defendant guilty. as you can they read the wrong verdict. you feel so hopeless. it s like a shot in the chest. despair to hope. darkness to light. a fight for freedom. what happened to this teenager could happen to any one of our children. at 18, he was arrested for murder. adamant he was innocent. i had nothing to do with this. i swear to god. so, what could ve possibly led to this? you stab that women. why would he confess to something you didn t do? why would he? what s really happened during that police interrogation. the evidence shows you were there. i cannot lie about the evidence. i can t lie to you about this. the officers lying about lying. and extraordinary look inside the interview room. if you don t talk to me i can t keep this is one of the most intense interrogations i ve ever seen. welcome to dateline. how could you confess to a crime you didn t commit? it seems to defy logic and common sense, but advocates say, it s h
a new governor was taking office. would he consider the case? or, was the young men so many believed innocent and destined to spend another decade in jail? here s keith morrison with the conclusion of the interrogation. i ve never been emotional and a presentation, as i feel in this case, because i ve grown very close with robert. for years, steve rosenberg made his case in illegal conferences, to anybody who would listen. robert remained right where he was, in prison. during those same years, we asked repeatedly for an interview with randy snead, the officer who took roberts confession. but, as close as we got was county police chief, colonel steve sellers, since retired. he wasn t in office when snead was detective, but you ve talked to him. what s your sense of how he feels? i think he acted in his best interest. i think there wasn t malice in his actions. i think he had a very strong relationship with robert davis.
he was after all, named as a suspect by others in the case. but the chances that he would have been charged or interviewed for very long? close to zero. the interview, as it is on the recording would not be legal in the uk. thatt evidence would not be admitted in a trial. this is andy griffith, 30 years as a detective in the sussex s police department, recognized for is investigative interviews. when griffiths was a rookie, british interrogation rules were much like they are in the u.s.. but they are not anymore. what happened to precipitate these changes in the united kingdom? change really came about through problems. like a national scandal after a series of high-profile false confessions, including an arson murder case eerily similar to robert davis s. the government of the day instigated a whole review of the way that prisoners were dealt with in custody. the result? a complete overhaul of the system. every officer in the uk
he had known robert and his mother for years. robert looked up to randy, trusted him. so an officer snead, now a detective with the albemarle county police came looking for robert after the fire, sandy told him, without hesitation where he could find her son. i said is robert in trouble? he said he was in serious trouble. but sandy had no idea just how serious. or, what was about to happen in that parking lot, where robert was hanging out with his friend. guns pointed at you, you are wondering what is going on. i was scared, i was shaken. why robert? because the fugett siblings told police they had accomplices from their high school, and he 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, the kid 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, what 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. everything you ve told me is true, correct? true. everything that you have done, and been part of it is true, correct? true. later that day, officer snead allowed robert to call his mother. i said robert, what did you say? he said, since they wanted to hear that, i told them, fine.