Oklahoma Town to pay $7 million to exonerated former death row inmate

EDMOND, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma city has agreed to pay more than $7 million to a former death row inmate who was exonerated after nearly 50 years in prison, making him the longest-serving inmate to be exonerated of a crime.

The Edmond City Council voted without comment Monday to settle a lawsuit filed by 71-year-old Glynn Ray Simmons against suburban Oklahoma City and a former police detective for $7.15 million.

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

The suit makes similar claims against Oklahoma City and a retired Oklahoma City detective who also investigated the robbery and shooting, which are not affected by the settlement and remain pending.

An Oklahoma City spokesman said Wednesday that the city does not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit claims police falsified a report saying a witness who was injured in the shooting identified Simmons and co-defendant Don Roberts as the two who robbed the store and shot the clerk.

The lawsuit also alleges that police withheld evidence that the witness identified two other people as suspects.

Simmons was released from prison in July 2023 after a judge vacated his conviction and sentence and ordered a new trial.

Prosecutor Vickie Behenna announced in September that she would not retry the case because there was no longer any physical evidence against Simmons.

In December, a judge exonerated Simmons, saying there was “clear and convincing evidence” that he did not commit the murder, and Simmons received $175,000 from the state of Oklahoma for wrongful conviction.

Simmons served 48 years, one month and 18 days, making him the longest-serving US inmate to be exonerated, according to data kept by the National Parole Registry.

Simmons, who claimed to be in Louisiana at the time of the murder, and Roberts were both convicted of murdering liquor store clerk Carolyn Sue Rogers and sentenced to death.

Their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment in 1977 following US Supreme Court rulings on capital punishment, and Roberts was paroled in 2008.

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