Judge dismisses 2nd man charged in 1975 slaying
By MARK GILLISPIE and JOHN SEEWER, Associated Press
Nov 21, 2014 10:12 AM CST
This photo provided by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections shows Wiley Bridgeman. The Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office has filed a motion dismissing aggravated murder cases against three men falsely accused of killing a businessman outside a corner store in Cleveland in 1975. Fifty-seven-year-old...   (Associated Press)

CLEVELAND (AP) — A judge has dismissed the case against a second man nearly 40 years after he and two others were convicted in a 1975 Cleveland slaying.

A little less than two hours after dismissing 57-year-old Ricky Jackson on Friday, Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH'-guh) County Common Pleas Judge Richard McMonagle did the same in the case of 60-year-old Wiley Bridgeman.

The dismissals came after the key witness against Jackson, Bridgeman and his brother Ronnie Bridgeman at trial, a 13-year-old boy, recanted last year and said Cleveland police detectives coerced him into testifying that the three killed businessman Harry Franks the afternoon of May 19, 1975.

Bridgeman, appearing in court Friday with graying hair, thanked the judge and the attorneys involved, saying "It's been a long odyssey for me."