After 48 years in prison,judge declares convicted man innocent of crime
A 70-year-old man, Glynn Simmons, has been exonerated after a United States judge ruled that he was not involved in the crime he was accused of and jailed for, BBC reports Thursday.
Simmons had served 48 years, one month and 18 days, almost half a century; in prison for the murder of Carolyn Rogers during a liquor store robbery in an Oklahoma City suburb.
In an order on Tuesday, Oklahoma County District Judge, Amy Palumbo, exonerated Simmons.
“This court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the offence for which Mr. Simmons was convicted, sentenced and imprisoned… was not committed by Mr. Simmons,” Palumbo said in a ruling.
Reacting to the judgment, Simmons said, “It’s a lesson in resilience and tenacity,” Mr Simmons told reporters after the decision, according to the Associated Press. “Don’t let nobody tell you that it can’t happen, because it really can.”
At the time of his arrest, Simmons was 22 years old – making him the longest-serving inmate to be cleared, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.
