By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
A 71-year-old man who spent 48 years in jail over a crime he was wrongly imprisoned for will receive a $7.15 million settlement from the city responsible for his wrongful conviction.
Glynn Simmons, holds the record for serving the longest time in prison before being exonerated in U.S. history, according to The National Registry of Exonerations.
Simmons was released last year after enduring 48 years, one month, and 18 days of wrongful imprisonment.
The city council of Edmond, Oklahoma, voted on Monday to approve a settlement that would compensate Simmons and settle claims against the city and a detective linked to his conviction, as revealed by public records.
Simmons’ legal team described the settlement as a “partial resolution” of his lawsuit, which alleges that city officials and police officers fabricated evidence to frame him for murder.
Lead attorney Elizabeth Wang said, “Mr. Simmons spent a tragic amount of time incarcerated for a crime he did not commit.
Although he will never get that time back, this settlement with Edmond will allow him to move forward while also continuing to press his claims against Oklahoma City and a leading detective.”
In 1975, Simmons and another man, Don Roberts, were sentenced to death for the murder of a 30-year-old liquor store clerk during a robbery in Edmond the previous year. Their sentences were later reduced to life in prison.
The conviction of both men was based solely on the testimony of a teenage customer who survived being shot in the head during the robbery.
Although she identified them in a police lineup, a later investigation cast serious doubt on the accuracy of her identification.
Both Simmons and Roberts testified during their trial that they were not even in Oklahoma at the time of the crime.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Palumbo overturned Simmons’s conviction in July of last year, and he was officially declared innocent in December.
Roberts, who was also wrongfully convicted, was released from prison in 2008, according to The National Registry of Exonerations, a project by three U.S. universities.