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A Florida man who spent the past 34 years behind bars walked out of court in Fort Lauderdale as a free man Monday after being acquitted.
Sidney Holmes, 57, was sentenced to 400 years in prison in 1988 after an armed robbery in Broward County. He was released this week after the state’s Conviction Review Unit (CRU), along with the Innocence Project of Florida, reinvestigated his conviction.
According to a release from Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor, Holmes was arrested on October 6, 1988, convicted after a jury trial in April 1989 and sentenced the following month. He was convicted of being a driver for two unidentified men who robbed a man and a woman at gunpoint outside a convenience store. Two unknown persons stole the male victim’s car.
Holmes contacted the CRU back in November 2020 claiming he was innocent of the crime, prompting a review of the case.
“There is no evidence tying Mr. Holmes to the robbery other than the defective identification,” Arielle Demby Berger, assistant state attorney in charge of the CRU, told reporters Friday, according to the Miami Herald.
Holmes’ identification may have been a misidentification in part because of the photographs and live lineup practices commonly used by law enforcement at the time, according to the CRU’s findings.
Pryor, the CRU and an independent review panel each concluded that the information they reviewed left “reasonable doubt” about Holmes’ guilt, and that the State Attorney’s Office would not charge him today based on those facts.
Circuit Court Judge Edward Merrigan signed the release order for Holmes on Friday.
“I can’t speak,” Holmes told ABC affiliate WPLG after his release. “That’s a lot.”
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