MAN WHO DODGED EIGHT EXECUTIONS DIES AT 101 IN CONNECTICUT
Francis Clifford Smith, a Connecticut man who always said he was innocent of the 1949 shooting of a yacht-club night watchman, died on June 25, 2026, at age 101. He had been sentenced to death, escaped eight scheduled executions and spent more than 70 years under the supervision of the state’s correctional system.
Smith died in his sleep at 60 West, a secure nursing facility in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, for older people connected to the justice system. He was on supervised parole at the time, and the Connecticut Department of Correction confirmed his death, The New York Times and Cleveland.com reported.
“Essentially, he died of old age,” David Skoczulek, a spokesman for 60 West, told the BBC.
Andrius Banevicius, a public information officer for the Connecticut Department of Correction, also spoke to the BBC. “He was 101 and a half,” he said, adding: “He did pretty well as far as longevity is concerned.”
Skoczulek said Smith had very limited family involvement around his passing. “We assured it was appropriate, met his wishes and was dignified,” he said.
Eight execution dates, then a commutation
The case began with the death of Grover Hart, a 68-year-old night watchman at a yacht club. The Times reported that Hart was fatally shot during a robbery in 1949, and Fox News put the date at July 23, 1949.
Smith was convicted of first-degree murder in 1950 and sentenced to death. He was to be put to death in the electric chair in Wethersfield, Connecticut.
It never happened. His execution was scheduled and then halted or postponed eight times, and questions about his conviction lingered, according to Cleveland.com. In 1954, his death sentence was commuted to life in prison.
The Times described his time behind bars as one of the longest known terms of incarceration in American history.
The Birdman of Osborn
The BBC reported that Smith fed birds while he was held at Osborn prison and picked up the nickname “The Birdman of Osborn.”
Parole was on the table long before he took it. Richard Sparaco, a former executive director of Connecticut’s Board of Pardons and Paroles, told the Hartford Courant that Smith turned down several chances to return to parole, according to the BBC.
That changed in 2020, when Smith was granted supervised parole and moved into a nursing facility. The Boston Globe also reported the move. The BBC reported that he was among the first people cared for under MissionCare Health, a scheme focused on care for incarcerated people, which it said ran three facilities in the northeastern United States.
Toward the end of his life, Smith reportedly had dementia, the BBC reported. Banevicius would not confirm a diagnosis and said Smith was dealing with issues associated with old age.
Friends told the BBC that Smith held to his claim of innocence until he died.
Smith was cremated, the BBC and the Boston Globe reported, and no public funeral was reported.
