Man Wrongfully Imprisoned for Nearly 50 Years to Receive Over $7 Million in Compensation
A 71-year-old man from Oklahoma, who spent 48 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, will receive $7.15 million in compensation from the city that wrongfully convicted him of murder.
In 1975, Glynn Ray Simmons and Don Roberts were sentenced to death for the murder of a 30-year-old liquor store clerk during a robbery in Edmond, Oklahoma, the previous year. Their convictions were based on the testimony of a female customer who survived being shot in the head during the robbery and later identified the two men in a police lineup. However, a subsequent investigation cast significant doubt on the reliability of her identification.
Both men testified at their trial that they were not even in Oklahoma at the time of the murder. Simmons maintained that he was in Louisiana.
In 1977, their death sentences were commuted to life in prison following U.S. Supreme Court rulings related to capital punishment. Roberts was pardoned in 2008.
In July of last year, federal judge Amy Palumbo vacated Simmons’ conviction and ordered a retrial. Five months later, he was released from prison and declared innocent. Simmons also received $175,000 from the state of Oklahoma as compensation for his wrongful conviction. According to a project by three U.S. universities studying exonerations, Simmons served longer than any other exonerated prisoner in U.S. history—48 years, one month, and 18 days.
On August 12, the Edmond City Council voted to settle Simmons’ lawsuits, agreeing to pay him $7.15 million in compensation.
Simmons’ attorneys stated that this amount “only partially resolves” his lawsuit against the “city and police department for fabricating evidence to frame him for murder.”
“Simmons spent far too long in prison for a crime he did not commit. While he can never get those years back, this settlement will help him move forward with his life and pursue justice against those responsible for his wrongful imprisonment,” said attorney Elizabeth Wang.
Simmons’ lawsuit also alleges that police withheld evidence showing that the witness had identified two other individuals as suspects.
