>> we the jury, find the defendant, guilty! >> reporter: you actually think they read the wrong verdict? >> you feel so alone. >> reporter: it's like a shot in the chest. despair to hope. darkness to light. tonight, a fight for freedom, "in the shadow of justice." what happened to this teenag could happen to any one of our children. everyone should stand up and take notice. at 18, he was arrested for murder. adamant he was innocent. >> reporter: there was no physical evidence to tie him to the crime? >> i had nothing to do with this. i swear to god! >> reporter: so what could have possibly led to this?! >> you stabbed that woman. >> i stabbed her.

>> why would he confess to something he didn't do? why would he? >> reporter: what really happened during that police interrogation? >> the evidence shows you were there. i can't lie about the evidence. >> reporter: i can't lie to you about this, but the officer is lying about lying! tonight, an extraordinary look inside the interview room. >> you don't talk to me, i can't keep you from the worst! >> i was scared. i was shaking. >> reporter: this is one of the most intense interrogations that i've ever seen. welcome to "dateline." i'm lester holt. how could you confess to a crime you didn't commit? it seems to defy logic and common sense. and yet it does happen. advocates say far more often than any of us realizes. here's keith morrison. >> a freak snowstorm like an omen. smothers the little town in the

february 19, 2003. just before 9:00 a.m. winter or no, they were not used to this. through the white deadening blanket that buried the town, a piercing sound. fire alarm. now the snowstorm was the last thing on fire chief preston gentry's mind. >> the tone went off for a fire with occupants possibly trapped inside. that ramps everything up to full force. >> the alarm was on a quiet start. >> there were a lot of kids in that nabtd. you're running a lot of things through your mind. who are the occupants you have to rescue? >> the fire trucks raced to the home of a recently separated woman of anne charles and children. thick black smoke poured from the second story eaves. part of the roof burned away. >> we were concentrating on getting up the steps and getting to the rooms where we were

>> neighbors crowded in behind police barricade. one was an 18-year-old who lived up the street. an awkward sort of kid, a bit immature for his age. he had strep throat that morning, was taking antibiotics. but nothing could keep him from this. robert davis. >> everyone goes down and starts watching. >> the fire department there by >> yeah, the fire department was there by then. we sat there and watched for five minutes. then one of the fire department people asked us to a truck that was maybe a 100, 200 yards away to oxygen -- it felt good to help out. >> this woman lift next door. she watched the fire and worried about the pretty young mother trapped in there, anne charles. >> she would come outside and play with the kid. we would talk here and there. but she was a really nice person.

daughters, katie and wendy escaped unharmed from their downstairs bedrooms. but that left anne and little thomas just 3 years old, unaccounted for. somewhere upstairs. >> we put the fire out and we started checking the bedrooms for occupants. >> nothing good after that. upstairs firemen found little thomas on the floor beneath the window, dead of smoke inhalation. chief gentry steeled himself to what might be next. he felt his way through debris and lingering smoke to ann's room. >> i crawled over to the bunk bed and that's where we found a victim in the bunk bed and that person was secured in the bunk bed both hand and both legs were -- >> tied up? >> tied up. >> now that put an entirely different complexion on things. this wasn't just a fire.

>> right there, that keys up this is a crime scene. we basically extinguished the fire 57bd left everything as is. >> and then forensic investigator took overment. >> one thing that jumped out at me was out of place there was a 5-gallon bucket sitting in the middle of the living room floor with an empty bottle of rubbing alcohol. >> an empty bottle of rubbing alcohol? >> it didn't look like it belonged there. >> upstairs scattered near ann's body, they found three aerosol cans, probably also accelerant. all of that liquid kindle for murder. >> there was a blob of melted plastic consistent with a smoke detector melted on -- laying on the floor. there was a 9-volt battery like it went to a smoke detector in the sink. >> someone had taken it out. >> someone had removed it.

