what was your impression when you first met him? robert was scared to death from the first meeting, and forever. and then, robert told attorney rosenfield just about what you would expect an accused murderer might say. he did not do it. he did not stab anybody. he was not even there. he only confessed, he said, because he was so scared. if you push hard enough to find out, whether or not he was actually telling you the truth? i take with the client tells me. i do an independent evaluation, based on what i learned. so, he watched the tape of robert confession, and it did not look right to him. besides there was no physical evidence at the crime scene to tie robert to the crime but just as intriguing, was this question. why would rocky and jessica include a kid like robert? the fugett siblings, as the kids at school and the neighborhood knew, bullied
but forget dna. and the possibility of finding that was flushed away by fire hoses. then i got word from the medical examiners office, they had recovered a knife that was sticking in a woman s back what did you think when you heard that? i went back to my photographs sure enough, in the middle of the back was the knife. so someone stabbed her, but who? firefighters tipped police that a brother sister duo across the street, rocky and jessica fugett had been watching the fire, claimed to know the victims. robert davis and his friend kevin marsh knew them as aggressive troublemakers in high school people were afraid of them. they come through the hallway, people would just move out of the way, try not to be around them. kevin s friend, a shy and awkward robert seemed to be a favorite target the used to pick on him all the time. they call them retarded, fat, ugly, stupid. robert said he tried to ignore it, but they knew his
vulnerabilities. i tried to keep my distance when i could, and stay wherever we were, in close proximity to each other safer that way, said robert. at any case, the detectives paid a visit to the fugett s house, where they learned enough to march the pair down to police headquarters for questioning. rocky admitted he was there, to rob the place i was in the house, i started downstairs, jessica was there, i was supposed to just watch. detective phil giles interviewed jessica. she eventually acknowledged that, she tried to say it was somebody else first, and then at some point, she put herself there it was supposed to be routine, we go in, we find her purse, we take her money, and then we leave that was all that was supposed to happen. then, rocky went way off script, said jessica. tied her to a bed with duct
have made, to strongly recommend a client to take a plea for something he did not do. but at least it was not life. u.s. sentenced to 20, and would be free in his early forties. i was standing in front of that judge, saying i was a crime. and i was praying that one day, hopefully, the truth will come out that i was not there. the fugett s avoided the death penalty, but they got what amounted to life without parole. and steve rosenfield faithfully drove out to meet robert in prison, knowing the only way to get him out was to persuade the virginia governor to issue a pardon. fat chance of that. it s a pretty big long shot, of getting him out before the 23 years from which he was sentenced. but then, two years after robert went to prison, rosenfield opened the mail and found a letter from, of all
was one of them. another one was pulled in that same night interviewed by detective giles and his partner. at the end of the interview, he was looked at each other. this kid has no idea what we are talking about, he was clueless to what we were asking him. so the fugett s lied when they had fingered him, he was eventually released. but robert? he had a far different experience in the interview room. and a different detective. they were sitting across from you, it was randy snead? i knew him, i knew him since i was 12 or 13. so, i was on a first name basis with him kind of a friend? yes, because i had known him for so long. why don t you tell me, robert took place that night? you tell me your story of what happened. i was at my house, man at first, robert swore that he was innocent. but, six hours later, he had confessed to murder. you stabbed her, didn t you? one, one or two times.