Aston Lukoye
After over 48 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, a 71-year-old man in the US state of Oklahoma was ruled not guilty.
The National Registry of Exonerations states that Glynn Simmons, a Black prisoner, served the longest sentence in US history before being found not guilty of any crime.
Before his release in July, Simmons served 48 years, one month, and eighteen days in prison.
Don Roberts and Simmons were given the death penalty in 1975 for the previous year’s heist that claimed the life of a thirty-year-old liquor store clerk in Edmond, Oklahoma.
Their sentences were then lowered to life in prison.
Simmons and Roberts were found guilty only because of the testimony of an adolescent customer who had been shot in the head during the crime but had survived.
She recognised them from a police lineup, but following an investigation, her identifications’ veracity was called into significant doubt.
Both men had claimed during their trial that they had not been in Oklahoma at the time of the murder.
Judge Amy Palumbo of the US District Court declared Simmons innocent during a hearing in Oklahoma County District Court on Tuesday, finding him not guilty of the conviction from July.
Simmons told reporters, “This is a day we’ve been waiting for a long, long time.” “Today, justice was served, at last.”
recompense following years spent behind bars
Roberts, who was also a co-defendant with Simmons, was released from prison in 2008, according to The National Registry of Exonerations.
Simmons might now be eligible for payment.
“What has been done is irreversible, but there may be consequences,” he declared. That’s what I’m currently focused on. Responsibility.
