A seventy-one year old man identified as Glynn Simmons, has been acquitted after spending fifty years in prison. In what has been regarded as longest wrongful sentence served in the US, in 1975, Glynn Simmons was wrongfully convicted of a murder committed in 1974 at liquor store. He was 22 years old at the time of his conviction and despite repeated proclamations of his innocence, Glynn was initially sentenced to death until it was reduced to life in prison in 1977 as a result of Supreme court rulings on capital punishment.
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Glynn Simmons was released after prosecutors agreed that key evidence in his case was not turned over to his defence and the judge ordered a new trial in July.The ruling makes Mr Simmons eligible for up to $US175,000 ($260,000) in compensation from the state for wrongful conviction and opens the door for a federal lawsuit against Oklahoma City and law enforcement involved in his arrest and conviction. Speaking to the press on his exoneration after decades in prison, Mr Simmons stated that he felt vindicated after his time in prison, which included initially being sentenced to death row. In his words: "It's a lesson in resilience and tenacity, don't let nobody tell you that it [exoneration] can't happen, because it really can."
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