Oklahoma to award compensation to Glynn Simmons after 48 years of wrongful imprisonment

The longest-served exonerated man in U.S. history is now being compensated by the state that wrongfully imprisoned him for nearly five decades.

Glynn Simmons, 70, will receive $175,000 from the state of Oklahoma in response to a tort claim filed earlier this year. Simmons had served more than 48 years in prison for a 1974 murder he has always maintained he never committed — and for which he was officially exonerated by an Oklahoma judge in December.

The settlement was approved June 20 by Oklahoma County District Court Judge Sheila Stinson. An application had been submitted a week beforehand by Assistant Attorney General Julie Jones Corley, who requested the settlement be approved under the state’s Governmental Tort Claims Act.

“This settlement and compromise, in complete satisfaction of any and all demands by (Simmons) resulting from his claim against the State of Oklahoma, and without admission of liability, is in the best interest of the State of Oklahoma and should be approved by the District Court and entered as a judgment as provided by law,” Corley wrote.

Related: After 48 years of imprisonment, Glynn Simmons formally exonerated in Oklahoma

What to know about Glynn Simmons' case

Simmons was convicted in 1975 of the first-degree murder of Carolyn Sue Rogers, 40, during a 1974 Edmond liquor store robbery. But Simmons and several alibi witnesses testified at trial that he was in his hometown of Harvey, Louisiana, just outside of New Orleans, when the murder occurred.

Simmons also maintained he did not move to Oklahoma City until January 1975 in hopes of finding work. But an all-white jury still found him and another Black man, Don Roberts, guilty. Their initial death row sentences were modified in 1977 to life in prison after a U.S. Supreme Court decision on capital punishment.

Roberts, now 71, was released on parole in 2008, but Simmons was not released from prison until 2023. His wrongful murder conviction was vacated upon request of Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna, after evidence from a police lineup report supporting Simmons' innocence — and withheld from Simmons’ trial lawyer and from prosecutors — came to light.

Simmons, who has battled cancer since his release from prison, has largely depended on an online fundraising campaign to make ends meet. While grateful for the expected tort claim compensation, Simmons said he also felt "disappointed" because he knows he is owed much more.

"I’m always with this attitude of gratitude, but $175,000 after 48 years of incarceration? And yet you gave the private prison complex $48 a day to keep me locked up? I think it’s a mockery," Simmons said. "For me, the only pure language is mathematics. When you add it up, it ain’t right, and no one’s really saying anything about it."

"But I know the only way we can change it is through legislation, because everything is done by the law," Simmons continued. "I don’t know how you do it, but it’s not right. You can’t never compensate me for what you’ve done, but don’t slap me in the face."

The real alternative, Simmons said, is accountability. A civil lawsuit was filed by Simmons in federal court earlier this year, accusing police with Edmond and Oklahoma City of violating his constitutional rights and alleging the investigators falsified reports that led to his conviction. Simmons is seeking millions of dollars in damages.

Joe Norwood, Simmons’ Tulsa-based attorney, said a jury trial is set in Simmons' civil case next spring.

"We are going to focus on preparing for that and making it happen," Norwood said. "Hopefully at some point Edmond and Oklahoma City agree to resolve the matter. But our focus is being ready to jury try his case in March 2025."

In the meantime, Roberts, whose conviction still stands, is hoping to see a determination of innocence in his case along the same grounds as Simmons.

Most recently, Simmons celebrated the Friday launch of his Free Man’s Food Truck in northeast Oklahoma City, selling catfish, burgers, hotdogs and fries. He said the concept grew out of conversations he had while incarcerated with chef Andre Armstrong, a former cellmate who was released eight years ago and is now the new food truck's general manager.

The food truck’s name, however, is inspired by something said to him last year by KFOR-TV reporter Ali Meyer, who has covered Simmons’ case extensively over the past two decades.

“The judge had them take the shackles off me and said I was free to go,” Simmons remembered. “When I walked out of the courtroom going outside, there was a whole slew of reporters in the crowd, trying to get an interview. I kept walking towards the door, because freedom was calling, but out of all of the noise, I heard someone saying, ‘Where you going, free man? Free man, where are you going?’ And I looked back, and it was Ali Meyer. So, the name ‘Free Man’ stuck.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma to award compensation to Glynn Simmons after 48 years of wrongful imprisonment