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 in 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 had 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 of ever getting out of prison was to agree to something called an alford plea. and we told robert that, if you plead guilty under an alford plea you admit that there is sufficient evidence to prove your guilt but you do
somethin that he didn t do? 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 and forever. and then robert told attorney rosenfield just about what you d expect an accused murder 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
and, again, snead corrects him. you had a knife in your hand. all right? and prior to stabbing stabbing her in the in the back. all right? you cut her. it was essentially the police s confession, not robert s. do you think by me telling you this, it s going to get me home tonight? tonight? today? today? i doubt it. well, then why am i lying about all of this to you, just so i can go home? youe not lying. i am lying to you. i m lying to you full front full front to your face. i am lying to you. i am lying to you just so i can go home, which is exactly what juveniles who have falsely confessed say was, their motivating factor for falsely confessing. but by 8:00 am, six hours after the interrogation began, randy snead has his confession. what you ve said tonight to up to this morning to me. is that a true and accurate statement? yes. okay. when rosenfield delivered a clemency petition to virginia governor bob mcdonnell, nirdier added volumes of evid
interview, the use of of leg irons halfway through the interview, the clear requests for medication and sleep at various points in the interview were all red flags. when you looked at the whole thing, as you did, you sat back and you thought afterwards. the lifeblood of any account is reliability. and the way this is done is you can t vouch for the reliability. we d asked for his opinion, and he gave it to us. robert s confession wasn t believable. what we didn t expect was what happened a few months later. when this british detective spoke to steve rosenfield and offered to write virginia s governor, adding his support to robert davis s clemency petition, a petition now waiting on the desk of a new governor. coming up i believe that the confession is an unreliable confession. strong words from the chief of police and from the governor s office.
keith morrison: it certainly was. rocky wanted to sign a sworn affidavit saying robert davis was innocent, attorney steve rosenfeld was in for a surprise when he arrived at the prison sgchlt will it was shocking. rocky wanted to sign a sworn affidavit saying robert davis was innocent, had nothing to do with the murders. that was pretty powerful for him to do that, considering his circumstances, nothing to gain. but rocky s admission wasn t enough to undo robert s confession. and then seven years into robert s prison sentence, rosenfield answered a phone call. and there she was. laura nirider of northwestern university s innocence project is a leading expert in false confessions by young people. she represents brendan dassey of making a murderer fame. nirider heard about robert s case and offered to help. and help us understand what happened to robert, as we watch the interrogation unfold. this is one of the most intense interrogations that i ve