Nearly two decades. Lost his last appeal. Maybe a nun could help get him into heaven, but could she help him get out of prison . What she helped him do was get a lawyer. And together they hunted for the truth. This is the one case that kept me up at night for six years. He says, i know youre innocent. I know the guys who committed this crime. Tonight, will justice finally arrive . This is my wall of hope. Convicted and freed. Im lester holt, and this is dateline. Heres josh mankiewicz. Reporter sing sing correctional facility, the maximum security prison in upstate new york. Dealers. It is not where youd expect to find this gentle woman. In sing sing, they call me grandma. Reporter grandma is sister joanna chan, a maryknoll nun. I began working in sing sing more than 12 years ago. Reporter grandma volunteers at the prison, working with inmates in a theater program. She even teaches them chinese. [ speaking Foreign Language ] reporter through the years, grandma has helped dozens of men, but she says this inmate here on stage, a convicted killer, has changed her. Hes just so brave. Its not so much me helping him. Its like, watching him all these years, i took such courage, myself watching him. Reporter sister joanna remembers the first time she met this inmate. 30 pounds of food. So, i said, your family must love you very much. And he said, yes, because they know im innocent. And thats how the whole story began. Reporter a story that began with the unlikely friendship between a nun and a convicted killer would grow into a quest that would shake the faith of even those sworn to uphold the law. I thought if he was innocent, god has to see him through. Convicted murderer . He is inmate 97a7088, 38yearold eric glisson. We first met him in the spring of 2012 when a dateline producer working on a different story in sing sing met eric in his cell. You gonna film me . Reporter he had been locked up for 18 years. You want to see what its like to live in here . Reporter eric told us he didnt belong here. My story is ive been unjustly convicted for a crime that i didnt commit. And from february 3rd of 1995 until the present day, ive been sitting in here, lingering every day, wondering whether this mistake will be corrected. Reporter weve heard that before. Many times. But what if he was telling the truth . So over time we began visiting eric. Whats up . Youre looking good. Reporter and listening to his story. When i got arrested, i was always under the impression that people who are guilty actually go to jail. I didnt believe that i would be convicted of a crime that i didnt do. Reporter when police put the cuffs on him in 1995, eric was 20 years old, the new father of a 1weekold baby girl. Since then, their only time together has been spent in sing my daughter, i need to get home to her and be a father. Reporter eric often shared his story with sister joanna. Over time, she felt compelled to do something, anything for him, so she called the only lawyer she knew. First person i could think of was mr. Peter cross. I trust her judgement. To me, it was worth investing my time in. Reporter attorney peter cross agreed to at least see if there was some truth to erics story. But there was still one problem. Normally practice. No, not at all. Im a corporate lawyer. I do corporate litigation. I dont do criminal work. Reporter charmaine chester is peters assistant. This was also New Territory for her. Out of the blue one day i get this call from an inmate. You get this thing saying, you herself spending hours on the phone with the inmate. At first it was all, you know, business, his case, his case. But, you know, by the time youve talked to somebody every day then the personal things start to slip in. Reporter friendship. Friendship. Reporter in the meantime, her boss, attorney peter cross, was checking out erics claims of innocence. Did you believe it at the beginning . I didnt disbelieve him. I have been practicing law for a long time, okay . Reporter and people lie. They certainly color the truth. This is a man who was convicted of murdering someone. So of course i approached it with some skepticism. Learned the facts he agreed to take erics case at no charge, representing a man who didnt seem hardened by prison but almost frightened. Its terrifying because you could just be walking in the yard and you could be shanked. Thats the life in prison. Reporter a life hes lived for nearly two decades. The story he was telling us, if true, was as explosive as it was it turns out that the police and the District Attorney had all the evidence at their disposal to solve this crime from the beginning. Reporter not only was eric insisting he was wrongfully convicted, he said others were, too. All of them locked away for life for the same crime. Five other people five other people was also convicted of this crime. Reporter six people. Could all of them actually be innocent . Time now is approximately 7 15. Reporte t take a hard look at how it all began. Is it possible to get something so important, so wrong, about so many people . When we come back, we investigate what the police didnt, to find out what one witness really saw from her window the day of the murder. How the detectives couldve decided to run with that still reporter within the walls of sing sing, a convicted murderer has convinced a nun and a corporate lawyer that theres been a terrible miscarriage of justice. Eric glisson is in the 18th year of a 25tolife murder sentence. He claims hes innocent. You ever been in prison before this . No. Reporter whats it like to live in prison . A brutal killing of a fedex recruiter is under investigation. Reporter eric glissons nightmare began on the night of january 18th, 1995. The new york city detectives lining this hallway in the bronx were entering a crime scene as chilling as it was violent. Wins news time at 11 32. She had three pairs of handcuffs bound her wrists. Reporter the victims name was Denise Raymond. Important. Detectives are mystified over the vicious killing of a successful executive. Reporter the case went to detective tom aiello, a 20year veteran. Aiello led a team of detectives who worked through the night, knocking on doors and collecting evidence. Then, as the sun rose the next morning, some of those cops turned their attention to another