A completely improvised comedy show based on true, funny stories from Boom Chicago cast members. Those stories turn into great scenes and hysterical songs right before your eyes! You won’t believe it’s improvised! Long form improv at its finest!
Quick Details
Tuesday, June 14 @ 20:00 – 22:00
Rickey Jackson | Surviving Injustice
Rickey Jackson was sentenced to 39 years in prison for crimes he didn’t commit. Innocent, and unjustly convicted of murder and robbery, his is the longest wrongful imprisonment in US history. The John Adams Institute is honored to host Rickey, who will share the lessons he learned about freedom and forgiveness.
The sole evidence against Rickey was the false, coerced eyewitness testimony of a 12-year-old boy. The boy later tried to back out of the lie, but the police told him it was too late to change his story. In 2011, attorneys with the Ohio Innocence Project filed a petition for a new trial, and in November 2014 the charges against Rickey were dismissed.
The Innocence Project is a nationwide organization which exonerates the wrongly convicted and works to reform the criminal justice system. After the talk by Jackson, we will be joined by Mark Godsey, director of the Innocence Project in Ohio, one of the most successful chapters of this non-profit organization. Godsey wrote a book called Blind Injustice about his work. He will discuss how wrongful convictions devastate lives and families, and how Black people are disproportionately criminalized in the US penal system. Mark and Rickey will be joined by Bas Kniphorst, Managing Director, Legal & Regulatory, Benelux at Wolters Kluwer.