A 71-year-old man was found not guilty in the state of Oklahoma, United States, after passing near 50 years in prison for crime which he did not commit.
Glynn Simmons African American, is the person who has spent the longest time in jail before being exonerated in United States history, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.
Simmons was released in July after serving a total of 48 years, one month and 18 days in prison.
They released a man who was imprisoned for 48 years for a crime he did not commit
Simmons and another man, Don Roberts, were sentenced to death in 1975 for the murder the previous year of a liquor store employee during a robbery in Edmond, Oklahoma. Their sentences were later commuted to life sentences.
Simmons and Roberts They were convicted based on the testimony of a young store customer who was shot in the head and survived.
She pointed to the men in a row of suspects arranged by the police, but a subsequent investigation cast significant doubts on the reliability of the woman’s recognition.
Both men said in court that they were not even in Oklahoma at the time of the murder.
Simmons: “It’s a day I’ve been waiting for a long time”
Federal Judge Amy Palumbo overturned Simmons’ conviction in July and found him not guilty on Tuesday at a hearing in Oklahoma state district court.
“This is a day I’ve waited a long, long time for,” Simmons told reporters. “We can say that justice was finally done today.”
Roberts, a co-defendant with Simmons, was released from prison in 2008, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.
Simmons will now be able to demand compensation. “What has been done cannot be undone, but there could be liabilities,” she said. “That’s what I’m on now. Responsibilities.”
Source: Ambito
