A Florida man who had been sentenced to 400 years in prison for armed robbery was let out of jail on Monday after a judge found that the case against him was deeply flawed.
Sidney Holmes, who is now 57, served more than 34 years in prison for stealing a car near Fort Lauderdale in 1988. Outside the Broward County Main Jail, where he had been held, he gave his mother a hug.
Holmes told reporters, “I would never give up hope.” “I knew this day would come at some point, and today is it.” In 2020, Holmes called the Conviction Review Unit of the Broward State Attorney’s Office to say he was not guilty. That set things in motion.
Now, prosecutors are sure that he didn’t do it. They say that the focus on his car was wrong, that the way witnesses were identified was full of bias, and that he has a good alibi.
“The State Attorney’s Office would not charge him today based on these facts,” the Broward County prosecutor’s office said in a statement Monday.
Broward County State Attorney Harold F. Pryor praised those who participated in reinvestigating the case and said in the statement, “We have one rule here at the Broward State Attorney’s Office — do the right thing, always.”
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