In a landmark decision, the city of Edmond, Oklahoma, has agreed to pay $7.15 million to Glynn Simmons, a 71-year-old man who was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent nearly five decades in prison.
This settlement, approved by city councillors on Monday, marks a significant step towards justice for Simmons, who was exonerated last year after serving 48 years, one month, and 18 days behind bars.
Simmons, who is Black, holds the tragic distinction of having served more time in prison before being exonerated than any other inmate in U.S. history, according to The National Registry of Exonerations.
His wrongful conviction stems from the 1974 murder of a liquor store clerk in Edmond, for which he and another man, Don Roberts, were sentenced to death in 1975.
Their sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment.
The case against Simmons and Roberts relied solely on the testimony of a teenage customer who survived being shot in the head during the robbery and identified the men in a police lineup.
However, a subsequent investigation cast serious doubts on the reliability of her identification, and both men maintained that they were not even in Oklahoma at the time of the crime.
Lead attorney Elizabeth Wang, representing Simmons, called the settlement a “partial settlement” of Simmons’s lawsuit, which alleges that police officers falsified evidence to frame him for the murder.
“Mr. Simmons spent a tragic amount of time incarcerated for a crime he did not commit,” Wang said.
“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 lead detective involved in his case.
A spokesperson for Edmond declined to comment on the settlement when approached by AFP.
Simmons’s co-defendant, Don Roberts, was released from prison in 2008.
Meanwhile, Simmons’s conviction was overturned by U.S. District Court Judge Amy Palumbo in July last year, and he was officially declared innocent in December.
This settlement represents a significant, though incomplete, victory for Simmons as he continues to seek full justice for the nearly 50 years he lost due to the wrongful conviction.