ORLANDO, Fla. – Crosley Green, his family and his attorneys appealed to Gov. Ron DeSantis to grant him clemency for a murder he didn’t commit, after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition to hear his case.
Green, 65, was convicted in the 1989 shooting death of 21-year-old Charles Flynn in Brevard County. Flynn’s girlfriend claimed they were robbed by a man while in a secluded area of a park, then driven to a citrus grove, where Flynn was shot and Hallock fled.
Green was sentenced to death, then resentenced to life in prison in 2009.
In 2018, a U.S. district court ruled prosecutors had improperly withheld evidence that police suspected it was Hallock who killed Flynn, not Green. A legal rule called the Brady Doctrine says that prosecutors must turn over evidence that could be favorable for the accused.
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Green was released from prison in 2021.
However, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody appealed the ruling and last year, an appeals court overturned the district court, saying the conviction was improperly overturned.
“I have been sorry and sad not for me but for my family... about what has transpired,” Green said in a news conference Monday. “If it was just me I can deal with it.”
Green talked about his experience since being released from prison, thankful for being able to spend time with his family, go to church and work a job, even if he still has to wear a monitor that restricts his movements.
“Since I’ve been home got to know my sisters better, my niece,” he said, choking up. “Want to continue going on.”
Attorneys for Green said the decision by the Supreme Court to not hear his case may lead to Green going back to prison.
The attorneys said they will petition DeSantis for clemency.
“Justice here means a recognition that there was a mistake made, that Crosley was not given a fair trial and that Crosley no longer deserves to be behind bars,” attorney Vincent Galluzzo said.
“I want this to continue,” Green said. “I wish it will continue forward all the way.”
Two other Brevard County men, William Dillon and Wilton Dedge, who were exonerated for crimes they didn’t commit, joined Green’s family and attorneys to discuss their support for Green and their own experiences.
“You see Crosley Green is not the only victim of prosecutorial misconduct and Brevard County in the 80s and 90s,” Galluzzo said.
“I personally believe in my heart that he’s got a raw deal from before in the system, because I know the system,” Dillon said. “I know how they work, what they did, how they process and I’m going to appeal to Governor DeSantis myself as a man that experienced it, spent many years for crimes I didn’t commit.”
Green’s attorneys also urged Floridians to write to their lawmakers and the governor himself in support of Green.
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