Media Coverage
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Defense Diaries Podcast: The Wrongful Conviction of Willie T. Donald: The Fight for Freedom
July 24, 2025
Dr. Nicky Jackson, Executive Director of The Center for Justice and Exoneration Network at Purdue Northwest and Willie “Timmy” Donald join us to tell the full story of Timmy’s fight for exoneration after spending 24 years in prison as an innocent man. It’s an incredible story of perseverance and hope…
If you truly care about righting wrongful convictions, this is a live you will NOT want to miss.
Wrongful Convictions & Cold Cases: An Interview with Dr. Nicky Ali Jackson regarding the Chris Bynum Case
August 5, 2024
In this fourth episode of “Wrongful Convictions & Cold Cases,” Andy interviews Dr. Nicky Ali Jackson, a Professor of Criminal Justice at Purdue University Northwest, regarding the case of Chris Bynum, who was convicted in 2001 of murdering five people in Gary, Indiana. Mr. Bynum has been incarcerated for over two decades and Dr. Jackson has been advocating for Mr. Bynum’s exoneration. It’s a complex case with some shocking revelations, twists and turns.
Listen to the Episode on YouTube
CrimeCon hosts PNW Professor Nicky Jackson
June 16, 2024
Purdue Northwest Professor and criminologist Nicky Jackson and Timmy Donald sat on a panel at CrimeCon which discussed Donald’s wrongful conviction.
Professor Nicky Ali Jackson receives 2023 Heart of Indiana Torchbearer Award
October 17, 2023
Nicky Ali Jackson, professor of Criminal Justice and executive director for the Center for Justice and Exoneration Network (CJEN) at Purdue University Northwest (PNW), was awarded the 2023 Heart of Indiana Torchbearer Award by the Indiana Commission for Women.
A Coerced Confession?
July 22, 2023
Nicky Ali Jackson, executive director of Purdue University Northwest’s Center for Justice and Exoneration Network in Hammond, was quoted recently in the Chicago Sun-Times article about Cleveland “Christopher” Bynum, a Gary man serving a 300-year sentence for 5 killings another man later confessed to.
Did He Murder Five People or Was He Framed?
July 6, 2023
Chris Bynum was convicted of murdering Anthony Jeffers, Susan Wallace, Angela Wallace, Daily Ayers and Sheila Bartee. Join Profiling Evil and Dr. Nicky Jackson as we discuss the Cleveland “Chris” Bynum case and decide whether he was wrongly convicted or if he should serve his entire sentence.
Team fights for justice
Indiana center aims to reform system, support exonerees
May 21, 2023
Since Purdue University Northwest’s Center for Justice and Exoneration Network’s Grand Reveal Dinner in September, the team has been hard at work.
Between securing a grant to create a program to educate police officers on wrongful convictions to providing financial assistance to exonerees, the center is striving to eliminate flaws in the justice system.
Righteous Convictions: Dr. Nicky Ali Jackson on treating the trauma that stems from being wrongfully convicted
October 25, 2022
Dr. Nicky Ali Jackson works at Purdue University Northwest (PNW) where she serves as a Professor of Criminal Justice in the Department of Behavioral Sciences, and the Executive Director of the Center for Justice and Exoneration Network. She also serves as President of the Willie T. Donald Exoneration Advisory Coalition and is a 2021 recipient of the prestigious Sagamore of the Wabash Award, the highest civilian honor bestowed by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb for her humanity and service to the citizens of Indiana.
Wrongful Conviction: Jason Flom with Willie Timmy Donald
October 20, 2022
On February 27, 1992, Bernard Jiminez, along with his wife, Kimberly Belinsky, and three children, were robbed at gunpoint in a neighborhood in Gary, Indiana. Bernard and the gunman struggled and Bernard was fatally shot. Belinsky selected 23-year-old Willie “Timmy” Donald out of a photo lineup, believing he was the gunman. Another woman who was robbed in her home that same day selected Donald as well.
