The justice system is built on the premise of due process and finding the truth. Yet, sometimes, that foundation crumbles under the weight of misconduct, bias, and hidden secrets. The case of Vincent Simmons stands as a stark, chilling example of this failure. Convicted in 1977 for the attempted aggrvated rpe of 14-year-old twin sisters Karen and Sharon Sanders, Simmons was sentenced to an incomprehensible 100 years in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, notoriously known as Angola.
He fought for his innocence for over four decades, proclaiming that he didn’t even know the sisters who accused him. His relentless struggle finally led to his release in February 2022, after a judge vacated his conviction on the grounds that he was denied a fair trial. The story that emerged is one of potential judicial failures, racial prejudice, and a decades-long secret kept by two young girls and their cousin to conceal what really happened on a desolate Louisiana road.
The Crime and The Conviction: 1977
The events that led to Vincent Simmons’ conviction began on May 9, 1977, in Marksville, Louisiana. The twin sisters, Karen and Sharon Sanders, were out driving with their older cousin, Keith Laborde. According to the account presented at trial, the three encountered a Black man—later identified as 25-year-old Vincent Simmons—at a gas station. They claimed the man asked for a ride, and once they agreed, he forced Laborde into the trunk of the car at knfepont, drove to an isolated spot on Little California Road, and attmpted to rpe the two girls.
Two weeks later, the sisters came forward to report the att*ck. Simmons, who had recently returned to the area, was arrested on May 23, 1977, and placed in a police lineup. All three, Karen, Sharon, and Keith, identified him as their attacker. With no forensic evidence presented at trial to connect Simmons to the crime, the conviction rested entirely on the eyewitness testimony of the twins and their cousin. In July 1977, after a short, two-day trial, an all-white jury found Simmons guilty, leading to his 100-year sentence.
Key Red Flags in the Original Trial
From the moment of his arrest, the integrity of the process was deeply questionable, suggesting the system was rigged against Simmons from the start:
- Initial Identification Inconsistencies: In their original statements to police, the twin sisters were unable to name or provide a detailed description of their attacker, stating they believed “all bl*cks looks alike.” Yet, a few days later, they positively identified Simmons in a police lineup.
- The Compromised Lineup: Crucial evidence that was withheld from Simmons’ defense included a photograph of the lineup itself. It allegedly showed Simmons as the only one in the group who was handcuffed, a tactic that almost guarantees a misidentification.
- The Missing Medical Report: A medical report from a doctor who examined the girls two weeks after the alleged attck was also withheld. This report **did not document any signs of seual ass*ult**, contradicting the prosecution’s narrative and the sisters’ later statements.
- Racial Bias: Simmons, a Black man, was tried in a small, segregated Southern town in 1977. His case highlights the systemic racial disparities in the criminal justice system where the word of a Black defendant was often dismissed against the claims of white accusers.
The Hidden Truth: An Affidavit That Unraveled the Case
Simmons, refusing to accept his fate, became a jailhouse lawyer, fighting for decades to access the exculpatory evidence that had been hidden. His breakthrough came with the help of a dedicated legal team led by attorney Justin Bonus, and most significantly, through the emergence of a new witness.
This witness was Dana Brouillette, a cousin of Keith Laborde. In a sworn affidavit in 2020, Brouillette made a startling claim: Keith Laborde had confessed the truth to her years earlier.
The Family Secret Revealed
Brouillette’s affidavit provided a completely different account of the night of May 9, 1977. She claimed that Laborde had admitted to her that Vincent Simmons was never with them that night. Instead, Laborde allegedly confessed to the following:
- He had consensual se*ual relations with one of the twin sisters (who was a minor at the time).
- He locked the other sister in the trunk of the car.
- The entire story about the ‘Black attacker’ was fabricated to cover up Laborde’s own actions and to explain away scratch marks Brouillette claimed to have seen on his neck shortly after the incident.
This new testimony gave Simmons’ defense team a motive for the lie—the trio was attempting to conceal Laborde’s actions and the consensual nature of one of the encounters by shifting the bl*me to an outsider, a Black man. Though Laborde and the sisters continued to deny this version of events, the affidavit introduced a powerful new layer of doubt and motive that had been absent from the original trial.
The Long Road to Exoneration
Armed with the affidavit and the original suppressed evidence—the doctor’s report, the flawed lineup photo, and the initial police statements—Simmons’ legal team finally succeeded.
- Constitutional Violation: After years of rejections, a judge finally granted Simmons a hearing and, in February 2022, vacated his 1977 conviction. The ruling cited a constitutional violation, confirming that Simmons had been denied a fair trial because his defense counsel was not provided with all the material, exculpatory evidence.
- Freedom at Last: With the conviction overturned, the local district attorney’s office made the decision not to retry the case, citing that 44 years of incarceration was punishment enough, regardless of his guilt or innocence.
- No Formal Exoneration: It is a painful irony that while Vincent Simmons was finally released and declared a free man, the court did not issue a formal ruling of factual innocence—it simply ruled that the conviction was unconstitutional. This is a common legal loophole that can prevent wrongfully convicted individuals from receiving full compensation and a clear declaration of their innocence.
The Lingering Questions of Justice
Vincent Simmons was released just three days before his 70th birthday. He had spent more than half his life in prison for a crime he says he did not commit, leaving an empty void of 44 years that can never be recovered.
Today, the case leaves behind a painful set of lingering questions:
- The Cost of Silence: If the family cover-up theory is true, how do you measure the cost of one family’s secret against the lost life of an innocent man?
- Systemic Failure: Why did it take over four decades for a judge to finally review the exculpatory evidence that existed from the very beginning? The case highlights a systemic failure to review and overturn convictions, particularly for poor, minority defendants in the deep South.
- The Lack of an Apology: As the video caption notes, Simmons was released, but no apology followed. The absence of a formal declaration of innocence and an apology underscores the institutional reluctance to admit fault, even when the evidence of a miscarriage of justice is overwhelming.
The Impact of a Wrongful Conviction
Vincent Simmons’ story is a cautionary tale for the judicial system. It speaks volumes about the fragility of eyewitness testimony—especially when compounded by racial bias and a manipulated lineup—and the crucial necessity for discovery rules to be strictly enforced.
For Simmons, the decades of wrongful incarceration meant missing out on the most fundamental parts of life: family, career, and freedom. His battle for exoneration and the shocking revelations regarding the twin sisters’ secret continues to be a central topic in the true crime community, raising a vital awareness about the need for reform and accountability. The fact that the ultimate release was granted not on the basis of innocence, but on the lack of a fair trial, is a testament to the difficult and often incomplete nature of justice.
The truth of what happened that night in 1977 remains a painful subject, but the overwhelming evidence of judicial misconduct and the new testimony strongly suggest that Vincent Simmons was wrongfully targeted and convicted. His freedom, though decades late, serves as a poignant reminder that the fight for justice must continue, especially for those whose voices are marginalized and suppressed.