murder, another bloody crime scene. This is the video police recorded of that second murder scene. Just a half mile away, in the same precinct. This was a busy night for the murder business in the bronx. The time is now approximately 7 15 a. M. On january 19th, 1995. Reporter this time, a livery cab driver named bathe diop had been found slumped over his steering wheel, shot multiple times, the victim of an apparent robbery. The drivers money and cellphone were missing. Drivers murder would be headed by 31yearold detective mike donnelly, who worked alongside detective aiello. The two detectives, donnelly and aiello, ended up putting their heads, and their cases, together, concluding the same group of several people committed both crimes. Did you know the other people . I knew two of them. Reporter from the neighborhood . From the neighborhood. Reporter these are good friends of yours . Acquaintances. Reporter just guys you saw around. Yes. Reporter one of those guys was 19yearold michael cosme, the first suspect arrested. You have the right to remain silent. Eric was also questioned. Where are he ada mabtly denied anything. If i knew what toopgs, if i knew who did anything, i would sir, reporter detectives didnt believe him, and cosme was arrested for both murders. Days later, so was eric glisson. Originally you were charged with both murders, with the Denise Raymond murder and the cab driver murder. Yes. Reporter but by the time eric went to trial, prosecutors dropped charges against him in the Denise Raymond case citing lack of evidence. So what evidence was there against him in the cab driver case . Its really pretty simple. There was a witness against him. Her name . Tavares told the cops she looked out her window and saw it all. Eric and the others smack in the middle of the cab driver robbery that ended in murder. Is it possible that miriam saw you commit a crime . No. Reporter not any crime . I wasnt there. Reporter bad blood between you and miriam . Yes, bad blood. Reporter eric says he had a brief sexual relationship with miriam that did not end well. You have a fling with a girl, she may feel slighted. Reporter slighted enough to make you a murder i guess. Reporter suspect . I guess so. Reporter whatever her motivation, the question is how reliable was she as a witness . All these years later, eric finally had someone to take another look at miriams story, attorney peter cross. Theres no doubt that this woman was lying. I went out to the crime scene. She could not possibly have seen what she said occurred. Reporter so what could Miriam Tavares really see . Heres the problem with miriams story. From that police video, we know the cab came to rest. But we also know the shooting itself happened several car lengths back, sort of where that red suv is. We know a man in that building called 911 when he heard the shots, and he says he saw only one person running away from the scene. Now a couple of weeks later, Miriam Tavares comes forward. She lived in that building right just outside the window through which miriam says she saw all of this happen. Now this has to be easily 100 yards away. And she said she saw six people from the neighborhood commit the crime. She said she heard what they said, and she saw what they stole. And she said she saw all of it looking through this bathroom window. The only problem is, if you go back to where the shooting actually happened, its pretty clear Miriam Taveras couldnt ve she said from her bathroom window she heard these conversations going on inside the car. I mean, its just incredible testimony. Reporter but what disturbed cross even more, detective donnelly never looked at the crime scene from the perspective you just did. Wouldnt that sort of be standard operating procedure, to check out what witnesses say . You would think so. I think that they got on a horse early on in this case and they rode that horse. She died of a Drug Overdose in 2002. Other than her testimony there was no physical evidence, no forensics, no prints, nothing that tied eric or the others to the cab drivers murder. Even so, detectives donnelly and aiello went with what they had and closed both murder cases. Within three weeks they arrested their suspects, and the bronx District Attorney tried them. In all, six people were convicted. Well call them the bronx six. Five men and a woman, all sent away, facing 25 to life. One of them was eric glisson. Whats it like to hear that verdict read . Its like a shot in the chest. Its like your heart just melts. It just dissolves. You actually think that, you know, they read the wrong verdict. That this cant be true. Reporter the nypd was quite so proud that five months after the arrests the department allowed the detectives to be featured in new York Magazine about how they amazingly cracked the cases. How the detectives couldve decided to run with this and send them to jail for the rest of their lives on the basis of this garbage. It still shocks me today. Reporter all these years later, attorney cross knew his opinion of the detective work in this case wasnt going to free i think the only kind of evidence thats going to sway a court is if we can point to who the real killers are. Reporter that was quite a lot to hope for. But from behind bars, eric glisson was already on the trail. I got some documents. And so i see this guy gilbert. Gilbert name keep coming up. A surprise visitor and an answered prayer. He said, im sorry. I know youre innocent. I know the guys who committed this crime. Reporter these are the people were calling the bronx six, five men and a woman, all convicted and sent away for 25 years to life for committing murder. All insisted they were innocent. We met one of them, eric glisson, in sing sing, where he was locked up. Ive been fighting these people for years, asking for documents which they denied me at every turn. Youre not going to convict me for something that i didnt do and just expect me to accept it. Im gonna fight to the end. Im a fighter. I die on my feet, not on my knees. Reporter as the years passed, eric took College Courses offered by the prison. He learned about the law and fought his case. How did he get that evce the courts denied all his appeals. I dont have any appeals left, nothing. Reporter it was a lonely fight. And then, in 2006 when he met sister