In 1977, two 14-year-old twin white girls in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, a small community in the center of the state with an ugly history of racism, alleged that they were brutally raped and kidnapped along with their 18-year-old male cousin by an unknown Black man. They could not provide many details when they went to the police two weeks after the alleged attack. There were no corroborating witnesses and no evidence at all of a rape and kidnapping.
That did not stop the police from picking up a young Black man from town and taking him into the station. Unable to truly understand the charges against him as he had limited education and was illiterate, the police denied him an attorney and the ability to make a call. He was then placed in a line up with a few other men. But, there was only one man in the police lineup that day who was handcuffed and placed in restraints….Vincent Simmons. The twins and their cousin identified the man with the handcuffs and shortly thereafter in the stationhouse Simmons was shot point blank in the chest. Surviving the shooting, and facing the death penalty, he was convicted at a hasty trial less than 60 days after arrest and sentenced to 100 years in prison.
This is a story you hear about when speaking of Jim Crow and the “rape myth” involving Black men and white women that resulted in so many lynchings and wrongful convictions. Nearly 44 years later, Vincent Simmons remains in Angola State Penitentiary. This is arguably his last chance at freedom in a new motion to overturn his conviction. With new evidence of his innocence, including the medical report that was hidden from the defense that found that the girls were not raped, expert reports on witness misidentification and new evidence showing that the girls and their cousin had lied, Vincent Simmons needs your support.
Click here for images of Vincent Simmons shackled in witness lineup.
For more information:
Simmons Seeks Summary Judgement to Vacate Conviction and 100 year Sentence
Judge in Vincent Simmons Innocence Hearing Removed for Relationship with Witnesses
Motion to Recuse Prosecutor Charles Riddle and Judge Spruill in Vincent Simmons innocence hearing
New Motion to Vacate Conviction – October 20, 2020
Press Release: New Motion to Vacate Conviction
In the Media: New attorney wants Vincent Simmons sentence, conviction vacated
In the Media: New evidence appears to clear man of 1977 attempted rape conviction
The Farm: Life Inside Angola Prison Vincent Simmons Parole Hearing (YouTube)
Documentary – Shadow of a Doubt: Vincent Simmons (YouTube)
Contact
Lonnie Soury: lsoury@soury.com</p