robert s mother couldn t afford an attorney so the state appointed one for him. steve rosenfield. what was your impression of him 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 d expect an accused murderer might say. he didn t do it. he didn t stab anybody. he wasn t even there. he only confessed, he said, because he was so scared. did you push hard enough to find out whether or not he was actually telling you the truth or playing you? i take what the client tells me and i do an independent evaluation based on what i learn. so he watched the tape of robert s confession. which didn t 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?
welcome back. convicted on a false confession, advocates were adamant that s what happened to robert davis. yet still he languished in jail, day after day. then, newfound hope, a new governor was taking office. would he consider the case? or was the young man so many believed innocent destined to spend another decade in jail? here s keith morrison with the conclusion of the interrogation. i ve never been emotional in a presentation as i feel in this case, because i ve grown very close with robert. for years, steve rosenfield made his case for robert davis to legal conferences, to anybody who would listen. robert remained right where he was, in prison. during those same years we tried repeatedly to contact and interview randy snead, the officer who took robert s confession.
robert s mother couldn t afford an attorney so the state appointed one for him. steve rosenfield. what was your impression of him 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 d expect an accused murderer might say. he didn t do it. he didn t stab anybody. he wasn t even there. he only confessed, he said, because he was so scared. did you push hard enough to find out whether or not he was actually telling you the truth or playing you? i take what the client tells me and i do an independent evaluation based on what i learn. so he watched the tape of robert s confession. which didn t 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
rosenfield, devastated, drove to the prison to tell robert. robert and i hugged. we cried. and probably it is about the most painful part of this process. robert s only door to freedom slammed shut. but half a world away, someone else was watching robert s case. could his opinion make a difference? coming up isn t a confession the strongest evidence you can get? not always. the police detective in robert s corner. when dateline: extra continues.
include a kid like robert? the fugett siblings as the kids at school and the neighborhood knew bullied robert mercilessly and he was terrified of them. surely, he wouldn t help them murder the neighbor lady. yet, rocky fugett was going to tell the court just that. his lawyer advised me that rocky wanted to get a favorable sentencing and was going to be testifying against robert. so big problems. rosenfield knew from long experience that any jury hearing rocky s testimony and robert s confession would certainly convict. robert would very probably get a life sentence, no parole. robert s only chance at ever getting out of prison was to agree to something called an alfred plea. we told robert that, if you plead guilty under an alfred plea, you admit there is sufficient evidence to prove your guilt but you do not admit that you re guilty. it meant accepting a 23-year