joanna chan in one of the prisons programs, the woman he calls grandma he would say, grandma, its really hard. I told her, grandma, i just lost my last appeal. I dont know what im going to do. You know that there are many sisters praying for you. Reporter sister joanna offered more than just her prayers. Thats when she brought in peter cross, who was now fighting for eric on the outside. You have donnelly as the officer assigned. Reporter with eric as his guide, cross got up to speed and to have any chance of having another day in court, he knew he would need actual evidence. If he and the other five had nothing to do with the two murders, then who did . After more than a decade of trying, finally, some of erics requests for documents in his one name stood out. It was part of a gang called sex money murder. Eric was on to an important lead. Even veteran cops knew those three words meant danger, a notorious gang from the soundview section of the bronx. 1997, october, sex money and murder became my assignment. Reporter Pete Forcelli was an nypd detective assigned to take down the gang. This was all sex, money, murder territory . Yeah, were in the heart of it. Reporter while forcelli was investigating the gang, an informant told him detailsa committed. There was a cab driver who had been killed in vicinity of soundview. Reporter so forecelli went to the 43rd precinct in the south bronx to see if there was any truth to the story. Early 1998, walked in the precinct. Went upstairs. Walked into the detective squad room. Reporter so you go in there and say, what about this murder . What do you know about a murder . Yeah, i wanted to know about a cab driver murder in soundview or the area around soundview. Reporter and the response . They had nothing to fit that description. Reporter but forcellis the 43rd precinct. No, two. Made two. And again, came out saying we have nothing that fits that description. Reporter is there any conceivable reason why the Police Department wouldnt tell you the truth . Well, i thought about that. Reporter forcelli says the answer might be simple. As far as the nypd was concerned, this homicide was solved. Closed. The detective may have looked only in the open homicide drawer and never bothered to even look to see if there was anything that fit that description. Reporter and as far as you know, that was the end of it. Right, id moved on. Reporter forcelli soon retired from the nypd, not knowing six people had been already been convicted. In the meantime, eric was stuck in prison. It wasnt until 2012, 14 years later, that he hit paydirt, and it came in the form of cellphone records. Remember, the cab drivers cellphone had been stolen by whoever killed him. And i found hundreds of calls reporter the records showed the first call was made from the victims phone minutes after the shooting. The numbers called traced back to relatives of two sex, money, murder gang members named Jose Rodriguez and gilbert vega. Eric believed he finally had evidence showing who the real killers were. It took me 16 years, 17 years to get those through freedom of information. Reporter they were never provided to the defense . No. It turns out that the police and the evidence at their disposal to solve this crime from the beginning. Reporter so he wrote a letter to the u. S. Attorney proclaiming his innocence and detailing the information he found out about the sex, money, murder gang. It was a hail mary pass. In an amazing stroke of luck, erics letter landed on this mans desk. His name, john omalley, an investigator for the u. S. Attorney in new york. Days after reading erics immediately john omalley just stood up and he asked me, did you write this letter . And i said, yes. He shook my hand. And he said, im sorry. And i said, sorry for what . He says, you know, i know youre innocent. When he said that, i said, what are you talking about, sir . He said, listen, i know the guys who committed this crime. Reporter how did omalley know . It turns out omalley worked with detective forcelli on that gang case ten years earlier. Members, jose and gilbert, actually confessed the cab driver shooting to omalley. He said, when i read this letter, everything just came back to me from that day. I put it all together from that day when these guys confessed to me. Reporter omalley didnt want to appear on camera but told us he also checked with the nypd after getting those confessions in 2002, and like forecelli before him, omalley was told they had no record of after getting erics letter in 2012, omalley addressed the court in a sworn affidavit stating that eric glisson and the others were innocent of the cab driver shooting. Armed with that kind of statement youd think eric would be, literally, home free. Youd be wrong. Coming up but eric glisson isnt giving up. This is my wall of hope. Everyone here has been unjustly on it . Reporter for the first time in his 18year struggle to prove that he didnt pull a trigger, eric glisson finally had his hands on a smoking gun. An affadavit from a federal investigator saying eric was innocent. He asked me do i have an attorney. And i told him yeah. And he says, i promise you i will call this lawyer today. I was standing online in the bank. Reporter peter cross remembers that phone call. Mr. Omalley tells me, peter im with the u. S. Attorneys office. We know your client is and that was such an emotional moment for me tears welled up in my eyes right in front of the teller. Thank god every day for john omalley. When i looked in that man eyes, you know, i seen a man who has integrity. I seen a man who was honest. Affidavit was enough for the bronx d. A. To reopen the case and to get in front of a judge. But that would take time. Two more months. But now, at least eric had reason to hope. In his cell he assembled his own little gallery of others whod been exonerated. This is my wall of hope. Everyone here has been unjustly convicted and freed. Reporter on august 5th, 2012, erics lawyer goes to court. This is our first appearance to try to get the judgment vacated. Reporter cross is joined by case for six years. I want to see him out. Yeah, i told him the last time i went up to sing sing. I said, im not visiting you here again. This is it. Reporter finally, cross argues his case to the judge. My clients already spent 17