Florida Man Serving 400-Year Sentence Exonerated After 34 Years in Prison

A Florida man sentenced to 400 years behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit was exonerated and released from prison on Monday, March 13, Broward County officials said.

Sidney Holmes was misidentified as the getaway driver in a 1988 armed robbery, authorities said. In 2020, he appealed his case to the Broward State Attorney’s Conviction Review Unit. Prosecutors investigated the case and vacated Holmes’s sentence on Monday, according to local news reports. He spent more than 30 years in prison.

Footage published by the Innocence Project Florida shows Holmes’s release on Monday evening, as he was greeted by his family. Credit: Innocence Project of Florida via Storyful

Video transcript

- Oh, that's-- yeah. [LAUGHS]

[CROWD CHEERS]

Oh my god. Oh my god.

- [INAUDIBLE]

Oh my god. Oh my god.

[INAUDIBLE]

Oh my god. Woo.

- How's it Like to see your family?