Sidney Holmes was sentenced to 400 years in prison after allegedly participating in an armed robbery. Justice questioned the identification processes used at the time.
More than half of his life behind bars, for nothing. 57-year-old Sidney Holmes was released on Monday after spending 34 years in a Florida prison, reports local media WSVN.
In 1989, he was found guilty of having been the driver during an armed robbery in the south of this state, which occurred in 1988. Then aged 23, he was sentenced to 400 years in prison and has always proclaimed his innocence, without being heard.
In 2020, through his attorneys, Sidney Holmes approached the Broward County Conviction Review Unit to argue his case. This time, justice listens to him, and considers that the charges are not sufficient against the fifty-year-old, tells the Daily Mail.
Incorrect identification
More specifically, the prosecutors in charge of the case question the identification practices used at the time. At first, the main eyewitness of the facts was not able to recognize Holmes among six pictures presented to him. His photograph would then have been put in several selections, until it was finally designated. It was on the basis of this testimony alone that the suspect was convicted.
When he was arrested a few weeks after the incident, Sidney Holmes was driving a brown Oldsmobile Cutlass, a very common vehicle in the United States in the late 1980s, which had been identified by witnesses as the car that had been used in the robbery.
Despite the doubts, justice had asked for a sentence of 825 years in prison for Holmes, who had already been convicted in the past of armed robbery. A sentence of 400 years was finally imposed.
“I never lost hope”
In light of these facts, the Broward State Attorney’s Office concluded that “there is no evidence linking Holmes to the robbery”, citing “misidentification” by the then-witness, and confirmed the man’s innocence. Meanwhile, the victims of the armed robbery also said the detainee should be released.
“I can’t have hate, I just have to move on. I never gave up hope,” Sidney Holmes said as he walked out of court a free man.
The moment of his reunion with his mother was immortalized by several journalists who were there for the occasion.
For his part, Harold F. Pryor, Broward County prosecutor, believes it is the duty of justice to be with the prisoner after his release. “I can’t apologize for past wrongs, what a previous administration or law enforcement has done,” he says.
“All I can do is right a wrong, make it right, and potentially start the process of making it whole again,” he adds.
According to Florida law, any prisoner convicted by mistake can claim to receive the sum of 50,000 dollars per year unjustly spent in prison. However, as indicated by the Innocence website Project of Floridaonly a dozen people were compensated.
