News
Miscarriage of Justice: Man Freed After 34 Years in Prison for Wrong Conviction
A man who was behind bars for decades has now been set free.
On Monday, just after 6 p.m., 57-year-old Sydney Holmes, walked out of the Broward County Jail a free man and into the arms of waiting family members.
Asked by a reporter what it feels like to be hugged by his family now that he’s free, he said, “I can’t put it into words. It’s overwhelming.”
Broward prosecutors announced his upcoming release earlier in the day. He had already served 34 years of a 400-year prison sentence.
Holmes contacted the State Attorney’s Conviction Review Unit in November 2020, claiming his innocence from an armed robbery case from 1988.
“I never did give up hope,” said Holmes. “I knew this day was going to come, sooner or later, and today is the day.”
He was convicted of being the driver for two men who robbed two people at gunpoint outside a convenience store.
Holmes was just 23 years old when he was convicted of being a getaway driver in an armed robbery near Fort Lauderdale.
7News was told that someone close to one of the victims was driving around and saw a car, and claimed it was the one involved in the robbery. It happened to be Holmes’ car.
He would then spend 30 years in Florida State Prison due to that claim.
On Monday afternoon, he was listening in a courthouse as both the Broward County State Attorney’s Office and his own lawyers talked about how he was wrongly convicted, and how the method used to identify a suspect back in 1988 was flawed.
“There’s no evidence tying Mr. Holmes to the robbery other than a flawed identification of him as a suspect,” an attorney said. “No fingerprints, no physical evidence, nothing but a one witness ID that we believe, your honor, was a bad ID.”
Prosecutors determined Holmes had a plausible claim of innocence based on how he became a suspect in the first place, and a shaky eye-witness identification.
The sentence for Holmes was thrown out.
As attorneys dealt with final details, he was greeted in court by the State Attorney.
“I can’t apologize for the past wrongs, what a prior or previous administration’s done or what law enforcement did,” said Harold F. Pryor. “All I can do is what I control going forward, and that was to right a wrong and to really make him right, and potentially begin the process of making him whole again.”
THE Federal Government has approved free internet services worth N24.2 billion naira at 20 selected airports, 43 universities and six markets across the country.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Isa Pantami, disclosed this after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday
Pantami said that the airports were selected from the six geo-political zones.
“Certain intervention projects are going to be implemented by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Nigerian Communications Commission of providing Internet in 20 selected airports in Nigeria and higher institutions of learning and also some markets to support micro small and medium enterprises.
“In each geopolitical zone, you have around three airports. In the South-West, we have Lagos and Ondo. For the South-East, we have Anambra and Enugu.
“For the South-South, we have Port Harcourt and Akwa Ibom. For the North-Central we have Abuja and Ilorin. In the North-West, we have Kano, Sokoto and Kebbi. For the North-East we have Yola, Maiduguri and Gombe.”
The minister said the markets and 43 institutions which include universities and polytechnics were also drawn from the six geopolitical zones, adding that it will ease e-learning in schools and also enhance the transition to a cashless economy.
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday approved the appointment of six new permanent secretaries in the Federal Civil Service
The appointments followed after a recent conducted selection process.
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF),Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, made this known in a statement by Mohammed Ahmed, Director of Communications of the Office of the HOCSF,
The appointees and their states of origin are Esuabana Asanye (Cross River), Mahmud Kambari (Borno), Richard Pheelangwah (Taraba), Lamuwa Ibrahim (Gombe), Yakubu Kofar-Mata (Kano) and Oloruntola Michael (Ogun).
The Department of State Security Service has said that the plot to Instal interim government was real
DSS noted that the plot was “by some key players” to install an interim government and stop Bola Ahmed Tinubu from being inaugurated as president.
A statement on Wednesday, by Peter Afunanya, the public relations officer of the secret police, said: “The Department of State Services (DSS) has identified some key players in the plot for an Interim Government in Nigeria.
“The Service considers the plot, being pursued by these entrenched interests, as not only an aberration but a mischievous way to set aside the constitution and undermine civil rule as well as plunge the country into an avoidable crisis.
“The illegality is totally unacceptable in a democracy and to the peace loving Nigerians. This is even more so that the machination is taking place after the peaceful conduct of the elections in most parts of the country.”
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