A man who has claimed his innocence for years and was freed from prison two years ago after being convicted of a murder he says he did not commit has been ordered to go back.
According to CNN, Crosley Green has already served 30 years for a crime he says he didn’t do. After receiving a conditional release in 2021 and being free to live his life, his conviction was reinstated in 2022. A judge has ruled he has to return to prison this month. He returned to prison on Monday.
Green surrendered to Florida’s Department of Corrections on Monday, April 17, at 5 p.m. He left freedom behind for possibly the last time. He appeared at the facility with his fiancée, Kathy Spikes,
several family members, and his attorneys, Keith Harrison and Jeane Thomas.“I’ve been with this man for two years,” Spikes told CNN. “To not be able to have a 5 o’clock phone call to say, ‘I’m home,’ for me to say, ‘What do you want for dinner,’ that’s what I’m anxious about.”
Two weeks ago, Green was ordered to return after US District Judge Roy Dalton
ruled that he must return to the facility by April 17 to resume his life sentence.Green was convicted in the shooting death of a 21-year-old man, Charles Flynn, in 1989. An all-white jury gave him a death sentence at that time and then resentenced him to life in prison in 2009 due to a technicality related to the sentencing phase of his trial.
Then in 2018, Judge Dalton ruled that prosecutors had improperly withheld evidence that police officers had suspected another person as the one who shot Flynn. Green’s conviction was overturned in 2021, and he was given a conditional release in 2021.
The state of Florida then appealed that decision and won, so Green’s conviction was reinstated. But the judge allowed him to remain free so he could find other legal options. He used his last chance in February after his attorneys petitioned the US Supreme Court. The court decided not to hear his case, exhausting all avenues Green had to remain free.Now, the only options for Green are pardon or parole, according to his legal team.
“I can’t be angry at no one,” Green told CNN. “I don’t want no one else to be angry at no one.
Anger isn’t going to take you nowhere. Ain’t going to do (anything) but harm you. I’m happy. I’m not happy about going back. I’ve got my future wife, I’ve got my friends that came up here with me. I’ve got my family.”Green’s attorney, Thomas, said, “For 15 years now, we have believed wholeheartedly, 100 percent in the innocence of our client. As lawyers, we have to believe that the justice system will get it right. We’re going to keep fighting. This is a grave injustice. And we just believe that eventually we will get it right.”