WEBVTT - #439 Jason Flom with Glynn Simmons 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:06.080 On the night of December thirtieth, nineteen seventy four, two 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:08.800 armed men entered a liquor store on the outskirts of 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:12.319 Oklahoma City. They ordered one clerk to empty the cash 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:15.000 register and fatally shot the other one in the head. 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:18.720 As the surviving clerk nervously fumbled the cash, one of 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:21.360 the assailants shot eighteen year old Belinda Brown in the 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:25.000 head as well, but miraculously the girl survived, and she 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:28.360 described her shooters as black men over six feet tall 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:32.440 and two hundred pounds. No identifications were made until five 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:36.159 weeks later, when two young men, Glenn Simmons and Don Roberts, 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:39.440 took part in a lineup. Even though both young men 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:42.360 fell well shy of the described height and weight, Belinda 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:45.400 Brown's ID was enough to convince a jury, and in 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:50.040 nineteen seventy five murder in Oklahoma carried an automatic sentence 0:00:50.240 --> 0:01:04.920 of death. But this is wrongful conviction. Welcome back to 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:08.319 wrongful Conviction, where we're covering a robbery homicide out of Edmond, 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:11.479 Oklahoma that took place while our guest of honor, Glenn Simmons, 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:15.040 lived hundreds of miles away, just outside of New Orleans. 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:17.319 But before we try to make sense of all that. 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:20.480 I'd like to introduce his attorney, Joe Norwood. Joe, welcome 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:23.679 to the show. Thank you, and thank you for helping 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:27.679 win Glenn's release after more than forty eight years, one 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:32.520 of the longest terms of any previous guests or anybody 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:35.880 in the long and terrible history of bromful convictions in 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:38.800 this country. I think Tyrone Clark is the only other 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:41.200 innocent person that we know of who has served as 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:44.360 longer longer, and I hope no one else ever comes close. 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:48.920 So Glenn Simmons, welcome, Thank you. Now, this happened on 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:51.480 the outskirts of Oklahoma City, in the town called edmund 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:54.040 same as Julius Jones in nineteen ninety nine, by the way, 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:56.560 and we'll have his story lengked in the episode description 0:01:56.720 --> 0:01:58.600 as we continue to seek justice. 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:00.880 There everyone in Oklahoma's whare of that case. 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:04.160 But the crime in Glenn's story took place twenty five 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:06.559 years earlier, way back in nineteen seventy four. 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:11.560 When Glenn's case happened, Edmunds was a sundown community sundown, 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:15.760 meaning if you're black, you better get out before sundown 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:19.080 and most preferably not even show up there. It has 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:24.080 changed dramatically since then into fourth largest, one of the 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:25.839 wealthiest cities in Oklahoma now. 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:28.760 But back in seventy four when the crime in question happened, 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:33.080 Glenn hadn't even arrived in this sundown town yet. He 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:38.680 was still living and was actually in Harvey, Louisiana, where 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:41.120 he had been born back in nineteen fifty three. 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:45.799 One year before Brown Versus Education desegregation of the schools. However, 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:50.079 schools wasn't really desegregated into nineteen sixty eight. In the 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:52.720 town where I grew up at, you know, Harvard, Luis 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:54.960 down It's on the west bank of the Mississippi River, 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:57.399 New Orleans. Grew up in a very large family, nine 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:00.360 lords and four girls, went to all black school in 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:03.079 the neighborhood. Pretty good childhood, not a whole bunch of 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:04.079 drama now. 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:06.880 The crime in question occurred during that sleepy week between 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:10.200 Christmas and New Year's in nineteen seventy four. Glenn had 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:12.760 just turned twenty one years old, and his aunt, Dorothy, 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:17.520 who lived Edmond, Oklahoma, was back in Harvey for the holidays. 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:20.880 Anti Dart did she would come for Christmas In New 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:24.320 Year's we had this tradition what we called the Turkey Bowl, 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:26.280 and every New Year's Eve we would go to this 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:29.399 high school and neighborhood guys would gather around and pick 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:31.480 teams to play ball. And we did it that year 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:34.320 and thought I was a little sharp, little pool player 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:35.760 at the time, so I hung out in the pool 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:37.760 hall a lot, and we had some pool tournaments that 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:41.839 weekend also. And this one particular time Anti Dart did 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:44.920 she came, I decided to go back with her too, Oklahoma, 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:48.320 which was in January nineteen seventy five. I wasn't intending 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:50.600 to stay. I was just coming to visit. Well. I 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:52.760 found me a job within a few days, and I 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:54.720 liked the job, so I decided to steal a little 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:55.320 while longer. 