Both women described their robbers similarly; they mentioned that the man had a severely scarred complexion, while Donald had no acne or other scars on his face. At the time of the robberies, Donald was car shopping with his sister and her partner. They both testified as to Donald’s whereabouts that day as did the car salesmen. With no physical or forensic evidence tying Donald to the crime, he was still charged and convicted of first-degree murder and two counts of armed robbery, and sentenced to 60 years in prison.
CJPA Launches Work to Fight Miscarriages of Justice
Exoneree Timmy Donald, Nicky Jackson and Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb chat before the start of the Center for Justice and Exoneration Network dinner.
September 22, 2022
The Center for Justice and Exoneration Network at PNW has begun research and advocacy work to meet its mission of averting miscarriages of justice for prisoners experiencing wrongful convictions and exonerees.
The grand reveal dinner served as a gathering of socially conscious individuals and led to an elegant evening of laughter and insightful dialogue.
Photo: John J. Watkins, The Times
People Magazine Investigates 606: Alibi
June 20, 2022
On February 27, 1992, a series of brazen armed robberies occurred in the Glen Park neighborhood of Gary, Indiana. One of the robberies ends with the fatal shooting of Benard Jimenez just outside his own front door. Surviving victims and witnesses all describe the same assailant, an African-American male with a thin build and scarred face.
When two of the victims pick out the man in a photo line-up they believe robbed them, detectives immediately arrest 23-year-old Willie Tiimmy Donald and charge him with the robberies and homicide. Though Timmy has an alibi – he was with his sister and future brother-in-law that day. Four months later, a jury convicts Timmy based on eyewitness testimony, sentencing him to 60 years. However, Timmy professes his innocence, and the Donalds refuse to give up hope, working tirelessly to clear Timmy’s name and overturn the conviction. But it’s not until someone decides to come forward that Timmy’s fate changes forever.
Family values: Professors become first father/daughter duo to become Sagamore award winners
December 7, 2021
Mir Ali and Nicky Ali Jackson are the first father and daughter to both be awarded the Sagamore of the Wabash.
Read the Current Publishing Story
Purdue Northwest Associate Professor Nicky Ali Jackson awarded Sagamore of the Wabash
PNW’s Nicky Jackson receives the Sagamore of the Wabash.
August 31, 2021
PNW Associate Professor of Criminal Justice Nicky Ali Jackson was honored Monday, Aug. 30 with the Sagamore of the Wabash, one of the highest civilian honors bestowed by the sitting Indiana governor in recognition of service to the state or the governor.
Timmy Donald: Surveillance Should Have Saved Me
Timmy Donald didn’t match the suspect description, and he had multiple witnesses who could verify his alibi. But that didn’t stop him from being convicted for a crime he didn’t commit.
Watch the Video From Daily Blast LIVE
Man Who Spent 24 Years in Prison on Wrongful Conviction Teams with Professor to Help Other Exonerees
May 12, 2021
Exoneree Willie T. Donald and Dr. Nicky Jackson of Purdue University Northwest work together to help wrongly convicted people in their post-prison lives.
Kim Kardashian visits Purdue University Northwest criminal justice class
Purdue University Northwest students received a visit from Kim Kardashian (upper left corner) while discussing wrongful conviction and mass incarceration in Associate Professor Nicky Ali Jackson’s Wrongful Convictions class.
February 12, 2021
Students in Purdue University Northwest (PNW) Associate Professor Nicky Ali Jackson’s Wrongful Convictions class were astonished and thrilled Thursday (Feb. 11) when Kim Kardashian joined their Zoom class to discuss her work on wrongful conviction and mass incarceration.
Wrongful Conviction: The Exoneration of Willie T. Donald
December 23, 2020
True Crime Daily Podcast: Our guest is Willie “Timmy” Donald, an Indiana man wrongly convicted of robbery and murder who served more than 20 years in prison before he was exonerated. We discuss how Mr. Donald went car-shopping with family one night in 1992 and ended up in a police lineup, how police and prosecutors let the wrong man go to prison — and what has changed since.
