and i pray to god. i say, you know, i don t wan to live. it was a crime that engulfe the city, a young touris murdered he was stabbed trying to protect his mother we had to get everyone. seven teams convicted one says he s innocent you don t have to believe me look at the facts in this case now we are doing just tha tracking down witnesses. he was shaking. he started crying revisiting evidence - the most emotional thing wa reading the letter is he telling the truth or lying to win his freedom? we are about to find out this is a perry mason moment right, she s a surprise t everyone hello, and welcome to dateline in the late 19 80s, robberies, muggings, and even murders wer a sad reality of life in new york city. then, in 1990, a tourist was stabbed while trying to protec his family the public demanded action and then got it. police made arrests and pu suspects behind bars but one of the man convicted said he wasn t there was an innocent man in jail
them you had to send out a messag that the importance of not jus arresting one or two, but to give all of them and that s exactly what police were doing in the watkins case within 24 hours, they had group of teenagers in custody. but brandon says the impact of bryan watkins murderer new yor did not end with those arrests it was a seminal case for me it allowed us to have a tippin point impact the day after the murder, bradden received a call from the governor s office, offerin $40 million to help fight crime, money that would be used t hire thousands of new cops, an soon, the city s crime rat began to drop. as for the suspects arrested i the watkins case, all would be convicted of murder, and sentenced to 25 years to life. but that s not even close to the end of the story of the seven men convicted o this crime, one says he alon