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:59.560 However, before Glenn even arrived in Edmond, Oklahoma, a robbery 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:03.320 and murder had occurred at a liquor store. On December thirtieth, 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:04.640 nineteen seventy four. 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:09.280 Around nine thirty pm. Two perpetrators come into the Edmund 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:13.000 liquor store and hold it up demand the cash One 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:16.200 of the cashiers hands it over and they shoot the 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:19.559 other one in the head, who falls dead. As the 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:22.440 cashier that was still alive was handing over the cash 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:25.360 and eighteen year old young lady walks in and as 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:28.120 soon as she walks past the two perpetrators, they shoot 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:29.839 her in the back of the head. They grab the 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:30.880 cash and run off. 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.440 The eighteen year old customer, Belinda Brown, ended up surviving, 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:37.680 while thirty year old Carolyn Sue Rogers died at the scene. 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:40.880 The surviving cashier was named Norma Hankins. 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:43.919 Her initial statement to the police was, I was busy 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:46.159 looking at that gun. I don't know that I'll be 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:49.040 able to give a good accurate description. That is what 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:51.880 she testified to at the preliminary hearing, and that's what 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:53.640 she testified to at the jury trial. 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:56.560 As the police canvassed the area, a group of boys 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:59.560 allegedly saw the getaway, but didn't have anything useful for 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:03.360 the police until many weeks later. Meanwhile, the eighteen year 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:06.119 old customer, Belinda Brown, who had been shot in the head, 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:07.520 was in critical condition. 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:10.000 She was in the hospital for about a week. She 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:14.280 had surgery, the bullet was removed and she been it 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:17.120 up surviving. Not but a day or two after she 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:19.520 got out of the hospital, she was interviewed by the 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:23.159 police and from the police report quote unquote, if she 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:26.720 thought about it anymore, it would get all jumbled up 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:27.480 in her mind. 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:30.280 From what we understand, she wanted to give them any 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:33.360 information she had as soon as possible. She described the 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:35.599 assailants as two black men, a little over six feet 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:37.960 tall and two hundred pounds, and she was shown several 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:42.160 lineups and initially only made partial identifications, like maybe the 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:44.880 eyes of someone she viewed were similar to the assailants, 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:49.479 but no concrete ideas. At this point, the investigation began 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:50.040 to struggle. 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:53.280 When I got to Oklahoma, this Ed Meligosto murder had 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.560 been going unsolved, and every day there was an article 0:05:57.040 --> 0:05:59.839 about the inadequacies of the police department, how they couldn't 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:01.840 sell of the crime, and it was coming to a date, 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:03.560 and it was on the whole lot of pressure to 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:06.480 solve those crimes. And I just helped to walk into it, 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:07.400 you know, right into it. 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:10.360 During what was supposed to be just an extended visit 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:12.960 with his aunt, Glynn attended a small get together at 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:15.240 a relative's home on the night of February third into 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:19.000 the fourth, when another robbery homicide occurred in Oklahoma City, 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:22.240 and by the fifth police had two suspects in custody 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:25.520 Leonard and Delbert Patterson, who had been at the same 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:26.600 party as Glenn. 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:28.960 They was at the port that night and they left 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.000 him with did something. They come back half an hour 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:33.440 later kept all parted. So the next day when they 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:36.280 get arrested on the murder, the accent was they gave 0:06:36.279 --> 0:06:38.000 it out abi that they was at the port and 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:41.360 who all was at the party, and they started arresting 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:43.400 people as material witnesses and stuff like that. 