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begin this hour with new details on a case we've been covering for a while here at cbs news vincent simmons was
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released from a louisiana prison in february after spending 44 years behind bars for a crime he says he did not
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commit our lead national correspondent david bagno you'll recall this was by his side
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when a judge ruled he did not get a fair trial the first time simmons was convicted in 1977 of attempted
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aggravated rape of twin sisters sharon and karen sanders he's always maintained his innocence this case is the focus of
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this week's 48 hours season finale and david spoke with one woman who claims she knows the truth about what happened
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freedom when vincent simmons walked out of the louisiana state penitentiary earlier this year he felt vindicated
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vincent was found guilty in 1977 in marksville louisiana of two counts of attempted aggravated rape and sentenced
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to 100 years in prison i was shocked guilty i did not a judge vacated his conviction after finding that vincent
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did not receive a fair trial though the judge did not make a finding as to whether or not vincent is innocent or
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guilty but identical twins karen and sharon sanders insist that vincent raped them when they were 14 years old and he
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was 25. i know exactly who raped me that night the twins say they were with their then
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18 year old cousin keith labord when they encountered vincent at a gas station and keith agreed to give vincent
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a ride they say vincent directed them to this road where he forced keith into the
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trunk of the car and then raped the two of them the limitations it put on our life
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like with the anxiety it's taken a lot from us i looked at the discovery i was like well everything they said at trial
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is a lie it's all a lie justin bonus vincent simmons current attorney is skeptical he
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believes that the twins are lying to protect keith labord with me right now keith's cousin dana bruyette told a
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private investigator in 2020 and swore in an affidavit that keith admitted to her that vincent simmons was never with
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them that night he came out and told me there was never a black man instead in that affidavit dana says that
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keith told her he had consensual sex with one of the girls and locked the other in the trunk
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he liked sharon and trump and he said the sex between him and karen was consensual
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he said but the other one was a little hell cat that's the one that put the scratches on your neck
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in the affidavit dana says that keith had scratches on his neck she told the private investigator that she believes
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keith and the twins made up the story about a black man to explain away those scratches karen
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and sharon deny that but in a stunning admission karen does acknowledge having had consensual sex with keith years
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before the twins say they were attacked but that has nothing to do with what vincent did that's two separate
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incidents i called keith to ask him about all of this hello keith this is david begno with cbs
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news keith now 63 years old denied ever having sex with karen he said they just quote played around like children end
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quote and he also insisted that whatever had happened between the two of them had
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nothing to do with what vincent simmons did that night he's guilty and you can put that on tv i ain't
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scared of him wow david begno joins us now uh david good morning uh i want to talk about
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vincent first he's out of prison what's life been like for him uh tough you know
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he's trying to get used to just the basic stuff i mean he's been enjoying every moment but it's also um been
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challenging i mean he went into prison when he was 25 years old walked out three days before his 70th birthday so
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so much has changed since then we were there with him in the days after his release and he was just trying to you
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know flicker around with the remote control and figure out the basic automation that we've lived through
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using a cell phone for the first time all things he's never experienced before he left prison with next to nothing just
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boxes of pictures letters legal documents that he had accumulated behind bars so it's certainly been a big
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adjustment does vincent plan to go back to court to seek compensation for wrongful imprisonment so it's
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interesting his attorney says he does intend to go back to court but under louisiana state law vincent is only
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entitled to compensation if he can present clear and convincing evidence of his innocence and it's important to note
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that when the judge vacated vincent's conviction he did not make a finding as to whether or not vincent is innocently
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guilty he really only found that venison vincent didn't receive a fair trial seems like they would be synonymous
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those two things uh you would think but the legal distinction is clear it's so messy and so tawdry you know
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allegations of sleeping with your cousin i could see why you would not want anybody to ever know that about you but
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was there any other evidence other than the words of the words of karen and sharon and the
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cousin zero zero none no physical evidence it's all based on their word and karen told us she goes listen i
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think i was nine or ten years old when we experimented like kids uh but but still i mean what a stunning
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revelation for her that is so relevant of course to the story and the word of the other
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relative that said keith told them keith told them and speaking relevant what's law enforcement saying about
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these allegations exactly so look law enforcement when we called the district attorney i actually said to him i said
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you know sir karen admitted that she had had consensual sex with keith when you know keith was a little bit older than
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her but she was around nine or ten and karen told us she thinks that you know they had consensual sex and admitted he
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said listen david that's problematic but he said at the end of the day i still think vincent's guilty i don't think
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keith did it and so the district attorney is standing by the women wow really admire the attorney justin
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you know what's amazing gail really admire him he and his wife new york city watched a documentary about the case he
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called vincent and said i want to help you after 20 years of trying vince it's like okay guy come on yeah and he did it
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yeah he was the game-changer justin bonus i think he's one of the heroes too in this story yeah don't disagree i like
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how you called him skeptical he seems more than skeptical pretty convinced at this point exactly
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48 hours season finale tomorrow night i'm going to say that too david thank you very much
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david's report please don't tell on the 48 hours what is it david season finale tonight tomorrow night 10 9 central
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right here on cbs and on our streaming service paramount plus david thank you very much