OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma man who served the longest wrongful imprisonment in U.S. history has now been formally declared innocent of a murder he has always maintained he did not commit.
Oklahoma County District Court Judge Amy Palumbo ruled in favor of Glynn Simmons, 71, updating the dismissal of his murder conviction with a declaration of “actual innocence” Tuesday.
Simmons had been convicted of the December 1974 murder of Carolyn Sue Rogers, who died after being shot during an Edmond liquor store robbery. He was imprisoned for more than 48 years and a former death row inmate, according to data from The National Registry of Exonerations.
Palumbo said she had reviewed decades’ worth of transcripts, reports, testimony and other evidence while preparing to make her decision before granting Simmons’ request.
“This Court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the offense for which Mr. Simmons was convicted, sentenced and imprisoned in the case at hand, including any lesser included offenses, was not committed by Mr. Simmons,” Palumbo said.
Simmons said Palumbo’s ruling Tuesday was a confirmation of something he had known all along for nearly 50 years: that he was an innocent man.
“This is the day we’ve been waiting on for a long, long time. It finally came,” Simmons said. “We can say justice was done today, finally, and I’m happy.”
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