Ernie Simmons' First Interview Since His Prison Release Pt. 2
By: Angie Koehle
Updated: June 25, 2010
SNYDER TOWNSHIP, JEFFERSON COUNTY - Ernie Simmons was once hours away from being executed.
"I'm dressed in blue pants and a white shirt. I see the van pulls up in the back of my window. My stuff is packed," Simmons said.
A stay would save his life, a federal appeal would ultimately give him freedom.
"I sometimes wonder if I never got that opportunity what would happen," he said. "Would anybody have ever found out there was a possibility that I didn't do this?"
For 18 years, Simmons has denied he was responsible for murder of 80 year old Anna Knaze. When a federal judge found out the prosecution hid evidence in Simmons at trial, it gave the judge less confidence in Simmons' conviction, so he threw it out.
"If they (the prosecution) would have just been fair, we wouldn't be having this conversation today," Simmons said.
Simmons is living at 'Just for Jesus' homeless shelter near Brockway now. The state department of corrections had a hard time finding a place for him to live. He's blunt when asked where he would have went if not for the shelter.
"I'm gonna be honest. Knowing me, I might have been back in jail because I had so much anger against the legal system and that probably could've got me back in jail," he said.
An admitted robber, Simmons said prison and the shelter have reformed him.
"I'm never going back to jail and I mean never," he said.
"I'm dressed in blue pants and a white shirt. I see the van pulls up in the back of my window. My stuff is packed," Simmons said.
A stay would save his life, a federal appeal would ultimately give him freedom.
"I sometimes wonder if I never got that opportunity what would happen," he said. "Would anybody have ever found out there was a possibility that I didn't do this?"
For 18 years, Simmons has denied he was responsible for murder of 80 year old Anna Knaze. When a federal judge found out the prosecution hid evidence in Simmons at trial, it gave the judge less confidence in Simmons' conviction, so he threw it out.
"If they (the prosecution) would have just been fair, we wouldn't be having this conversation today," Simmons said.
Simmons is living at 'Just for Jesus' homeless shelter near Brockway now. The state department of corrections had a hard time finding a place for him to live. He's blunt when asked where he would have went if not for the shelter.
"I'm gonna be honest. Knowing me, I might have been back in jail because I had so much anger against the legal system and that probably could've got me back in jail," he said.
An admitted robber, Simmons said prison and the shelter have reformed him.
"I'm never going back to jail and I mean never," he said.