all the more shocking in a town where 340ird is exceedingly rare says the detective. >> that's not a common occurrence here. >> how did it hit you and members of the department? >> you have a victim and you also have a child. the child, that touches you in a different way because it's a 3-year-old child. >> yeah. >> these things do touch you personally, don't they? >> outside, the curious charles and her little boy were no more. >> it devastated me. i was in shock.t little boy. and still didn't know what had happened really. >> wasn't long, though, watchinges streaming in and out of that little house, that person couldn't help but put two and two together..

was scared. right there in that very , police would find their suspects. when we come back -- >> they had recovered a knife. >> quick work from investigators.two confessions. >> he was -- go in, find april purse, get the money and then leavvolved will know. >> were they tell the truth? th? 3, 2 smile! smile! hey, honey! o? thanks, dad!! the happy meal. with fresh, delicious, california grown cuties.

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little crozet, virginia that everybody knew >> so it was clear that it was a murder. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: ann charles and her 3-year-old thomas were dead, horribly.nsics man, larry claytor, got a better look at it than anybody. >> this is probably one of the more horrendous cases i had -- my career. >> reporter: larry couldn't give investigators much to go on, a few small footprints in the snow out back., any possibility of finding that was flushed away by fire hoses. >> and then i get word from the ffice that they had recovered a knife that back. and -- >> what'd you think when you heard that? >> i went back to my photographs.h, in the middle of her back, was the knife.

her, but who?police that a brother/sister duo across the street. rocky and jessica fugett had been watching the fire, claimed robert davis and his friend, kevin marsh, knew them as aggressive troublemakers at high school.fraid of them. we just -- they come through the hallway, people would just move out the way for them, try not tod them. kevin's friend, shy and awkward robert seemed to be a target. seemed to be a favorite target. >> they used to pick on him all ugly, stupid. >> reporter: robert said he tried to ignore it, but they knew his vulnerabilities. >> you know i tried to keep my distance from him when i could. we were, close proximity to each other. >> reporter: "safer that way," said robert. in any case, the detectives paid a visit to the fugett's house, where they learned enough to march the pair down to police wo days later for questioning. and rocky admitted. he was there

>> i was in the house.n the house. >> i started out downstairs. jessica went upstairs first. i was supposed to just watch and make sure everything was happy.tive phil giles interviewed jessica. >> she eventually acknowledged was somebody else first, and then at some point put herself there. >> it was supposed to be routine. we go in, we find her purse, we take her money, and then we that was all that was supposed to happen. >> reporter: but then rocky went way off script, said jessica, with duct tape, and turned it into murder. >> who set the place on fire? >> rocky. >> okay, who cut ann's throat? >> who stabbed ann in the back? >> rocky. >> okay.essica told detective giles the murder weapons were a kitchen knife and a metal rod for bludgeoning, which they stashed in a hole out behind ann's house. >> she said we probably couldn'tt her.

we walked the entire path until we got to the hole. she said, "that's it, right there."and behold, we had some evidence folks with us, reached in, discovered those two items were there. >> what was that like? >> you know that this -- these d only those involved are gonna know where are the instruments that were used to kill someone. >> reporter: so, that was that. they had their story, and their culprits.there was one more very significant detail, offered up by both jessica and rocky, something the town's rumor mill he time kevin and robert went out for the evening a couple of days later. >> we went bowling. a grand old time. >> reporter: by that time, it was after midnight, about time to go home to bed. g lot, talking, just laughing. and all of a sudden, multiple police cars pull up. . they order me out the vehicle first.

