Sidney Holmes: Florida man wrongly convicted in robbery case released after serving 34 of 400 years
BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA: A man who served over 34 years in prison, of a 400-year sentence, for allegedly being involved in an armed robbery was released from a jail in Florida this week. Prosecutors have dismissed charges against Sidney Holmes, who was wrongly convicted of the crime.
“I never lost hope and always knew this day would come,” the 57-year-old said in a statement, according to the Innocence Project of Florida, which worked on the case. “I cannot wait to hug my mother in the free world for the first time in over 34 years.” In November 2020, Holmes approached the conviction review unit of the Broward County state attorney’s office and claimed he was innocent.
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Why was Sidney Holmes arrested?
Holmes was arrested in October 1988 in connection with an armed robbery committed in June of that year. According to the state attorney’s office, two people were robbed outside a convenience store in unincorporated Broward County, just west of Fort Lauderdale. Holmes was accused of being the getaway driver for two unidentified men who committed the crime. He was convicted by a jury in April 1989 and sentenced the next month, the state attorney’s office said.
How the review unit and Innocence Project of Florida stepped in
The review unit and the Innocence Project of Florida started a reinvestigation into the case. The office said their findings “raised reasonable doubts about his guilt". According to the Innocence Project of Florida, “A strange set of circumstances” led to Holmes becoming a suspect in a crime he did not commit.
One of the two people who were robbed said the car in which the suspects were was a brown Oldsmobile Cutlass with a tan top and a hole in the trunk. The victim's brother saw a Cutlass driving down a road some weeks later and reported it to the police, providing the license plate number. The car happened to be registered to Holmes.
Holmes' attorneys said he had an alibi and there were key differences between his car and the suspects'. “There was no physical or scientific evidence, nor any corroborating witnesses, linking Mr. Holmes to the crime,” the Innocence Project said, according to CNN. Holmes was not identified during an initial line up, but in a second photo line up, one of the victims identified him.
Prosecutors “determined that Holmes had a plausible claim of innocence because of how he became a suspect and because of the precarious eyewitness identification that was the principal evidence against him at trial,” the state attorney’s office said, based on a recent review of Holmes' case. In its final memorandum, the conviction review unit wrote, "The Broward state attorney’s office would not have charged Holmes if the case were presented today."
Holmes walked out of a Broward County detention facility after being released. Heartbreaking photos show him embracing his mother.
Holmes' release came after a judge on Monday, March 13, approved the state attorney’s office and the Innocence Project's request to vacate Holmes’ sentence and conviction. The charge was then dismissed by prosecutors. “We have one rule here at the Broward state attorney’s office – do the right thing, always,” Broward County State Attorney Harold F. Pryor said. Innocence Project of Florida Executive Director Seth Miller, a co-counsel for Holmes, thanked Pryor and the conviction review unit. Miller praised them for "looking objectively at old cases” and "giving Sidney his life back.”
'This is ludicrous'
After Holmes' release, social media users expressed their shock at the 400-year sentence given for allegedly simply being a getaway driver for the suspects. "I am still confused. Did he get a 400-year prison sentence for being the getaway driver? Did someone get killed?" one shocked user said on Reddit. Another wrote, "Even if he had been guilty, 400 years for being the getaway driver?" Another user responded, "yeah that type of sentence I would assume he had kiilled a whole bunch of people." One said, "Seriously. Child molestors and rapists get way less time. This is ludicrous."
"In states like Florida and Texas, they deliberately punish repeat offenders very harshly. In theory it's as a deterrent; I think it's a way to feed the prison system and keep certain people from voting," one user claimed. Another said, "Remind me, were there any consequences as severe for any of those that helped spike the 2008 financial crisis? Will there be severe consequences for the people who are responsible for FTX? SVB? No? Whats that? Consequences are for the working class/poors? Got it." "Even if he was guilty, doesnt 400 years for robbery fall under the whole "cruel and unusual punishment" thing? How is this legal in any sense?" one user said. Another wrote, "The number of horrible things I see just get a few years, then every other day you see a headline where someone gets multiple lifetimes behind bars for doing so much less. It absolutely baffles me."
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