A U.S. court this week acquitted a Florida man who was serving 400 years in prison for armed robbery after the judiciary uncovered new information that altered the course of the case. Sidney Holmes, 57, spent over 34 years behind bars for car thefts in 1988 near Fort Lauderdale, which resulted in fatalities.
Holmes filed a request in 2020 with a specialized unit for reviewing cases where defendants assert their innocence. Since then, attorneys have scrutinized the information collected in Holmes’s case and found that the recorded testimonies were biased and inaccurate.
Additionally, Holmes's defenders discovered that the vehicle he was driving, which was considered evidence in the case because witnesses identified it during the armed robbery, was not the actual vehicle used in the crime, but rather similar in model.
Despite Holmes insisting that six people witnessed him at his parents’ house at the time of the incident, the police at the time did not heed his claim. Among the weaknesses in the case's evidence was the presentation of a series of photos to a witness who was present during the armed robbery, coupled with investigators focusing on Holmes and repeatedly showing his photos to suggest he was the chosen suspect.
According to NBC News, Holmes told reporters after his release: "I never lost hope. I knew this day would come sooner or later."