>> reporter: and then, through all the terror and confusion, it dawned on kevin marsh. for. >> so then, i see them getting robert out, kicking him by his feet, knocking him to the face into the asphalt, putting him in the handcuffs. >> reporter: the story the they had accomplices when they murdered ann charles, and one rt davis. coming up -- >> i was scared. i was shaking. >> now, it would be robert davis' turn in t. >> why don't you tell me, robert, what took place that night. >> when "dateline" continues. way car. bravo-niner, in pursuit of a toyota prius. over. s? over. this thing is actually pretty fast. over. very funny. market. we should get some flowers

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ts, including his own, robert davis was a mama's boy. because of his or his learning disabilities? maybe. >> he's easy to play. he's like me. he's got a kind heart, he's gullible.t seemed to need his mother sandy to protect him from the big bad world. while he took care of her when she was attacked by chronic for which tends to slur her speech. >> he's a big dude, but he's a teddy bear. always wanted to grow up and be in healthcare and nursin' like i was. >> mind you, robert did get into trouble once over a petty theft ies landed him in a special school for several years.

a family acquaintance was the e police officer. his name was randy snead he'd known robert and his mom for years. robert looked up to randy. trusted him.r snead now a detective with the albemarle county police came looking for robert after the fire. sandy told him without hesitation where he could find >> i said, "is robert in trouble?" and he said, "he's in serious trouble."idea just how serious or what was about to happen in that parking lot, where robert was hanging out with his friend.d at you, you're-- you're wonderin' what's goin' on. i mean, i was-- i was scared. i why robert? because the siblings told them they had accomplices and he was one of them.s interviewed by detective giles and his partner. >> at the end of the interview,

said this kid has no idea what out. he was clueless what we were talking about. the kid was eventually released. ar different experience in the interview room. and a different detective.cross -- there sitting across from you was randy snead. >> randy snead. >> you knew him? >> since i was 12 or 13. i was i was on a first name basis with him. >> reporter: kind of a friend. >> yeah. because i've known him for so long.l me, robert -- what took place that night? you tell me your story of what >> i was at my house, man. >> at first, robert swore that he was innocent but six hours later -- he had confessed to murder. >> i stabbed her. >> you stabbed her, didn't you? >> one, one or two times.you've told me is true, correct? >> true. >> everything you've done, and been part of is true, correct? >> true. >> later that day, officer snead

mother.bert, what did you say?" he said, "since they wanted to hear that, i told 'em, 'fine." feel like in here son? >> i felt like i was gonna have a heart attack and die.orhood, people who had known robert for years couldn't believe it. e, mannerable, and i knew robert was a follower. and i just still couldn't believe that robert was involved.et, the boy said it himself. >> why would he confess to somethin' that he didn't do? >> robert's mother couldn't so the state appointed one for him. steve rosenfield. >> reporter: what was your impression of him when you first met him?scared to death from the first meeting-- and-- and forever.

expect an accused murder might say -- he didn't do it. he didn't stab anybody. he wasn't even there.sed, he said, because he was so scared -- >> reporter: did you push hard enough to find out whether or not he was actually telling you h or playing you? >> i take what the client tells me and i do an independent evaluation based on what i learn. >> so he watched the tape of which, didn't look right to him. besides -- >> there was no physical evidence at the crime scene to e crime. >> but just as intriguing was this question -- >> why would rocky and jessica like robert? >> the fugett kids, as the kids at school and in the neighborhood knew, bullied robert mercilessly and he was terrified of them.dn't help them murder the neighbor lady.

tell the court just that.had advised me that rocky wanted to get a favorable sentencing and was going to be testifying against robert.ig problems. rosenfield knew from long experience that any jury hearing rocky's testimony and robert's confession -- would certainly convict.ould very probably get a life sentence, no parole. robert's only chance of ever getting out of prison was to agree to something called an >> and we told robert that, "if you plead guilty under an alford plea you admit that there is e to prove your guilt but you do not admit that you're guilty." >> it meant accepting a 23 year prison sentence. it also meant he could never . >> 37 years of practice, it is the hardest decision that i've made to strongly recommend a a plea for something he didn't do.

