i literally got down on my knees last night and i said, god. i don't want to live. >> it was a crime that engulfed a city. a young tourist murdered. >> he was stabbed trying to protect his mother. >> he had to get every one of them. >> seven teens convicted. one says he's innocent. >> we're tracking down witnesses. >> he was shaking. >> he started crying. >> revisiting evidence. >> the most emotional day was reading the letter. >> is he telling the truth or lying to win his freedom? >> you made that up, didn't you? >> we're about to find out. >> this is a perry mason moment. >> she is a surprise to

everyone. >> i'm lester holt and this is dateline. tonight, tipping point. in this city -- >> the murder of a utah man -- >> and in this story that transformed it where does the truth live? does it live in what was said in this police station? or what was seen on this subway platform? >> clearly, she sees one person that she recognizes. >> does it live in what was argued in this courtroom? >> you made that up, didn't you? >> no. >> or is the truth locked up in this prison? tonight, you'll hear a judge decide where the truth will prevail. times square, bustling with tourists, vibrant and safe,

25 years ago new york was in turmoil. crime was out of control. and then came the moment new yorkers said enough is enough. a murder of a young tourist on a manhattan subway platform just a few blocks from where i'm standing. it was a murder that o would have consequences for this city and one man for the next quarter century. it was labor day weekend 1990, a sunday. the u.s. open tennis tournament was in full swing, and thousands of tourists had come to new york to see it. among them brian watkins, a college student and tennis player from utah who was there along with his family. >> they were avid tennis fans. that's why they were here. >> bill hughes has followed the story for years. >> tennis games were delayed that day, so they were out a bit later than they expected. >> as the watkins family headed

p.m.,hughes said they made a fateful decision. >> they could have took a cab, but they took the subway. >> as brian and his family headed into the seventh avenue train station, a train pulled in loaded with teenagers. >> it's mayhem. it's kids all over. a small group of six to eight congregates near the top of the subway station. >> this particular group doesn't have the money for the cover charge. >> right. one of the guys said we're going to grab a wallet. >> they spot the watkins standing about here and then bam. they come out screaming and hollering. mr. watkins is grabbed, knocked to the ground, punched. he's slashed with a box cutter. ms. watkins is grabbed from behind and someone kicks her in her face. somebody yells we got it. let's go.

one of the attackers gary morales had a knife. >> you go like this. and then runs up the stairs. >> brian was stabbed and soon collapsed. within minutes, the 911 calls started coming in. brian's mother ran to a pay phone frantically pleading for help. >> they stabbed him in the heart. >> is he awake? >> no, he's not. he's unconscious. >> brian watkins died on the way to the hospital. he was just 22 years old. >> they want to target some young killers. >> how would you describe the media reaction to this murder? >> almost inducing a wave of panic. >> it is the terror of life in new york city. one is safe from random violence. >> new york in 1990 was a city under siege. the worst year of crime in the

>> i dress for the muggers. >> i wear flat shoes so i can run. >> most terrifying was underground. 25 years ago the man responsible for policing the transit system was bill bratton. >> it was a terrifying time. there was no denying that crime was out of control. >> bratton is widely recognized as one of the nation's top cops. he's run the police departments of america's two largest cities. today he's on his second tour as new york city's police commissioner. >> just to put it in perspective that the murders of 1990, compare that to other years. >> there is no comparison. 1990, 2000 243. last year 333. >> but it was the 1,585 homicide that year brian watkins murder that the police commissioner says caused everyone to pay attention.

>> i'm angry. of course i am. >> beginning with then mayor david denkins. >> dave, do something about the horrific crime rate and the brian watkins stabbing was an accelerant added to that fear. >> wolf pack, it was a name the media had recently given to another group of five teenagers who just the year before were arrested for brutally attacking a jogger in central park. bratton says law enforcement had a strategy in dealing with these so-called wolf packs. >> you had to get every one of them. you had the send out the message of not just the importance of arresting one or two, but to get all of them. >> and that's exactly what police were doing in the watkins case.

group of teenagers in custody, but bratton says the impact of brian watkins' murder in new york didn't end with that case. >> it allowed us to have a tipping point impact. >> the day of the murder, bratton received a call from the governor's office offering $40 million to help fight crime. soon the city's crime rate began to drop as it has for the past 25 years. as for the suspects arrested in the watkins case, all would be convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years to life. but that's not even close to the end of the story. of the seven men convicted of this crime, one says he alone is unjustly paying the price for the murder that commissioner

