When Alfred Cleveland learned about Ricky Jackson’s story of wrongful conviction and his release after more than 39 years in prison, he could relate better than most.
“I went and did some research, looking at his cases, and saw all the appeals that were denied,” Cleveland said. “It just made me relive my own denials. … And I said, that’s the part that people need to understand more, what we actually go through, what our families go through and how the community is left with a void.”
Cleveland is trying to highlight the struggles of exonerated men through a new play titled “The Lynched Among Us,” which debuts at Cleveland State University College of Law on Friday. The play, which Cleveland wrote and is directing, features the stories of six men who maintain their innocence. Some have been exonerated while others are still fighting to clear their names.
The play is produced by Voices of Injustice, an advocacy group that Cleveland co-founded to end wrongful convictions. Last year, the members decided storytelling through acting, singing and dance would be a powerful way to share their message and encourage others to join the effort to end wrongful convictions.
“The arts have a way of cutting to the heart,” Cleveland said.
‘I didn’t do it! None of us did.’
In a rehearsal on Wednesday, Michael Sutton tried to keep his composure during a scene depicting his interrogation. Frustrated, he yelled, “I didn’t do it!”
“None of us did,” Sutton said, sitting back down, trying to keep calm. Sutton was reenacting the case in which he and his co-defendant Kenny Phillips were convicted of attempted murder in 2006.
An actor playing the prosecutor raps about his role in the case. “I don’t care if you like me. I need a confession,” the prosecutor said.
As the story continued, videos projected on a screen above a makeshift courtroom showed Sutton lying in his bottom prison bunk on a thin mattress, reading through court files denying his request for a new trial.
A spotlight shined on Sutton as he retold the story of the night he and three others were arrested and of his fight in court to be released and declared wrongfully convicted.
“My family was fighting for me nonstop,” he said, wiping tears from his eyes. “My mother was like Superwoman … she fought harder than me.”
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Exonerees ‘take the steering wheel’ to raise awareness of wrongful conviction
Sutton’s is one of two stories that will be acted out in the play Friday. Others will share their stories in a monologue.
In 2003, Ru-El Sailor was accused of a shooting and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. He was released in 2018.
“We felt it was our time to just take the steering wheel and do our own representation of wrongful conviction,” Sailor said about producing the play.
Sailor now owns a clothing store, Comma Club. The comma represents the continuation of life after a pause or hardship. Comma also stands for Creating Opportunity Making More Achievements, and Club represents the people, he said.
At his clothing store, on East 185th Street in Euclid, Sailor hosts Voices of Injustice meetings, play rehearsals and community conversations that center people affected by the criminal justice system.
‘I saved somebody’s life’
Lamont Clark’s story was dubbed the “Toilet Seat Murder” in headlines from 1992. The way Clark tells his story, he was sitting on the toilet talking to his then-pregnant wife when he handed her a gun and it accidentally went off. He rushed his wife to the hospital, where police eventually arrested him.
Clark cried as he retold his story in a monologue, rubbing his eyes under his sunglasses. Sutton and others in the theater cried too.
Past news reports and court documents say the couple was fighting when the gun went off. He’s still fighting to clear his name.
Charles Jackson spent 28 years in prison, convicted of aggravated murder and attempted murder. He was released in 2019 and declared wrongfully convicted in 2022. His story will be the second one acted out in “The Lynched Among Us.”
During the play, he retells how he fought for his freedom with the help of the Innocence Project. He also talks about his relationship with his nephew, who was going through dialysis as he waited for a kidney donation.
“They thought I was a murderer,” Jackson said as he rehearsed his part of the play. “I saved somebody’s life.”
In sharing their stories, the men have bonded, Cleveland said. The play is their way of sharing that bond and their healing with others.
“We’re like Marines,” he said. “We’ve been in a war together, and … there’s a certain bond that is different than anything else.”
If you go
What: “The Lynched Among Us” play
When: Friday, Oct. 11, 7-9 p.m.
Where: Cleveland State University College of Law, 1801 Euclid Ave.
Tickets: $25, can be purchased online or at the door depending on availability.
