there's something really big to look into here. this wasn't just some noble cause he talked about. he took action. >> reporter: it was one of those moments you never forget. two died. two survived. >> i just started hearing gunshots. >> reporter: a double-murder solved when teenager named daniel confessed. >> case closed. >> reporter: or was it? his family was convinced police got it wrong. >> it just seemed there was nothing we could do. >> reporter: was there something he could do? >> i had no clue what i was gonna find. >> you were hooked. >> i was hooked. >> reporter: he didn't know daniel. had never even met him. so why did he spend hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to free him? >> this could be my son, your

son. it could be me. >> reporter: was daniel innocent? >> daniel villegas is a convicted murderer. >> reporter: could this survivor solve the mystery? >> i can't let this happen. i -- i gotta do something. >> reporter: everyone told him he was crazy. the case a longshot. >> zero to five percent chance. >> reporter: and there was always the chance he was wrong. >> everybody was holding their breath. >> reporter: i'm lester holt, and this is "dateline." here's keith morrison with "the confession." >> reporter: it was good friday night. late. too late. too dark. too deep into gang territory in the border town of el paso, texas, the boys, teenagers, hurried down a side street toward home. going to the party had been a bad idea. >> i was like, "we gotta get home." and then there it was out of nowhere, the car, the screaming, the sudden burst of gunfire.

i was just like, "am i living a nightmare?" this a nightmare? i'm gonna wake up soon! >> reporter: in a bad neighborhood in a town in west texas, two innocent lives were snuffed in one violent moment and a strange story went into deep hibernation as much in the grave as those poor boys. for 12 long years. and then one day in 2005, in sunny el paso -- a place where a person could look ahead, build a business, fall in love -- a man walked into a bank and, that old story began its unlikely resurrection. >> you were a teller? >> i was a bank teller, yes.

>> reporter: her name was lucy and for some time, as she couldn't help but notice, a particular customer turned up at almost all the teller windows except her's. >> he was a very, very attractive man. we knew he had a business, so he was in there frequently. >> reporter: and then one february morning in 2005 there he was. standing in front of her. >> he just happened to be at my window. and i did have pictures in our teller windows of me and the girls. and i remember him asking, "oh, those are your daughters?" >> reporter: his name, she learned, was john mimbela, single, divorced father of two and one of el paso's most successful and respected building contractors. >> and just making conversation, i asked her, "where's the dad?" and she's like "i'm not married, and the dad's not involved. he's moved to california five years ago." >> well, what did you think? >> i said, "well, there's my chance." >> reporter: he'd noticed her

all along of course. and that morning, finally, he plucked up the courage and -- >> i just took a chance and i asked her out. and she accepted. and right off the bat we fell in love. >> and that changed everything. we ended up marrying -- >> reporter: it was a second chance for both of them. but as we all know, second chances, wonderful as they are, generally come with baggage. complications. >> she came with other people. >> correct. i told her -- "i know i'm not just marrying you and i will take the responsibility for your daughters." >> reporter: oh, but that's not the complication we had in mind. lucy came with something else too. though the father of her daughters had long ago left for good, lucy remained very close to the man's family, which included a young man named daniel villegas.

who was in prison. for murder. >> so, that's curious. this is a family you'd wanna avoid, you'd think. >> at first i kinda had my doubts. "well, if he's in prison, it's probably because he's guilty." but they would always say he was innocent. >> reporter: mind you, john was busy running his construction company, didn't think much about the daniel villegas story. how he was locked up for life. how appeal after appeal had been turned down. >> i would give him details on daniel. being convicted, i just kind of knew that they didn't have good representation and he lost his case, and -- john was like, "really? wow." like, that happens. >> reporter: then one night, lucy and john stopped by daniel's parents' house. by then daniel had been in prison for more than 10 years. >> we walk into the house and it's kinda dark. i mean, it's in the evening and they're just sitting there. >> crying. i mean, cries of desperation.

>> reporter: daniel's parents had been trying to find some legal group or agency that would attempt, at least, to prove their son was innocent. and they'd just received their final rejection. daniel's sister michelle was there, too. >> and that was our last hope. it just seemed there was nothing we could do. >> reporter: these are his parents chano and yolanda. >> and i fell apart. i was just like, "what did i do to my baby?" i thought i was gonna protect him and i did nothing in the slightest. >> so they were telling you, "just -- forget it. no." >> yes. yeah. yes. >> reporter: john mimbela knew as well as anyone no parent would want to accept the probability that a son was exactly where he belonged, a guilty man in prison. but daniel's appeals had failed. there didn't seem to be any way out. but then there, in the midst of all that gloom, john mimbela said something naive. foolish, perhaps.

>> i felt very, very bad for that family at that moment, so i told them, "let me take the information they just returned from you and let me look at it and let me see what i can do, but please stop crying, and don't worry." >> and we were all like, "well, yeah. yes. of course. please." >> reporter: but really what could he do? he didn't have a clue about the case that put daniel in prison in the first place. or about the workings of the law. oh, these sudden impulses. if john mimbela had known what was coming -- what it would do to him and everybody else -- would he have been a little more prudent? would he have kept his mouth shut? 3 f2 su familia insistió que él even though a jury found him guilty. if it wasn't daniel, who was it? when we come back -- >> here you have this person who killed these two boys and was

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named daniel villegas. but now here was john mimbela, a man far more comfortable with blueprints than legal briefs, poring through the massive case file of a 12 year old double murder, trying to make sense of all the intricate details of the case. >> it was a trial transcripts, it was some police reports. >> reporter: who knew there would be so much? but, a promise is a promise. so mimbela treated the task a little like a second job. by day, he ran his company. by night he played amateur detective. >> a lot of the stuff was incomplete. but i read it over and over. >> reporter: this went on for weeks. lucy barely saw him. >> he would not drop it. as soon as he got home from work, eat dinner and -- start reading. and i said, "wow, he's serious." [ laughter ] >> reporter: it was like opening a time capsule, in a way. and certainly mimbela's memories came flooding back. it was a troubled period for el paso. now, this is among america's safest cities.

but then? ♪ >> reporter: in fact, gang trouble got so bad back in the early 90s that these el paso policemen made a rap video, intentionally hokey, but with purpose that was dead serious. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: to warn young would-be toughs -- stay away from gangs. especially in the neighborhood where those two boys were killed. >> reporter: here was the story mimbela pieced together from those court files. it was good friday, 1993. a warm spring evening. around midnight, four teenage boys were walking home from a party in a gang-infected neighborhood known as northeast. as mimbela read in the case file, two of the boys survived the shooting. one was jesse hernandez, who told the police what happened. how, out of the night, a 70s-era

maroon colored american car -- looked something like this one -- rolled up beside them. but whatever model the car was, it was trouble. >> and my heart started racing. i was like, "oh man. we're gonna get in an altercation." so the car was doing this kind of -- cat-and-mouse. and it would back up. and it would take off a little further. and then back up, and it just stopped. the adrenaline was pumping. i was like, "we gotta get home." >> reporter: then, relief. the car left. the boys kept walking. but 15 minutes later, and several blocks away, the car appeared again, slowed to a crawl, turned off its lights, then stopped. >> and i was like, "oh, oh, oh." i just went like that. i was like, "guys, let's just please let's go. let's go. let's go." >> reporter: but, as jesse told the police back then, those boys didn't listen. instead, his friends mando lazo and bobby england approached the car, started yelling. >> before i know it, i just

started hearing gunshots. i could swear that i saw a light flash towards me and hit the fence. and it was just -- tot-tot-tot. >> reporter: well, it's terrifying. >> yes. >> reporter: was this the same car that had bothered you before -- >> yeah. yeah. all i kept thinking was --"i want to go home. i want to be in a safe place." >> reporter: so he and his other friend ran. ran for their lives, didn't look back. but when bobby and mando failed to turn up behind them, the two went back to find them. >> i could already see flashing lights, red and blue. i knew something was wrong. >> reporter: it was. jesse's best friends, mando lazo and bobby england, were dead. >> i was like, "am i living a nightmare? is this a nightmare? i'm gonna wake up soon. i'm gonna wake up right now." and the more and more i tried, you know, i didn't wake up. >> reporter: the murder was big news in el paso. mimbela dug up dozens of old newspaper clippings, reporting on what looked at first like a

