GLYNN SIMMONS took a long glance out the window of the car passenger seat as he drove with a friend along the freeway to Tulsa, Oklahoma. His gaze was fixated on the night sky, lit up with stars.
It was a sight the 70-year-old had not been able to witness for nearly half a century, after spending most of his life in prison for a murder he did not commit.
It’s things like that … watching the seasons change, the foliage, simple things that you couldn’t do in prison. You couldn’t enjoy it. You couldn’t see it,” Mr Simmons told the BBC. “It’s exhilarating.”
Mr SIMMONS was released from prison in July 2023. In December he was declared innocent in the 1974 murder of CAROLYN SUE ROGERS
His is the longest known wrongful conviction in the US.
His sentence was vacated after a district court found that prosecutors had not turned over all evidence to defence lawyers, including that a witness had identified other suspects.
He was 22 when he and a co-defendant, Don Roberts, were convicted and sentenced to death in 1975, a punishment that was later reduced to life in prison.
SIMMONS spoke to the BBC this week about his newfound freedom, his current battle with Stage 4 cancer and the hope that carried him through 48 years behind bars.
In January 1975 SIMMONS was one of several people arrested at a party on separate “bogus robbery charges”.
He was brought into a police station, where officers asked him to participate in a line-up for the murder of ROGERS the month before, in a liquor store robbery in an Oklahoma City suburb.
The murder of ROGERS who was working as a store clerk when she was shot in the head – has yet to be solved.
Since leaving prison and being declared innocent, SIMMONS has experienced a whirlwind of emotion and the most powerful being gratitude.
He spent Christmas with his son, three grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
SIMMONS said he had received no apology from the state of Oklahoma.
He left prison with no personal belongings or money for his basic needs and medical treatments.
Wrongfully convicted people who serve time in Oklahoma are eligible for up to $175,000 (£138,000) in compensation about $3,600 for each year he served in prison.
In the meanwhile, a fundraiser for SIMMONS has raised $326,000, including anonymous donations as high as $30,000.
SIMMONS says he wants to spend his new life of freedom sharing his story and working to reform a criminal justice system that saw an innocent man spend most of his life behind bars.