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it's been a quarter century since the murder of brian watkins, and since then, this man, johnny hincapie, has been locked up. one of the seven convicted of the crime. but he insists he's innocent. >> i had no involvement in this crime, last erester. i'm the only one that's claiming innocence. >> so what is hincapie's story? to find out, i went and spoke with him at the correctional facility. hincapie took me back to the night of the crime. he had recently turned 18 and was on his way to a can't-miss event, a party at the rose room ballroom in manhattan. >> there was a very popular dj who was throwing a birthday party for himself, and everybody just wanted to be there.

>> he explained tahoehatahoehat he and as many as 50 teenagers all took a train to the same club. he lost sight of a friend who was holding his money. he says he couldn't carry his cash because of the tight designer jeans he was wearing. >> they had numerous pockets on them, but you couldn't put your hands in them. >> so he went back down to the station to find his friend. >> i start hearing some screaming. when i got to the bottom, i see a crowd of people running toward me. >> did you have any idea what was happening on the platform? >> no. >> he said that's when he turned around and ran back upstairs to the street where he found his friend. >> he asked me what was going on and i told him i had no idea, but there seems to be happening over there. >> hincapie says he danced into the wee hours, got a ride home,

and slept in the next day. >> police lineups are being conducted inside the station house as they have been for most of the day. >> that was the first time that i found out something had happened. he claims he didn't think much of it until later that night, 24 hours after the murder, when detectives knocked on the hincapies door. >> we need to speak to your son because we would like to ask him a question. >> hincapie's mother, maria, says she asked the detectives if her son needed a lawyer. >> they said how old is he. i said he just turned 19. they said he doesn't need a lawyer. the police told me he doesn't need a lawyer. >> hincapie's father says he was shocked. he said johnny was a great kid, literally an altar boy. >> he had ever been in trouble with the law before? >> never, never, never. >> traffic ticket? >> never.

police brought the hincapie's son to precinct. what johnny didn't know was detectives spent the past 24 hours working the case and already had six suspects in custody who had confessed. >> when was the robbery first planned? >> 17-year-old gary morales nicknamed "rock star" admitted he was the one who fatally stabbed brian in the chest. >> could you feel it entering his body? >> police were pressing each suspect wanting to know who else was involved. one gave hincapie's name and two others agreed. but another suspect said nope. hincapie was not there. >> they all had knives? >> still, detectives wanted to fient find out for themselves. >> they placed me inside of a room. there was a detective who was laying down on one of the bottom

>> hincapie says he told the detective exactly what he did that night, but the detective didn't believe a word of it. >> he said i was a liar and he had all my friends in the other room and he knew what happened. >> then what happens? >> he blows the smoke of the cigarette he's smoking, he slapped my face, he kicked me right down to the floor. >> what is he saying to you and what are you saying back? you tell me you weren't doing this crime and i'm assuming you were very forceful in your denial. >> i'm telling him i'm innocent. i told you i just saw it on the news for the very first time. >> hincapie says that's when the detective offered me a way out. >> he said if you really, really want to go home, you just have to memorize a story that i want you to say. i'll have you driven home immediately. >> you believed it? >> yes, i did.

led him to believe he was a witness, not a suspect. >> in my mind i'm thinking if i'm a witness and i have to say i knew somebody had a knife and this is what i had to say to go home, then i'm going to do that. >> and that's what he did. hincapie sat in front of a video camera and told a story that he now says was scripted for him to an assistant district attorney. >> so it was a plan that all of you made to get some money to go to roseland? >> yeah. >> i said that's it. it's over with. it's done with. i'm out of here. >> hincapie didn't know, but he had just written his arrest warrant. a confession he gave to them three hours after he was picked up. >> it's not like you were in the interrogation room for hours and hours and hours. >> to me, it was a long time. i was scared. >> under the law, hincapie and

responsible even though only one actually stabbed brian watkins. hincapie never went home again. and so for the past quarter century his mother maria has made the same two-hour journey every other week since her son was sent away. >> it's been very hard because it's been 24 years, 24 birthdays, 24 christmas. >> when she arrives, the ritual is always the same. same room, same tables, same long wait. finally he appears. how was your trip? >> very nice. >> they say their visits are heartbreaking for both of them. >> it's too many years. >> don't cry, mama. don't cry. >> but maria says she's been

to listen since that very first day her ordeal began. >> i wanted to scream to the world and tell the world my son is not guilty. please help me. >> little did she know help was on the way. >> i love you, okay? >> coming up, a new witness could reveal critical information about the night of the crime, but will he talk? >> he was shaking.

