Burley Garcia|Oklahoma city approves $7M settlement for man wrongfully imprisoned for decades

OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma city has agreed to pay $7.15 million to Glynn Simmons,Burley Garcia who served nearly 50 years in the Oklahoma prison system for a murder he did not commit, his lawyers said this week.

The Edmond City Council approved the settlement on Monday after Simmons filed a lawsuit in federal court earlier this year against the estate of late Edmond detective Sgt. Anthony "Tony" Garrett, retired Oklahoma City detective Claude Shobert, and the investigators' respective cities. The settlement resolves only Simmons' claims against Garrett and the city of Edmond. His claims against Shobert and Oklahoma City are still pending.

"Mr. Simmons spent a tragic amount of time incarcerated for a crime he did not commit," Elizabeth Wang, a legal partner with the Loevy & Loevy law firm and the lead attorney on Simmons' federal case, said in a news release Tuesday. "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."

When contacted Tuesday afternoon by The Oklahoman, part of the USA TODAY Network, Simmons reiterated the comments of his counsel, adding that, while it may appear that the federal case is moving quickly, the timeline did not compare to the 48 years he spent wrongfully incarcerated.  

"But I give all praise to the Lord," Simmons said. "God is good to me."

Fatal shooting of store clerk

Simmons was convicted of the fatal 1974 shooting of clerk Carolyn Sue Rogers during a robbery at a liquor store. His legal team alleges that Garrett and Shobert hid evidence that would have proven Simmons' innocence.

Simmons' attorneys also argue that the investigators falsified reports of a witness who had survived the robbery identifying Simmons in a line-up. He spent 48 years in prison until Oklahoma County Judge Amy Palumbo ordered him released in 2023 and then determined Simmons to be "actually innocent" later that year.

Simmons is known to be the longest-served wrongfully convicted man in United States history, according to the University of Michigan Law School's National Registry of Exonerations. He is also expected to receive $175,000 as compensation from the state of Oklahoma in response to a tort claim filed earlier this year.

A jury trial in Simmons' federal case is scheduled for March 2025.

Another man, Don Roberts, also was convicted of Rogers' murder. He and Simmons were both initially sentenced to death row before a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court ruling caused their sentences to be modified to life in prison.

Paroled in 2008, Roberts' conviction still stands, but he is hoping to eventually see a determination of innocence in his case along the same grounds as Simmons.