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:47.960 In order to hold some of these material witnesses, the police, 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.920 with no probable cause to do so, charged some of 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:54.680 the people from the party as suspects in random open cases. 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:58.599 They arrested me on the Bogies robbery case, which was 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.719 dismissed right there on. The woman who got robbed came 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:03.960 to the station and said, no, I ain't never seen 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:04.720 that guy before. 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:07.280 Yeah, it's something They threw on him to make sure 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:08.159 they could hold him. 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.480 At some point during this morass where the police had 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:14.000 all these young folks from the party still in custody, 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:17.000 Leonard and Delbert Patterson, both of them were about six 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:19.000 to two and a little over two hundred pounds. They 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:22.800 eventually confessed to the February robbery homicide in Oklahoma City, 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:26.640 but the Edmund liquor store robbery homicide in December remained 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:27.400 an open case. 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:30.320 I take this out if you look at the police report. 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:33.240 On February the fifth, February to six officers show over 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:37.000 at the Oklahoma Police Department. Contacted Officer Garrett at the 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:39.720 Edmund Police Department and he told him, he said, we 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:42.880 got two suspects in custody fit the description of the 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:45.280 Edmund liquor store murder, and you need to come down 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:47.680 and conduct an ID right now. I don't see who 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:50.920 these suspects are, but they say they fitted the description 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:53.320 to composite that Belinda Brown gave him, saying they were 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:56.040 six feet two hundred some pound right, totally different from 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:58.960 my description. I was like one hundred and fifty pounds 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:02.240 five eight. But I was actually to participate in the lineup. 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:04.120 I didn't know I had the right to refuse or 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:06.000 a right to a lawyer. Went in, got in the 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:09.400 lineup and was told that I was picked out the lineup, 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:11.880 and so Linda Brown, she was so sure she called 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:14.280 detect the house later on that night and told him say, 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:16.440 to more I think about it, the more positive I 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:19.000 am that it was number six. They asked us, way 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:21.000 you can you come up tomorrow and make another idea. 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:22.720 She came back the next day to say I picked 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:24.280 the sam to I picked the day before. 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:28.080 Belinda Brown was very confident in her choice of position 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:31.280 six in the first lineup, but only became more confident 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:34.959 in her second choice the following day. And on February eighth, 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.440 nineteen seventy five, both Glenn Simmons and another young man 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:41.520 from the party, Don Roberts, were charged with capital murder. 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.559 With no bail available, they awaited trial from jail and 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:47.160 Glenn hired private counsel. 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:50.200 He was a friend of my aunt's, Henry Floyd. I 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:52.400 think I gave him like twenty two hundred dollars, which 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:54.640 was a lot of money at that time. He didn't 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:57.760 do nothing, found no pre trial motions or nothing in. 0:08:57.640 --> 0:09:01.000 The case, and perhaps he felt confident considering the glaring 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:04.400 difference between Glenn and Don smaller statures and the over 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:07.920 six feet tall, two hundred pounds assailants, a discrepancy that 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:10.120 seemed to strike a chord with the Linda Brown at 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:11.160 the preliminary hearing. 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:14.040 When she comes to preliminary three or four weeks later, 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:17.120 I'm sitting there next to Don Rbs in the prison uniform. 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:20.199 It written all over face. I'm confused, she confused all 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:21.760 the way. Every time she look at m and I'm 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:23.440 looking at her. You got the wrong one, you know, 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:24.400 That's what I'm saying, you know. 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:27.960 And she gets on the stand and she does identify them, 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:31.920 but it's not a real confident ID. 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:34.800 She said, well, he looked at taller, then he looked 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:37.120 at heavier. He had a beard. He didn't have a beard. 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:38.280 And she gets impeached. 