nancy was part of aspen's history. it's a huge loss for the community. keith morrison: some members of which will be telling stories about nancy pfister for a very long time. man: nancy lived a fantastic life. and i think we all need a little more dreaming like that, you know? a little more-- keith morrison: more nancy. man: --little more nancy, yeah. hello, i'm andrea canning, and this is "dateline." [music playing] hello, i'm andrea canning, and this is "dateline."r, and i prayed to god. i said, you know, i don't want to live. andrea canning (voiceover): it was a crime that engulfed a city. a young tourist murdered. reporter: he was stabbed trying to protect his mother. you had to get every one of them.

andrea canning (voiceover): seven teens convicted. one says he's innocent. you don't have to believe me. look at the facts in this case. andrea canning (voiceover): now we're doing just that, tracking down witnesses. he was shaking. he started crying. andrea canning (voiceover): revisiting evidence. the most emotional day was reading the letter. andrea canning (voiceover): is he telling the truth or lying to win his freedom? you made that up, didn't you? andrea canning (voiceover): we're about to find out. this is a perry mason moment. right, she's a surprise to everyone. hello, and welcome to "dateline." in the late 1980s, robberies, muggings, and even murders were a sad reality of life in new york city. then, in 1990, a tourist was stabbed while trying to protect his family. the public demanded action, and they got it. police made arrests and put suspects behind bars.

but one of the men convicted said he wasn't there. was an innocent man in jail, or was justice served? here's lester holt with "tipping point." lester holt (voiceover): in this city-- reporter: the murder of a utah man-- lester holt (voiceover): --and in this story that transformed it-- reporter: tourist who was killed trying to defend his family-- lester holt (voiceover): --where does the truth live? does it live in what was said in this police station-- lester holt (voiceover): --or what was seen on this subway platform? clearly, she sees one person that she recognizes. lester holt (voiceover): does it live in what was argued in this courtroom? you made that up, didn't you? no. lester holt (voiceover): or is the truth locked up in this prison? this is my cry for justice. lester holt (voiceover): you'll hear a judge decide where the truth will prevail. lester holt: times square, bustling with tourists, vibrant and safe,

except it wasn't always like this. 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's a murder that would have consequences for this city and one man for the next quarter century. lester holt (voiceover): it was labor day weekend 1990, a sunday. the us 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. lester holt (voiceover): journalism professor and writer bill hughes has followed the story for years. the tennis games were delayed that day, so they were out a bit later than they expected. lester holt (voiceover): as the watkins family headed out to dinner about 9:30 pm, hughes said they made a fateful decision.

they could have took a cab, but they got on the subway. and that's where everything changed. that's where everything went south. lester holt (voiceover): as brian and his family headed into the 7th avenue subway station, a train pulled in, unloading dozens of teenagers, all headed to a nearby dance club. bill hughes: it's just mayhem. you know, there's kids all over. and so but they exit the subway station. a small group of six to eight congregates near the top of the subway station on the sidewalk. 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. lester holt (voiceover): the group of teenagers went back downstairs, where brian and his family were waiting on the platform for their train. bill hughes: they spot the watkins family standing right about here. and then, bam, they come out, screaming and hollering. mr. watkins is grabbed, knocked to the ground, and punched. he's slashed with a box cutter, and his wallet is torn out of his pocket. mrs. watkins is grabbed from behind, hunched over, and someone kicks her in the face. somebody yells, we got it. let's go. lester holt (voiceover): as the group took off, brian watkins ran after them.

one of the attackers, gary morales, had a knife. he realizes that brian's right behind him. right. if you're brian, i'm morales, he goes like this. swings. and then runs up the stairs. lester holt (voiceover): brian was stabbed and soon collapsed. caller (on phone): can you send an ambulance to 7th avenue? lester holt (voiceover): within minutes, the 911 calls started coming in. brian's mother ran to a payphone, frantically pleading for help. lester holt (voiceover): brian watkins died on the way to the hospital. he was just 22 years old. they were the targets of young killers. and a tourist was stabbed to death. brian watkins was stabbed-- 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. no one is safe from random violence. lester holt (voiceover): new york in 1990 was a city under siege, the worst year of crime

in the city's history. i dress for the muggers. we have flat shoes so i can run. lester holt (voiceover): and most terrifying was underground. very often, our subway stations-- lester holt (voiceover): at the time, 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. lester holt (voiceover): bratton is widely recognized as one of the nation's top cops. he's run the police departments of america's two largest cities, including two tours as new york city's police commissioner. but just to put it in perspective, the murders of 1990, compare that to other years. there is no comparison. 1990, 2,243. last year, 333. reporter: brian watkins-- lester holt (voiceover): but it was the 1,585th homicide of that year, brian watkins' murder, that the police commissioner says caused everyone to pay attention.

