Dossier
Francis Clifford Smith
Coverage of Francis Clifford Smith in the Nexus archive.
- Longest-serving US prisoner dies at 101 after escaping death penalty 8 times
Francis Clifford Smith died at age 101 in a Connecticut nursing facility, having been convicted for the shooting of Grover Hart decades earlier. Over his lifetime, he was scheduled to face execution eight times but was spared on each occasion while maintaining his innocence. Despite developments like recanting witnesses and repudiating statements by George Lowden, Smith never received a new trial.