{"id":13330,"date":"2023-07-19T14:42:14","date_gmt":"2023-07-19T19:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/norwoodlegal.com\/?p=13330"},"modified":"2024-10-24T14:25:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T19:25:32","slug":"before-a-judge-granted-him-a-new-trial-after-48-years-glynn-simmons-had-to-first-escape-execution-by-the-state-of-oklahoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/norwoodlegal.com\/before-a-judge-granted-him-a-new-trial-after-48-years-glynn-simmons-had-to-first-escape-execution-by-the-state-of-oklahoma\/","title":{"rendered":"Before a judge granted him a new trial after 48 years, Glynn Simmons had to first escape execution by the state of Oklahoma"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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By G.W. Schulz<\/p>

Glynn Ray Simmons has the U.S. Supreme Court to thank for his life. If not for a series of watershed rulings from the high court during the 1970s, Simmons would have been executed decades ago in Oklahoma. With time, hope, and help from Norwood.Law since then, Simmons was finally granted a new trial in July of 2023 giving him another chance to prove to a fresh jury that he is innocent of murder.<\/span><\/p>

Simmons has endured 48 years of being locked up, some of which was spent on Oklahoma\u2019s notorious death row. He only narrowly escaped execution owing to a heated national debate at the time of his 1975 conviction over whether the death penalty was constitutional.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The Supreme Court fueled the fire with a landmark 1972 decision known as Furman v. Georgia that halted some 600 then-pending executions. Additional rulings followed, and together they created upheaval for the more than 40 states like Oklahoma at the time that authorized capital punishment. Another decision four years after Furman resulted in the death sentences of Simmons and others being blocked. His sentence was amended to life in prison.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Strident debate over the death penalty continues today in America and many still ask whether we can ever be certain enough about a person\u2019s guilt to terminate a life. Oklahoma has long been among the most vocal supporters of the death penalty, and the state now executes more people per capita than any other. A dozen-and-a-half states have ended their use of the death penalty since the 1970s.<\/span><\/p>

Fast-forward to today when Glynn Simmons began corresponding with Norwood.Law from behind bars after learning about our high-profile work on behalf of another man. That client, Corey Atchison, <\/span>was let go in 2019 after spending 28 years in prison<\/span><\/a>. A Tulsa County district judge ruled that Atchison was \u201cactually innocent\u201d and that his treatment had been a \u201cfundamental miscarriage of justice.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Norwood.Law decided to take up the case of Glynn Simmons in 2019 the year Atchison was released. Now with us in his corner, Simmons has a shot at proving he didn\u2019t commit a 1974 killing that took place during a liquor-store robbery in the Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond. Until this moment, he\u2019s endured decades of rejection from the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals and the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>