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January 1, Man Serving 400 Year Prison Sentence Walks Free

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A Florida man who was sentenced to 400 years in prison was able to walk free.

Sidney Holmes, 57, was exonerated last week after serving more than three decades for armed robbery charges stemming from a 1988 incident in which he was accused of being the getaway driver.

“We have one rule here at the Broward State Attorney’s Office – do the right thing, always. As prosecutors, our only agenda is to promote public safety in our community and to ensure that justice is served,” said Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor. “I commend the victims, witnesses, and law enforcement officers for their candor and assistance in reinvestigating a crime that occurred more than 34 years ago.”

Holmes shed a few tears in the Broward County courtroom after he was exonerated. He served more than 34 years of his 400-year sentence. He’d maintained his innocence, and contacted the State Attorney’s Conviction Review Unit (CRU) in 2020. The CRU found that Holmes had “a plausible claim of innocence,” CBS News reported.

According to the state attorney’s office, Holmes had been convicted for allegedly serving as the getaway driver for two armed men who robbed two individuals in Fort Lauderdale on June 19, 1988. The armed men are still unidentified.

When the CRU reviewed Holmes’s case, it found that there was no evidence that connected him to the robbery, except for erroneous eyewitness identification.

Five of six independent panelists, based on the CRU’s review, voted that Holmes was innocent and his conviction should be thrown out.

The two victims of the 1988 robbery both said they supported Holmes’s release, per CBS News.


Source: CBS News

7 Comments

  1. Howard

    March 21, 2023 at 7:09 pm

    How do you get 400 years in jail for an armed robbery where nobody was hurt? That’s insane. And now found innocent after totally taking the guys life away? The State/Government should give him $10 or $20 million so he can just have fun the rest of his life. The judge that gave him 400 years should be put in jail for the rest of his life.

  2. BR

    March 21, 2023 at 7:14 pm

    Why did he get 400 years in the first place??

    • Pops

      March 21, 2023 at 7:26 pm

      Especially if no one died. 400 years for driving a getaway car, and he actually wasn’t. Overzealous prosecutor

  3. Spike

    March 21, 2023 at 7:16 pm

    Things like this just make me sick!! When the state makes a mistake like this there should be automatic remuneration and all sorts of support to help him settle back into a life of freedom. I’m a lay person and I have noticed how differently any two people see and/or remember the same witnessed incident! Cripes how could a conviction be made based on so little . . . and 34 years???

  4. Hunter James

    March 21, 2023 at 8:56 pm

    Where’s the punk DA that should be prosecuted
    for .M.A.L.I.C.I.O.U.S…P.R.O.S.E.C.U.T.I.O.N.?
    SOMEONE should be doing serious time for this.

  5. Frank

    March 21, 2023 at 9:17 pm

    I don’t know if he did it or not, but if we haven’t identified the real getaway driver, he’s not “exonerated.”

  6. Bonnie

    March 29, 2023 at 10:24 am

    I’ve never heard of 400 years for driving a get-away car. Good Grief…..and he was not the driver. 34 years….Good Holy Grief!!!!!!

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