Man freed after 32 years in prison may be heading back

A Florida man who was released from prison last year for a murder he says he didn’t commit could be heading back to prison after an appeals court ruled that his conviction should not have been overturned.

Crosley Green, now 64, was convicted of first-degree murder in 1990 for the fatal shooting of Charles “Chip” Flynn, 22, in Brevard County. Flynn’s ex-girlfriend, who was with Flynn at the time, identified Green as the suspect. Green spent 32 years in prison before his conviction was overturned by a federal judge in 2018.

The judge ruled that prosecutors had withheld evidence about responding cops suspecting that Flynn’s ex-girlfriend was the shooter. The state appealed the ruling and while the appeal was ongoing, Green was released from prison by a judge last spring under house arrest.

However, he may be sent back to prison as the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the lower court wrongly overturned Green’s conviction, WESH 2 News reported. The court said “the concerns over withheld evidence had been exhausted ahead of the federal judge’s decision,” the New York Post added.

Green’s attorneys who said they are disappointed have asked that the full 11-judge appeals panel reconsider the decision. They told The Washington Post that they will push for a governor’s pardon if it fails. There is a mandatory period of time before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling becomes final and the attorneys hope that Green will remain under his current conditions of release while the appeals continue, WESH 2 News reported.

Green in a press conference said he is praying that “the judge will keep me free and take a look at this once again.”

“Yes, a wrong has been done to me … With the grace of God, I hope it will be straightened,” he said, according to WKMG.