gang shooting. and yet the victims were not gangbangers, just innocent kids caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. tv reporter maria garcia has been covering the case for years. >> people were on edge about it. because here you had this person who killed these two boys for no good reason and was out there with a weapon. and if he killed armando lazo and robert england, who were popular, good kids, who else could this person kill? so it was an alarming case. >> reporter: alarming and puzzling. who would want to kill these kids, and why? mimbela looked up what he could of their backgrounds, their personal stories. bobby england was from a military family, by all accounts a kind and friendly young man. mando lazo was extremely popular, fun-loving, and cared deeply about his friends. >> he was always watching out for me. he was always very protective of

me. >> reporter: a true friend and -- >> yeah, exactly. i would feel mando's hand on me. i would still feel that warm touch. i hope i never -- lose that feeling. and i could still remember him. >> reporter: mando and bobby's murder got a lot of attention from the cops. but ten days passed. no arrests. and then a break -- a tip. someone in the neighborhood was boasting that he blew away mando and bobby with a shotgun. the boaster? the young man he'd accepted as a kind of unofficial brother in law -- daniel villegas. and, as mimbela was about to discover, daniel did more than boast about the murder. a lot more. is. 3 f2 daniel hizo más que solo >> who was invested -- >> that was my first thought. >> i didn't believe it.

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how about over tennis? even better. a game changer! the ready for you alert, only at lq.com. >> reporter: it was not like john mimbela to make rash promises, especially a promise to undertake a task that was way and he was already a very busy mimbela construction was booming, doing business all around the southwest. >> we do a lot of contracts from

anywhere to three to a thousand homes. >> reporter: how many guys do you have working for you? >> 200. >> reporter: so yes, he was busy. but his lucy was so determined that the daniel villegas she knew was no murderer. >> i didn't believe it. i mean, he was a kid, just always having fun. >> reporter: did he seem like the sort of person who was capable of that? >> no. not at all. he was a clown. he liked to joke around a lot. just a kind-hearted guy. >> reporter: mind you, kind-hearted or not, daniel wasn't a choir boy. he belonged to a gang, had a rap sheet for a few misdemeanors. he had been expelled from school. he liked to party -- maybe too much. but boast about murder? that sounded to mimbela like more than a party prank. but daniel's parents said that's just how daniel was -- immature, a jokester, they said, trying to navigate life in a dangerous neighborhood. >> and i think he was tryin' to be tough, because we were in a

tough area. >> there's a lot of gangs -- >> so if he figured if they feared him, then he'd have a better chance of survival. >> reporter: but if that's what it was, he figured wrong. because it certainly caught the attention of detectives at the el paso police department, detectives under increasing public pressure to solve the case. so not surprising, late one night, they showed up at the villegas' front door and took 16-year-old daniel downtown for questioning. >> i was really scared. it was late at night. and my mom kept telling him not to say anything, that she would get him a lawyer in the morning. but he didn't make it till the morning. >> reporter: no, he didn't. sometime before the morning came, daniel confessed that he killed those two boys. and there, all these years later, mimbela saw what was daniel's indelible signature. he signed his own statement, swearing it was true. >> that's kind of what made it hard for me to understand that

daniel might be innocent, because he confessed. >> reporter: sure, who would confess to committing a crime they didn't commit, right? >> that was my first thought. >> reporter: that signed confession got daniel charged with capital murder. john williams was an assistant d.a. then. >> the confession really was the -- the centerpiece of the case. that along with the fact that the alibi he gave didn't quite make sense. >> reporter: and daniel's confession was backed up by two other neighborhood boys who gave el paso police signed statements stating that they were in the car with daniel when he fired the fatal shots. word of daniel's arrest spread. jesse hernandez was relieved. >> and that was, like, wow, you know? they did their work. i'm glad they got this guy. i want him to feel he pain, and i want him to be punished for what he did. >> reporter: but you wanted to punish him yourself? >> yeah. yeah. >> reporter: for what he did to your friends? >> exactly.

you know? exactly. >> reporter: when daniel went on trial in 1994, the new d.a., jaime esparza, decided to personally prosecute the case. >> and you're going to have to sort through all of the evidence. you're going to have to sort through all of the lies. >> reporter: john williams was esparza's co-counsel. >> this was the first case that he tried as the district attorney. >> reporter: so he got pretty invested in this case? >> yes. we were passionate about it. >> and if the truth is there somewhere, then you convict. i say, based on the evidence, the truth is there. >> i think he really wanted to show the community that he was serious about bringing justice to these young boys who were killed in such a cold-blooded way. >> reporter: daniel's defense attorney argued his confession was coerced. that he had an alibi -- he was babysitting and watching a movie at this apartment with friends. in the end, 11 jurors voted to convict, but one held out for an

acquittal. a hung jury. a relief for daniel's family, who, despite his confession, still insisted he was innocent. daniel had just become a father, seemed to think he might be able to stay with his infant daughter. >> i'll be able to support her now forever. >> reporter: but jesse hernandez, a witness for the prosecution, was very unhappy with that hung jury. >> and i remember the d.a. said, "don't worry. we're gonna keep pushing. we're gonna get him." and that's what he would tell me. i was like, "well, i hope so." he's like, "no, we're -- we're gonna get him. don't worry about it." >> reporter: and, sure enough, the d.a. tried daniel again. the villegas family was out of money, so the court appointed an attorney, who had very little time to prepare for trial. >> he called one witness to the stand. daniel's prior defense attorney called 18 witnesses. >> reporter: and he was found guilty in a hurry.

>> yes. >> it's finally over. i can just go on, and, you know, live my life. and have my memories of my friends that i still do to this day. >> reporter: it was an important early victory for esparza. >> it was a big deal. big deal, and when the verdict came in, i think it really solidified his position as a tough district attorney who was gonna fight hard to bring justice to victims of violent crime. >> reporter: and in 1995, daniel was sentenced to life in prison. he was just 18 years old. >> it was solved. the murderer went to prison. the two victims got their justice. case closed. >> reporter: case closed for everyone -- except daniel and his family. to them the verdict was a complete shock. >> it was horrible. >> yeah, it was a nightmare. >> it was horrible. >> to see his face. we tried to hug him before they

were gonna take him. but he was in so much of a shock that he didn't move for us to hug him. so they grabbed him and whisked him away. >> reporter: so, the whole world around believed he was guilty? >> yeah, outside of the family, yeah. >> reporter: and you and the family were the only ones thinking, "poor daniel"? >> yeah. >> reporter: has been subjected to an injustice. >> yeah. >> reporter: but remember, daniel bragged to his friends that he did it. confessed to the cops that he did it. mimbela read all that -- the police reports, the trials, the appeals -- saw they were all denied. and yet? to this layman's eye, at least, something seemed to be missing. it just didn't add up. >> i'm like, "my god, how did they convict this kid without any physical evidence whatsoever?" >> reporter: you were hooked. >> i was hooked. >> reporter: but mimbela still couldn't answer that one central

question -- why would anyone confess to a murder he didn't commit? 3 f2 asesinato que mono cometió. did he confess or did he just give in? >> he says you don't make a statement. he says i'm going to make sure you get the electric chair and i'm going to fry your -- hey, what are you doing? i got 17 months until i can upgrade to the new iphone 6s. i'm building a time machine so i don't have to wait. with sprint, i never have to wait. i get to upgrade to the newest iphone right away whenever it comes out. seriously? seriously! i've got to switch to sprint. (ding) what's that? my lunch. it's just leftovers from tomorrow night. get iphone 6s as low as $1 a month, when you trade in your iphone 6, and with iphone forever, get a new iphone every year. switch to the network that's stronger, faster and more reliable than ever

