Florida man, 63, who spent three decades in prison - including 20 years on death row - is finally released three years after his murder conviction was overturned when lawyers argued COVID-19 would kill him before he could prove his innocence
Crosley Green was convicted of the 1989 shooting murder of Charles Flynn Jr and spent more than 30 years in prison - 20 on death row
Police arrived to find Flynn Jr mortally wounded - but he refused to tell them who had shot them
His ex-girlfriend Kim Hallock was with him, and claimed a black man had hijacked his truck, kidnapped them and shot Flynn Jr
CBS News
Crosley Green released after more than 30 years in prison
Green was convicted of a murder and sentenced to death in 1990, despite no direct evidence linking him to the case. 2021 Apr 08 Flipboard
A Black man incarcerated for more than 30 years for a crime he says he didn t commit has been released from prison nearly three years after his conviction was overturned. Crosley Green was convicted in 1990 of killing a 22-year-old Florida man though there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime.
On Tuesday, federal Judge Roy B. Dalton granted a motion from Green s attorneys asking for his immediate release, citing the coronavirus pandemic, health issues and the reversal of his conviction. Green s attorneys said he is at an increased risk for contracting COVID-19 because of his age, a recent exposure to tuberculosis for which he is undergoing treatment and his other health issues.
Citing the public’s strong interest in releasing a prisoner who remained incarcerated in violation of the Constitution, a federal judge on Wednesday ordered Crosley Green to be released from prison.
Federal Judge Roy B. Dalton of the Middle District Court of Florida granted a motion from Green’s attorneys requesting his immediate release due to health concerns, the pandemic and the fact that Green s murder conviction was overturned by Dalton himself on July 20, 2018.
When Green steps through the doors of Calhoun Correctional Facility, which could happen as soon as Wednesday night, it will be his first taste of freedom in 31 years and 10 months.
Florida Department of Corrections inmate No. 902925 had spent more than 30 years behind bars.
Green, a small-time cocaine dealer with one prior prison stint of only six months, was sent to Florida s death row on Feb. 20, 1991, for the murder of Charles Chip Flynn. His death sentence was later commuted to life in prison for kidnapping and murder.
There are many who believed the Titusville man was railroaded and was innocent of the crime that had kept him locked up for the better part of three decades.
Green, incarcerated at the Calhoun Correctional Institution, was granted a new trial July 20, 2018, by the U.S. District court of the Middle District of Florida, citing prosecutorial violations before his initial trial.
You ve got to hand it to Ashley Moody.
Just when I thought Florida s Attorney General had run out of reasons to keep Crosley Green in prison 32 months after his murder conviction was overturned, she comes up with a doozy.
Green is safer in prison than he would be a free man, Moody argues.
Green, whose conviction was overturned by a federal judge in July 2018, remains in prison while the state appeals the judge s ruling. The problem is that now the 63-year-old is being treated for re-exposure to tuberculosis as well as hypertension while the country tries to find its way out from under the COVID-19 pandemic. That s why his lawyers last month filed an emergency motion calling for his immediate release.