he started i've been up and down throughout this whole incarceration. >> johnny hincapie is serving his 24th year behind bars for the 1990 murder of a young tourist on a subway platform in manhattan. his own words sealed his fate. >> anybody looking at it, sounds like you're agreeing with it, that this is the story? >> but it wasn't. >> but a jury convicted him and over the years hincapie couldn't again.

finished, i literally got down on my knees, lester, and i told god i don't want to be here anymore. i don't want to live. >> and then one day 16 years into his prison sentence a reporter heard about hincapie's claim of innocence. >> i cover crime. i've got a lot of letters from prison inmates saying they're innocent. i never believed them. i didn't believe him. i saw his confession. i thought he was guilty, but i read the transcripts. i started to look into it. >> one of the first things he did was reach out to the other men convicted of his crime who were all still in prison. >> i interviewed gary morales, who actually stabbed brian watkins. i interviewed fernandez who slashed mr. watkins and both admitted they were involved and both said johnny was not. >> hughes also watched the

original interrogation videos and for the first time he saw how that other suspect told cops that hincapie and another teen were not at the crime scene. >> they all needed money? >> johnny and kevin, no. >> hughes was intrigued, especially when he heard the suspect said a second time that hincapie was not involved. >> so there were eight people surrounding -- >> no six. >> there was six, okay. fathom admitting something you nobody would think they're capable of doing it, but the

could get you or i to admit we kidnapped the lindbergh baby. >> he wrote an article about hincapie's situation for a magazine called "city limits." >> nobody really cared. >> and the years continued to pass. >> we've been in prison with johnny for 23 years. >> we, all our family. >> alex is johnny's younger brother. he was 15 when johnny was arrested. >> i pray for my brother every single day. we all do. >> like his parents, he never believed his brother was guilty. >> it was just a shock to all of us. just watching my parents go through what they went through, it was heartbreaking, especially my dad going into my brother's room, kissing the pillow at night. that's been in my memory for many years. >> johnny?

>> no, i wouldn't call it home. my home is with my family on the outside. >> how old are you johnny? >> i'm 42. >> spent more than half your life behind bars. >> yes. it's terrible. being separated from your family, probably the worst thing. >> throughout his incarceration hincapie has been a model prisoner. he's been involved with an inmate theater program. >> i don't know. i've been tired lately. >> and he took college courses offered at the prison, which is where he met a man by the name of bob denison. >> he said, i don't know if you know anything about my case, once he started, i said, of course i do. everybody knows about the case. >> denison is the former chairman of new york state's parole board. >> he showed me the article that billy hughes had written about him. >> did he tell you he was innocent?

>> yeah, he did. he told me he was innocent. something about johnny stuck with me. >> so denison decided to reach out to hughes. all of a sudden hincapie had a former parole commissioner and a reporter teaming up to reinvestigate his case. >> we left and referred to ourself as the white irishmen squad. >> after nearly a year of searching, they found one. a man who said he knew the truth about johnny hincapie. >> we sat down in his kitchen. he was shaking. he was visibly nervous. >> he started crying. >> he took out a napkin and he drew a map of the subway station. he remembered it as clear as if it was a recent event. >> they knew if what this witness told them if true was a bombshell.

new york city's well-known civil rights attorney, ron. >> we know there's no money to pay you, but he's an innocent. would you take the case? so i said yes. >> his first task was to talk with that witness. his name is luis montero. >> he offered proof that johnny did not commit the crime. coming up, would the court agree? luis montero is about to tell a harrowing story. >> all of a sudden i hear screaming. >> did you see him go onto the platform? the more you sweat degree's motionsense technology keeps you fresh with every move. it has unique microcapsules that contain fragrances. friction breaks the capsules... ...releasing bursts of freshness all day. whether you're meeting a deadline... ...grabbing a bite... ...or heading out for the night.

