Once the state of Florida reinvestigated the case and found he did not conduct armed robbery, a man who had spent more than 34 years of a 400-year prison sentence was freed.
He can’t put it into words, Sidney Holmes, now 57, told after being exonerated and released on Monday. It’s a little overwhelming.
A comprehensive re-investigation of the 1988 armed robbery case that led to Holmes’ conviction raised reasonable concerns about his guilt, according to Broward County State Attorney Harold F. Pryor.
Holmes said that given his Christian beliefs, he can’t have hatred. One just needs to keep going.
According to Pryor, Holmes was arrested in October 1988 for reportedly being the driver for two unidentified individuals who robbed a man and a woman at gunpoint outside a store. The automobile of the male victim was stolen by two unidentified individuals.
In April 1989, Holmes was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to 400 years in prison. According to the CRU report, prosecutors at the time asked the court to sentence him to 825 years in prison.
The reason for his suggestion and a very long sentence is to guarantee that he is not freed from jail while he is still alive, prosecutor Peter Magrino said at the time. He reportedly said that he did not request a life sentence since, back then, Holmes would have been eligible for parole after 25 years.
Holmes was sentenced as a habitual offender since he had previously been convicted of armed robbery in August 1984 for two instances in which he pleaded guilty and quickly confessed.
According to the CRU report, Holmes never stated that he knew who the robbers were, in contrast to his earlier robbery conviction, in which he made allegations against the other individual involved.
According to Pryor, Holmes contacted the State Attorney’s Conviction Review Unit (CRU) in 2020, alleging he was “truly innocent” of the armed robbery of two persons outside a convenience store.
The CRU determined that there is no proof linking Holmes to the heist other than a faulty identification of him and the car used in the robbery. a lot of the time, and a lot of the time as well.
The state attorney’s office also discovered that Broward Sheriff’s Office detectives who conducted the initial investigations voiced disbelief when Holmes was sentenced to 400 years in prison after serving more than three decades.
Pryor said in a statement that in the Broward State Attorney’s Office, they have one rule: always do the right thing. As prosecutors, their primary purpose is to promote public safety in our society and to guarantee that justice is done. He applauds the victims, witnesses, and law enforcement personnel for their openness and cooperation in reinvestigating a crime that happened over 34 years ago.
