The city of Edmond, Oklahoma, has agreed to a $7.15 million settlement for Glynn Ray Simmons, a former death row inmate exonerated after nearly 50 years in prison.
At 71, Simmons holds the record for being the longest-serving inmate to be declared innocent.
The settlement, approved by the Edmond City Council without comment, resolves Simmons’ lawsuit against the city and a former police detective involved in his wrongful conviction, according to the New York Post.
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“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.
The lawsuit against Oklahoma City and a retired detective involved in the same robbery and shooting investigation remains unresolved, despite the settlement with Edmond.
The $7.15 million settlement does not impact these claims which are still pending. A spokesperson for Oklahoma City declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.
The lawsuit claims that police falsified a report by stating a wounded witness identified Glynn Ray Simmons and his co-defendant Don Roberts as the perpetrators of a robbery and shooting.
The lawsuit also alleges that police withheld evidence showing the witness had identified two other individuals as suspects.
Simmons was released from prison in July 2023 after a judge vacated his conviction and ordered a new trial.
District Attorney Vickie Behenna declined to retry the case in September due to a lack of physical evidence.
By December, a judge officially exonerated Simmons, stating there was “clear and convincing evidence” of his innocence.
He received $175,000 from the state of Oklahoma for his wrongful conviction.
Simmons served 48 years, one month, and 18 days, making him the longest-imprisoned U.S. inmate to be exonerated, according to The National Registry of Exonerations.
Simmons, who has consistently maintained he was in Louisiana at the time of the crime, and his co-defendant, Don Roberts, were convicted of the murder of liquor store clerk Carolyn Sue Rogers and sentenced to death.
In 1977, Simmons and Don Roberts had their death sentences reduced to life in prison following U.S. Supreme Court rulings on capital punishment.
Roberts was released on parole in 2008.