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witness named luis montero. >> this is a three-level subway station. >> montero had been in the subway station during the crime and told attorney ron kuby a story that backed up johnny hincapie's account of the night brian watkins was stabbed. >> montero establishes not only did johnny not participate in the attack. he could not have participated in the attack. >> and that's established by what luis saw from where we're standing? >> that's right. >> based on montero's story, kuby filed a motion for a new hearing and 24 years after he went away, hincapie got his wish, a manhattan supreme court judge agreed to reopen the case. in february of 2015, the hearing was called to order. for this proceeding, the burden was on hincapie's attorneys ron

convince judge eduardo padro that hincapie's conviction should be vacated. >> who is your first witness? what is it you need to prove? >> luis montero was the first witness, and he was there to prove that he saw johnny at the time the crime took place and johnny wasn't there. >> how long did you know hincapie? >> maybe a year give or take. >> montero also testified he was on the subway headed to the dance club. >> in fact, they haven't seen each other or spoken since then. to understand montero's story, it's important to understand how the subway station is laid out. the platform level is where the trains come in and where the crime took place. one long flight up from the platform is what's called the turnstile level.

and then a final set of stairs gets you to the street. montero says hincapie was not on the platform when the crime happened, but one flight up on that turnstile level with him. >> what did you say to each other? >> he asked me for this other guy that came in, if i had seen him. >> montero testified about specific details that matched hincapie's version of events. >> he was looking for the other guy because he supposedly had some money for him. >> another detail that matched hincapie's story. montero said hincapie began going down this up escalator, which kuby says wasn't working at the time. seconds later, montero says, something caught his attention. >> all of a sudden i hear a commotion, screaming. >> montero said that's when he saw hincapie turn around and run back up. if true, it means hincapie could

not have been near the crime scene. >> did you see him go onto the platform? >> no. >> so why hadn't montero come forward before now? kuby says montero was terrifyied because he had been wrongfully accused of this very crime. >> he was held in jail for 18 months awaiting trial on this crime. he was identified by a member of the watkins family and then they realized that watkins was not sure. 18 months later they say luis montero, gosh, wrong guy. sorry about that. and they turned him loose. >> but to kuby perhaps the most compelling part of montero's testimony is how he says detectives tried to coerce a false confession from him, the very same thing hincapie says happened to him. >> he hit me around the kidneys

he just hit me. then the nightmare started. >> but montero never cracked and maintained his innocence. kuby argued to the judge that what montero and hincapie say happened to them was easy to believe. they were just two of many innocent people swept up by police in a time in new york history when crime was out of control. simply in the wrong place in the wrong era. >> we have done some terrible, terrible things to innocent people in the course of fighting crime. >> case and point, kuby argued, the central park jogger case, that other so-called wolf pack. just like hincapie, those five teens had also confessed on tape, but they were exonerated in 2002 after dna cleared them. now the time had come from hincapie to tell his story under

oath on the witness stand, something hincapie says his original trial attorney advised him not to do. >> i wanted to take the stand. he told me that the district attorney's office would basically just walk all over me because i had confessed. >> he testified about how he left the station and then went back down to look for his friend who was holding his money. >> i gave him my wallet complete with all my money. >> and for the first time in a courtroom he accused police of coercing a false confession from him. >> he slapped me in my face. he grabbed me by my hair. >> hincapie said he had proof that he tried to recant his confession almost immediately. a letter telling the same story he tells today. >> please believe me. please help me.

tell him that i am telling the truth that the detective told me to say everything. >> is there anything else you would like to add? >> i was just 18 years old when this happened, and i never had a chance. i never had an opportunity, your honor. from the moment i was arrested not one chance. >> as the prosecution got ready to present its case, hincapie's mother maria leaned on her faith as she has from the beginning. >> we've been separated for 24 years. i pray to god that johnny will be respondexonerated and we'll be finally together. >> coming up, prosecutors call a witness that contradicts johnny's story.

called upend the whole case. >> she's a surprise to me. she's a surprise to everyone. >> when dateline continues. valet parking. hello! here's the keys. and, uh, go easy on my ride, mate. hm, wouldn't mind some of that beef wellington... to see how much you could save on car insurance, go to geico.com. ah! (car alarm sounds) it's ok! recently we've noticed some ads created by these two birds, inviting you to stay away from the streak free shine of windex. well dear windex users these ads are false. sfx: squeaks from window cleaning clean glass is better than dirty glass. don't stand for dirty.