i'm damn angry. of course, i am. lester holt (voiceover): beginning with then-mayor david dinkins. bill bratton: actually, the headline around that time, "dave, do something," meaning, dave, do something about the horrific crime rate, and the brian watkins stabbing was an accelerant that was added to that whole fear. the minute you got that call, did you know this is going to be a big one? there's going to be a lot of eyes-- oh, sure. --a lot of press on this one. and also the idea of the nature of the attack, the wolf pack. lester holt (voiceover): wolf pack-- it was the 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 to send out the message that the importance of not just arresting one or two, but to get all of them. lester holt (voiceover): and that's exactly what police were doing in the watkins case. within 24 hours, they had a group

of teenagers in custody. but bratton says the impact of brian watkins' murder on new york didn't end with those arrests. well, it was a seminal case for me that allowed us to have a tipping point impact. lester holt (voiceover): the day after the murder, bratton received a call from the governor's office, offering $40 million to help fight crime, money that would be used to hire thousands of new cops. and soon, the city's crime rate began to drop. 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 bratton says changed new york city. i had no involvement in this crime. so it's very, very important to me that my name is cleared.

andrea canning (voiceover): coming up, this man admits he was one of the teens at the subway station that night. why he now says he's not a villain in the story, but a victim. he slapped me in my face, and he kicked me right down to the floor. andrea canning (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. herbal essences is a force of nature. made with supercharged botanical blends, our sulfate-free formulas deeply penetrate to boost hair health. without the salon naturals price tag. herbal essences. protect against rsv with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache and joint pain. arexvy is number one in rsv vaccine shots.

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>> leg. >> mover that soothes pain and naturally promotes healthy circulation. call now. >> president trump's first 100 days. watch. >> i'm going to be here five days a week again. >> read and listen. >> staying up half. >> the. >> night reading executive. >> orders for this defining time in the second trump presidency. in the second trump presidency. stay with msnbc. lester holt (voiceover): it's been more than a quarter century since the murder of brian watkins

and since this man, johnny hincapie, was locked up, one of seven men convicted of a crime. but he insists he's innocent. i had no involvement in this crime, lester. i'm the only one that's claiming innocence. lester holt (voiceover): so what is johnny hincapie's story? in 2015, i went to speak with him at new york's fishkill 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 roseland ballroom in manhattan. well, there was a very popular dj who was throwing a birthday party for himself, and everybody just wanted to be there. lester holt (voiceover): he explained that he and as many as 50 other teenagers took a subway, all headed to the same club, and how, when the train arrived, he went upstairs to the street, where 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 really put your hands in them. lester holt (voiceover): so he said he went back down into the station to look for his friend. as i'm going down, i started hearing some screaming. and 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. lester holt (voiceover): he said that's when he turned around and ran back upstairs to the street, where he saw his friend. he asked me what was going on. and i told him, i have no idea, but something seems to be happening over there. let's just go to roseland. lester holt (voiceover): hincapie says he danced until the wee hours, got a ride home, and slept in. the next day, hincapie and the rest of new york city awoke to a huge story. police lineups are still being conducted inside the station house, as they have been through most of the day.

that was the first time i found out that something had happened. lester holt (voiceover): 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. and they said, well, we need to see your son because we would like to ask him a question. lester holt (voiceover): hincapie's mother, maria, says she asked the detectives if her son needed a lawyer. they'd say, how old is he? and i'd say, he just turned 18. so they told me he doesn't need a lawyer. the police told me he doesn't need a lawyer. lester holt (voiceover): hincapie's father, carlos, says he was shocked. he says johnny was a great kid, literally an altar boy. had he ever been in trouble with the law before? never, never, never. lester holt (voiceover): that was about to change. police brought the hincapies' son to the precinct. what johnny didn't know was that detectives had spent the past 24 hours working the case and already had six suspects in custody, who had confessed.

