the reason why it kept me in prison so long is because the jury believed that that was the victim s blood on my truck. you know, the prosecutor argued that vehemently to the jury. the jury bought it. the jury convicted me. reporter: greg s legal team brought the new evidence before the judges. i m sitting there in the courtroom and the three-judge panel and listening to this testimony. you know, and still wondering, okay, well, how are they going to get it wrong now? reporter: in a dramatic moment, greg s lawyer asked the sbi agent responsible for the tests to clarify his bench notes. i can t say with scientific certainty that that was blood. reporter: but that conclusion was never presented at greg s original murder trial. so anyone reading your formal report would not have known that you had not scientifically confirmed that was blood? that s correct.
and trying to organize all the testimony into files and organize statements by witness and things like that. reporter: chris mumma, director of the north carolina center on actual innocence, was one of taylor s attorneys preparing for the panel she made a stunning discovery. a file that had never made it to trial from the state bureau of investigation, or sbi s, crime lab. we had been there for a good part of the day going through everything and found the bench notes. reporter: what are bench notes? bench notes are the back-up notes that go with that final report that s issued by the lab. so it is all the actual test results and what the analyst is writing down as they re actually doing the testing before it goes into a nice type written report. reporter: the nice type written report stated there were chemical indications for the presence of blood on greg s truck. blood that jurors said was indisputable evidence of guilt. but lying in a box for the 17