OIP-u Tiffin University

04/01/2026

The Tiffin University Ohio Innocence Project Chapter (OIP-u: TU) will present a special movie night featuring the award-winning documentary “Lovely Jackson” Thursday, April 2, at 6:30 p.m. in Main 23 on the Tiffin University campus. The event is free and open to the public.

“Lovely Jackson” is a documentary about Rickey Jackson who was falsely convicted of murder at age 18 in 1975. An Ohio Innocence Project investigation earned him a new trial in 2014 where the prosecution dropped all charges; Jackson was cleared and released after spending 39 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. At the time of his release, Jackson had the distinction of having spent the longest time in prison of any exoneree in the United States. In the award-winning documentary, Jackson returns to the very prison where he was once held and, alongside professional actors, reenacts moments from his life. The film uses Jackson’s own voice to narrate his story of wrongful conviction and survival.

02/25/2026

Great OIP-u TU event last night with Robert McClendon. The mix of TU students and community members in the audience were clearly captivated by Robert's story. He was wrongfully charged and convicted of kidnapping and ra**ng his 10-year-old daughter.

He steadfastly maintained his innocence, but the courts denied him the right to a DNA test three different times. The Ohio Innocence Project (OIP) got involved after working closely with reporters from the Columbus Dispatch in 2007 and 2008 to evaluate cases where the defendant was wrongfully convicted and denied DNA testing. An Ohio lab conducted testing on DNA obtained from the underwear and found that it did not match the sample taken from McClendon. He was freed on August 12, 2008 after serving close to 17 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

Since its inception in 2003, the Ohio Innocence Project has released 43 wrongfully convicted Ohioans who have spent over 800 years total in prison for crimes they did not commit making it one of the top performing members among the international Innocence Network.

OIP-u TU is an undergraduate-run extracurricular group, which belongs and reports to the greater OIP umbrella organization. Their mission is to further the goals of the collective, as well as provide educational and awareness-based programming about wrongful convictions and the legal system both on campus and locally. They are also affiliated with the Tiffin University School of Criminal Justice and Social Sciences.

01/23/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16mFH5Ukxp/

In 1998, Messiah Johnson was sentenced to 132 years in prison for robbery and related convictions. Johnson, of Norfolk, Virginia, was pardoned in 2021, after another man came forward and said he was one of the robbers and Johnson was not involved in the crime.

To read the full history of this case, visit https://exonerationregistry.org/cases/19223. You can also find more than 3,750 additional case histories, which can be accessed through the Explore Exonerations tool, on our home page at exonerationregistry.org.

12/27/2025

https://newsantaana.com/57-criminal-cases-unraveled-because-of-the-ocdas-snitching-program-doj-probe-ends/

SANTA ANA, Calif. – Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer is pleased to announce the successful conclusion of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into the use of…

12/17/2025

Texas also saw counties set the fewest new ex*****on dates in at least three decades, according to an annual report by the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Harris County was an outlier in that trend.

12/13/2025

On Cincinnati Edition, we discuss the data and explore the challenges.

12/12/2025

The Mississippi Court of Appeals has granted a new trial to a West Point woman convicted of first-degree murder in a decision handed down Tuesday.

12/12/2025

11/22/2025

11/21/2025

Join the entire OIP community in sending out best wishes on the occasion of his Freedom Day anniversary to our client Rickey Jackson!

Rickey was freed in 2014 after 39 years of , what would seem to be a lifetime to many people. But through his spirit and zest for life, Rickey has packed a lifetime worth of accomplishments into the 11 years of freedom he has enjoyed since, much of it documented in the docu-drama film "Lovely Jackson," now available for viewing on Amazon Prime.

Anyone lucky enough to have met Rickey knows his is a special story. Please join us in sending best wishes to him on this anniversary day.