48 Hours - Please Don’t Tell

Episode Date: May 22, 2022

Twin sisters say they were attacked by a Black man. Are they telling the truth or hiding a family secret? "48 Hours" contributor David Begnaud reports.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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ConstantContact.ca I have lived 44 years with his face etched in my brain. It was everything that you pray to God never happens to anyone. For me, it's really tough. I'm struggling. I'm struggling to do the interview at all. We were at our grandparents' house, and Keith, our first cousin, came over, asked us if we would come to his house to help him clean. So we went to his house, and when we were done, he needed gas. So we stopped at 7-Eleven, and as we pulled up,

So we stopped at 7-Eleven, and as we pulled up, there was a man standing there. He said, well, can you give me a ride? Instantly, we knew something wasn't right, but Keith told him he would give him a ride. I think we just cut off circulation in each other's hands. We were squeezing our hands so tight. Because you just have a gut feeling that this is not good. He was telling us the directions on where to go. Which took us to Little California Road.

He told us to get out of the car. He opens the trunk, and he puts Keith in the trunk. At that point, he told us to take off our clothes. Did you plan to tell anybody what happened? No. Why? Because we were afraid he would come back and kill us. When did the twins actually go to the police? I think it was about two weeks later, a little bit more than two weeks.

You said the man was black? Yes. Did they ever give you a ride? No. Did you ever meet them at a gas station? No, never. I didn't rape Karen and Sharon Sandness. I don't know these people.

When I saw him in that lineup, I didn't have to think twice. When I looked at him, I knew him. He got convicted and received two 50-year consecutive sentences. That's insane. It's horrible. It disgusted me. There's no hairs, no fibers, no blood, no sweat, no semen. There's nothing. Vincent Simmons is an innocent man who was railroaded by a racist system. Is it possible that you picked the wrong man?

No, no. When I close my eyes, there's no other face that I see. Stop it. Stop it. When are we going to talk about the facts? Why did we pick him? Why?

It was Mr. Simmons because it was Mr. Simmons. Thank you. Every time I talk about it, it makes me feel like I'm 14 again. For identical twins Karen and Sharon Sanders, life is broken into two parts. Before May 1977 and after. They say what happened one night that May changed everything. The limitations it put on our life, like with anxiety, depression, panic attacks. It's crippling, really. It's taken a lot from us. Back in 1977, the 14-year-old twins were living with their grandparents in the quiet small town of Marksville, Louisiana. And for the most part, they say they were happy there, staying busy and enjoying the little things in life.

I was all about makeup and perfume and being prissy. And Karen was more outside playing in the dirt. This is true. Life was simple. Until it wasn't. What makes it so difficult for you, Karen, 44 years later to even talk about? Well, it's a lot happened that night. The twins say it all began May 9th, 1977, when their cousin, Keith Laborde, picked them up so that they could help him clean his house.

By the time they finished cleaning, it was just beginning to get dark. Keith was driving them home, and that's when they say he stopped at that gas station and encountered a black man. He walked up to the car and told Keith that he almost hit him. And Keith, you know, did not. And Keith told him he didn't want to fight, and he said, I don't fight, I shoot. The man said this? Yes, the man said it instantly.

Karen went inside to pay for the gas, and me and Keith were talking to this man, and we exchanged names, and he said his name was Simmons. The twins say any tension between Keith and the man soon lifted, and that's why they say Keith agreed to give the man a ride. We were like, Keith, you know, don't. And he's like, it'll be okay, it'll be okay. But they say they knew it wasn't okay when the man directed them to that desolate area

of Little California Road and threatened them. He told us that before we could get a gun, he would shoot us, which we did not have a gun. So we knew he had a gun. They say the man ordered them out of the vehicle and forced Keith into the trunk. Keith's how old? 18. So he got in the trunk.

Yes. He did. He told us to take off our clothes. Karen started to run at that point. And I yelled, and she stopped. He said, this one's going to give me trouble. And so he opened the trunk, and he put me in the trunk with Keith. And he had Sharon.

I took off my clothes. He told me to get in the back seat, and I did. And he told me how to lay, and I did. I can hear Sharon crying, and, of course, I can't take it. So I'm banging on the trunk, and I'm banging and I'm screaming, take me, take me, leave her alone, take me, take me. Karen was back there making all kinds of

commotion and things didn't work out for him with me. And he was very frustrated. You could see it and feel it. And he got very aggravated and told me to put my clothes back on. And when you say things didn't work out for him, what do you mean? He tried to penetrate and was unsuccessful. But at the time, I was 14. I did not know he was unsuccessful. I really thought... You had lost your virginity. I had lost my virginity. I had no clue.