lester holt (voiceover): 17-year-old gary morales, nicknamed rockstar, admitted he was the one who fatally stabbed brian in the chest. lester holt (voiceover): police were pressing each suspect, wanting to know who else was involved. one gave hincapie's name, and two others agreed. lester holt (voiceover): but another suspect said no, hincapie was not there. lester holt (voiceover): still, detectives wanted to find out for themselves. and they placed me inside of a room. there was a detective who was laying down on one of the bottom bunk beds, smoking a cigarette. lester holt (voiceover): hincapie says he told the detective exactly what he did that night, but the detective didn't believe a word of it. he called me a liar. and he said that he had all my friends in another room. he knew what happened. and then what happens?

he's blowing smoke into my face from the cigarette that he's smoking. he slapped me in my face. he pulled my hair. and he kicked me right down to the floor. what is he saying to you, and what are you saying back? you tell me you didn't do this crime, so i'm assuming that you were very forceful in your denial. i'm telling him, listen, i'm innocent. lester holt (voiceover): hincapie says that's when the detective offered him a way out. he just said, listen, if you really, really want to go home, all you got to do is just memorize a story that i want you to say. i'll have you driven home immediately. you believed him? yes, i did. lester holt (voiceover): hincapie says the detective led him to believe he was a witness, not a suspect. so in my mind, i'm thinking that if i'm a witness, and i have to say that, yeah, i knew somebody had a knife, and this is what i have to say to go home, then i'm going to do that. lester holt (voiceover): 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. i said, ok, that's it. it's over with. it's done with. i'm out of here. lester holt (voiceover): hincapie didn't know, but he had just written his arrest warrant. his confession was all police needed, a confession he gave to them three hours after he was picked up. it's not like you were in that interrogation room for hours and hours and hours. well, to me, it was a long time. i was scared. lester holt (voiceover): under the law, hincapie and the six others were equally responsible, even though only one actually stabbed brian watkins. hincapie never went home again. and so, for more than two decades, 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. lester holt (voiceover): they say their visits are heartbreaking for both of them. how? how you've been able to hold on all these years? it's too many years don't cry, mommy. don't cry. lester holt (voiceover): but maria says she's been crying out, pleading for anyone 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. lester holt (voiceover): little did she know help was on the way. i love you, ok? andrea canning (voiceover): coming up, a new witness could reveal critical information about the night of the crime. but will he talk? he was shaking. he was visibly nervous. he started crying. andrea canning (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. looking for extra

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shop a sleep number® store near you. political consequences. >> we have. >> republicans now. >> advocating for the. >> elimination of. health care for. >> the poor. >> just hours after swearing to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the united states, donald trump issued an executive order to defy one of its most consequential amendments. >> we are all watching and waiting to see who is going. >> to hold the line. >> to hold the line. >> don't miss the weekends, i've been up and down throughout this whole incarceration. lester holt (voiceover): 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 it sounds like you're agreeing with it, that this is the story. but it wasn't.

lester holt (voiceover): but a jury convicted him. and over the years, hincapie couldn't get a court to hear his case again. when all my appeals were 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. lester holt (voiceover): and then one day, 16 years into his prison sentence, a reporter heard about hincapie's claim of innocence. i covered crime. i got a lot of letters from prison inmates saying they were innocent. i never believed any of them. lester holt (voiceover): it was bill hughes. i met with johnny, listened to him for a couple of hours, and i didn't believe him. i saw his confession, and i thought he was guilty. but i read the transcripts. i started to look into it. lester holt (voiceover): one of the first things he did was reach out to the other men convicted of this crime, who were all still in prison. i interviewed gary morales, who actually stabbed brian watkins.

i interviewed emiliano fernandez, who slashed mr. watkins. and both admitted they were involved. and both said johnny was not. lester holt (voiceover): 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. lester holt (voiceover): hughes was intrigued, especially when he heard the suspect say a second time that hincapie was not involved. woman (on recording): it was six, ok. yeah, because the two of them left. lester holt (voiceover): a tape hincapie's jury never saw. the more investigated it, the more i came to believe that he might be telling me the truth. there is not a shred of forensic or physical evidence. but he confessed. he confessed not after 15 days of interrogation, but after just several hours. yeah. like most people, you can't possibly fathom admitting you did something that you didn't do.