he was sentenced at 20, would be's. >> the day i was standin' in acceptin' that alford plea, cryin'. and just prayin' that one day, hopefully, the truth would come out, that i wasn't there.voided the death penalty but they got what amounted to life without parole. faithfully drove to the prison to see robert knowing the only way to get him out was to persuade the virginia governor to issue a pardon.ce of that. >> it was a pretty big long shot of getting him out before the 23 years for which he was sentenced.hen? two years after robert went top prison, rosenfield opened the mail, and found a letter. from, of all people, rocky fugett.mr. rosenfield, i have some information about robert that i think can be awfully

you are welcome to come visit snail mail. >> rest assured, steve rosenfield's drive to the prison was much quicker.-- >> help is on the way from inside prison walls. and outside. e most intense interrogations that i've ever seen. >> that interrogation will soon be the key to the case. >> i cevidence. >> he's lying about lying. bout lying. i'm jerry bell the second. and i'm jerry bell the third. i'm like a big bear and he's my little cub. this little guy is non-stop. he's always hanging out with his friends. it at the edge of your seat and be ready to get up. there's no "deep couch sitting." definitely not good for my back. t like right here. (doorbell) what's that? a package! it's a swiffer wetjet. it almost feels like it's moving

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>> reporter: attorney steve rosenfield was in for a big surprise when he arrived at rocky fugget's prison. >> it was shocking.certainly was. rocky wanted to sign a sworn affidavit saying robert davis nothing to do with the murders. >> that was pretty powerful for him to -- to do that, considering his circumstances.to gain. >> reporter: but rocky's admission wasn't enough to undo robert's confession.ars into robert's prison sentence, rosenfield answered a phone call. and there she was.irider of northwestern university's innocence project is a leading expert in false confessions by young people. brendan dassey of

nirider heard about robert's case and offered to help.derstand what happened to robert, as we watch the interrogation unfold. >> this is one of the most intense interrogations that i've ever seen. >> you have the right to remain silent.ay can and will be used against you in the court of law. >> you've got these officers -- bert who's a big guy pushed into that corner, increasing the pressure without even touching him.nead -- a man robert has long trusted begins the interview at 2:00 am, time robert has been awake 18 hours. >> never been in that house? >> no. >> reporter: again and again, more than 70 times. truth. >> i am. >> reporter: robert insists he is innocent. >> i had nothing to do with this. i swear to god. asks for a polygraph. >> i will take a polygras, robert right now. i am being honest. i will take a polygraph test. i have said that how many times? >> officer snead, i was not there. i will take a polygraph test right now to prove to you that i was not there. got somebody in

offers to take a polygraph, that's a strong sign of innocence that should not be disregarded. >> we know you were in the house, okay?n snead's partner terry walls ups the ante. >> i was nowhere near the house. >> reporter: they have evidence, he says. >> we know you were in the house.hat's going to prove you were in the house. >> reporter: they don't, by the way -- have any evidence of that. though it is legal for police to >> i want to see this evidence. >> there -- you will. >> reporter: just after 3:00 am, robert asks for his medicine. remember, he's also asthmatic. >> i need to take my third dose. i have not taken it. >> i will give you the penicillins once we get going, okay?with me and i'll work with you. >> reporter: robert's been awake for nearly 20 hours. >> i'm tired. i want to go.m. tell her that i love her. i'm sorry for the -- all the pain that i've ever put her i had nothing -- i had nothing

