vernon told the cleveland scene -- "the detective said that i was too young to go to jail, but he would arrest my parents for perjury because i was backing out. my mom was sick at that time, and that really scared me. i didn't want my parents to get in trouble over this." so, ricky jackson, now you are free. what are your plans for thanksgiving? >> i'm going to be with some good people here in cincinnati. they have prepared a nice dinner for me. just going to relax and enjoy the holiday, play some games, watch some football -- just do normal people stuff, you know? ,> i want to ask brian howe this whole issue we are constantly seeing the stories of people who spend years in prison and then later are exonerated. no one seems to be asking, what is wrong with our criminal justice system that time and again we are having these examples of justice system that just didn't bother to really seek the truth, but rather sort of a conviction -- sought a conviction. human system, and any system run by human beings is always going to have errors. i think is a country we have decided to set the bar to place would hopefully, people prefer guilty people go free than innocent people be convicted, but obviously, that doesn't was happen. lots of people who are trying to do a good job and are sincere in what they're doing, including police and prosecutors, are human beings and make mistakes. the more cases like this that come out, the more aware i think we are aware of the sort of mistakes that can lead to problems like witness it in a vacation, the problem with leading interviews were leading questions and witness interviews, sort of pressures that witnesses can be under. so, hopefully, cases like this it will mean it is rare moving forward and people like ricky won't spend 39 years in prison for something -- >> ricky jackson, as you are released from jail, ferguson is on fire. i was wondering if you have thoughts about this? >> well, first of all, it is a terrible tragedy. unfortunately, is something that seems to be re-occurring in america all too often. think everyone has lost the ability or just doesn't want to talk to each other. i think it all begins with dialogue. sometimes you have to listen to the other side to get an understanding of the entire situation. be moreit needs to dialogue. >> two brothers were convicted with you. brian howe, what has happened to them? >> honestly, they are struggling. they're really struggling right now. i mean, it hasn't been easy for these guys since they got out. >> finally, brian howe -- no, let me ask ricky jackson. you faced death. how close did you come to death and what were your thoughts as an innocent man about to be put to death by the state? well, when you're sentenced to death, they give you a death date and i was back there to .5 years and mine came up. i heard a prison guard coming down the walkway and i thought they were coming for me because it was my day. really, they give you this yellow piece of paper that says you've had a stay of execution pending a house up in court decision. it was -- you are always on edge. situationt a terrible to be in, thinking you could be dead any day now. so the state almost took your life. they did take 40 years of your life. will you be compensated? >> i have no idea, ma'am. could probably answer that better than i could. >> well, it is a long road. certainly, i think he deserves something for the 40 years that was taken from him, but that is something we will just have to see how things move forward. >> it is amazing already, $43,000 has been raised just from people who care about you, ricky jackson will stop we will continue to follow to see what the state will do. ricky jackson has just been released from prison after 39 years for a crime he did not commit. longest held man who is now been exonerated. , staffyer, brian howe attorney with the ohio innocence project. happy holidays to you both. that does it for our broadcast. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to [email protected] or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. 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