Pompano Beach resident, Sidney Holmes, is finally reunited with his family after spending over three decades in Fort Lauderdale prison.
By: Kristen Hernandez
Fort Lauderdale, FL – Sidney Holmes, 57, along with his closest loved ones, boarded a luxury ocean liner bound for the Caribbean. It was a gift from one of many organizations that’ve assisted Holmes since his March 13th release from a Fort Lauderdale prison, after he paid for someone else’s crime.
As he dressed for a planned reunion dinner on his first-ever vacation, Holmes finally studied his reflection in the bathroom mirror because in prison, mirrors are a no-no. Fine lines have etched themselves in his once smooth skin. Gray’s stud his beard like dandelion weeds, pull one and a field grows back. The signs of age have almost surprised Holmes.
His sister, Nicole “Nikki” Mitchell now in her 40’s, called out “Sidney”, but it took him a moment to remember his name is no longer Inmate.
“Your future is not allowed in prison,” Holmes said. “I was only 22 when they took my freedom away. But you have to change your lifestyle. I had to develop a positive attitude and I educated myself. Spirituality was my platform. And I never gave up hope.”
Holmes reflected on what almost was. The day of his arrest in 1988, Holmes was with his family and little Nikki, eight at the time. They were “screaming their heads off” on the go-carts in celebration of Father’s Day. He had no idea what crime they were accusing him of.
It turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. One that cost Holmes 36 years of his adult life. He was “identified” by the brother of one of the victims, in a second photo lineup.
“I remember when the prosecutor asked the judge for an 825-year sentence. I couldn’t believe it, there was no way, I was innocent of this. When the judge said, ‘perhaps that’s a bit much’, I was even more shocked when he suggested 400 years instead.”
Brandon Scheck, Staff Attorney for the Innocence Project Florida explained, “If Sidney was given life, he would’ve been eligible for parole after serving 25 years. Alternately, a term of years means the person must serve out that term of exact years. Living until the age of 400 is obviously not going to happen. It ensured that he’d die in prison. They were wrong.”
Before his wrongful conviction, Holmes was studying to be a medical technician. “There were some dog days. I focused on staying positive and educating myself. Education is paramount. I got myself a degree, an associate in theology, and developed culinary skills. I plan on opening a food truck with my brother-in-law and it’s in the works,” Holmes said.
Holmes is also working on developing a plan to mentor young black and brown residents to help them change their lifestyle, so the “next 22-year-old doesn’t get accused of something they didn’t do”. Because so many young men grow up without a father figure, the streets swallow them up.
He joined Toastmasters International so he could nurture public speaking skills and “give back and help someone like he was blessed.” Holmes wants kids to know that prison is not someplace they want to be and “it’s no joke”. Dreams and goals vanish like the sunlight.
And truly horrible things happen behind the gates, like an inmate that dove to their death off a top tier balcony because they were high on something synthetic. “I witnessed someone get stabbed and killed over one single cigarette.”
“These kids running around the streets of Pompano don’t realize the legalities of what’s going on,” Holmes said. “They want to be a thug or gangster, but they need to understand prison is worse than the streets. In the streets, you’re free. In prison, you must comply. You’ll have to wake up early every morning because you think someone will come up into your room and slice you. I was scalded with burning water for seeing the wrong thing in the wrong place, at the wrong time.”
Holmes pointed out how the new Broward County courthouse administration inherited a broken system. “This system was developed decades ago. They’ve been able to lock someone up without proper evidence. The system needs to be fixed. It’ll take local politicians, police department, a real collective effort. I see it’s moving in a positive direction.”
While in prison Holmes contacted somewhere between 200-300 institutions such as Yale University and Howard University, anyone who’d listen to his story. All the case facts pointed to his innocence, as Holmes has said all along. It took an intense 2-year review and collaboration between Innocence Project Florida and Broward County State Attorney’s office to get Holmes freed.
Since 2019, the collaboration between the two organizations has exonerated 7 innocent people from Fort Lauderdale prison. “The evidence proved it from the beginning. Sidney Holmes is factually innocent of this 1988-armed robbery,” Scheck said. The case is still unsolved.
After Holmes and his family returns from vacation, he plans on getting his food truck off the ground “with a blessing from God” and plans to speak at events around Pompano Beach. Above all, Sidney Holmes wants to bond with his family – his daughter, 5 grandchildren, sister and his mother. “I’m so blessed that my mother is still living and I can give her a hug instead of putting flowers on her grave.” To find out more about the Innocence Project Florida, visit them at www.FloridaInnocence.org.