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>> reporter: of the thousands of pieces of paper john mimbella pored through, there was one that puzzled him more than any other -- daniel's confession, signed at the bottom. which meant that daniel approved of what was written there, it was his ticket to a life term in prison. and yet -- >> this confession did not match anything of what the police report said. >> reporter: mimbela looked again and again. maybe he was mistaken. but no, daniel said the color of the car was white, but he was wrong. according to a surviving eye witness, it was maroon. the way he described the sequence of shots also differed wildly from what the neighbor told 911. he also said he was accompanied by a driver and passenger who, it turned out, were no where near the crime that night. very strange. though, of course, there was probably some explanation. it didn't mean daniel was innocent.

so mimbela wrote him a letter. >> trying to get a feel for if he was innocent or not. but the main thing that i wanted to let him know is that -- being a catholic -- i wanted to save him, if in fact he was guilty. it's always about helping people and helping others. >> reporter: this is where the letter went -- the french robertson unit. a prison in abilene, 450 miles from el paso. and here's the man he sent it to. >> i thought, you know, we had the best system in the world. innocent people just don't go to jail in america. >> reporter: this is daniel villegas. by the time john wrote his letter, a veteran of the texas prison system. and not a happy man. >> 'cause you're gonna die in prison. so your life is over with. >> did you think about trying to end it yourself? >> yeah, millions of times. >> reporter: daniel was 29 then. wouldn't even be eligible for parole until he was in his 50s. he kept thinking of his daughter growing up without a father. what would she think of him?

>> i was tellin' her, you know i pray to god. i said, you know, my worst fear that you'd think i'm a lowlife for this. because, you know, this is all lies. it's not me. that i'm innocent. >> reporter: he had just written his sister a letter, telling her he wanted to end it all, saying he couldn't wait on some miracle that wasn't going to happen. >> i was worried that he would do something drastic, but i didn't even blame him. if he was in that kind of misery, i wouldn't want him to live like that. i just started crying, and crying. >> reporter: his family braced for news they dreaded hearing. but in between the decision to take his own life and the final act, daniel for the first time in years, said a little prayer. >> i was like, "you know what, god, man, i -- i can't deal with this anymore, man. i'm not asking you to let me out. but if you are, give me a sign. show me something man, 'cause i don't wanna live no more. so give me some type of sign that i'm coming home." >> the next day he got my

letter. >> reporter: coincidence, of course, what else could it be? but daniel decided maybe hope was worth having after all. and when mimbela went to see him in prison, what he heard from daniel was far different from anything he'd read in the police report. so, what happened the night those boys were murdered? in fact, said daniel, he had no idea. yes, he heard about it. and yes, he did brag to his friends, stupidly, that he was the tough guy who did it. and sure enough, before too long, said daniel, be was taken to a room at the juvenile investigative service office handcuffed to a chair facing a veteran homicide detective named alfonso marquez. marquez' resume also includes an appearance on the tv show "cops", where he was featured on this episode from that same year, 1993.

daniel was 16. terrified, he said. certainly naive. he was read his miranda rights four times, but never asked for an attorney. marquez, according to daniel, demanded that he confess. >> "and if you don't," he said, "then i'm gonna take you out to the desert, handcuff you to my car, kick your ass, let you walk back to the highway, pick you up again, kick your ass, and then they take you to the county jail with a bunch of fat [ bleep ] and let them rape you." >> reporter: daniel said, he protested that he had nothing to do with the murders of those two teens. >> so, he starts telling me, "look out, you little punk, you know what i'm saying? i know you did this." he kind of -- slap me in the back of the head anytime, you know? "do you hear me punk? do you hear me?" >> reporter: then det. marquez offered him a deal, said daniel -- cop to the crime and go to juvie instead of prison. >> he said, "it won't be so bad on you." he said, "if you don't make a statement," he said, "i'm gonna make sure you get the electric chair and i'm gonna fry your ass." >> if you confess to committing a murder, meaning that you would get a lighter sentence. but if you didn't confess, he

would make sure you got the death penalty? >> yeah. and he was gonna pull the switch on it. i was willing to do anything possible just to get away from him so, i said, "you know, okay, i'll make a statement." >> reporter: that, said daniel, was after four hours in custody -- frightened and exhausted. >> and you said yes to everything? >> yeah. >> but you didn't think, when you said those things, "this means i'm gonna be in prison for the rest of my life." >> no. i didn't even think none of that. >> come on? really? >> yeah. you're not even thinkin' about the future. you're just thinkin' about the present moment. >> gettin' out of there. >> exactly. >> reporter: detective marquez, who has since retired, declined our request for an interview, as did the el paso police department. but the d.a.'s office said marquez was never alone with daniel and even if he was, he wouldn't have had the time to do what daniel said he did. assistant d.a. john williams, who helped prosecute daniel in the first trial, said the confession looked legitimate. >> that's the case that's presented and that's what you go

for. and i think the police, they get a confession, they mark it off as a solved crime. they give it to the d.a.'s office and kind of push it off on the prosecution. >> now it's your turn. >> exactly. >> reporter: but by thtime mimbela drove home from his prison visit he was convinced daniel was telling him the truth. it was the confession that was a lie. >> he seemed like a very nice, naive, young kid. i could sense that there's no way he could've really committed this crime. >> well, you know, everybody in prison says, "i'm innocent." but the vast majority of them are not. how were you so sure it was a false confession? >> i did a lot of research on false confessions. and that confession that daniel gave, and i read, fit exactly what these researchers say false confessions are. >> all the classic symptoms were there. >> they were. >> reporter: but with daniel's appeals already exhausted, what could he do?

and besides, who would believe a contractor and a convicted killer claiming a false confession and a wrongful conviction? mimbela needed help. no idea then that someone who did help convict daniel had a story to tell. mimbela just needed to find him. coming up -- >> he was almost shocked by the killer. how could detectives think he was the killer? even stranger, he almost confessed. >> you know what, they're going to fry you. >> they're going to fry you? >> yeah. >> sound familiar? when "dateline" continues. they're quick. they're strong. they're ruthless. they have their bag of tricks. but so do you. a free 12 month guarantee. find the look you love starting from $38. if they break, get them replaced with a complete new pair. so you're covered

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>> reporter: el paso, 2007. the mimbela construction company struggled, like most construction outfits did, as our nasty recession descended. but for all that worry, john mimbela was ever more focused on one major project -- daniel villegas. >> i had a few people criticize why i was tryin' to help a killer get outta jail.

but i just felt it. the more i dug into his case, the stronger it got. >> reporter: he had no idea. not a clue what he was getting into the legal learning curve. the hurdles, the time. the expense. the system. the whole impossible process. he might have stopped right there, had he known. instead, convinced that daniel was innocent, mimbela decided the thing he should do was take what he learned to the man who put daniel in prison back in the '90s -- d.a. jaime esparza. esparza's view then, of course, was that daniel was a cold blooded killer. >> i think there is enough believable and persuasive evidence in the case. >> reporter: and there was no reason to think he'd changed his mind in the years since then. nevertheless mimbela arranged a meeting. >> well, everybody thought i was crazy. they said, "john, he's the guy

that convicted daniel, why would you go talk to him?" >> good question. >> and i'm like, "he needs to know the truth." >> reporter: mimbela marched into the d.a.'s office confident that esparza would see the light, correct his mistake and free daniel john mimbela. i told him, "mr. esparza, i'm not here trying to blame you for any wrongdoing. but from what i've investigated, daniel's confession was coerced. you've got the wrong guy." >> and? >> and he tells me, well, john i can't do anything about it. you have to initiate it. get yourself a good appeals lawyer. >> reporter: the legal system, as we said, was something of a mystery to john. he shouldn't have been surprised or disappointed. but he was, both. still, he took the tip and hired a lawyer who said -- >> "you have zero to slim chance of getting this kid off." >> what was it like to hear that? >> my heart sank. i'm like, "but he's innocent."

