Francis Clifford Smith, believed to be the longest-serving prisoner in US history, has died at the age of 101, according to BBC. Smith, who spent more than seven decades behind bars after being convicted of murder, died at a Connecticut nursing facility while on supervised parole.
Smith's journey through the justice system began following the July 1949 robbery of the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, during which 68-year-old nightwatchman Grover Hart was fatally shot. In June 1950, Smith was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to die in the electric chair, as per the BBC.
Throughout his trial and for the rest of his life, Smith steadfastly maintained his innocence, claiming he was not present during the crime.
His time on death row was marked by an extraordinary series of legal stays. Smith was spared execution eight separate times-famously receiving his designated "last meal" on eight different occasions as scheduled executions were repeatedly delayed at the eleventh hour.
In one instance in 1951, a key witness recanted her testimony shortly before his sentence was to be carried out. In 1954, just two hours before he was set to enter the execution chamber, his death sentence was officially commuted to life imprisonment.
Over the next six decades, Smith remained incarcerated in Connecticut, becoming a fixture of the state's correctional system. Apart from a brief 12-day prison escape in 1967 and a short-lived parole in 1975, he spent virtually his entire adult life behind bars.
In July 2020, after serving over 69 years in prison, the state parole board granted him release to an eldercare facility due to his advanced age and declining health.
