A convicted murderer believed to be the longest-serving inmate in US history has died just months before his 102nd birthday — after escaping the death penalty eight times while maintaining his innocence.
Francis Clifford Smith was just 25 when he was first sentenced to death for gunning down night watchman Grover Hart, a 68-year-old married father, during an attempted robbery on July 23, 1949.
Over the next 76 years, he was supposed to have his last meal on eight different occasions — but was spared from the electric chair each time, according to the Boston Globe.
He was believed to be the oldest inmate in the US when he died in his sleep in…
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