and he's like, "doesn't matter, john. the system doesn't care. it's about winning and losing." >> reporter: the attorney told mimbela there was really only one thing he could do, file a writ of habeas corpus -- a last ditch sort of appeal, the thing you try when all else has failed, essentially a claim that daniel had been falsely and unlawfully imprisoned. >> it's gonna cost you about $20,000. >> wow. >> but i can tell you that these things take up to 10 years and there's no guarantee. >> they rarely succeed, in fact. >> they rarely succeed. >> reporter: he wrote the check, but the writ would take months to prepare. and mimbela was not particularly good at waiting around. >> reporter: so he and lucy went looking for a high end legal team. they wrote to several national innocence projects, hoping one of them might take it on. but, one by one, it didn't take very long, they all said, "no." >> everybody pretty much kept

tellin' me the same thing. you know, "john, you're wasting your time." >> nothing you could do, really. >> nothing you can do. you know, i mean, this kid confessed, there's no dna, this is the way our system is. >> reporter: anyone else might have begun to realize that trying to exonerate a convicted killer was, if not impossible, then probably a fool's errand. especially for an amateur who didn't understand the system. but not john mimbela. >> john got in, you know, started askin' around about private investigators. >> reporter: so did he google private investigator? look one up on angie's list? no. he went where he usually did -- the yellow pages. >> i hired freddie bonilla. he was a homicide detective for the city of el paso for 20 years. >> reporter: as a cop, bonilla had cracked dozens of cases. he was in his 70s now, but still very active, when mimbela came along. bonilla spent a couple of weeks reviewing the file and --

>> there was no weapon, no car, no identification, no nothing, except a mere confession. >> reporter: so bonilla and mimbela started their own investigation. they fanned out from the crime scene, poured over the police reports, dug for new clues. >> there is not one single thing that i would go to court and say, "yeah, this guy did it look, with this." there is not one piece of evidence. >> reporter: they also tracked down witnesses and found him. jesse hernandez one of the teens who survived the shooting and testified against daniel. when they found him, jesse was divorced, reclusive. with a bad case of survivor's guilt. it was he who persuaded his friends to go out that night. and 15 years later, he was still haunted by it. >> my friends would still be here today.

that wouldn't have happened. >> reporter: it was late at night when mimbella and bonilla came to call. >> i looked through the peephole, and i see two gentlemen. and i open the door, and i said, "yes? can i help you?" it was like, "jesse hernandez?" i was, like, "yes." >> we identified ourselves -- we're here wanting some information of the murder of armando lazo and robert england. >> i said, "murder? i'm -- i'm sorry, you got the wrong guy. i don't know anything about no murder." >> reporter: mimbela explained how he believed daniel had been wrongly convicted. >> and i wasn't buying it. and he says, "well, we're not here to change your mind, you know, we're not. we're just here to, you know, tell you." >> reporter: mimbela, ever persistent carefully made his case for daniel's innocence. >> and he's like, "well, how did they convict daniel?" i go, "a confession. a confession that we believe was false and coerced." he turned white. he's like, "john, who was this detective?"

and i told him -- al marquez. >> reporter: why did jesse hernandez suddenly turn pale? because of what happened to him. soon after the murder, said jesse, he was called to police headquarters for an interview. and there, he said, that same detective marquez told him write down what he remembered about the shooting. jesse did. and -- >> he says, "you know what this is [ bleep ]. you know and i know you did it." and i'm like, "how could you be saying that? how could you say i did it? you know, i didn't-- i didn't do anything." "yes, you did." i said, "no, that's not true. these are my friends. i love my friends." he said, "well you know what? you're gonna have to explain that to the judge. and they're, you know they're gonna fry you." >> they're gonna fry you? >> yeah. and then i just put my head -- my head down. and i -- i just -- i could -- couldn't stop crying. >> reporter: jesse was 17, just

one year older than daniel. marquez, he said, persuaded him he'd had a blackout and killed his own friends. he came close to a confession. but jesse's mother found out what happened and called the cops furious about what detective marquez had done to her son. and jesse was not questioned by marquez anymore and was never charged with anything. now, all these years later, jesse looked at the copy of daniel's confession that mimbela had given him. >> i started reading it, and i was like -- hold on, that's not how it happened. >> reporter: jesse said he still remembered vividly the color of the killer's car, the direction it was driving. the sequence of the shots. daniel's confession was wrong on all of them. what's more neither the car the killer drove nor the murder weapon was ever found. and no physical evidence of any kind implicated daniel. >> how did they convict daniel? this is not how it happened. >> so this must have been very confusing for you. >> yes.

it was. >> and all these years you'd been hating him. >> yeah. you know? i -- i hated daniel. i didn't care what would happen to him. >> reporter: but now? based on what he had just learned? >> i can't let this happen. i got to do something. coming up -- >> what is the truth about false confessions? >> it doesn't take much for a young person to cave and actually admit to something that they didn't do. >> believing that is one thing. but proving it may just be impossible. >> there were times when he started to give up hope. long-acting levemir®. as my diabetes changed it got harder to control my blood sugar. today, i'm asking about levemir®. vo: levemir® is an injectable insulin that can give you blood sugar control for up to 24 hours. and levemir® helps lower your a1c. levemir® lasts 42 days without refrigeration.

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back to our story. a construction has -- he's trying to free a young man who he believes is innocent. tough any time. may be impossible this time. because daniel confessed. but now a survivor of that crime who once helped the prosecutor is about to help daniel.

here again is keith morrison. >> reporter: there's a windswept cemetery where el paso meets the west texas scrubland and in it a modest stone marking the final resting place of robert england. you have to drive across town to find his friend armando lazo. bobby and mando. they'd be in their 40s now, who knows what they might have become. if they hadn't gone to that easter weekend party with jesse hernandez the one they were walking home from when they were attacked. jesse never really let go of the guilt and after mimbela came to call? >> i started thinking about it how i lost mando and bobby. and my last image of mando. i never got to say, you know, you know, "i'm sorry. i love you brother." he was taken from me. >> reporter: it had been so easy to hate daniel villegas. the kid convicted of killing his friends. and then he read the confession and realized it could have been him in prison instead of daniel.

>> i kept thinking of daniel, like, how could they do this to him? and he was like me. he just wanted out. he just wanted to go home. and i'm pretty sure he just did sign, did whatever they wanted. >> reporter: thinking he could go home? >> exactly. i had to do something. >> reporter: and so he called john mimbela. >> i said, "john it's gonna be hard for me, but i'll do what i can." >> reporter: a very big deal, said john mimbela. even though, frankly, the project seemed stalled then. the writ of habeas corpus asking for a new trial was submitted, it would be reviewed by a judge and the da. but that could take years. so mimbela decided he needed more legal muscle. something super-credible. so in 2010 he looked north to chicago, 1500 miles and a culture-shift from el paso. home of the northwestern university school of law center on wrongful convictions of youth.