Afterwards, Sharon says she was put in the trunk with Karen and Keith. And then the man started driving. We just found each other's hands and began to pray. And then the car stopped. And he said, you, out. And pointed at you, Karen? Yes.

He told me to lay in the back seat. He, um... He raped me. Then, with Sharon and Keith still in the trunk, Karen says the man just wanted to talk. It was like nothing had happened, that we were like best friends, that we were just hanging out. And you went along with it, just talking?

Absolutely, to keep him calm. And how long did this go on for? To me, a lifetime. He told me he came from a large family, about where he had lived and all this, and he had just gotten back from Texas. She says when they stopped talking, the man raped her again, multiple times.

I remember, like, laying in that back seat, and his chest, I mean, his heaviness on my chest, and the sweat. And it was just disgusting. She says he then drove them to a local cemetery, where he got out of the car. He opens the trunk, and he lets them out. He's going to let us go. And he told us, if you tell anyone, I know where y'all live, I've got friends, he said, and I will come back. And we all swore to each other that we would not tell a soul. They say just the fear of what might happen if they told kept them silent for two weeks.

Until Karen says she couldn't keep it in anymore. She says she confided in Keith's sister. And I said, but please, please don't tell anyone. Please don't tell anyone. She said, I'm not going to tell anyone. And it just unraveled from there. The next day, Keith's parents found out. And soon, Karen, Sharon, and Keith all ended up at the sheriff's office.

Karen and Sharon each gave statements reporting that they had been raped. Karen each gave statements reporting that they had been raped. And less than 24 hours later, on the morning of May 23, 1977, 25-year-old Vincent Simmons was taken into custody as he was walking down the street. Did you know Karen and Sharon Sanders? Never seen them before in my life. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military,

and when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman.

It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, wherever you get your podcasts. both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, wherever you get your podcasts. It was May 23rd, 1977, when Vincent Simmons was brought to the sheriff's office, which used to be here on the second floor of the Avoyles Parish Courthouse in Marksville.

And they took me and put me in a lineup. Karen, Sharon, and Keith were all there to see if they could identify a suspect. We're all three in the room, but we're not all walking up to the window at the same time. Keith goes first. Keith writes the number down on a pad. I walk up. I look at him, and I go to the pad. I write his number down.

And then Sharon goes up to the window, looks out, and writes her number down. What number did you all write? Four. And then they said... Do you remember that? Oh, my gosh.

Yeah. Then they said to us, y'all have all picked the same man. That man they identified was 25-year-old Vincent Simmons. He was from a big family in the next town over from Marksville. And this wasn't the first time he found himself in the sheriff's office. I didn't have a daddy, you know, so basically I grew up on my own looking out for my little sisters. I was doing wrong.

I was going in the stores just to get food to feed them. Vincent was convicted of a home burglary at the age of 18. While incarcerated, he escaped from the jail in Marksville. He lived on the run in Texas for nearly six years until he came back to town shortly before that lineup. And when I walked up to the window and I looked, I had no second doubt I know exactly who raped me that night. After Sharon, Karen, and Keith ID'd Vincent, he says he was brought upstairs to the jail where he waited while an officer was writing something down.

I'm sitting on the chair in a handcuff. When he gets to me, he said, I want you to sign there. I said, what is that? He said, this is a confession saying that you committed this crime. I said, what crime? You know, he said, rape of a confession saying that you committed this crime. I said, what crime? You know, he said, rape of those two white girls. I said, I don't even know these white girls. Vincent says when he refused to sign the confession, the officer knocked him down.

And as they struggled, another officer shot him. Boom. I was burning through my chest, you know, and I fell on the floor. When I woke up, I'm in the hospital. Now the two officers involved tell a very different story. They say Vincent grabbed one officer's gun and was pointing it at both of them when the second officer shot Vincent in the shoulder in self-defense. Whatever the truth, Vincent was never prosecuted for that incident. Instead, less than two months after he was shot, he was brought to court to face Karen and Sharon.

Less than 60 days after he was arrested, Vincent went on trial. Is that a pretty rapid time? In 1977, I would say for major cases, they went to court quickly. Charles Riddle was not the district attorney back then, but he is now, and he's very familiar with the details of the case. What was the evidence against him? The testimony of the witnesses, the victims. Karen, Sharon, and Keith all took the stand. Walk into a courtroom, your parents, everybody that loves you is sitting there. And seeing him for the very first time, we have not seen him since the lineup.

