Man Awarded $7M For Nearly 50 Years Of Wrongful Imprisonment

Glynn Ray Simmons has been awarded $7 million by the city of Edmond, Oklahoma.

In February, Glynn Ray Simmons told The Guardian how he dealt with his battle to overturn seemingly the longest miscarriage of justice in American history or what he referred to it as an attempted murder. At the time, Simmons was preparing to sue, but planned to use the money to help others in the same situation.

Now he can.

According to The Associated Press, Simmons, who was wrongfully imprisoned for nearly 50 years, the Edmond City Council voted to award Simmons more than $7 million earlier this week.

According to the National Registry of Exonerations, Simmons maintained that he was in Louisiana at the time of the murder of Carolyn Sue Rogers, a 30-year-old store clerk at a liquor store, in 1974 and had never visited the state of Oklahoma before Jan. 5, 1975, when he came to live with his aunt.

In a motion for amended post-conviction relief filed by his lawyers at the time, Joseph Norwood and John Coyle, in January 2023, they argued that Belinda Brown, an 18-year-old survivor of the shooting at the liquor store, failed to correctly identify Simmons.

The petition also contained a report from Dr. Curt Carlson, a professor at Texas A&M University-Commerce and an eyewitness identification expert. Carlson wrote that he did not believe Simmons committed the murder.

“My review of the testimony and other case documents has led me to conclude that there is no eyewitness evidence that is probative of the defendant’s guilt. Rather, there is evidence indicating the defendant’s innocence.” Carlson wrote.

“Mr. Simmons spent a tragic amount of time incarcerated for a crime he did not commit,” his attorney, Elizabeth Wang, said in a statement. “Although he will never get that time back, this settlement with Edmond will allow him to move forward” with his life.”

According to the lawsuit, police are accused of falsifying a report and withholding evidence that pointed at two other people as suspects. Simmons’ release in July 2023 occurred when a judge vacated his conviction and sentence, and ordered a new trial.

After District Attorney Vickie Behenna announced that she would not seek to retry Simmons, a judge exonerated him in December 2023, saying there was “clear and convincing evidence” that he didn’t actually commit the crime. Simmons was originally sentenced to death before his sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1977. Prior to the ruling by the city council, Simmons had only received $177,000 from the state for his wrongful incarceration.