City reaches $7.15M settlement with exonerated man who spent 49 years in prison

By Addison Kliewer

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    EDMOND, Oklahoma (KOCO) — A man who spent decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit reached a partial settlement in a civil rights lawsuit against the city of Edmond.

The Edmond City Council reached the $7.15 million settlement with Glynn Simmons, who was wrongfully convicted of the 1974 murder of Carolyn Sue Rogers at an Edmond liquor store. Simmons sued the cities of Edmond and Oklahoma City, and the police officers involved in the investigation, claiming they falsified evidence and suppressed exonerating evidence to frame him for murder.

The settlement with Edmond resolves Simmon’ claims against the city and the estate of a former Edmond detective. The claims against the city of Oklahoma City and an Oklahoma City police detective are still pending.

“Mr. Simmons spent a tragic amount of time incarcerated for a crime he did not commit. Although he will never get that time back, this settlement with Edmond will allow him to move forward while also continuing to press his claims against the Oklahoma City defendants. We are very much looking forward to holding them accountable at trial in March,” Elizabeth Wang, Simmons’ lead attorney, said in a statement.

Simmons, 71, was released from prison last July after prosecutors agreed that key evidence in his case was not turned over to his defense lawyers. In January, an Oklahoma County judge officially exonerated him.

He spent 49 years in prison.

He had always maintained that he was 700 miles away in Lousiana when the murder occurred.

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