Mr Simmons is currently battling liver cancer
In 1975, an Oklahoma man was convicted of murder in connection with a liquor store robbery. However, on Tuesday, authorities announced that he had been exonerated in court after spending over 48 years in prison, the New York Times reported.
According to the National Registry of Exonerations, this case is believed to represent the longest time served by a wrongly convicted inmate in the United States, tracking the duration of sentences for such cases.
Glynn Simmons, now 70, was declared innocent in a ruling by Judge Amy Palumbo of Oklahoma County District Court. His release on bond occurred in July, following a status hearing during which Judge Palumbo, at the request of Vicki Zemp Behenna, the Oklahoma County district attorney, agreed to vacate the judgment and sentence. Behenna had been reviewing Simmons’s case and discovered that crucial evidence had not been disclosed to his defence lawyers, the media outlet reported.
The order signed by Judge Palumbo on Tuesday said that the court found “by clear and convincing evidence” that the crime that Mr. Simmons was imprisoned for “was not committed by Mr. Simmons.”
As per the exonerations’ registry, Mr Simmons spent more time behind bars- 48 years, one month and 18 days- than any other person cleared of charges.
“It’s a lesson in resilience and tenacity,” Mr. Simmons said of his case during a news conference after the ruling. “Don’t let nobody tell you that it can’t happen, because it really can.”
Mr Simmons was 22 when he was convicted of first-degree murder in a liquor store robbery that happened in Edmond, Okla in December 1974, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. He and Clark Roberts were convicted of killing Carolyn Sue Rogers, a clerk who was shot in the head by two robbers, the registry said.
Glynn Simmons maintained that he was in his home state of Louisiana at the moment of the murder.
In July, a district court nullified his sentence after determining that prosecutors had failed to disclose all evidence to the defence, including the fact that a witness had identified alternative suspects.
Mr Simmons and Mr Roberts faced convictions partially based on the testimony of a teenager who had been shot in the back of the head. This teenager had pointed out several other men during police line-ups.
Mr Roberts was released on parole in 2008.
According to BBC, wrongfully convicted people who serve time in Oklahoma are eligible for up to $175,000 in compensation.