remember, several other innocence projects had all said no. but, this particular one specialized in cases involving false confessions by teenagers. >> so i took a chance and i sent them an email. got rejected the first time. i just kept on trying. >> reporter: eventually mimbela's email made it's way to attorney josh tepfer, who was co-director back then. >> we said that ok we'll take a look at it. and we say that a lot and sometimes we get to it and sometimes we don't. >> reporter: tepfer, of course, had no idea who he was dealing with. even the slightest bit of encouragement was all mimbela needed to hear. >> and the next thing we know, we're seeing an article in the local newspaper saying, "the center on wrongful convictions of youth has taken up the case of daniel villegas." and i immediately get in and write john a scolding email and say, "we have done no such thing. well, we agreed to look at it." and as soon as we did, you know, we were hooked. john was right. we had to be involved. >> reporter: and in fact, northwestern has reviewed

hundreds of cases like daniel's; kids who claimed they'd signed their lives away under pressure. >> it doesn't take much to for a young person to cave and actually admit to something that they didn't do under that type of pressure. >> reporter: the only way you'll get out of this room is tell us what we wanna hear." >> exactly. >> reporter: northwestern's endorsement added a whole new level of legitimacy to the case and some national attention too. but mimbela, by now contractor during the daytime and legal scholar at night, hoped that it might persuade the judge and even the da to grant daniel's writ of habeas corpus and order a special hearing called an -- >> evidentiary hearing. >> reporter: at which all of this evidence could be presented. >> i had been told that these evidentiary hearings are very rare. >> reporter: that was about the only shot daniel had at freedom. but mimbela knew that before the judge made his decision he would hear from he other big player in the case da. jaime esparza. remember three years earlier esparza had turned mimbela away but this time mimbela was

confident, given all that new detail he had unearthed, the da would be persuaded. but weeks went by. months. they waited. all of them. do you allow yourself to imagine that day, walking out of here? >> yeah, i do. i visualize it a lot. >> reporter: but it's because it's a long shot, it's a dangerous one too. >> yeah. >> reporter: because if it doesn't happen. >> and that's it. >> reporter: then several days before christmas, the d.a.'s office announced it had reviewed the request and had given the judge its recommendation. >> and? >> we get the response from the d.a. asking the judge not to give us an evidentiary hearing. >> reporter: so it looked like he just put the bullet through your possibilities? >> that's it. >> reporter: word traveled fast across texas to daniel's prison cell, where he learned the d.a. had decided to fight his appeal

still convinced that daniel was the killer. >> what i can't understand the most is, like, is the d.a.'s office, right. i mean, everybody who reads this case they all say, "man, this guy's innocent. and how can you go to sleep like that, knowin' that you did this, and then knowing that someone's in prison? and then wake up the next morning and say you fight for the people. >> reporter: hope is a dangerous thing in prison, as daniel knew, and mimbela was quickly learning. >> there were times when he started to give up hope. and i would try and encourage him as much as i could. >> reporter: but of course, jail and prison phone calls are recorded, and become part of the permanent public record. >> got to have faith, got to have faith. >> we try. >> yeah i know, i know it's hard, but everything in the end is going to work out okay. >> i told him, "daniel i'm never going to stop fighting for you." you're innocent, and i'm not

going to let this happen to you. so don't give up because i'm not giving up. >> tilting at windmills? quite probably. still, mimbela prepared for a fight. and naturally went looking for the fastest gun in town. somebody who could navigate the system and give daniel a fighting chance. good luck with that. coming up -- >> an old lead -- >> the police department never really followed those leads thoroughly. >> offers new hope. >> before everyone made it seem that it was impossible and john starting making it look possible. >> when "dateline" continues. you rally the team. we give you relief from your cough. you give them a case of the giggles. tylenol® cold helps relieve even your worst cold & flu symptoms. so you can give them everything you've got. tylenol®

>> reporter: the holiday season of 2010 was not an especially joyous time for john mimbela. the d.a., to his utter surprise, had recommended daniel not get a new hearing. so now mimbella braced himself for judge sam medrano's final decision. and with christmas approaching, he went shopping not for gifts, but for a tough courtroom lawyer, just in case that long shot came in on that habeas corpus writ and daniel did get his day in front of a judge. >> i asked around and said, "who is the best lawyer for daniel?" everyone i asked said, "joe spencer." >> if you're in trouble, real bad trouble, you call joe spencer. >> reporter: so mimbela set up a meeting, made his pitch. >> he tells me the story about daniel. and -- and i said, "okay, how long ago was he convicted?" he goes, "16 years ago."

i go, "he had two trials?" he goes, "yeah." "'cause he confessed." he goes, "yes." "double homicide." "yes." "he's already exhausted his appeals." he goes "yes." i go, "and what do you want?!" >> reporter: spencer had seen a lot of cases in his day, gotten plenty of people off. but this case? wasn't just a long shot. it was a surefire loser. >> you don't understand, john. this is texas. in texas i give you about a zero to five percent chance of being successful, closer to zero than to five. i'm telling you that i don't think that we can win this case. >> reporter: but there was something about the case. the challenge, maybe? or maybe it was mimbela, who kept saying those three little words. >> but he's innocent. >> reporter: and so spencer took that big file from mimbela and read it through, front to back. and? that's all it took. he was on board. >> i really saw an injustice. i really saw a wrong that needed to be righted. and i just want to be so much a

part of it. >> reporter: for starters, spencer focused on the man who took daniel's confession. detective alfonso marquez, whose investigation, spencer thought, was inadequate at best. >> the physical evidence and forensic evidence did not -- the eyewitness testimony did not match and contradicted daniel's confession. >> reporter: well, surely if a statement like that is made and then it's compared to the facts, they throw out the statement. >> you would think. >> reporter: and there was another reason to question daniel's confession. buried in the case file spencer and mimbela found a statement daniel made to his juvenile probation officer shortly after his interrogation. >> in that statement, daniel recants his confession. >> reporter: in that second statement, daniel said he had told marquez what the detective wanted to hear, but it wasn't true. nothing in that second statement about being threatened by marquez, but that statement was never presented to the jury that convicted daniel.

>> reporter: there was something else in the file that caught joe spencer's eye -- statements to police from two other potential suspects, the flores brothers. javier, now dead, and his brother rudy. both had been cleared by the cops. but this was weird. the flores brothers were known gang-members, and according to the murder victims' friends, rudy had a particular dislike for mando lazo. and just two weeks before the shooting -- >> rudy flores, according to what we know from police documents had said, "he was going to kill armando lazo and had threatened armando lazo with that." and police had investigated those claims. >> reporter: that was before the shooting. >> before the shooting, yes. >> reporter: after the shooting? >> when questioned by police, rudy flores admitted to being in the vicinity of the shooting at the time of the shooting.

but from what we can see, the police department never really followed those leads thoroughly. >> reporter: so, attorney spencer wondered, why didn't the police follow the rudy flores lead more aggressively? >> they did not even look at rudy flores's statement that he puts himself at the scene of the crime. if they just looked at that they would've seen there's something wrong here. >> reporter: and there was one more lead that the el paso police didn't pursue. the night after the teens were murdered, more gunshots were reported in the same neighborhood. the cops responded. a .22 caliber weapon was recovered -- the same caliber of gun used to kill the two teens. guess who was there, at the time and place of the second shooting? rudy flores. were the shootings connected? no one knows. police didn't investigate that. >> i think that the detectives developed tunnel vision. once they got daniel to confess, they were oblivious to anything

else. >> reporter: and so sitting there in his cell, with a new high-powered legal team behind him building his case, daniel allowed himself to see possibilities. >> i started having and more and more hope. it started just buildin' up, goin' from there. miracles do happen, nowadays. you hear 'em all the time. and i just hope that i'm that miracle story. >> reporter: his parents even had his room ready, hoping that after a decade and a half behind bars he'd finally be coming home, thanks to mimbela. >> i just remember myself thinking, "thank you, god. i got someone who listened." >> reporter: and you didn't really expect anything would come of it. >> yeah. or at least someone was trying. >> and i thought, "okay, i think this a possibility." before, everyone made it seem like it was impossible. and john started making it look possible. >> reporter: privately john mimbela knew there was no hope that he'd bring d.a. jaime esparza around to his way of seeing things.

esparza's mind was made up. and that's when mimbela got an idea. an in-your-face, kind of crazy idea. >> coming up -- >> daniel gets a second chance at justice. >> face to face with the detective who he said threatened to put him in the electric chair and fry him himself. art. abdominal pain. urgent diarrhea. now there's prescription xifaxan. xifaxan is a new ibs-d treatment that helps relieve your diarrhea and abdominal pain symptoms. and xifaxan works differently. it's a prescription antibiotic that acts mainly in the digestive tract. do not use xifaxan if you have a history of sensitivity to rifaximin rifamycin antibiotic agents, or any components of xifaxan. tell your doctor right away if your diarrhea worsens while taking xifaxan

