In the winter of 1990, Ron Jacobsen was arrested for the kidnapping and rape of a Georgia woman, despite having an alibi — he was hundreds of miles away in Tennessee with his fiancé and her family at the time of the crime.
After spending nearly 30 years in prison, Ron’s conviction was overturned in 2019 based on DNA evidence that excluded him as the attacker. For most wrongfully convicted people, this is where the nightmare would end — not for Ron. Despite the DNA evidence, the Newton County District Attorney’s office has refused to dismiss charges and told the court it plans to retry the case.
More than 20 months have gone by since his conviction was overturned. Ron has been held in the county jail without bail and without the state of Georgia taking steps toward a new trial, even as a global pandemic quickly spread through prisons and jails.
If Ron was willing to plead guilty he could have received time served and gone home several months ago.
But Ron is determined to prove his innocence, and refused to admit to a crime he did not commit even knowing it could mean months or even years more incarceration.
At a hearing earlier this week, the court finally set bail. The DA’s office took the position that Ron should not have bail or it should be $50,000. But the court set it ten times higher at $500,000.
The Innocence Project exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. www.innocenceproject.org