nobody does that. nobody would think they're capable of doing it. but the truth is, a skilled interrogator could probably get you or i to admit we kidnapped the lindbergh baby. lester holt (voiceover): in the summer of 2010, hughes wrote an article about hincapie's story for a magazine called "city limits." i published an article in the 20th anniversary of the murder. and nobody really cared. lester holt (voiceover): and the years continued to pass. lester, we've been in prison with johnny for 24 years. yeah, we all-- all our family. lester holt (voiceover): alex is johnny's younger brother. he was 15 when johnny was arrested. like his parents, he never believed his brother was guilty. it was just a shock to all of us. just watching my parents go what they went through was really-- 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. lester. so this is home? no, i wouldn't call it home. my home is with my family on the outside. lester holt: how old are you, johnny? johnny hincapie: i'm 42. lester holt: you spent more than half your life behind bars. yes. it's terrible. [sighs] not-- being separated from your family, it's probably the worst thing. lester holt (voiceover): 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. lester holt (voiceover): and he took college courses offered at the prison, which is where he met a man by the name of bob dennison. he said, i don't know if you know anything about my case. and once he started, i said, of course i do. everybody knows about the case. lester holt (voiceover): dennison is the former chairman of new york state's parole board. he showed me the article that bill

hughes had written about him. did he tell you he was innocent? he did. he told me he was innocent. and you rolled your eyes, thinking, yeah? yeah, i did, but something about johnny stuck with me. lester holt (voiceover): so dennison decided to reach out to hughes, and all of a sudden, hincapie had a former parole commissioner and a reporter teaming up to reinvestigate his case. we laughingly refer to ourselves as the white irish guy gumshoe squad. we were pounding around queens, looking for potential witnesses. lester holt (voiceover): 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. we sat at his table, and he started crying. and he took out a napkin, and he drew a map of the subway station. and he remembered as clear as if it was a recent event. lester holt (voiceover): they knew what this witness told them, if true, was a bombshell. but neither dennison nor hughes is a lawyer.

so they got in touch with one-- new york city's well-known civil rights attorney, ron kuby. and they said, look, we know there's no money to pay you, but he's an innocent guy. would you take the case? so i said yes. lester holt (voiceover): kuby's first task was to talk with that witness. his name is luis montero. luis montero offered proof that johnny did not commit the crime. but would the court agree? luis montero was about to tell a harrowing story. andrea canning (voiceover): coming up. all of a sudden, i hear commotion, screaming. did you see him go on to the platform? andrea canning (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. protect against rsv with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older.

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>> this hour. >> american keith. >> segal, back in. >> israel after spending more than a year held. >> in. >> gaza by hamas. >> segal was. >> one of three hostages. released just this morning. earlier today. >> hamas releasing. israeli's yarden. >> bibas and ophir calderon. >> all three have. >> already been. >> received by. >> the by. >> israel's military. they will. >> undergo a medical evaluation and. >> then. >> be reunited with their families. >> in tel aviv. >> we will. >> continue to monitor. >> this. >> story for you right. >> here on. >> msnbc. >> right throughout. >> the day. >> the day. >> for now, welcome back to "dateline." i'm andrea canning. decades after a tourist was murdered on a new york city subway platform, a potential bombshell-- a new witness said he knew the truth, but could they get a judge to hear it? continuing with "tipping point," here's lester holt. lester holt (voiceover): the mystery of what happened on this subway platform so long ago took a new twist with a new witness named luis montero.

this is a three-level subway station. lester holt (voiceover): 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. lester holt (voiceover): 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. going out. "people of new york versus johnny hincapie." lester holt (voiceover): in february of 2015, the hearing was called to order. for this proceeding, the burden was on hincapie's attorneys, ron kuby and his co-counsel, leah busby, to convince judge eduardo padro that hincapie's

conviction should be vacated. leah, who's 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. leah busby: how long had you known mr. hincapie? maybe a year, give or take. lester holt (voiceover): montero testified he was also on the subway, headed to the dance club. leah busby: what was your relationship with mr. hincapie like? we knew each other, but we didn't know each other that good. lester holt (voiceover): 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 that hincapie was not on the platform when the crime happened, but one flight up on that turnstile level with him. leah busby: and what did you say to each other? he asked me for this other guy that came in if i seen him. lester holt (voiceover): 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. lester holt (voiceover): 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 commotion, screaming. lester holt (voiceover): 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.