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>> reporter: it was subtle at first just a billboard or two around town, but then more popped up all over el paso. including ones that moved. soon there were demonstrations right outside da jaime esparza's window, demanding justice for

daniel villegas. all of it organized by john mimbela. >> i figured the best thing i can do is just try to bring awareness that this is wrong. this is the way our system is. we need support of the community. maybe we can change things. >> he believes in this cause with all his heart. and he's gone through great lengths to try to get other people to believe. >> reporter: and mimbela took up the cause like a marching band. >> full force. i mean he really used his resources to try to get daniel villegas out of prison. he spent a lot of money. hundreds of thousands of dollars. he has added a sense of credibility, of legitimacy. i think people started to pay attention. >> reporter: d.a. jaime esparza

was paying attention too; well aware of mimbela's street campaign and how it was helping shape public opinion. >> i think he's taken it, in some way, personally. because this was a case that was important to him. that this is an affront to justice. >> reporter: every time we come to the el paso courthouse and try to talk to d.a. jaime esparza, he has shut us down. no interview. no comment. has told us that he is ethically prevented from doing so. and so we've had to parse together the d.a.'s point of view based on his court filings and what has leaked out to other reporters along the way. which is that d.a. esparza is still convinced daniel is a killer. and he was not about to let him get a shot at a third trial especially since he was convicted fair and square in esparza's view years ago. this a rare public comment for

local tv. >> i have to believe in the evidence. i would have never asked that jury to convict if i thought that i had doubts. i would have never asked them to >> reporter: at least one of the victim's families agreed and supported the d.a.'s position but it was the judge who would have the final say. judge sam medrano. who noted carefully the d.a.'s objection spent months reviewing the file and finally decided. yes. despite the d.a.'s opposition, he granted daniel's writ of habeas corpus and ordered a hearing to determine whether there was enough evidence to warrant a new trial. >> it was amazing, because these evidentiary hearings are very rare. so we knew we had to get this hearing if we had a chance of freeing daniel. and we got it. >> reporter: there would be no jury at this hearing; the judge alone would hear witnesses and then decide whether or not to recommend to the texas court of criminal appeals that daniel get a new trial.

>> hope started to build. but we all still knew it was an uphill battle. this was the last chance. there was no appeals after this. >> reporter: a few weeks before the hearing daniel headed west on a prisoner transport bus to el paso. he was in high spirits. it was the first time he'd been to his hometown in over 15 years. we met with him shortly after he arrived at his new residence the county jail. >> it feels good. it felt real good to be home. first, when i when they came to pick me up i couldn't even sleep that whole night. just anxious to get back, you know? finally see the city again, after so many years. >> reporter: you're still hoping that a court will take a decision that courts very rarely take so you may not get out. >> yeah. >> reporter: you faced up to that? >> yeah. i faced up to that. too much has happened too many pieces have been falling together, too many miracles have been happening.

that you never would've thought would happen are happening. >> reporter: before the hearing, at his attorney's request daniel took a lie detector test and he passed. then a few weeks later, on a hot june day in 2011 in judge medrano's packed court room, filled mostly with daniel supporters we saw no one from the victim's families. >> all rise. the hearing that daniel had waited so long for finally began. unlike a regular trial, the burden of proof was on the defense, which would make the case that daniel was coerced into a confession and railroaded into a wrongful conviction. >> the odds were completely against daniel. and here he was, back in el paso, back in the courthouse where he was convicted as a 16 year old. >> reporter: daniel was 34 now had spent half his life behind bars. this hearing could well determine if he'd remain there for the rest of his life. >> i'm nervous. i'm kind of anxious. but i feel good about it. it's finally time. >> reporter: but this time

district attorney jaime esparza wasn't at the prosecution table. in his place assistant d.a. john briggs a tough, no nonsense prosecutor, who made the case throughout the hearing that justice had already been served when daniel was convicted back in 1995. >> we know that his allegation of actual innocence was all just a sham. and we know that for the last 17 years he's been praying to god to let him out even though he's not innocent god's not letting him out, he needs you to let him out judge. >> reporter: attorney joe spencer called a parade of witnesses. 33 of them. including jesse hernandez, who survived the shooting. the last time he testified was for the d.a. this time it was for daniel as he detailed what he saw at the crime scene that didn''t match villegas' confession. >> mr. hernandez, when you testified for the prosecutor in the first trial did they bother

to show you daniel's statement? >> no, sir. >> this is what he confessed to. does this match what you saw? did they tell you that? >> no, sir. >> so did they show you any evidence? >> they showed me nothing. a lot of people would, say, "how could you just turn around, and say that this murderer is innocent? i was like, "because he's not the murderer. they probably pushed him the way they pushed me." just to get a conviction. >> reporter: pushed jesse and daniel's supporters claimed. by him. detective alfonso marquez who, in here, was about to face some accusations himself. >> there was a lot of drama, a lot of drama at the evidentiary hearing. here he was, with the detective who he said threatened to put him in the electric chair and fry him himself. almost two decades later, face to face again with the man who a

lot of people credit with, daniel being in prison. >> reporter: this time the tables would be turned as daniel's attorney joe spencer gave marquez a grilling. didn't he bully and trick lots of suspects, including daniel, asked spencer. and wasn't his investigation shoddy at best? >> was there any physical evidence in your investigation that tied daniel villegas to the scene? >> no, sir. >> was there any forensic evidence that tied daniel villegas to the scene? >> no, sir. >> did any of the surviving victims identify daniel as being at the scene? >> no, sir. >> reporter: but what about coercing that confession out of daniel the night of his arrest? marquez denied it when asked by assistant d.a. briggs. >> reporter: prior to obtaining this statement of mr. villegas, did you ever physically strike him? >> no, sir, i did not. >> ever physically assault him?

>> no, sir, i did not. >> threaten him in any way to get that statement? >> no sir. >> reporter: marquez insisted his investigation was thorough; that he did not suffer from tunnel vision when it came to daniel and that he did consider other suspects. >> you-all followed up some of those leads as well, right? >> yes, sir, we did. >> reporter: and then a surprise. one of those original suspects interviewed by the el paso police all those years ago. the defense called rudolpho "rudy" flores. remember him? he was in his mid 30s now serving time in an unrelated case. the man who along with his now dead brother the defense believed was the killer. >> i do. in a sworn affidavit, flores denied involvement in the murders but joe spencer hoped to pull a confession out of him. what he got was almost as

dramatic. >> i refuse to answer any questions. i am invoking my fifth amendment right to remain silent. >> reporter: rudy flores was keeping his secrets whatever they were. >> i refuse to answer any questions. >> reporter: but one witness was very eager to talk and make the case for daniel villegas. and that was daniel. coming up -- >> weeks of hearings, months of waiting. and then finally a decision. very hopeful but also very nervous. >> when "dateline" continues. [eerie music] i am the ghost of cookies' past...residue.