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:42.200 Not only was the defense attacking the credibility of the ID, 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:45.360 but then, in trusting the lineup report he had received 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:50.920 from police, Oklahoma County Assistant Prosecutor Bob Mildfeld implied that perhaps, 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:53.880 after all that she'd been through, maybe Belinda Brown had 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:57.640 just gotten a little confused about who she had id'd. 0:09:57.559 --> 0:09:59.040 When they kept trying to make it look like she 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:01.480 was crazy. She was injured when she got shot in 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:03.679 the head. She couldn't be sure. She got real defined 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:05.800 was eighteen years old, and they're trying to tell it. 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:07.600 Were you crazy? You don't know? And she knew she 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:09.960 had made suits. She got the right one, so she 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.160 got real defined. She put up, back up, and wouldn't 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:13.720 never back down until this day. 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:17.960 So the adversity only served to solidify the ID in 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:21.839 Belinda Brown's mind. Meanwhile, one of the teenage boys who 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:24.200 were interviewed back in December of seventy four was now 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:26.760 willing to say that he recognized Don Roberts from a 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:29.360 car that had passed by the liquor store that night. 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:31.480 And Glenn and Don were taking the trial in June 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:34.880 of seventy five, where the defense strategy focused on impeaching 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:38.720 Belinda Brown, who is now even more confident in her ID. 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:41.240 And they had us to stand next to each other. 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:43.720 She was five eight, I was five eighting. She said, well, 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:45.559 you lucky taller than him, and she said, well, he 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.400 might have had on stack your shoes. She was defined 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:50.960 because she knows she picked this and a winter. Well 0:10:51.040 --> 0:10:53.079 I could have got to this defense statement, Oh Wilders 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:55.280 dreams and mob fails Wilder's dream. 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:59.240 Meanwhile, six alibi witnesses made the trip from Harvey, Louisiana 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:01.880 to testify it by the pool tournament on December thirtieth 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:04.560 and the Turkey Bowl the following day, which made it 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:07.120 impossible for Glenn to have been an Edmund to commit 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:10.439 this crime. No, thanks to his attorney, Henry Floyd, though. 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:13.440 No. We put that together. My family put that together. 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:15.920 What he did was so he went to the court 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:21.000 and solicited money for travel expenses and lodges in and stuff, 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:22.960 and put that money in his pocket and the people 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:25.080 had to find their own way to get here. Six 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:26.880 of them witness. He didn't even call them. All he 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:29.160 said would be redundant, so he didn't even bring all 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:32.320 the witness up. But the police never did investigate none 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:34.600 of the alibi witness and stuff that I gave him. 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:37.280 You gotta report say anything with the Dallas and looked 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:39.959 at Don's He had gave alibi that he was in Dallas, 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:42.240 and the detectives went to Dallas and checked out the 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.440 alibi and come back inconclusively they couldn't prove that he 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:47.560 was in there, but they decided to say they couldn't 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:48.280 prove that he was. 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:51.520 You know, with Glenn and Don's alibi defenses, coupled with 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:55.120 the impeaching evidence against Belinda Brown, reasonable doubt had certainly 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:57.760 been raised and there was at least some hope for 0:11:57.840 --> 0:11:58.360 a quittal. 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:00.880 I thought I was going to walk up out of there. No, 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:03.880 I couldn't see no conviction. What's nothing to convict me on. 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:06.000 It? 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:10.040 Then, last two and a half days. Just send us 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:14.080 a debt in the elected chair. Yeah, I don't have 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:17.160 to say any more about that. You know, some wounds 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:19.160 you let stay closed. 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:34.120 Right, Wrongful conviction has always given voice to innocent people 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:34.640 in prison. 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:38.640 Now we're expanding that voice to you. Call us at 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:42.120 eight three three two O seven four six sixty six 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:44.840 and leave us a message. Tell us how these powerful, 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:50.800 often tragic stories make you feel outraged, inspired, motivated. We 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:53.240 want to know. We may even include your story in 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:56.440 a future episode. Call us a three three two O 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:57.960 seven four six six. 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:08.240 Six seventy five. Dad, what they call a mandatory dead 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:11.760 penoty if they find you guilty of one two three 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:14.360 elements of murder, like you kill the police or he 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:16.960 kills about it being the commission of a feling, he 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:19.560 kills about it at a certain age or something like that. 