>> reporter: more than a dozen e's tired and needs sleep. and several times, he tries to sleep on the cold floor. at 5:17 am, for no explained reason, they attach shackles to s. >> come on, man. that's too tight for me. >> reporter: more than four hours into the interrogation -- randy snead tells robert he has overwhelming evidence of robert's guilt. >> i don't need it. i've got evidence out the ass.p mostly of -- human dead skin. >> i didn't know that. >> that can be picked up. that dna. >> i'm not gonna to be able to keep you from the worst, robert. me, i can't keep you from the worst. >> i wasn't there. >> robert, you were. you were there. the evidence shows you were there.hows it. i can't lie about the evidence. >> and not only was that false -- there was no d.n.a. se. but the officer then goes on to say, "i can't lie to you about this, robert" -- and so in fact

robert he faces what snead calls the ultimate punishment. mother on the phone. sit here and try to keep you from the most ultimate . and i'm trying to do that. and you're not even helping me to help you. i can't do no more. in there? >> there you see -- the police officer suggesting to robert that and you also see the officer very cleverly using robert's relationship with his mother. >> reporter: and that's when robert's resolve begins to weakenthat i did to get me out of this? >> reporter: just before 7:00 am, five hours in, robert ain. >> how many years is it going to be, if i was just on the porch? >> how many years is -- will it be if you were just on the porch? >> when will i go home? >> huh? >> when will i go home today?

look, you work with me and i'm going to do everything i can to make sure your mom -- and we can get you -- maybe get you home.oping it might get him home to his mother, robert offers a story he hopes will satisfy snead.t upstairs. i stood right there at the door. and then once i heard something, i got scared, i freaked and i )an.ere trying to tell me -- and hide from me acts that took place is ridiculous.ead lies to robert again, this time about one of the murder weapons.hat you touched. all right? that had left some particles on it. that did some damage to somebody., robert? >> i think it was a bat. >> it was -- it was a bat? >> a bat. >> all right. some type of --. >> clubbing device. >> reporter: snead knows the weapon was really a metal rod.t her two times.

>> wait a minute, now. i've got somebody else clubbing her, robert. i got someone else doing that act. wrong. >> hit her in the head with the smaky-thingy. >> reporter: jessica already confessed that rocky clubbed ann charles.ther act. you know what that act is. and -- and we know. and that's the thing that that -- that's yours. >> what would that be? >> well, you -- i -- i'm not going to tell you. >> reporter: so again, robert starts guessing.pe nobody. >> no. no. i'm not saying that. >> a)p*'s what you're trying to -- >> no. i didn't kill the baby.g that. i'm not saying that you raped anybody. >> i didn't cut nobody. >> i didn't -- didn't say you cut -- >> i didn't shoot nobody.y you shot nobody. robert, i'm going to come straight out and tell you what i was -- what -- what i'm getting. all right? since you're not going to tell me. >> you stabbed that woman.er. >> you stabbed her, didn't you? >> one -- one or two times.

robert where.r body? >> it was in the middle. >> reporter: and again, snead corrects him. >> you had a knife in your hand. all right?tabbing -- stabbing her in the -- in the back. all right? you cut her.y the police's confession, not robert's. >> do you think by me telling you this, it's going to get me home tonight? >> tonight? >> today? i doubt it. >> well, then why am i lying about all of this to you, just so i can go home? >> you're not lying.. i'm lying to you full front -- full front to your face. i am lying to you. i am lying to you just so i can go home.ly what juveniles who have falsely confessed say was their motivating factor for falsely confessing. >> reporter: but by 8:00 am, sixe interrogation began, randy snead has his confession. >> what you've said tonight -- to -- up to this morning -- to me.ccurate statement?

>> reporter: when rosenfield livered a clemency petition to virginia governor bob mcdonnell, nirdier added volumes of evidence in support. and then, as they waited for an answer.f nowhere jessica sent a "dear mr. rosenfield" letter. she admitted to the throat to the back and -- absolutely adamant that robert had nothing to do with it whatsoever. >> reporter: so jessica's the governor, too. and everybody waited. and then on the governor's very last day in office, more than nine years into robert's sentence -- a decision. rosenfield, devastated, drove to the prison to tell robert. >> robert and i hugged and we ably is about the