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>> reporter: evidentiary hearings, rare as they are, generally last a day perhaps two. not this one. the daniel villegas hearing -- his request for a new trial -- dragged on and off for weeks that summer of 2011, as daniel

trooped back and forth between the courtroom and his cell in the county jail. waiting and waiting for this -- >> daniel villegas. >> reporter: to talk about that easter weekend in 1993 and his fateful encounter with detective marquez. >> did you have anything to do with the killing of armando lazo and robert england? >> no, sir. >> why would you admit on a statement that you did? >> he had me mentally paralyzed. i mean, i couldn't -- i wasn't even thinking anything he said at that point, i was willing to do. >> why? >> because i was scared. i was a 16-year-old kid. you know, i didn't want to go to no county jail and get raped i didn't want to go to the electric chair and get fried. >> was there any doubt in your mind that detective marquez was going to to do that? >> no, sir. there was no doubt in my mind hat he was going to carry out them threats. >> reporter: then assistant d.a. john briggs asked daniel, specifically about his alibi -- that he was babysitting at an apartment that night with several of his friends. >> why didn't you just tell detective marquez, hey, you got the wrong guy? i was baby-sitting.

you can go check with all these other guys. you didn't do that, did you? >> i told him i didn't do it. he wasn't trying to hear it. >> well, you didn't tell him that, did you? >> yes, i told him i did not do it. >> reporter: but assistant d.a. briggs was emphatic daniel did do it. >> reporter: though he called no witnesses, briggs argued that daniel's defense team had presented nothing new from his previous trials. that his teenaged boasting, his alibi and of course his confession proved his guilt beyond a doubt. and something a jury had already decided. as for the inconsistencies in that confession? sometimes that happens, said briggs the prosecutor, but didn't mean the confession was untrue. it was all done by the book, legally obtained he said. protocols properly followed. in his closing briggs told the judge that daniel's claim of innocence was little more than a media event. >> the press want him out, because then they get their great big, sensational story.

so, i guess my question, judge, is are we going to succumb to the media pressure or are we going to follow the law? popular or unpopular as that may be, it's your choice. >> reporter: when it was over, daniel's defenders were cautious, but confident. outwardly, at least. >> i anticipate that he will make a decision and make a recommendation to the court of criminal appeals of giving daniel a new trial. >> reporter: and in the rest of el paso -- >> after the writ hearing, that's when there was a huge, huge, huge movement of support for daniel. >> reporter: but that was the court of public opinion. the only opinion that really mattered was judge medrano's. he was the one who would recommend to the texas court of criminal appeals whether or not daniel should be granted a new trial. a negative word from judge medrano, and it was all

but over for daniel. while everyone waited, mimbela staged more protests and vigils outside the el paso county jail. >> may justice prevail. amen. amen. >> we want to bring light into those dark corners and we want to see the light of justice shine, especially in daniel's case and also others. >> reporter: daniel's mother, yolanda, guessed where he might be, up there, and waved. was that him, waving back? >> i always known in my heart he was getting out. there was just no doubt. >> there was no doubt about that, right. >> i knew god, i knew he was getting out. i knew god would get him, i just didn't know when. and that's what i -- where i'm having the problem is when. >> he's very hopeful, but at same time he's very nervous and he tells me its like a roller coaster ride. >> reporter: yet another christmas came and went. the 17th christmas without daniel. the villegas's still decorated their tree, hoped for next year and new year's passed. and easter. and fourth of july.

no news. >> torture. it's like we had done all we could do, and all we could do now was sit and wait. >> reporter: finally, august 2012, judge medrano announced, he had made a decision. and all of them filed back into his courtroom hearts in their mouths to hear what it was. >> very hopeful, but also very nervous, excited and this is it. this is what daniel's been waiting for 18 years. >> reporter: but no one knew what the decision was. >> all rise. >> reporter: until the judge finally spoke. sound full courtroom settles in. >> please be seated. it is this court's recommendation to the texas court of criminal appeals that the applicant daniel villegas's request for a new trial should be granted.

>> reporter: in his ruling, judge medrano seemed to come close to saying daniel should never have been convicted in the first place. what's more, he wrote, the testimony of detective marquez "was not credible." >> and here was, again, daniel just beating the odds. only 2% of cases get this far in texas. it was mind-blowing. it was one of those moments you never forget as a reporter. >> all them years of anguish just came out. i was overwhelmed by that time, all them 19 years was just washed out. >> overwhelmed man. overwhelmed. i feel so happy for daniel. i mean this has always been about daniel and daniel's family. >> i felt so proud of the judge for standing up for what was right. >> we have waited and waited for this moment to come. and thank god that it's here, you know, it's not the end yet, but we're one step closer.

>> reporter: but not everybody was happy with the judge's finding. here's assistant d.a. john briggs. >> daniel villegas is a convicted murderer. it's his burden to carry the day on this writ and he has not gotten there in my mind. so, i'm not persuaded by anything that he's presented that we have the wrong person. >> we still knew though that we had one more hurdle. >> reporter: oh yes, and it was a very big one. judge medrano's recommendation wasn't the final word. the texas state court of criminal appeals would ultimately decide whether daniel got a new trial. nine law-and-order judges who tend not to look too kindly on a convicted killer. coming up -- another long wait. >> it's like oh, man, when is this going to end? >> and then -- >> ran to my son's office,

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>> reporter: two men. one in a jail cell. the other determined to keep him both waiting for the texas court de la prisión y el otro of criminal appeals to decide whether or not to grant daniel villegas a new trial. they'd find out one way or

another on line. where, once a week, it was always a wednesday, the court posted its decisions. so, every wednesday morning, daniel woke in his cell in a state of extreme anxiety. would this be the week? >> wednesday was the day i hated the most out of all the weeks. >> reporter: why? >> 'cause those are the days that i call my mom and ask her if i was on that list. she'll tell me, "no, you're not on the list, baby." and i'll be like, "oh god. gotta wait another week." and that it just kept on goin' on, week after week after week. >> reporter: week after week for months. >> after a while, i didn't even wanna check. because like when his name wouldn't come out and i'd have to tell everybody. and i'd have to tell him, it would make it so difficult because -- >> we were afraid. >> everybody was like -- >> of rejection, you know? >> reporter: the legal rarity that had gotten daniel this far seemed to have lost its momentum. another christmas passed his birthday too and a host of holidays. the long delay, daniel understood, was not a good sign. as he expressed to his mother over the jail phone.

>> don't blame god for it, daniel. don't blame god. you're just having a bad day, just like i was. >> having a bad day? this is every day. this ain't just today, this ain't it's gonna be tomorrow, it's gonna be the next day. >> i would hit bottom sometimes. and it's like, "oh man. it's when is this gonna end, god? when is this gonna end?" >> reporter: every saturday john mimbela visited daniel, used whatever he could to keep hope alive. >> i had to give him some kind of encouragement. so somebody had offered to sell me a convertible and i said, "what a perfect way to encourage daniel. i said, "daniel, this car is waiting for you, so don't worry about it, you're coming home." >> reporter: but as the months wore on. daniel stopped believing. >> i didn't wanna wake up. i just didn't wanna live. angry at the world. >> reporter: and certainly angry at d.a. jaime esparza who continued to insist that daniel was guilty. >> i do not have a thought that maybe daniel villegas was not

the person who committed these this crime. >> reporter: and then after more than a year on a roller coaster of hope and depression. daniel had a kind of revelation. hating d.a. esparza was only hurting daniel. so, one day. >> my cell window's right there. i looked out, and i seen him walking to work. "you know what jaime esparza, i forgive you, man. whatever happens, happens. i forgive you. i said, "you're not gonna hold my anger no more." if he wanted i would still give him a handshake and a hug. i mean i'm not gonna have no more hate to him. >> reporter: a handshake and a hug? >> i'll give him a handshake and a hug 'cause he's not gonna ruin me no more. >> reporter: and then, on the wednesday before christmas 2013, 16 months after the appeals court got the case daniel's mother checked the court website like always. but this time there it was a decision from the justices.