And then seeing him face to face was really hard. Of course, I had to put my hand on the Bible and swear to tell the truth, nothing but the truth, which is all I had anyway. They all testified that on the night of the rape, Vincent had told them his last name. Believe it or not, all night long, we called him Simmons. He told us to call him Simmons.

At trial, they all say Simmons. Simmons, the man told us his name was Simmons. What did you think then? I thought they were crazy. I actually thought they were crazy. You mean to tell me I'm going to do something to y'all and let y'all know my name? I'm going to tell you who I am? No. That don't make sense, man.

The jury got to see Keith's car and a photo that police had taken of Karen, Sharon, and Keith reenacting how they fit in the trunk. When it was the defense's turn, Vincent took the stand. I told the jury that I was innocent. I didn't rape nobody. Vincent's lawyers also called three alibi witnesses

who claimed that Vincent was at a bar on the night of the alleged crime. The bar owner said Vincent was there all night. He got into a fight and police were called. But the prosecution called a police officer who said the bar fight was on another night. After a two-day trial, I don't think they had much of a defense. The jury sided with

Karen, Sharon, and Keith. Vincent Simmons was found guilty of two counts of attempted aggravated rape. I was shot. Guilty. I ain't did nothing. When the verdict came back, guilty, unanimously, how did that feel? Sigh of relief. We knew we were free.

Vincent was sentenced to two consecutive 50-year terms, 100 years behind bars. We thought we'd never have to face him again. Two consecutive 50-year terms, 100 years behind bars. We thought we'd never have to face him again. But Vincent refused to give up hope. I wanted to prove that I'm innocent, man. I never know these people. More than four decades later, Justin Bonas, a newly-mended lawyer from Brooklyn, New York, decades later, Justin Bonas, a newly minted lawyer from Brooklyn, New York, would become involved in Vincent's defense and was immediately skeptical of the prosecution's case. I looked at the discovery. I was like, well, everything they said at trial is a lie. It's all a lie.

There's nothing that supports what they say. To be continued... the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal first came from a mom in Guatemala? From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans. Discover the surprising stories of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app

or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn,

and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with.

In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Generations of men have laboured in the fields at Louisiana State Penitentiary. It is the country's largest maximum security prison, built on the site of a former slave plantation called Angola. You know, we had to work seven days a week until it get dark. That's how Angola was. Since the day that cell door closed behind him,

Vincent Simmons has been working to overturn his conviction. In 1993, 16 years after that guilty verdict, he finally succeeded in getting a copy of the prosecution's case file. Mailman came and he gave me this big old envelope. When I opened it up, I was, man, I was in shock. Inside that envelope were items that Vincent had never seen before, including copies of the initial statements that Karen, Keith, and Sharon gave to police. Remember how all three testified at trial that they knew their attacker's name?

He told us to call him Simmons. But as it turns out, when they first spoke to the investigators, they didn't say that. Defense attorney Justin Bonas has since reviewed those statements. When the girls initially went to police, they didn't say the name Simmons? No. What name did they say? They didn't say the name Simmons? No. What name did they say? They didn't give a name. And Bonas noticed something else in those statements. Sharon used the N-word to refer to her attacker and said, quote, all blacks look alike to me,

which she does not deny saying. So what did you say when they asked you to identify the man? I said all blacks look alike. But still, Karen, Keith, and Sharon all picked Vinson out of that lineup. And Bona says he may know why. This photo that was in the file appears to show the lineup. Look at Vinson. He's the only one in handcuffs. When you saw that lineup photo, what did you think? What? I said, this is crazy. that lineup photo? What'd you think? What? I said, this is crazy. Nuts. Highly suggestive. When you put the cuffs on him, you're telling him that's who we want you to pick. But Charles Riddle, the current district attorney, says that photo was taken after the twins ID'd Vincent. They call it the lineup. It was a photo of the lineup after he was identified and placed in cuffs. But how do you

know it was after? Because the girls told me that. So when you picked him out of the lineup after he was identified and placed in cuffs. But how do you know it was after? Because the girls told me that. So when you picked him out of the lineup, was he wearing handcuffs? No, he was not. Not at all. And Karen says they initially didn't tell police the name Simmons out of fear. I mean, we were scared of him. And see, I don't know why I didn't.

