Law Man exonerated after 48 years in prison - Other man exonerated after 12 years because witness was blind

[650lb Sumo]

Glynn Simmons: US judge exonerates inmate after 48 years in prison

Glynn Simmons says his nearly half-century in prison is a "lesson in resilience and tenacity".

www.bbc.co.uk

An Oklahoma judge has exonerated a man who spent 48 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit, the longest known wrongful sentence in the US.

Glynn Simmons, 70, was freed in July after a district court found that crucial evidence in his case was not turned over to his defence lawyers.

On Monday a county district attorney said there was not enough evidence to warrant a new trial.

In an order on Tuesday, Judge Amy Palumbo declared Mr Simmons innocent.

"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," said Oklahoma County District Judge Palumbo in her ruling.

"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."

Mr Simmons served 48 years, one month and 18 days in prison for the 1974 murder of Carolyn Sue Rogers during a liquor store robbery in an Oklahoma City suburb.

Mr Simmons was 22 years old when he and a co-defendant, Don Roberts, were convicted and sentenced to death in 1975.

The punishments were later reduced to life in prison because of US Supreme Court rulings on the death penalty.

Mr Roberts was released on parole in 2008.

 

[HockeyBjj]

Fuck. He was originally sentenced to death. And prosecution buried evidence that their star witness originally identified someone else before changing their mind.

 

[BigSexy444]

Police and Prosecutors care about getting arrests/convictions for career advancement. Getting the right person is just a bonus.

 

[Broke Lester]

How do you make things right for this man?

 

[Joshuaace]

How do you make things right for this man?

Can't even come close.

 

[Sweater of AV]

Terrible. Hope he can enjoy life for a while.

 

[ObsoleteSoul]

Poor soul. He can NEVER get recompensated for that amount of time. Any and all who can still be held accountable, should have their assets taken, and given to him. Even then, time like that just can not have a true monetary value.

 

[Deorum]

Terrible. Hope he can enjoy life for a while.

He's got liver cancer.

 

[650lb Sumo]

Terrible. Hope he can enjoy life for a while.

Poor soul. He can NEVER get recompensated for that amount of time. Any and all who can still be held accountable, should have their assets taken, and given to him. Even then, time like that just can not have a true monetary value.

He's got liver cancer.

Wrongfully convicted people who serve time in Oklahoma are eligible for up to $175,000 (£138,000) in compensation.

Mr Simmons is currently battling liver cancer, according to his GoFundMe [currently at $109,510 of a $50,000 goal], which has raised thousands of dollars to help support his living costs and chemotherapy.

 

[ObsoleteSoul]

Wrongfully convicted people who serve time in Oklahoma are eligible for up to $175,000 (£138,000) in compensation.

Mr Simmons is currently battling liver cancer, according to his GoFundMe [currently at $109,510 of a $50,000 goal], which has raised thousands of dollars to help support his living costs and chemotherapy.

48 years....That is disgustingly low imho, especially considering the whole amount of time he did. For one year, that seems somewhat "reasonable". Once you hit 5 years or more, at the least, then those numbers just make me sad as hell.

I truly hope he can get in some more halfway decent years and help.

 

[650lb Sumo]

In related news:

Darien Harris freed from prison after trial's key witness was found to be blind

Darien Harris was in prison for more than 10 years after the star witness said he committed murder.

www.bbc.co.uk

A Chicago man has been cleared of murder charges after it was revealed that his conviction relied on testimony from a witness who was legally blind.

Darien Harris,

who had been in prison for 12 years, was released from jail on Tuesday after a judge vacated his conviction.

Mr Harris called his release the happiest moment of his life.

"These 12 and ½ years of being gone, it wasn't easy at all," he told reporters. "But I fought, and now I'm here."

Mr Harris was 18 when he was arrested for the 2011 murder of Rondell Moore at a gas station. He was convicted in 2014, just before his high school graduation, and was sentenced to 76 years in prison.

Now 30, Mr Harris walked free just shortly after 6pm local time on Tuesday.

"It doesn't even feel real right now, but I made it," he told reporters outside the Cook County Jail.

At the time of Mr Moore's murder, the only video evidence in the case showed a man - whose identity was difficult to determine - get out of a car, run across the screen and then fire shots off camera.

Mr Harris, who had no prior criminal record, was later picked out of a line-up by Dexter Saffold, the main witness of the shooting, and then charged and convicted.

His lawyers have since sought to reopen the case after Mr Harris discovered that Mr Saffold was legally blind - a fact that was not mentioned during the trial.

"Justice is supposed to be blind. The eyewitness is not supposed to be blind," Mr Harris' lawyer Lauren Myerscough-Mueller said. "That is not how the justice system is supposed to work."

Four years later, in July, Mr Harris was exonerated by a Cook County judge. He was kept in custody while prosecutors planned to retry him, but they have since abandoned their case.

 

[RoastBeast]

Eye witness testimony, whether they're legally blind or not, has always been iffy at best.

Witnesses are easily persuaded by the police when it comes to picking people out of a lineup or photo book.

 

[idrankyourbeer]

Poor soul. He can NEVER get recompensated for that amount of time. Any and all who can still be held accountable, should have their assets taken, and given to him. Even then, time like that just can not have a true monetary value.

i dont know man, there's always the smallest chance they might have gotten it right. i mean you know you really done fucked up when you get identified out of a police lineup by a blind man.

just had to squeeze this lame pun in there. i'll be on my way now.

 

[Siver!]

Police and Prosecutors care about getting arrests/convictions for career advancement. Getting the right person is just a bonus.

Unfortunately there is an element of the law that is more concerned with wins and losses than real people.

It's a sad indictment of society as a whole.

 

[The XL]

Anyone who buries evidence should get the death penalty. Our justice system is so fucked, so corrupt.

 

[jk7707]

This kind of shit happens way too often in our legal system. If you can't afford a good lawyer good luck going up against the police and prosecutors.

It's also why I oppose the death penalty. There's nothing worse the legal system can do than put than innocent person to death.

 

[HARRISON_3]

How do you make things right for this man?

A Coke and a smile?

 

[koquerelle]

How do you make things right for this man?

You can't. It's impossible. They stole his life.

 

[Source]

Our system is broken.

 

[blaseblase]

Fuck. He was originally sentenced to death. And prosecution buried evidence that their star witness originally identified someone else before changing their mind.

Which is why I dont support the death penalty and why no one should unless you support the state executing innocent people. There is no perfect system where everyone who goes to prison is guilty.