revealed in three incredible words. relief is granted. >> i fell to the ground, screaming like a psycho. >> reporter: did she make any sense when she talked to you? >> no. i had to call her back and ask her, "what happened? what happened," you know? >> "he's out. it's granted! it's granted! >> reporter: the texas court of criminal appeals had voted unanimously to grant daniel a new trial. john mimbela's phone rang. it was his lawyer with the news. >> and i'm like, "are you serious?" he says, "yes, we got it john." i ran to my off son's office, hugged them, and we all cried. we got it. >> reporter: and a moment that will live with you for the rest of your days, huh? >> that was probably the

happiest day of my life. >> i was pretty much in state of shock. i was like, nah, i didn't think it was happening. >> reporter: it's over a year you were waiting. >> 16 months. the most stressful 16 months of my life. >> reporter: the texas court of criminal appeals not only granted daniel a new trial. "due to ineffective assistance of counsel." it "vacated" his conviction in other words, it was now as if he'd never been put on trial. meaning. >> that i wasn't a convicted felon, that was the most beautiful part right there. >> reporter: you're clean you have no record at all. >> none. >> reporter: which was especially important to daniel, not just for his own sake, but his daughter too. a young woman by now as old as daniel was when he settled into prison life. >> so hopefully i can get out of here and get to be with her again. i want her to see who i really am, who i am now. >> reporter: what's more like anyone else awaiting trial it was possible daniel could be released on bail. but given he'd been originally charged with capital murder the

judge set a hearing to determine how much the bail would have to be. as they all filed into court once again mimbela, who had already spent well into six figures on the case, feared bail would be set in the millions. beyond his ability to pay meaning daniel would quite possibly remain just where he was behind bars. coming up -- will the d.a. try for trial number three? >> we're praying that that doesn't happen. >> when "dateline" continues. up drama mascara from maybelline new york. our 1st brush with cup-shaped bristles... cups coats, boosts lashes... for volume so lifted so dramatic... ♪ ♪ dare to get the push up effect. new push up drama from maybelline. i'm not shy. my drama? i totally own it. make it dramatic. make it happen. maybelline new york.

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>> reporter: january 14th, 2014. daniel villegas had been locked up almost 20 years, depending on what happened in this courtroom. his life behind bars would continue, or he would taste freedom for the first time since he was a teenager. it all depended on a bail

hearing, where once again judge medrano would make a key decision, this time setting the amount. john mimbela worried, rightly, that it would be astronomical, beyond his means. and at the very least -- >> i'm gonna have to come up with some money. >> reporter: were you ready to? >> i was ready to, but i knew it was going to hurt. >> reporter: but to everyone's surprise the judge set bail at $50,000, of which mimbela only had to pay a small percentage -- just over a thousand bucks. >> oh my god. [ laughter ] another happy, happy moment. it's like, that i think i can live with. probably the smallest check i've written so far. >> reporter: john mimbela happily wrote the check, and before very long -- >> it was priceless. it was priceless. we had waited for so long for

that moment to happen. >> reporter: somebody else greeted daniel too, somebody he had never met. >> jesse hernandez. >> i said, daniel. and he turned around and he looked at me, and -- and i whispered to him, "i'm so sorry. im so sorry for what happened to you. i really am. but i'm so happy for you. that you're out, and you're enjoying this." and he says, "oh, man. thank you so much. i love you." and he gave me a kiss. >> reporter: and a few minutes later, daniel was whisked away in the red convertible john mimbela promised him back in those dark days when all seemed lost. >> what better way than to present him his car, and let him ride away in that car? >> reporter: pretty amazing day. >> very amazing. couldn't believe that this day

had finally come. >> reporter: they went to church then. >> reporter: and then they had a feast. >> reporter: his first steak in years. >> delicious. >> reporter: he came home to yellow ribbons.... and a huge display of christmas lights, left up through the middle of january by the neighbors, to make up for all those holidays he missed in prison. >> reporter: we caught up with daniel just a few days after his release. >> reporter: how does it feel to be in civilian clothes? >> oh, it feels good. all the pockets we have. i forgot that change falls out your pocket when you sit a certain way. [ laughter ] >> reporter: money! you got money in your pockets. [ laughter ] and a cell phone. >> yeah. maybe five minutes ago learned how to answer the phone. [ laughter ] >> reporter: really? >> yeah. >> reporter: experiencing all the new things, while re-acquainting himself with the old.

>> reporter: including his daughter, just an infant when he was imprisoned, and now 20, married and in college. >> being able to just have -- hug people and just shaking hands with people, hearing the birds, i mean, there's so much sound. in jail all you're gonna hear is yelling and doors opening and closing, that's it. >> reporter: since his release, daniel has been making up for lost time. he has a job -- at the mimbela contractors, naturally. and a new baby. all of which, in a happy ending sort of world, would have been the conclusion of our story. but, as everyone knows, the world sometimes has other plans. as does district attorney jaime esparza. the d.a., despite the court rulings and public sentiment, remains convinced daniel is a killer and should be locked up for life. he has promised to try him all over again. >> let's have a jury decide whether or not he committed the crime or not, and that's been our -- that's always been our -- that's been our policy. we do our talking in court.

>> when you to speak to them, they believe daniel is the killer, and that they're doing it for no other reason than to bring justice for armando lazo and robert england. >> reporter: and though the d.a. has declined our interview requests until the villegas case is resolved, he is preparing to introduce new allegations. one of them is from a man who says he now remembers, more than 20 years after the fact, hearing daniel confess sometime around his two trials. also allegations that daniel can be heard in a much-disputed prison phone call with his mother, mumbling something that the prosecutor hears as "i'm not innocent." and also mimbela and daniel in prison telephone calls the prosecutor will say, conspired to influence witnesses, when they can be heard strategizing. >> and so there's a question about whether john mimbela is incentivizing people to say

things that are beneficial to -- to daniel's cause that may not be completely true. >> reporter: a claim, which, according to mimbela, amounts to a smear campaign by the d.a. >> reporter: are they trying to get at the truth, in your view? >> not at all. i believe they're just trying to hide the truth. >> reporter: but does the d.a. have a case? judge medrano has already thrown out much of the state's evidence. daniel's confession? inadmissible, because it was coerced. all those hours of prison phone calls? ruled out as simply irrelevant. the judge did not hear any confession on those tapes. the d.a., determined to move forward, is appealing that particular decision. though around el paso, in and out of the legal community, we encountered many people who wonder why the d.a. will not let it go. one of the doubters is the

d.a.'s own co-counsel at daniel's first trial, former assistant district attorney john williams. >> i don't know why they're -- they're pursuing it to be honest with you. i talked to some of the officers who were also involved. and a lot of the people anyway, have some regret. >> reporter: maybe that was a rush to judgment. >> right. >> reporter: for now, john mimbela is bracing for trial number three. >> you know, we're praying that that doesn't happen. it would be a shame to put daniel and his family through it again. >> i don't know if we're gonna go to trial and we win it or if they're gonna drop the charges. but either way it's a won deal already. >> reporter: you're not worried about the d.a.? >> no, i'm not even worried about him. i mean, 19 years ago i didn't even have a chance to be here, you know. >> reporter: at the edge of john mimbela's property sits a small, empty office, waiting for

its new occupant. this is the future home of proclaim justice, a brand new innocence project based in el paso that daniel and mimbela plan to open, should the case be dismissed or should daniel be acquitted. >> i'm really excited about that one. i mean, we do gotta get a lot of people that are in prison. there's literally hundreds of us still in there that don't got a john in their life. we gotta be that john for them. >> reporter: and john mimbela? he plans to retire soon from the contracting business. once they called him the king of construction here in el paso. that was the thing he hoped to be remembered for. and then he walked into a bank and met a woman who gave him, along with her love, the challenge of his life. >> it would be probably the best thing i've ever done. every penny, every hour i spent on daniel's case was worth it, because now daniel's with his family. >> reporter: how many more

hours, and more pennies, will depend on a decision not his to make. but whatever happens to daniel, john mimbela lived up to his word. a promise is a promise. all the way. all the way. that's all for this edition of "dateline." we'll see you again next friday at 9:00, 8:00 central and of course, i'll see you each week night for "nbc nightly news." i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, good

nbc bay area news starts now. >> right now at 11:00, tracking drones and the people who buy them. the bold new plan to keep the sky safe. >> i'm peggy bunker. >> i'm janelle wang. people who buy drones may soon have to register them. >> this comes after hundreds of drones have been