Sidney Holmes, a convict of the 1988 armed robbery case was serving a 400-year prison sentence was exonerated on Monday after spending three decades in prison. Holmes was reportedly identified as the getaway driver by the victim, who was robbed at gunpoint in 1988. 

Who is Sidney Holmes?

Sidney Holmes, a Florida man who spent 34 years in jail walked out of the court in Fort Lauderdale as a free man on Monday after he was exonerated.

Holmes is a 57-year-man sentenced to 400 years behind bars in 1988 after Broward County armed robbery case. He was released after Broward State Attorney’s Office Conviction Review Unit (CRU) reinvestigated his conviction along with the Innocence Project of Florida. 

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Holmes contacted the Broward State Attorney’s CRU in November 2020 claiming his innocence and seeking prompt review of this case. The investigation revealed that officials misidentified Holmes based on a biased witness statement that mistakenly focused on the suspect’s vehicle which supposedly matched the description of the getaway car. 

“There is no evidence tying Mr. Holmes to the robbery other than a flawed identification,” said Arielle Demby Berger, reported Miami Herald. Berger is the assistant state attorney in charge of the Broward State CRU. 

According to a release from Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor, Holmes was arrested on October 6, 1988. He was convicted of being the driver for two unidentified men who robbed a man and woman at gunpoint outside a convenience store, after a jury trial in April 1989. The two men stole the male victim’s car. He was sentenced the following month. 

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The Conviction Review Unit headed by Pryor and an independent review panel autonomously concluded that the information they reviewed provided a “reasonable doubt” as to Holmes’s guilt. It was determined that State Attorney’s Office would not charge him today based on these facts. 

Circuit Court Justice Edward Merrigan signed Holmes’s release order on Monday. 

“I can’t put it into words, it’s overwhelming,” Holmes told WPLG, an ABC affiliate after his release.