Glynn Simmons' co-defendant continues fight for exoneration
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — In 1975, Don Roberts was convicted of first-degree murder alongside Glynn Simmons.
Simmons was cleared two years ago, but today, Roberts continues to fight his 50-year-old conviction.
The Edmond Liquor Store murder happened on December 30, 1974.
Two armed suspects raided the register, shot two women, and fled, leaving a blood-stained mystery in their wake.
It took Edmond police two months to name the suspects.
It required an Oklahoma County jury two days to find the co-defendants guilty and sentence two strangers to death.
For 20 years, News 4 raised questions about this case; about two men who both claimed innocence.
In 2023, 48 years after his conviction, Simmons was exonerated, declared actually innocent.
Today, he is a free man; his record cleared; his conscience clean.
"They've got to follow the same process. The same blueprint, or explain it," said Simmons. "He's innocent, just as innocent as I am."
Simmons' co-defendant made parole in 2008.
Don Roberts lives as a convicted felon with the stain of a crime he swears he didn't commit.
In 2024, Roberts filed for post-conviction relief to clear his name.
Roberts' case was before Judge Amy Palumbo for more than a year.
Days before Palumbo was scheduled to rule on Roberts' case, she recused.
Roberts has now had three judges in two months.
This month, five days after Judge Kathryn Savage got the case, she ruled against Don Roberts, denying his motion for post-conviction relief.
"She turned me down without even knowing or hearing anything. No, nothing. No presentation, anything," Roberts said. "She just turned me down point-blank."
Judge Savage issued the denial without a single hearing.
"Don Roberts is my co-defendant," Simmons said. "Exact same evidence. Same testimony. Exact same sentence. What basis can you deny him on? If you deny him? What am I doing out here?"
Roberts's attorney suspects, Judge Savage didn't even read the case file.
The file has thousands of pages of filings, and Judge Savage had the case for less than a week. Her order addresses the timeline of the appeal, not the merits of his case for innocence.
"It's puzzling in a case where the co-defendant has been fully exonerated," said Oklahoma Innocence Project Legal Director Andrea Miller.
Savage's denial came on the eve of National Wrongful Conviction Day, celebrated by exonerees and criminal justice advocates around the country.
"The U.S. criminal justice system, in terms of the number of wrongful convictions, is the worst in the world," said wrongful conviction expert Jim McClosky of Centurian Ministries.
On Wrongful Conviction Day, Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna was speaking about wrongful convictions on a panel of experts.
She would not answer our questions about Don Roberts' denial.
"I think it's going to be on appeal," Behenna said. "I don't talk about cases that are pending."
She said she doesn't talk about cases that are pending, but that certainly wasn't her approach in 2023 when she called a full court press conference to confess a procedural violation in the case of Glynn Simmons.
Behenna told the news media on April 14th, 2023, "There was a police report, a significant police report, that was not turned over. So we came to the conclusion, because we believe in fair and just trials in Oklahoma, that we would file an application requesting a new trial."
That is her public position on cases of wrongful conviction, but out of the spotlight, in the courtroom, Behenna fiercely opposed Glynn Simmons' exoneration and release.
And now, in the case of Don Roberts, her office is once again fighting against a declaration of innocence.
"Let me tell you what happened in my case. Vicki had nowhere else to go," Simmons remembers. "It looked like Vicki was a champion of actual innocence. Well, if you're really the champion of actual innocence, let Don Roberts out. File the same motion that you filed to dismiss my case. Vacate the sentence. File it like you did on my case. My lawyer didn't file a motion to vacate. Vicki did because she couldn't take me to court. There's nothing to take me to court on. It's the same thing in Don Roberts' case. If you want to be honorable, take the initiative and file a motion. That's the right thing to do."
In 1975, Simmons and Roberts were tried and convicted as one. But today, with the looming possibility of two exonerations, two black eyes for Oklahoma County, the state has seemingly changed its position on the fairness of the 1975 murder trial.
"She's trying to play both sides. She's trying to say, I kept Roberts in. I kept my foot on Roberts' neck, but I did free Simmons; that's not good enough," Roberts said. "Vicki Behenna acts like a confused person to me. She thinks she can have it both ways. She thinks she can do half right and be correct. You can't be half right and still be correct. You've got to be completely right."
Judge Savage's denial may be the end of the line for Roberts' case in the Oklahoma County courthouse.
"It doesn't make any sense whatsoever. The courts just need to do the right thing. You've done wrong. Don't keep prolonging. Don't compound your wrong with this denial that you're doing on down on this case," Simmons said. "It's just not fair, just not right."
News 4 reached out to the district attorney's office again last week to ask D.A. Vicki Behenna about her opposition to the Roberts' appeal.
Her spokesperson did not send over a statement, but we know from previous court filings that the district attorney's office believes the facts of the Roberts case are different than the Glynn Simmons case.
KFOR reached out to Judge Kathryn Savage, who did not respond to our request for information about the Roberts' denial
An appeal to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals can take one to two years.
If Roberts is denied there, his attorney will appeal his case to the Western District of Oklahoma, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, and potentially the U.S. Supreme Court
That process can take three to seven years.
Don Roberts is 72 years old.