- 18 Mar 2023 07:29
#15268674
File this one under "Bad things that happen to Black people"
A man who was sentenced to a 400 year prison sentence and who had already served 34 years in prison has been exonerated. After a new review of the case, authorities have decided the evidence indicating guilt was never that strong. The man has now been released from prison.
How could this happen?
In 1988, Sidney Holmes was arrested after a robbery victim's brother alleged that he spotted him behind the wheel of a brown 1970s-era Oldsmobile Cutlass vehicle. The victim's brother told police that three weeks earlier, the victim and a woman were robbed by people at gunpoint in a similar car.
During the trial, prosecutors claimed that the victim's description of the getaway driver, described as short and heavy, matched Holmes' physique.
However, according to witnesses, the getaway vehicle had a missing trunk lock with a distinctive hole in its place. Yet the attorney's office said that Holmes' car had an intact trunk lock.
Prosecutors at the time had asked the judge to sentence Holmes to 800 years in prison because he did not identify the accomplices in the robbery. (Of course, if he was innocent and had not actually been there, how could he identify who the other criminals were?)
"There is no evidence tying Mr. Holmes to the robbery other than a flawed identification," Assistant State Attorney Arielle Demby Berger told reporters. "No fingerprints, no physical evidence. Nothing but one witness ID that we believe was a bad ID."
Why was Sidney Holmes arrested? Man serving 400-year sentence in Florida exonerated after 34 years, Anushree Madappa, March 15, 2023, Sportskeeda news
A man who was sentenced to a 400 year prison sentence and who had already served 34 years in prison has been exonerated. After a new review of the case, authorities have decided the evidence indicating guilt was never that strong. The man has now been released from prison.
How could this happen?
In 1988, Sidney Holmes was arrested after a robbery victim's brother alleged that he spotted him behind the wheel of a brown 1970s-era Oldsmobile Cutlass vehicle. The victim's brother told police that three weeks earlier, the victim and a woman were robbed by people at gunpoint in a similar car.
During the trial, prosecutors claimed that the victim's description of the getaway driver, described as short and heavy, matched Holmes' physique.
However, according to witnesses, the getaway vehicle had a missing trunk lock with a distinctive hole in its place. Yet the attorney's office said that Holmes' car had an intact trunk lock.
Prosecutors at the time had asked the judge to sentence Holmes to 800 years in prison because he did not identify the accomplices in the robbery. (Of course, if he was innocent and had not actually been there, how could he identify who the other criminals were?)
"There is no evidence tying Mr. Holmes to the robbery other than a flawed identification," Assistant State Attorney Arielle Demby Berger told reporters. "No fingerprints, no physical evidence. Nothing but one witness ID that we believe was a bad ID."
Why was Sidney Holmes arrested? Man serving 400-year sentence in Florida exonerated after 34 years, Anushree Madappa, March 15, 2023, Sportskeeda news
- By annatar1914