John,

According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic incidents are at historic highs across the country. In 2020, the United States recorded more than 2,000 antisemitic acts of assault, vandalism, and harassment — the third-highest year on record since the ADL began tracking in 1979.

With this rise in anti-semitism, it’s important to recognize that the criminal legal system has never been immune from its pernicious and insidious effects, and cases like Barry Jacobson’s remind us of that.

Barry was wrongly convicted of arson in 1983 and sentenced to six months in prison and a $10,000 fine, after a deck on his family’s vacation home in Richmond, Massachusetts, was set on fire. He was wrongly incarcerated based on unreliable arson evidence and a baseless suggestion arising from harmful antisemitic stereotyping that he was looking to make insurance money on the home — although no claim was ever filed.

Take a moment today to read more about Barry’s story and his decades long fight for justice.

Last month, nearly 40 years after Barry’s trial, District Attorney Andrea Harrington agreed that he was wrongfully convicted after a trial fatally impaired by bias, during which jurors made antisemitic remarks about him. His conviction was vacated and the case against him was dismissed.

After the verdict came down, a sitting jury member and an alternate juror came forward with allegations of antisemitic remarks made by other jury members throughout the trial. The sitting juror signed a sworn statement saying, “From the beginning of our deliberations, the forelady of the jury …. repeatedly made references to Mr. Jacobson as being ‘one of those New York Jews who think they can come up here and get away with anything.’"

Also, a renowned fire science expert provided an affidavit that the chain of custody procedures used by the state police officers in the case rendered the key evidence of arson unreliable.

Upon learning the news that his conviction was finally vacated, Barry said, “This wrongful conviction has cast a painful shadow over my life. I am thankful to God, family, and friends. The evils of antisemitism and racism in our legal system must be fought relentlessly.”

Please, learn more about Barry’s case and then share his story with your friends and family online.

Thanks for your support,

Barry Scheck
Co-Founder and Special Counsel
Innocence Project