A Marriage That Started With a Search for Justice

Jerome Dixon, who always maintained his innocence during his 21 years in prison, met Raha Dixon two years ago at a talk about racism and social change.

Jerome Dixon spent 21 years in prison for a murder he maintains he did not commit. Raha Lewis is a red carpet writer whose mother is a designer to the stars. A scholarly talk on racism brought them together, and a Hot Wheels racetrack for her son sealed their union. On July 25, 1990, Mr. Dixon, then 17, was taken into custody by Oakland, Calif., police on suspicion of murder. He was interrogated by police investigators for 25 hours with neither a parent nor a lawyer present. He doesn’t recall if he waived his Miranda rights that night, and even if he did waive them, he has said he is sure his teenage self did not understand what those constitutional rights meant or what it meant to give them up. He was exhausted and felt the only way out of the room was to tell the investigators what they wanted to hear. It wasn’t until he signed a confession, that he was allowed to make his first phone call. He called his mother.