After two years of freedom, a 65 year old Florida man is ordered back to prison for life [View all]

[Celerity]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/04/05/crosley-green-prison-return/

https://archive.is/2pf3D



Crosley Green has had two years outside of prison walls. Two years of having cookouts with family, going to church on Sundays and dreaming of staying free for the rest of his life. That seems to be all the time he’ll get. The 65-year-old Titusville, Fla., man, whose 1990 murder conviction was vacated in 2018 before being reinstated after the state’s appeal in 2022, must surrender himself to the Florida Department of Corrections by April 17, a judge ruled this week. U.S. District Judge Roy Dalton of the Middle District of Florida wrote that Green, having run out of appeals, will have to complete the remainder of his sentence: life behind bars.

Green, who has clung to his faith and remained optimistic despite the looming possibility of returning to prison, said of the court’s decision, “If it wasn’t for the Lord, I’d be down and out right now. I have so much faith and trust and belief, it’s hard for me to let my guard down.” In a video shared by his attorneys, Green said of his time out, “I saw a lot, and I did a lot. There’s a lot more I’d like to do, but you know, in reality one day I’m going to get to do it. Right now I’m going to abide by the rules, abide by what was set forth.”

Green has long denied involvement in the killing of 21-year-old Charles “Chip” Flynn Jr. No physical evidence linked him to the crime, in which the victim’s ex-girlfriend reported that an assailant she described as “a Black guy” kidnapped the two of them and shot Flynn. Green had spent decades in prison, including 19 years on death row, by the time Dalton threw out the verdict of the all-White jury, saying the prosecutor had withheld information suggesting investigators suspected someone else: the ex-girlfriend.

The judge ordered the state to retry Green or release him. But Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) appealed, and Green remained behind bars until 2021, when Dalton released him amid the coronavirus pandemic. A year later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit reversed the lower court’s decision, finding that the evidence withheld was immaterial to the case. In January, Green’s legal team with D.C.-based Crowell & Moring appealed to the Supreme Court; the court announced in February that it would not hear the case. Last week the attorneys asked that Dalton allow Green to remain on house arrest for at least 60 days, writing in a brief that he “has been a model citizen.” The judge denied the request, writing in a Monday order that in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision, “there is no further lawful basis upon which to continue” Green’s release.

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