>> reporter: robert's only door mmed shut. but half a world away, someone 's case. could his opinion make a difference? coming up -- >> isn't the confession the ence you can get? >> not always. >> the police detective in robert's corner when "dateline" continues. en. only available for a limited time by me... ahhhhhhh!!! same dream?colonel, pretending to be, but i'm me! so only i can introduce kfc's delicious, new nashville hot chicken.flavor, only available for a limited time, by me, colonel sanders. i know dear. [gasp] [ominous music]

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robert davis's home, this and , for something like 40% of his life. i didn't know. i was naive. you know, i was scared. >> reporter: robert is not alone, of course. there are people like him in situations just like his in ons all around the country, who confessed as teenagers to crimes they maybe didn't commit.event that very thing, police departments in many other countries banned or dispensed years ago with

used in america.urder happened elsewhere, for example, here in the united kingdom it's probable that robert still would have been brought in for questioning he was after all named as a the case. but the chances that he would have been charged or even interviewed for very long, close to zero.he interview as it is on the recording would not be legal in the u.k., and that evidence would not have been admitted to a trial. andy griffiths, 26 years a detective in the sussex police department, internationally recognized for his work in techniques. when griffiths was a rookie, british interrogation rules were much like they are in the u.s.t anymore. >> what happened to precipitate these changes in the united kingdom? >> changes really came about ms. >> reporter: like a national scandal after a series of high profile false confessions, urder case

>> so, the government of the day of the way that prisoners were dealt with in custody. >> reporter: the result? a complete overhaul of the system.in the uk retrained to rigorous standards spthat apply in every region of the country. strict rules were put in place terviews. all interviews in serious cases video recorded. >> there are two cameras up there. one gives a head and shoulders terviewee. and the idea behind that is that if this interview was shown in court, it gives a clear of picture of you. the other is a global view of the room.one who's in the room is shown in the picture. that's about showing exactly what happened. >> reporter: and this was key. no more lying.egal for cops to lie to suspects. not here. >> could you, for example, go into this interview and say, "i cific piece of evidence that tells me you're guilty," if you don't have that

>> no, absolutely not. >> can you talk to a suspect forto? >> no, you should only interview for two hours at a time. and you should take recognized breaks at meal times, prayer and nighttime. >> reporter: and someone a little challenged, like robert? >> they're entitled under the law to what's called an appropriate adul a parent. it might be a social worker. but they're entitled to that as well as their legal representative.ut, when the interrogation rules were changed, many veteran officers were not happy. they resisted. detective trevor bowles ell. >> senior people thought that this was a draconian piece of legislation that was gonna prevent us from ever detecting anything ever again. solve a crime anymore. >> we'd never solve a crime anymore, that it was gonna tie our hands behind our back and we would be unable to work with it.wrong. >> reporter: very wrong. not only did false confessions

better. >> detection rates in respect of homicide in the u.k. are very high. in the 90% mark. >> reporter: and along the way, said griffiths, confessions, a hallmark of case-solving in the u.s, became much less important n. >> we would not prosecute somebody on -- solely on a confession. so we -- so if someone did make a confession, we would try and y said. so you'd have the supporting evidence as well. >> but isn't a confession the strongest evidence you can get? >> not always.wrong with it? >> what confessions tend to do is they shape this confirmation bias. people then look for supporting evidence just to -- to suppo because the confession exists. >> reporter: so we asked robert davis' interrogation. >> why don't you tell me, robert?ter: and... >> what this guy's problem was, he was -- he was arrested last. and what they're saying is that, "we gospel believe the people that were arrested first.

we know."learly not a good approach for an investigator. >> ya'll obviously think i'm lying, but i'm not. i swear to you that i'm not lying.y to go to sleep. so take me, because i did not do nothing. >> the time of day of the interview, the length of the f -- of leg irons halfway through the interview, the clear requests for medication and sleep at various points in the interview gs. >> when you -- when you looked at the whole thing, as you did, you sat back and you thought afterwards. >> the lifeblood of -- of -- of unt is reliability. and the way this is done is you can't vouch for the reliability. >> reporter: we'd asked for his opinion, and he gave it to us. 't believable. what we didn't expect was what happened a few months later.tective spoke to steve rosenfield and offered to write virginia's governor, adding his support to ncy

