He was free for 2 years. Now Crosley Green is back in prison for a crime he says he didn’t commit
CNN
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Florida man sentenced to thirty years in prison for murder he claims he did not commit return to prison Monday, after spending two years building a life outside prison walls.
Since he was granted conditional release in 2021 on appeal, Crossley GreenThe 65-year-old worked in a machine-grafting shop, attended church regularly and spent time with his grandchildren. He even falls in love.
“I’ve been with this man for two years,” his fiancée Kathy Spikes told CNN. “Not being able to get a call at 5 o’clock and say, ‘I’m back,’ and not being able to have me say, ‘What do you want for dinner,’ that’s what I’m worried about.”
he goes back to jail about two weeks U.S. District Judge Roy Dalton ruled that he must surrender to authorities by April 17 to reinstate his life sentence.
Green turned himself in to the Florida Department of Corrections at 5 p.m. Monday, according to his attorney. He was accompanied by Spikes, his family and his attorneys, Keith Harrison and Jeane Thomas, who have represented him pro bono for 15 years.
green is Granted conditional release from prison In 2021, about three years after a federal court in Orlando overturned his conviction. The state of Florida appealed the verdict and won last year, and Green’s conviction was reinstated. Dalton allowed Greene to remain free while exhausting all legal options. Green’s legal team petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court, but in late February the court declined to hear his case.
“I can’t be angry at anybody,” Green told CNN. “I don’t want anyone to be angry at anyone. Anger isn’t going to take you anywhere. It’s not going to do anything but hurt you. I’m happy. I’m not happy to go back. I have my future wife, I have My friends are here with me.”
Green was convicted of the 1989 shooting death of 21-year-old Charles Flynn. Greene, a black man, was sentenced to death. all white juryIn 2009, he was resentenced to life in prison due to technical issues related to the sentencing phase of the trial.
In 2018, Judge Dalton ruled Prosecutor improperly withheld evidence The police once suspected that the shooter was someone else. But late last year, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed and reinstated Greene’s conviction, saying the withheld evidence was not material to the case.
Green’s only options for leaving prison now are clemency or parole, according to his legal team.
“We think he’s an excellent parole candidate,” Thomas said. “He has proven that he has been on supervised release for the past two years. On the face of it, he is a very successful person at work, at church and at home.”
Thomas noted that leniency does not equal acquittal. It’s just a mechanism by which the state decides someone has served long enough to be released, she said.
Thomas said Green has been wearing an ankle monitor since being released from prison and has been a “model citizen.”
“For 15 years, we have believed wholeheartedly, 100 percent, in our client’s innocence,” Thomas said. “As lawyers, we have to trust the justice system to make the right decision. We will continue to fight. This is a gross injustice. We believe in the end we will get it right.”
Despite the latest ruling, Green remains optimistic about proving his innocence. In a statement his attorney shared with CNN, he said: “To me, this is just another part of what I’m going through now to get my freedom. That’s all.”
He further attributed his persistence to his confidence in CNN’s comments.
“If everyone could believe in themselves and believe in the Lord as I believe in myself, then you would be able to understand and say what I can say and not let anything come between you and your faith,” he said.