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:22.400 That he was automatically given the dead penety, and the 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:25.520 jury had no discretion and to rendering up the punishment 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.880 because it was set by legislative back was automatic dead penalty. 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:32.040 That's one of the reason why it was abolish. 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.439 In June of nineteen seventy two, the Supreme Court ruled 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:38.360 in Furman versus Georgia that the death penalty violated the 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:42.000 Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments under certain circumstances, placing a four 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:45.880 year moratorium on executions until more challenges would bring about 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:46.920 guidance on the matter. 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:51.000 US Supreme Court stayed the death penalty across the country, 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:55.880 saying the death penalties being administered arbitrarily and capriciously, and 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:59.960 so Oklahoma and several other states response to that was, Okay, 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:03.120 you don't think that we administered the death penalty evenly 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:06.440 and equally, great, Well, we're just going to administer it 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:09.920 to everyone that is convicted of first degree murder. And 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:13.920 so that's the statute that Glenn was convicted under. Now, 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:17.200 that statute was appealed, and the Supreme Court came back 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:22.000 and rendered a decision on a group of statutes, including Oklahoma's, 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:26.960 saying basically, no, guys, we didn't mean to kill everyone. 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:31.600 We meant that you got to make it somewhat fair. 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:35.360 In nineteen seventy six, the Supreme Court confirmed that capital 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:38.240 punishment was still legal in the United States, but under 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:42.440 limited circumstances, so the interim statutes in states like Oklahoma 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:45.520 were nullified, and in their place came the aggravating and 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:49.400 mitigating processes that we see used today, in which juries 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:52.640 have a say in sentencing. The Supreme Court ruling played 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:56.160 out differently in each state, but in Oklahoma, Glenn's sentence 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:59.680 and all others rendered before nineteen seventy six were commuted 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:03.040 by the Oklahoma Supreme Court to life, with the possibility 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:07.160 of parole from there. His direct appeal failed and financially 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:09.640 he was unable to mount anything further, which made the 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:12.280 parole board his only viable avenue at the time. 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:15.280 I stayed in for forty eight years because my innocence 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:18.280 was my burden, so it was more of a luxury 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:21.440 to be guilty. Guys into guilty please for all kinds 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:24.040 of atrocious crimes. But they go for the parole board 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:26.520 and they tell them I feel regret and I feel remorse, 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:29.560 I take responsibility for my crime, and they give them 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:32.400 a parole, let them go six to eighteen months, they'd 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:34.960 be back in again. They let them go again. But 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:37.440 I went up for thirty something years saying that I'm innocent, 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:39.800 and it was denied because I didn't show remorse. You know, 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:44.040 I take responsibility, notwithstanding the fact that the victim's sister 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:47.360 wrote them a letter, sent them a video deposition telling them, 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:49.400 you know, I don't think mister Simmons killed my sister. 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:52.160 I think my sister and mister Simmons victims of the 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:52.960 same crime. 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:56.360 In addition to the victim's sister, the prosecuting attorney, Bob 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:57.960 Mildfeldt also came. 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:01.400 Forward, like ninety three first letter he wrote, telling him 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:03.040 that he think I was innocent and I didn't get 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.080 a fair trial. I took it to the parole board 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:08.720 and they accused me of forging the letter and denied me. 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:11.000 So at that time it was going up annually for 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:13.680 the row. So the next year I had mylefel to 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:16.800 write the parole board itself, and he wrote him and 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:18.720 told him, he said, this is one case. I'm sure 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:20.680 a week later that the verdict would have been different 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:23.480 because of all the unasked questions we had. You know, 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:26.040 he described the description that didn't fit me in all 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:27.760 of this. It's in letters that he wrote to the 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:28.400 parole board. 