I mean, I think it's fear. We're afraid of him. And see, I don't know why I didn't. I mean, I think it's fear. We're afraid of him. And there's another item in that file that Bonas says is critical and was never seen at the trial. It's this report from a doctor who also happened to be the local coroner. He examined the girls two weeks after the reported rape, and he did not document any signs of sexual assault. How big a deal do you think the coroner's report plays in this story? Massive. And Bonas says that report suggests Sharon was still a virgin.

The doctor wrote that her hymen was intact. But Charles Riddle says the report does not prove that the twins were not raped. Because the definition of rape is slightest penetration. And the report about no sign of sexual assault, after two weeks, it's very probable that there would be no sign of sexual assault. Bonas thinks the jury should have had the chance to consider all of that at trial. His attorneys, they had nothing. They went in there flying blind with their arms

tied behind their back in a boxing match. That's literally what it was. So you're telling me the original statements that the girls and Keith gave to police where they could not identify this individual. Right. That was never heard by the jury? Absolutely not. And the medical report from the coroner was never heard by the jury? Right. And the lineup photo, not seen by the jury? No. If the statements from the girls had been presented at trial, if the coroner's report had been known and presented at trial, do you think Vincent still would have been found guilty?

No, absolutely not. Back in 1993, when Vincent first got his hands on that evidence, he made it his mission to get his case in front of a judge. He filed numerous pleadings over multiple years, but no court ever ruled in his favor. And not a single judge felt like there was enough evidence, not the appellate courts, federal courts, state courts, Supreme Court. Vincent was hoping that the parole board at the prison

might have more sympathy. So in 1997, 20 years into his 100-year sentence, he had his first hearing with them. And it was all filmed as part of a documentary called The Farm, which profiled inmates at Angola. Vincent showed them the evidence that his defense did not have at trial. We didn't have none of this evidence.

None of this evidence was presented before the jury. You were the only one handcuffed in the lineup? I'm the only one. Okay, if you all step out, we'll discuss the case. Vincent hoped the board would rule in his favor. You know, 20 years, I come up with something. Oh, yeah. He did. You know, not my mother. Vincent hoped the board would rule in his favor. But they would not. Mr. Simmons, after listening to the testimony and going over the reports,

the board has voted at this time to deny your request for parole. I was hopeless, but I know the truth. And no matter how many times they knock you down, keep getting up. Almost 20 years later, Justin Bonas watched the farm documentary with his wife. We were shocked. And she told me, you know, you should take this case. She basically said, you need to write him. And it wasn't really a suggestion. It was, write him. And that's what I did.

What do you think would have happened if the jury had heard all of the evidence? See more of the case against Vincent Simmons at 48hours.com. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X.

In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C true Crime shows early and ad-free right now.

You're a Brooklyn guy. You go down to Marksville. I felt like my cousin Vinny. I mean, it was like country, okay? By early 2020, Justin Bonas had become Vincent Simmons' lawyer. He had just a year of experience under his belt and was warned that the odds were against him. It's over. Like, he doesn't have any more appeals. I was like, nah, that's not true. It's never true. Absolutely not. Vincent had been fighting unsuccessfully for decades to overturn his conviction.

All the while, Karen and Sharon remained firm about his guilt. We have no reason to lie. Why would we lie? Why would we let someone spend their life in prison if we even had the slightest doubt that it wasn't him? Not long after Vincent's ill-fated parole hearing, documentary cameras were rolling again in the late 90s when he and the twins agreed to a reconciliation meeting. It's where victims and offenders come together to try and heal. We came today not to free you from your prison,

but to free us from our prison. Today I am closing the door to my pain. I'm letting go. When the time came for Vincent to speak, he had questions. My questions will be directly based on your statement. No, we're not going there. And that's when the meeting Unraveled what are you doing here then since you're innocent? What are you doing here? Yeah, I'll put it here We did know a choice that you chose to make

Okay, I think I think we've had enough I think I think it's kind of going sour Finson maybe one day you can get out of your pain if you're measuring. They didn't let him speak because they don't view him as a human being. Bonas wanted to put a spotlight on the case and really dig deeper,

but he needed some help. So he turned to Jason Flom, a recording industry executive known for launching the careers of Katy Perry, Matchbox 20, and Lorde, among others. Flom is also a criminal justice advocate, and he hosts a podcast called Wrongful Conviction,

which has featured big-name guests like Kim Kardashian. When I heard about Vincent's case, I was just like, this is another level. I had to do something about it. Flom featured Vincent's case on his podcast. How could anyone get convicted on the basis of this? This is a man whose life was stolen away from him. And he gave Justin bonus money to go out and hire a private investigator in Louisiana named Brian Andrews.

