101-Year-Old Dies After Defying Death Row 8 Times, Was America’s Longest-Serving Inmate

A man recognized as potentially the longest-incarcerated prisoner in the United States has passed away at 101 years of age. Throughout his imprisonment, his execution was scheduled no less than eight times, yet each time it was deferred. Despite his conviction for murder in Connecticut, he steadfastly proclaimed his innocence.

Francis Clifford Smith, whose life came to a quiet close in late June, died peacefully in his sleep at 60 West. This Connecticut-based secure nursing facility specializes in the care of aged individuals within the justice system, as per the facility’s statement.

Smith, who was on the brink of his 102nd birthday, was cremated without a funeral service, marking the end of a long and complex life.

“In essence, it was old age,” noted David Skoczulek, spokesman for 60 West, in an interview with the BBC. “His passing involved minimal family engagement, yet we ensured his departure was conducted with respect, aligning with his wishes and maintaining his dignity.”

Smith was 25 when he was first sentenced to death for the fatal shooting of Grover Hart, a 68-year-old night watchman at a Connecticut yacht club, during an attempted robbery on July 23, 1949. Smith was one of two men arrested in connection with the killing. The other man, George Lowden, took a plea deal and initially implicated Smith, although Lowden later said authorities had beaten him into making the statement and refused to testify against Smith at trial.

Over the next 76 years, Smith was scheduled to be executed eight different times, but he was spared on each occasion, according to the Boston Globe.

He continued to maintain his innocence up until his death, his friends told the BBC.

“I’m in here on no evidence at all,” he told the Boston Globe in 2023.

Over the years, questions about the evidence against Smith emerged as a witness recanted, Lowden repudiated his earlier statement implicating Smith and another man claimed responsibility for Hart’s killing. Those developments contributed to repeated efforts to prevent Smith’s execution and obtain a new trial.

“I’m not even sure he was present at the murder,” Major Leo Carroll, one of the officers who had interrogated Smith after his arrest, testified to the Board of Pardons right before his eight planned execution, according to the Boston Globe.

A key witness later recanted her account linking Smith to the crime, while Lowden repudiated his earlier statement implicating Smith. Another man serving time in Alabama later claimed that he, rather than Smith, had been involved in Hart’s killing.

Smith nevertheless never received a new trial. A judge who reviewed the other man’s confession rejected it as not credible, and Smith’s murder conviction remained intact.

Smith’s death sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1954.

He served 76 years behind bars, except for three short stints of freedom, including 12 days on the run after he escaped in 1967.

Then, in 1975, he was granted parole and remained free for about 10 months before he was arrested on larceny and weapons charges and returned to prison for violating parole. The Boston Globe reported that he was not ultimately convicted of those charges.

Records indicate Smith declined or refused to participate in several later parole efforts, although he later disputed that characterization and said he could not remember. But in 2020, he agreed to go on supervised parole to the nursing facility where he recently died.

He reportedly had dementia at the end of his life. Connecticut’s Department of Correction has not confirmed this diagnosis but said Smith was struggling with issues associated with old age.

“He was 101 and a half,” Andrius Banevicius, the public information officer for Connecticut’s Department of Correction, told the BBC. “He did pretty well as far as longevity is concerned.”