leah busby: did you see him go on to the platform? no. lester holt (voiceover): so why hadn't montero come forward before now? kuby says montero was terrified because as it turned out, 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 to luis montero, gosh, wrong guy. sorry about that. and they turned him loose. lester holt (voiceover): 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 just hit me around the kidneys and just slap me every time i did that. i tell them something that they didn't want to hear, they just hit me, you know?

so that's when the nightmare started, you know? lester holt (voiceover): 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, that they were just two of many innocent people swept up by police at 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. lester holt (voiceover): case in 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. defense now calls johnny hincapie. lester holt (voiceover): now the time had come for hincapie to tell his story under oath on the witness stand, something

hincapie says his original trial attorney advised him not to do. raise your right hand. 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. thank you. have a seat. lester holt (voiceover): 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. lester holt (voiceover): 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. lester holt (voiceover): hincapie said he even had proof that he tried to recant his confession almost immediately-- jailhouse letters, including one letter dated two days after his arrest, telling the same story he tells today. please believe me. please help me. please talk to the judge and 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 that i was arrested, not one chance. lester holt (voiceover): as the prosecution got ready to present its case, hincapie's mother maria leaned on her faith, as she has from the beginning. you know, we've been separated for 24 years. i pray to god that johnny will be exonerated, and we will be finding it together. andrea canning (voiceover): coming up, a last minute twist could upend the whole case. she's a surprise to me. she's a surprise to everyone. andrea canning (voiceover): when "dateline" continues.

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msnbc original podcasts, exclusive bonus content, and all of your favorite msnbc shows now ad free. subscribe on apple ad free. subscribe on apple podcasts. to understand lester holt (voiceover): manhattan assistant district attorneys eugene hurley and ben rosenberg didn't work hincapie's original trial, but they say hincapie is a liar. to make their point, prosecutors cross-examined hincapie's witnesses, starting with luis montero. good morning, mr. montero. good morning. lester holt (voiceover): assistant da ben rosenberg pointed out that 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 here today is inaccurate?

lester holt (voiceover): and that in all these years, montero never once mentioned seeing hincapie at all that night and that montero's wrongful arrest gave him a motive to lie. your experience in this case, dating back 20+ 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 innocent for 18 months. you think i'm not going to be scared of you guys? i'm petrified of you guys. you know? i can't even look at you guys, you know? and you're angry. no, i'm not angry. i'm scared of you. lester holt (voiceover): 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. lester holt (voiceover): that friend's name is anthony nichols, and he testified that hincapie never gave him any money to hold. looking for anthony nichols is supposedly

the whole predicate for the defendant going back into the subway station or going down to the platform. but mr. nichols says that didn't happen. lester holt (voiceover): i asked ron kuby about that. that friend tells the prosecution that johnny's lying. he never gave him money. how do you respond to that? well, that friend also told ms. busby, admitted on the stand he told ms. busby that he just didn't remember. lester holt (voiceover): hurley argued to the court that hincapie was lying about something else. he says the escalator that hincapie says he ran down was working just fine. and it was moving up, not down. he made the ridiculous claim he went down the up escalator. lester holt (voiceover): 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. and it is the first time that you have ever alleged to a court that your confession was coerced

by detective casey physically abusing you and making you memorize a story. is that correct? - correct. lester holt (voiceover): 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. lester holt (voiceover): the one hincapie says he wrote to a lawyer two days after his arrest. hurley argued it wasn't really written back then. the date is on the letter. the date, 1990, could have been put in 2011, right? no. lester holt (voiceover): and that it was conveniently addressed to an attorney, who is now dead. in fact, you waited for him to pass away to forge that letter to him, didn't you? not at all, sir. lester holt (voiceover): prosecutor hurley also ridiculed his story about being coerced into confessing by an abusive detective. he was wearing a t-shirt, smoking cigarettes, right? yes? yes. like some evil movie cop? yes. you made that up, didn't you? no.

lester holt (voiceover): hurley argued that hincapie knew details about the crime not because he was coerced, but because he was there. you know they said that because you were there, and it was true, right? it was not true, mr. hurley. you were there and knew it was true, right? [crying] no, it wasn't. lester holt (voiceover): the prosecution's case was over. hincapie's fate was now in the hands of the judge. and that's when ron kuby got a phone call. a new witness came forward, who had never spoken to anybody before. this is your surprise witness. totally surprise. this is a perry mason moment. right, she's a surprise to me. she's a surprise to everyone. andrea canning (voiceover): 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.