Justin actually asked me to be the boots on the ground, take statements, gather information. Andrews tracked down Diane Prater, the lone surviving juror from Vincent's trial, and the only African-American on the jury. Turns out she says she never wanted to convict Vincent. Prater was in her 20s at the time of trial, and says she still remembers her reaction to the twins' testimony. When they told a story, I'm like, ain't no way in the world that happened like that.

Put a black man in your car that time. You didn't believe it because at that period in history, you just couldn't see white people giving a ride to black people? Correct. Was there a lot of racism in Marksville? Yes, it was. It was in Marksville. It was everywhere. And she says the jury foreman told her her vote wouldn't matter. In 1977, Louisiana juries could convict a defendant with only 10 out of 12 voting guilty.

So I said to myself, well, it ain't going to do me no good to say nothing, but I never, never, never believed Vincent was killed. The private investigator also tried to talk to relatives of Karen, Sharon, and Keith. With me right now that I'm speaking with... He ended up conducting a videotaped interview with Keith's cousin, Dana Brouillette, and she told him a shocking story. him a shocking story. Dana said that Keith told her in a bar long after the trial that Vincent Simmons was never with them on Little California Road that night. He came out and told me there was never a black man. Instead, in a sworn affidavit, Dana says that Keith told her he had consensual sex with

one of the girls and locked the other in the trunk. He had gone down Little California Road and he locked Sharon in the trunk. And he said the sex between him and Karen was consensual. He said that the other one was a little hellcat. That's the one that put the scratches on his neck. In the affidavit, Dana said that Keith had scratches on his neck. She told the private investigator that she believes Keith and the twins made up the story about a black man. To explain away those scratches...

Blew my mind, the things that she said. Had Dana ever told anyone that? To my knowledge, I don't think she had. They should have come forward a long time ago. I really did think the man got released. And Dana's allegations didn't stop there. She also gave the private investigator a copy of a Facebook message exchange that she says she had with Karen in October 2020. Karen and Dana were talking about how Keith

had allegedly made sexual advances toward female relatives. We asked Karen about that. You said, I didn't realize how sick he was. I thought it was only me. I don't remember saying that. Yeah, because that's the message from you. So what did you mean by that? Okay, we need to cut right now. because that's the message from you. So what did you mean by that?

Okay, we need to cut right now. Cut this. Can we cut for a second? Yeah, yeah. Right then, Karen said she was not ready to talk about that exchange with Dana. But two weeks later, in a follow-up interview with both her and Sharon, she admitted that years before she says they were attacked, when she was a child and Keith was a teenager, something happened.

Did you have consensual sex with Keith Laborde? Okay, let's put it like this. We were kids. Yes, ma'am. We experimented. So, yes. How old were you when it happened? I have, I cannot honestly. I don't know, nine, ten, maybe. And is this the first time you're saying this publicly? Yes, it is.

But that has nothing to do with what Vincent did. That's two separate incidents. David, think about it. If me and Keith had had consensual sex way, way before, now why is he locking us in the trunk of a car? Why is he taking us down a dirt road? But Bonus believes they wanted to cover up what happened that night. It gives motive for why they would lie. It shows that Karen always was hiding something from day one. Keith was 18. Karen was 14.

So what do they do? They blame a black man. To be clear, was Keith the perpetrator that night? No. He was a victim also. Keith was a victim. He was not. He was a victim. He stayed in that trunk the whole time. I went to Keith Laborde's house to speak with him about all of this. No one answered the door, so later I called him.

Hello, Keith. This is David Begnaud with CBS News. When reached by phone, Keith, now 63 years old, denied ever having sex with his cousin Karen. He said they had just, quote, played around like children, end quote. And he also insisted that whatever had happened between him and Karen had nothing to do with what Vincent Simmons did that night. That goddamn is guilty. I don't give a fuck. And yeah, he's a goddamn. And you can put that on TV. I ain't scared of him. Despite the allegations concerning Karen and Keith, District Attorney Charles Riddle says he believes the right man was convicted. I'm firmly convinced that he's guilty. I don't believe that the cousin was the one. But Bonas was more determined than ever to see Vincent walk free.

And in April 2021, the district attorney made an offer that would allow for just that. Riddle said he felt like Vincent had done enough time. Vincent could have walked right out the door. But there was a catch. Vincent would have had to been a sex offender, though. Vincent turned that down and said, I'm not a sex offender. I didn't do this. I am innocent. I'm been a sex offender, though. Vincent turned that down and said, I'm not a sex offender. I didn't do this. I am innocent. I'm not a sex offender. What did you think when you hung up the phone?