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that justice was served 25 years ago. to make their point, prosecutors cross examine hincapie's witnesses, starting with luis montero. over the years, details in montero's story have changed. >> that's what you swore to here, correct? >> yes, it's right there. >> so your testimony today is inaccurate. >> in all these years, montero never once mentioned seeing hincapie that night. >> your experience in this case dating back 20-plus years, you're angry about it, aren't you? >> i'm not angry about it. i'm just scared. >> you're still scared. >> yes, you kept me for 18 months when i was innocent. i'm petrified of you guys. i can't even look at you guys. >> and you're angry? >> no, i'm not angry.

>> prosecutors had their own witnesses to discredit hincapie's story who did not want us to record their testimony. remember that friend who hincapie said was holding his money that night? >> i gave him my wallet complete with all my money. >> he testified that hincapie never gave him any money to hold. >> it is supposedly the whole predicate for the defendant going back into the subway station or going back down to the platform, which mr. nichols says never happened. >> that friend tells the prosecution that hincapie is lying. that friend also told ms. busby he just didn't remember. >> he says the escalator that hincapie says he ran down was working just fine and it was

>> you made the ridiculous claim i went down the up escalator. >> but perhaps the most dramatic part of the hearing was prosecutor hurley's cross-examination of johnny hincapie himself. hurley argued that hincapie was making up the whole story about falsely confessing. >> it is the first time that you have ever alleged to a court that your confession was coerced ed by the detective, correct? >> correct. >> the detective wasn't called to testify, but we tracked him down and he denied ever abusing hincapie. hurley moved on to that letter. >> please believe me. please help me. >> the one hincapie says he wrote to a lawyer two days after his arrest. hurley argued it wasn't really written then.

>> 1990 could have put in 2011, right? >> no. >> it was conveniently addressed to an attorney who was now dead. >> you waited for him to pass away to forge that letter to him, didn't you? >> not at all, sorry. >> hurley ridicules his story about being coerced by an abusive detective. >> he was wearing a t-shirt and smoking cigarettes like some evil movie cop. you made that up, didn't you? >> hurley argued that he knew details about the crime not because he was coerced, but because he was there. >> you know that because you were there and it was true. >> it was not true, mr. hurley. >> you were there and knew it was true, right? >> no. >> the prosecution's case was over. hincapie's fate was now in the hands of the judge and that's

>> a new witness came forward who had never spoken to anybody before. >> this is your surprise witness. this is a perry mason moment. >> she's a surprise to me. she's a surprise to everyone. >> coming up, from out of the blue a new eyewitness who was on the platform the night of the murder, but which side will she help. >> she saw all of the attackers. she knew what johnny looked like. >> after a quarter century, johnny hincapie learns his fate. >> i'm alex trebek. if you're age 50 to 85, i have an important message about security. write down the number on your screen, so you can call when i finish. the lock i want to talk to you about isn't the one on your door. this is a lock for your life insurance, a rate lock, that guarantees your rate can never go up at any time,

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witness testimony had just ended in johnny hincapie's hearing when his attorney ron kuby notified the judge of an unexpected development. >> amazingly enough during the course of the hearing itself a new witness came forward, a young woman named mary lew

>> santana told kuby she read an article about hincapie's court hearing. >> and she realized, oh, my god. he's still in prison. i can't believe it. >> santana said she knew hincapie from her neighborhood. she was on the subway that night headed to the dance club and saw the robbery unfold. >> so she's standing here and she sees them surrounding the watkins family and at that point she starts to flee. >> as she ran past the attackers, she said she saw them all and is certain hincapie was not one of them. she said when she heard the news of hincapie's arrest back then, she even told her mother she was innocent, but santana says she was afraid to come forward. >> so she's remained silent? >> completely silent for all thiez these years.