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named mariluz santana. lester holt (voiceover): santana told kuby she had recently read an article about hincapie's court hearing. and she realizes, oh, my god, he's still in prison. i can't believe it. lester holt (voiceover): 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. lester holt (voiceover): 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 he was innocent. but santana says she was afraid to come forward. lester holt: so mariluz remained silent. silent, completely silent. all these years. except for telling her mother. so she doesn't get involved, but she's figured, well,

you know what? if johnny wasn't there, the police will sort this out. and she sort of forgets about it. lester holt (voiceover): in 2015, 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 missed seeing johnny in the confusion on the platform, that he was there, and she just didn't notice him? absolutely impossible. she saw all of the attackers. she knew what johnny looked like, and johnny was not among them. lester holt (voiceover): it would now be up to judge eduardo padro to decide a case that brought up critical questions about police conduct in a different era. i asked bill bratton, then new york city's police commissioner, about that, as everyone awaited the judge's decision. given the climate in the city, the climate of fear

and the political pressure, was there pressure on detectives to just cast a wide net in these high profile crimes? i don't think so. in the sense, is there pressure, certainly. but as to the idea to going over the threshold, you can't break the law to enforce it. lester holt (voiceover): so does he think the 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 have no reason to not be supportive of the police investigation. lester holt (voiceover): on october 6, 2015, the day came for judge padro to announce his decision. hincapie's family and friends, along with the media, filed into manhattan's supreme court to learn his fate. in a packed courtroom, hincapie was clearly anxious-- on the record, the court is going to hand it out. lester holt (voiceover): --as the judge began to read the decision. under the newly discovered evidence,

the court does find that the defense has borne the burden of proof. the court is going to set aside convictions. lester holt (voiceover): 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 that didn't mean he'd walk free just yet. prosecutor eugene hurley asked the judge to send hincapie back to prison while the da's office considered its options for appeal. during that time, we ask that the defendant be remanded. lester holt (voiceover): 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 down payment.

lester holt (voiceover): the judge ultimately agreed to release hincapie on a token $1 bail. and in late 2015, the da filed to appeal the judge's decision. prosecutors will now decide whether to retry hincapie. but that day-- the court will allow him. [applause] please, please, you got to come to order. lester holt (voiceover): hincapie and his family were overcome with emotion. he was led away to be processed for release, but that would take nearly six hours. downstairs, his mother maria waited. a quarter century prior, she'd stood in nearly the same spot in shock after her son was convicted of murder. now, here she was again, this time with her family and a crush of reporters to witness her son's first steps into freedom. [applause]

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 dennison, the self named irish guys gumshoe squad who launched his journey to freedom. tremendous, tremendous love, energy, gratefulness to these two individuals. welcome home, johnny. [applause] cheers, cheers. i'm so happy you are home. johnny hincapie: wow, this looks good. lester holt (voiceover): his first meal? stuffed filet of sole. his 20-year-old niece-- that's your first selfie.

it's a thing now. lester holt (voiceover): --who was born when he was already in prison, introduced johnny to his first selfie. what a tremendous day. how are you doing? overwhelmed. lester holt (voiceover): 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 and the tree. there's a lot of nostalgia, you know, and i'm grateful for it. lester holt (voiceover): so where does the truth live in this story? look at the sky up there, johnny. i know. lester holt (voiceover): for johnny hincapie, it lives in this moment. you got to love it at the end of the day. you know, this is a dream come true. lester holt (voiceover): and one thing is for sure. the city he now rejoins is much different and much safer than the one he left behind more than two decades ago. in the end, the former police commissioner said that has a lot to do with what happened on that subway platform.

i truly believe that the death of that young man was the propelling catalyst for the new york miracle that we've experienced. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm andrea canning. thank you for watching. home as well for joining us this hour. there is a lot going on and just about everything that's going on that we have set to talk about tonight are stories that are continuing to develop. and so i can't i can usually at this point in the show tell you about what's going to be coming up. i can't tell you about what's going to be coming up, because all the stories that