I mean, that's it. We're going to war. Bonas kept fighting. And in February 2022, he finally got a hearing where a judge would decide Vincent's fate once and for all. The day of the hearing, as Karen and Sharon made their way into the courthouse, they paused to pray. Vincent Simmons! Vincent Simmons! When Vincent Simmons arrived in a prison van, he was carrying a Bible.

A group of supporters greeted him. They were cheering. Vincent, how are you feeling today? Really? Positive. It's not going to be good. It's going to be awful. Cameras were not allowed in the courtroom as Judge William Bennett delivered his decision.

What did the judge decide? He decided to give Vincent a new trial because of the constitutional violation that he didn't receive a fair trial. Vincent's conviction was thrown out due to the evidence that he himself had obtained almost 30 years earlier. And the fact that his defense team didn't even have it back in 1977. Judge Bennett made it clear, though, that he did not place fault on anyone for that. Instead, he found that the speediness with which the case went to trial made it likely that the original district attorney on the case, Eddie Knoll, didn't even have all the evidence himself at the time. So just to be clear, you believe that in 1977, the police didn't turn over key evidence to the district attorney?

that in 1977, the police didn't turn over key evidence to the district attorney? That's the only explanation feasible and logical after studying everything that I did. That's it. Are you blaming the police? No, I don't believe anybody intentionally hid anything. It's just the way it happened, because it was fast. In a court affidavit, the original DA, Eddie Knoll, said he did not hide or deny Simmons any evidence, nor did he prosecute him because of bias. And he continues to believe that Vincent is guilty. And he's not the only one that feels that way. Current district attorney Charles Riddle.

Do you believe a man who was convicted at a trial that was not fair should have ever served a day in prison? Legally? Legally. Okay, legally, no. But he did. Yes. 44 years. He decided that.

Okay, let me tell you. He deserved to serve the 44 years. Why? Because he's guilty. Judge Bennett was careful to say he has no opinion on the guilt or innocence of Vincent Simmons. With his decision,

it was now up to District Attorney Riddle to decide whether he wanted to retry the case. You stood up and said what? I said that he served enough time and that we're not going to prosecute him again. In the eyes of the people and the Constitution, he is presumed innocent. And when Charles Riddle dismissed that case, that presumption of innocence carries. You free, brother. You free. You free. You done.

I'm so happy to see you. I am so happy to see you. God is good to you. Let me get a picture. I am so happy to see you. God is good to you. Let me get a picture. Vincent is a free man. But for Karen and Sharon, nothing has changed. He went in guilty. He's guilty now.

And guess what? He will die guilty. You ready? So I'm happy. I got 44 years. All right. Let's go. The twins say they accept the judge's decision, but they are still hurt by it. The legal system didn't just fail him. It failed us in many ways also. While Vincent has his freedom, they say they still don't have theirs.

It's frustrating because no one sees our bars. They don't see our prison. We still have our anxiety. We still have our depressions. We still have our fears. Our bars are real. And if you look deep enough, you can see them. Judge Bennett is sympathetic toward the women, but he is confident in his decision. The case holds extra meaning for him because his father, now deceased, was one of the many judges

who denied motions filed by Vincent over the past years. But that was before Vincent had gained access to the prosecution's file. He and I had talked about the Vincent Simmons case years ago. And I know if he would be here, he today would have done what I did. What's on your heart? Because I can see the emotion. I did the right thing. Take your life for freedom.

Just hours after the judge delivered his decision, and right before the sunset, Vincent Simmons walked out of Angola. He went in when he was just 25 years old and was released three days before his 70th birthday. Love you, man. Man. Later that night, he shared a celebratory meal with his family and friends.

What's it like being out of prison? Oh, man, it's a joy that's unexplainable, really. But with that joy comes challenge. It's going to take me a while. I've got a phone. Adjusting to life outside prison walls has proven to be difficult. So much has changed since 1977. Whew, man. New technology. I'm just like a little baby, got to learn.

What are the simple things that you enjoy now? walking outside. Basically it's freedom to just enjoy the moment. Michelle Carter went to jail for sending texts, pushing Conrad Roy to kill himself. She absolutely caused the death of this 18-year-old boy. His mother speaks out. He'll never get over him. It's a crime of our times. She knew exactly what she was doing. 48 Hours, Saturday on CBS.

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