she sort of forgets about it. >> now 25 years later santana took the stand but didn't want us to record her testimony. prosecutors attacked her credibility pointing out santana was convicted of a drug charge back in the 1990s and they argued just because she didn't see johnny doesn't mean he wasn't there. >> is it not possible she just misseen johnny in the confusion? >> absolutely impossible. she saw all of the attackers. she knew what johnny looked like and johnny was not among them. >> it would now be up to judge eduardo padro that brought up critical questions about police conduct in a different era. i asked bill bratton about that as everyone awaited the judge's decision. >> given the climate, the city climate of fear and political

detectives to cast a wide net in these high-profile crimes? >> i don't think so. is there ever pressure, certainly. you can't break the law to enforce it. >> does he think police crossed that threshold with johnny hincapie. >> if the court exonerates him, would you have different views on the watkins case? >> i don't have enough intimacy as to his particular case. i don't have any reason to not be supportive of the police investigation. >> the day came for judge padro to announce the decision. hincapie's family and friends along with the media filed into the manhattan supreme court to learn his fate. hincapie was clearly anxious. >> on the record. >> as the judge began to read the decision. >> under the newly discovered

that the defense has born the burden of proof. >> the judge threw out hincapie's conviction. in the decision the judge said hincapie failed to prove that he was actually innocent, but the judge did find hincapie's witnesses persuasive enough to grant him a new trial, but they didn't mean he'd walk free just yet. prosecutor eugene hurley asked the judge to send hincapie back to prison while the judge considered his options for appeal and whether it will retry him. ron kuby was steaming. >> let's not ignore that mr. hincapie has been incarcerated for 25 years, one month, and as of today three days. he's made a quarter century liberty downpayment.

to release hincapie on a token $1 bail. [ applause ] >> hincapie and his family were overcome with emotion. he was lead away to be processed for release, but that would take nearly six hours. ed ed. a quarter century ago she stood in nearly the same spot shocked as her son was convicted of murder. here she was again this time with her family and areporters to witness her son's first steps into freedom.

>> two brothers separated as teenagers now reunited as middle-aged men. there were two other men among the crowd who hincapie wanted to find, bill hughes and bob denison, the self-named irish guy's gum shoe squad. >> tremendous love, gratefulness for these two men. >> let's go home, johnny. >> cheers, cheers. >> i'm so happy you're home. >> his first meal stuffed filet of sole. his 12-year-old niece who was born when he was already in prison introduced johnny to his first selfie. >> how are you doing? >> i'm overwhelmed. >> we stepped outside to talk

about what his first hours of freedom were like. >> i've been thinking about how beautiful it is to be free again in new york city, watching the cars go by, the lights in the trees. there's a lot of nostalgia and i'm grateful for it. >> so where does the truth live in this story? for johnny hincapie, it lives in this moment. >> you've got to love it at the end of the day. it's a dream come true. >> one thing is for sure. the city he now rejoins is much different and much safer than the one he left behind 25 years ago. in the end the police commissioner says that has a lot to do with what happened on that subway platform. >> i truly believe the death of that young man was the catalyst

experienced the last 25 years. >> that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. this sunday, the democratic showdown showdown. that object in hillary clinton's rear-view mirror is closer than she appears, she now knows she's in a dead heat in iowa and new hampshire. >> if he has a plan he should roll it out and explain it to people so you can make an informed decision. >> hillary clinton and bernie sanders join me this morning. plus, the republican, donald trump opening an even bigger lead. while the trump/cruz bromance comes to an end. >> bank loans from goldman folks. >> this morning, two republicans hoping to benefit from the trump/cruz fight, senator marco rubio and former florida governor jeb bush. and my sit down with amal clooney, the human rights lawyer and wife of george clooney

trying to rally america to save an island paradise from the threat of isis. >> you're a woman lying on the beach in the mall dooefdives you might know other women are being flogged. joining me are republican strategist steve schmidt, msnbc's joy-an reid, president obama's 2012 deputy campaign manager stephanie cutter, and radio talk show host hugh hewitt. welcome to sunday, it's "meet the press." good sunday morning and what a sunday morning it is. it's crunch time. four presidential candidates are joining us. with two weeks to go until the first voting we have some truly head snapping developments in both campaigns. in just a few hours, the democratic candidates will gather in charleston, south carolina, for the final debate before iowa and it airs right here on nbc at 9:00 eastern time. but there's big news overseas involving iran, its nuclear

program and a prisoner swap.