He spent 48 years in prison for no reason and is now fighting cancer: Who is Glynn Simmons?

He had a son and grandchildren whom he hoped to finally see outside the prison walls.

Simmons, who holds the record for the longest wrongful conviction case in US history, is currently fighting stage 4 colon cancer. Under Oklahoma's tort law, he is required to receive $175,000 in damages from the state. This means he will receive $3,645 for each year he spends in prison. However, he has not seen a penny yet and is running a GoFundMe campaign to cover his treatment expenses.

He won his legal battle last week and was officially acquitted.

In 1974, Simmons was sentenced to death for murdering a young white woman in an Oklahoma liquor store, despite no physical evidence linking him to the scene and numerous witness statements indicating that he was in Louisiana the night of the incident.

The case relied on the testimony of an 18-year-old eyewitness who told police he didn't remember much and only saw the gunmen for a split second, but identified him as Simmons.

He became the longest unjustly imprisoned person in US history

Currently, Simmons' life outside revolves around a 'to-do list': going to his first NBA game, celebrating New Year's Eve outside with lights and decorations after nearly half a century... But his plans are not yet clear, all he knows is that he will eventually be with his family.

What about next year? “I couldn't even look that far ahead,” he says. “I believe compensation will come one day, but I don't know if I have the luxury of time,” he adds. He smiles big and laughs with joy. But he remains angry at the legal system that unfairly took away more than two-thirds of his life and still has not apologized to him. “What happened cannot be undone. But he must be held accountable,” he says.

Carolyn Sue Rogers was working at the Edmond Liquor Store that December night only because a friend was sick. It was around 9:30 p.m. when two gunmen entered, and Rogers, standing at the front counter, picked up the phone to call the police. At that moment, she was shot in the head with a 22-caliber gun.

The attackers then ordered the other clerk to take the money from the cash register and put it in a paper bag. At that moment, a young college student named Belinda Brown entered the store with a fake ID to buy tequila. According to police, the young woman was shot in the head as she walked past one of the attackers. The killers fled the store with more than $1,000 in cash and several bottles of liquor. Brown survived, while Rogers, a mother of two, died in the hospital.

That same night, 22-year-old Simmons was in Harvey, Los Angeles, approximately 700 miles away. He describes his feelings that night as follows:

It was a night like any other until I was told I had killed someone. When you are completely innocent, you think, 'This is a mistake, it will be fixed.' I've never been to Edmond in my life.

The murder trial lasted less than 72 hours. He had never seen 21-year-old Don Roberts, who was also arrested, until then. Although many people testified that Simmons was in Louisiana that night, prosecutors based the indictment on Brown's testimony and identification of him.

He was sentenced to death by jury decision on June 6, 1975. “I cried because my mother was screaming in the courtroom,” Simmons said. "It was an indescribable feeling of helplessness," he says. Even when his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, little changed.

In 2021, Simmons reached out to attorney Norwood, who helped exonerate another man after serving 28 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. Norwood soon realized that Simmons' original defense attorney had not subpoenaed all the witnesses. This lawyer, who was disbarred years later for neglecting his clients, did not even ask for a copy of the police records that falsely accused Simmons.

Police did not share the report documenting that eyewitness Brown identified four more people during eight different lineups. Most importantly, Norwood emphasized in his application for post-conviction release in 2022 that the eyewitness “NEVER identified Simmons in the lineup. (Brown, who is still alive, did not respond to requests for comment).

“Identifying two black men dressed in prison garb and chained as they sit at the defense table is not an identification,” the lawyer said. “This is not a ranking. “This is a trap.”

Roberts, who was arrested with him, was paroled in 2008 after more than thirty years in prison. Efforts to exonerate Simmons moved slowly at first, but suddenly gained momentum last spring.

In July, Judge Palumbo ordered a new trial. Within days, Simmons was released on bail last summer. “This was literally a matter of life and death,” says Norwood, a lawyer whose biggest concern was his client's advanced cancer.

Simmons has been battling colon cancer since 2021. He underwent surgery, but the following year prison doctors found a lesion on his liver. Simmons says that this lesion was not treated at that time when we were struggling with the rapid and deadly spread of COVID-19, and says, "I did not receive any treatment until I got out of prison."

Glynn Simmons was imprisoned for 48 years, one month and 18 days. His last hearing lasted less than 20 minutes and he eventually won his legal battle. “I may be physically weak, but my faith is always strong,” he says. He has fun as much as he can and plays with his great-grandchildren. He smiles as someone takes his picture and thinks he will have a good life after prison.