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:32.280 The exact quote is very powerful when talking about Belinda 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:35.080 Brown's description of the assailant at around six foot two 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:40.400 hundred pounds quote, a physical description greatly different from Glenn's 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:42.960 stature at the time. The jury on that day at 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:46.120 that time found him guilty. However, quite candidly, it was 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.320 one of the few cases I've been involved in that 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:51.760 the verdict a week later could easily have been different 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:55.600 end quote. Yet he was denied by the parole Board 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:58.920 again in nineteen eighty six, but Bob milefelt the letter 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:01.480 was not a dead end. It gave Glynn an idea 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:03.880 that up until then he hadn't had the funds to 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:04.520 follow through on. 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:08.919 In the nineties, Glenn strikes up a relationship with a 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:12.159 woman on the outside and they get married, and she 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:16.399 dies about six months after her and Glenn get married. 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:19.360 And my wife left me some money in an insurance policy, 0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:20.800 and so I took the money, and I had a 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:23.560 private investigator. I gave him a list of what I wanted, 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:26.040 but he came back with ten times more than I 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:26.840 had on the list. 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:31.440 His name is Mike Noble, and Mike ended up talking 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:35.719 the Edmund City Attorney into turning over the entire file 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:39.879 from Glenn's case from seventy four to seventy five. 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:43.560 If you remember, Belinda Brown seemed confused at the preliminary 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:45.760 hearing about whether Glenn and Don were the men she 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:49.159 had identified in the lineup. His private investigator turned up 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:52.199 the original lineup that seemed to have made Bob mildfelt 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:54.000 so confident in that idea trial. 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:58.160 From what we can tell, the only thing the prosecution 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:03.600 had was the actual lineup that had the names of 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:08.000 the people, you know, spot one, spot two through seven, 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:12.360 and it has the date February seventh and eighth, and 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:15.159 so it's not a report, it's just a lineup. And 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:19.680 then there are stars above Glenn and Dawn's names. That's it. 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:23.000 Then in the file from the Edmund City Attorney, that 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:25.560 lineup sheet was accompanied by the report of who she 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:26.560 actually chose. 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:31.639 And so in the report it says Blenda Brown subject 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:37.160 number six confidently and she's not so sure about subject 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:41.000 number blank. And then it talks about her coming back 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:46.320 the next day again affirmatively id in subject number six 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:49.119 and then saying yes, I am now more confident that 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:53.199 subject number and the report has a blank. Is the 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:58.240 other suspect The actual lineup that had the spot one, 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:03.160 spot two through Glenn was two. Don Roberts was four, 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:06.520 Delbert Patterson was six, Leonard Patterson was seven. 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:09.800 She consistently said I picked number six. You see, she 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:12.200 never picked Linson from a line up all the way 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:14.840 through and all the narratives is attacking the witness. Well, 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:17.440 my thing is give the witness to benefit it out. 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:19.960 Because she told them whose shadow. She told them exactly who. 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:22.080 She didn't picked nobody else. She never did pick me. 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:27.840 She picked Delbert Patterson. And then the report says suspect 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:31.480 number and it has a blank. So we're not actually 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:35.960 sure who the other person was that she picked, because 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:39.960 this report that was not disclosed and discovered twenty years 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:42.600 later is blank on who it is now, and there's 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:45.879 a lot of other surrounding evidence to make us believe 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:48.520 that it was Leonard Patterson. Leonard and Delbert were out 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:51.320 killing people and robin people at this time. They had 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:54.600 weapons that match the type of caliber that wounded Brown 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:59.000 and killed Miss Rogers. They were suspected of having been 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:04.000 in the area. The sketch of the suspect looks very 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:07.560 much like Leonard Patterson. Matter of fact, I put pictures 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:11.920 of Leonard in the briefire road along with the composite sketch. 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:13.560 It's a striking resemblance. 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:17.280 And as we mentioned, Delbert and Leonard Patterson matched Belinda 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:19.680 Brown's description of her assailants. 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:22.199