Francis Clifford Smith, considered the oldest inmate and longest-serving prisoner in the United States, died at the age of 101.
Smith, who spent 76 years under sentence and more than seven decades behind bars while relentlessly maintaining his innocence, passed away peacefully in his sleep on June 25 at 60 West, a secure skilled nursing facility in Connecticut for justice-involved seniors.
Smith’s saga began in July 1949, when he was just 25, after the shooting death of 68-year-old night watchman Grover Hart during an attempted robbery at the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Connecticut.
Convicted of first-degree murder in 1950, Smith was sentenced to death.
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However, the case was plagued by deep doubts; Key witnesses later recanted their testimony, another prisoner allegedly confessed to the crime, and a police officer who had interrogated Smith, Major Leo Carroll, testified before the Connecticut Board of Pardons that he believed Smith was completely innocent.
These serious evidentiary flaws led to an extraordinary sequence of events in which Smith received his “last meal” eight separate times, only to have his execution stopped, often at the last moment.
The state finally commuted his death sentence to life in prison in 1954, four years after his conviction.
Speaking to reporters in 2023, Smith remained steadfast about his wrongful conviction until the end of his life, maintaining that he had been kept behind bars “without any evidence.”
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