Sidney Holmes, 57, was reunited with his mother after being released from prison in Florida on Monday.
Holmes was exonerated 34 years after being wrongfully convicted of an armed robbery for which he was sentenced to 400 years in prison. In 1988, he was seen driving a car similar to one used in a carjacking.
Three weeks prior, the victim’s brother was robbed by people driving a similar car. Holmes was identified as the driver and subsequently charged with the crime.
Holmes maintained his innocence throughout his ordeal and contacted the State Attorney’s Office Conviction Review Unit to say he was ‘factually innocent’ in 2020.
Prosecutors reinvestigated the case and now believe that Holmes was not responsible for the crime. Six people were willing to testify that Holmes had been at his parents’ home at the time of the robbery, and the victim did not identify him as the driver in the first lineup.
The second identification was deemed unreliable due to problematic lineup practices at the time.
Holmes had previously been convicted for his role as the driver in two armed robberies in 1984. This led prosecutors to ask for 825 years initially.
However, they eventually settled on a 400-year sentence, citing the fact that Holmes had not named the men who held up the car at gunpoint as justification for the longer sentence.
Holmes said upon his release that he does not hold a grudge, stating, ‘I can’t have hate. Just have to keep moving.’
While exonerees are supposed to be provided with $50,000 per year of wrongful imprisonment, only ten of 84 statewide have been compensated, according to the Innocence Project of Florida.
»Tearful reunion: Man exonerated after 34 years of wrongful imprisonment for armed robbery«
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