Longest-Serving US Prisoner Francis Clifford Smith Dies of ‘Old Age’ at 101

Smith spent more than seven decades in custody after receiving a death sentence for a 1949 Connecticut yacht club murder, a conviction he challenged with claims of newly discovered evidence.

Haika Mrema

Published: 8/21/2026, 11:06:24 PM EDT

Longest-Serving US Prisoner Francis Clifford Smith Dies of ‘Old Age’ at 101 — Police handcuffs on fingerprints in a file photo. (Shutterstock)

Francis Clifford Smith, who was widely regarded as the longest-serving prisoner in the United States after surviving eight scheduled executions, has died at age 101.

Connecticut Department of Correction records show that Smith was admitted and sentenced on June 7, 1950, for murder. The records listed him as a sentenced inmate living in a nursing home, with no applicable release date.

Smith was convicted of first-degree murder in the killing of Grover S. Hart, a night watchman at the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, Connecticut. Hart was fatally shot during a robbery in the early hours of July 23, 1949, according to a 1954 Connecticut Supreme Court decision.

Investigators determined that the fatal bullet came from a .22-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver. A second bullet and four cartridge cases recovered at the club had been fired from a .22-caliber Colt automatic pistol, leading authorities to conclude that at least two people participated. George F. Lowden pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the killing.

The case against Smith was circumstantial. Police found the Colt pistol and property stolen from the yacht club inside a gray Cadillac parked outside the Hollywood Cafe in Brewster, New York. Smith had been seen at the cafe, and witnesses said they had previously seen him driving the Cadillac or a similar vehicle. A shirt belonging either to Smith or a member of his family was also inside the car.

Police arrested Smith five days after the killing after finding him concealed in woods near the Wilton reservoir. The court said he gave officers a false name, denied his identity, and carried a bottle of hair dye. Smith testified that he was hiding because he believed authorities were seeking him over a possible parole violation.

Smith later sought a new trial after prisoner David Blumetti claimed that he, not Smith, had accompanied Lowden during the crime. Blumetti alleged that Smith withdrew from a robbery plan but lent him the Cadillac.

A trial court rejected Blumetti’s account as unreliable, citing contradictions, prior inconsistent statements, and evidence that conflicted with his version of events. The Connecticut Supreme Court upheld that ruling in April 1954. Justice John A. O’Sullivan dissented, arguing that a jury could reasonably credit the confession and that Smith deserved another trial in a capital case.

Smith’s eighth execution was halted in 1954, and his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, The Boston Globe reported. He entered supervised parole in 2020 and moved to a secure nursing facility.

Smith died in his sleep at the facility on June 25 and was later cremated, the BBC reported.

“Essentially, he died of old age,” facility spokesman David Skoczulek told the BBC. “He had very limited family involvement around his passing but we assured it was appropriate, met his wishes and was dignified.”