New York University Review of Law and Social Change
1990/1991
Challenging the Death Penalty: A Colloquium
Part Two
INEVITABLE ERROR: WRONGFUL NEW YORK STATE HOMICIDE CONVICTIONS, 1965-1988
by Marty I. Rosenbaum

Excerpt

Eric (Erick) Jackson was convicted of arson and six counts of murder in Kings County, for the 1978 deaths of six New York City firefighters who died while fighting a fire in a supermarket. He was sentenced to twenty-five years to life in prison.1 The firefighters’ widows hired an attorney, Robert Sullivan, to bring a lawsuit for civil damages. In the course of preparing that lawsuit, Sullivan concluded that Jackson was innocent. Sullivan turned his efforts toward obtaining Jackson’s release. Those efforts paid off in November, 1988, when Supreme Court Justice Joseph Slavin—who presided over Jackson’s original trial—found that the Brooklyn district attorney had unlawfully withheld information from the defense.2 This information included a fire marshall’s report that there had been “four separate and distinct fires” in the supermarket, of which only one caused the deaths of the firefighters. In addition, a New York City Police detective who had been involved in the investigation concluded that the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit, and said that he had repeatedly told this to the District Attorney’s office.3 Jackson’s conviction was vacated and he was released November 3, 1988. Robert G. Sullivan, Jackson’s attorney, was recognized by the New York State Bar Association for his efforts in the case.4 Jackson served nearly ten years in prison for the wrongful conviction.5

Footnotes

1. N.Y. Times, Nov. 4, 1988, at B1, col. 2.
 
2. People v. Jackson, 142 Misc.2d 853, 854, 538 N.Y.S.2d 677 (N.Y.Sup.Ct., Kings County 1988), aff’d, 162 A.D.2d 470, 556 N.Y.S.2d 115 (2d Dep’t 1990), appeal granted, 76 N.Y.2d 894, 562 N.E.2d 881, 561 N.Y.S.2d 556 (1990) (appeal argued May 31, 1991).
 
3. N.Y. Times, supra note 101, at B6, col. 4.
 
4. State Bar News, March 1989, at 13, col. 2 (published by the N.Y. State Bar Association).
 
5. N.Y. Times, supra note 101, at B1, col. 2.