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>> i've never been emotional in s i feel in this case because i've grown very >> reporter: for years, as close as we got was the current chief of police of albemarle county, colonel steve sellers.when snead was a detective,but -- you've talked to him. what's your sense of how he feels about this?

i think there wasn't a -- bit of malice in his actions. i think he had a -- very strong relationship with orter: but this was interesting. chief sellers did not support snead's interrogation. not at all.this. i believe that the confession is an unreliable confession. >> reporter: what's more, the police methods when he took over to help prevent the kind of interrogation that ended up in robert's confession. >> i can't tell your mom that i e ultimate. >> reporter: as you look at that, what are things that would not be done? >> using terms like the ultimate punishment.f the interview, those kinds of things would be clear -- clearly not done today.old comfort for robert davis -- who, by 2014, had been in prison going on 11 years.

unless --s a new governor, terry mcauliffe in office now. so rosenfield renewed his appeal he was well aware that a tiny percentage of such petitions are ever granted.onth went by, it wasn't clear what, if anything, was happening. >> what's distemency process is that it's secretive. >> reporter: but what rosenfield didn't know is that this time it was different. the governor, in fact, ordered a new investigation.ffices. >> reporter: and just before christmas, we were there when the call came. office. >> hey carlos, it's steve. >> reporter: and there it was. finally. the words he'd been hoping to hearuu* set hp#ter year after year. hp#ter year after year. free. >> i'm elated. just in time for the holidays. today is robert's mother's birthday. come on, sandy, pick up. >> hello?

set another plate for tonight's dinner. robert up. >> oh, my god! be the last time i ever see this prison. >> reporter: at last, the final drive to robert's prison with the news that both had dreamed se years. >> hey, robert. >> hello, hello, hello. >> reporter: how are you feeling?elated. i -- can't -- words can't describe it. words cannot describe. i'm just so happy. if it wasn't for that man fightin' for me right there i e out right now. and this is just overwhelmin' w. i'm outside of these fences, man! hello. i'm just getting ready to pull

as long as this ain't a dream, i'm leaving right now. >> reporter: and that very together again with his mother, his brother, and freedom. >> robert! it's you.'s you. this is my boy. he's home! >> reporter: how does it feel out here?eat, man. >> reporter: a few weeks ago we came to see robert here in his new apartment in charlottesville, virginia, his in which, he tells us, there is no room for bitterness. so here we are. >> yup. this is my humble home. >> reporter: not bad. >> yeah. yeah.s it feel? >> man, it feels great, man. i just -- i haven't stopped smiling since i've come home. >> reporter: ha ha ha. i can tell.

>> get a job and thrive. i've got this opportunity, and i don't wanna squander it, you know. that's a nice looking club.r: he's got a job working in a neighborhood deli. and he lives under the protective eye of the man who to prove his innocence, and who hasn't stopped yet. robert's pardon was ng he has a parole officer, an ankle bracelet, and -- still -- a record. >> well, i don't think the finaltten on the robert davis story. this governor expressed to me en for a reconsideration toward an h would erase -- expunge his conviction. >> reporter: so he'd no longer have a record. just like he'd never been arrested at all.a possibility -- down -- down the road. >> reporter: which, said

least robert deserves.thers now languishing in american prisons, who confessed under duress to something they didn't do.se stories are re, but i haven't run into him. and if i was to see him walkin' down the street, i'd probably in', 'cause i don't really have nothin' to say to him, except for, "i told you so.t i was innocent." >> reporter: so he was.

of "dateline." we'll see you again friday at 10:00, 9:00 central and of course i'll see you each week ightly news." i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, good night. ght. sweeping orchestral music playing ] [ howard dietz and arthur schwartz's