Glynn Ray Simmons, 71, who spent five decades in prison and was previously sentenced to death, is set to receive $7.15 million in compensation following his exoneration.
The Edmond City Council, a suburb of Oklahoma City, approved the settlement on August 12, following a lawsuit Simmons filed against the city, as reported by the Associated Press.
Simmons was convicted in 1975 for the murder of Carolyn Rogers, a liquor store clerk, during a robbery that occurred the previous year. He maintained his innocence, asserting that he was in Louisiana at the time of the crime. Simmons claimed that police falsified their report and that crucial evidence was withheld by the prosecution.
Initially sentenced to death, Simmons’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after a 1977 Supreme Court ruling on capital punishment. In July 2023, a judge vacated Simmons's sentence and ordered a new trial. Two months later, Oklahoma County District Attorney Vickie Behenna announced that the case would not be retried due to the lack of physical evidence. By the end of the year, Simmons was formally exonerated and received $175,000 from the state for the wrongful conviction.
Simmons, who spent over 48 years in prison—the longest recorded sentence for an exoneree according to The National Registry of Exonerations—has been recognized for his enduring legal battle.
Attorney Elizabeth Wang stated, “Mr. Simmons spent a tragic amount of time incarcerated for a crime he did not commit. Although he will never get that time back, this settlement with Edmond will allow him to move forward.”
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