A prisoner believed to have been the longest-serving inmate in United States history has died at the age of 101.
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Francis Clifford Smith passed away just months before what would have been his 102nd birthday.
Smith was convicted of murder and sentenced to death at the age of 25 for the 1949 shooting of 68-year-old Grover Hart during an attempted robbery.
Remarkably, Smith avoided execution eight times over the following years while continuing to maintain his innocence.
Prisoner Dies After Spending 76 Years Behind Bars
Smith reportedly died in his sleep in late June at 60 West, a secure Connecticut nursing facility that cares for older people involved in the justice system.
"Essentially, he died of old age," 60 West spokesman David Skoczulek said. "He had very limited family involvement around his passing but we assured it was appropriate, met his wishes and was dignified."
Reports state that Smith was cremated without a funeral.
Even decades after his conviction, he continued to insist that he had played no role in Hart's murder.
In 2023, Smith said "I'm in here on no evidence at all."
Questions surrounding the evidence against Smith, along with doubts raised by key witnesses, repeatedly complicated efforts to carry out his death sentence.
Authorities scheduled his execution eight times, only for each attempt to fall through before it could take place.
Questions Emerged Over Francis Clifford Smith's Conviction
Before Smith's eighth planned execution, the officer who originally arrested him interrupted a meeting of the Board of Pardons to raise doubts about his guilt.
He insisted that Smith had not killed Hart.
"I'm not even sure he was present at the murder," Major Leo Carroll announced to the Board of Pardons.
Reports also raised questions about the testimony that helped secure Smith's conviction. A key witness who implicated him in the crime had reportedly received a plea deal in return.
Some witnesses subsequently withdrew their original testimony, while another man serving a sentence for an unrelated crime later claimed responsibility for Hart's killing.
In 1954, officials commuted Smith's death sentence to life imprisonment. He ultimately spent approximately 76 years in custody.
Smith did experience several brief periods outside prison, including 12 days on the run following an escape in 1967.
Authorities also granted him parole in 1975, but he returned to custody 10 months later following a parole violation after an arrest for petty larceny involving a weapon.
Smith subsequently rejected several opportunities for parole.
That changed in 2020, when he agreed to move to 60 West, where he remained until his death.
