US judge exonerates inmate after 48 years in prison

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.

Credit: bbc.com

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