appreciate you being here. find the big question and weigh in on your response with the facebook page. all for today. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." out of the blue one day -- "you have a collect call from an inmate at sing sing correctional facility." okay. >> you think that the system works and, "we're gonna beat this." we didn't. >> he's become my brother. i want to see him out. life was cheap that night in new york. two brutal murders, just a half mile apart. >> we're here for a homicide crime scene. >> six people were convicted, including eric glisson. >> you actually think they read the wrong verdict. >> then, divine intervention through a nun he called "grandma."

>> eric will say, "grandma, i think this is all happening for a reason." >> he'd been behind bars for nearly two decades. lost his last appeal. maybe a nun could help get him into heaven. but could she help him get out of prison? what she helped him do was get a lawyer, and together they hunted for the truth. >> this is the one case that kept me up at night for six years. >> he says, "i know you're innocent." i know the guys who committed this crime. >> tonight, will justice finally arrive? >> oh, my god. grandma. >> i'm lester holt, and this is "dateline." here's josh mankiewicz. >> reporter: sing sing correctional facility, the maximum security prison in upstate new york. this is "the big house," home to some of the worst of the worst killers, rapists and drug

dealers. it is not where you'd expect to find this gentle woman. >> in sing sing, they call me grandma. >> reporter: grandma is sister joanna chan, a maryknoll nun. >> i began working in sing sing more than 12 years ago. >> reporter: grandma volunteers at the prison, working with inmates in a theater program. she even teaches them chinese. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: through the years, grandma has helped dozens of men, but she says this inmate here on stage, a convicted killer, has changed her. >> he's just so brave. it's not so much me helping him. it's like, watching him all these years, i took such courage, myself watching him. >> reporter: sister joanna remembers the first time she met this inmate. he was sitting alone, eating. >> he said, "my family send me 30 pounds of food."

so, i said, "your family must love you very much." and he said, "yes, because they know i'm innocent." and that's how the whole story began. >> reporter: a story that began with the unlikely friendship between a nun and a convicted killer would grow into a quest that would shake the faith of even those sworn to uphold the law. >> i thought if he was innocent, god has to see him through. >> reporter: so who is this convicted murderer? he is inmate 97a7088, 38-year-old eric glisson. we first met him in the spring of 2012 when a "dateline" producer working on a different story in sing sing met eric in his cell. >> you gonna film me? >> reporter: he had been locked up for 18 years. >> you want to see what it's like to live in here? i can touch the walls with my hands. >> reporter: eric told us he

didn't belong here. >> my story is i've been unjustly convicted for a crime that i didn't commit. and from february 3rd of 1995 until the present day, i've been sitting in here, lingering every day, wondering whether this mistake will be corrected. >> reporter: we've heard that before. many times. but what if he was telling the truth? so over time -- >> hey, man, how'd you get up here? >> -- we began visiting eric. >> what's up? you're looking good. >> reporter: and listening to his story. >> when i got arrested, i was always under the impression that people who are guilty actually go to jail. i didn't believe that i would be convicted of a crime that i didn't do. >> reporter: when police put the cuffs on him in 1995, eric was 20 years old, the new father of a 1-week-old baby girl. since then, their only time together has been spent in sing sing's visiting room. >> i have a family who i love and who loves me.

my daughter, i need to get home to her and be a father. >> reporter: eric often shared his story with sister joanna. over time, she felt compelled to do something, anything for him, so she called the only lawyer she knew. >> first person i could think of was mr. peter cross. >> i trust her judgement. to me, it was worth investing my time in. >> reporter: attorney peter cross agreed to at least see if there was some truth to eric's story. but there was still one problem. this is not the kind of law you normally practice. >> no, not at all. i'm a corporate lawyer. i do corporate litigation. i don't do criminal work. >> reporter: charmaine chester is peter's assistant. this was also new territory for her. >> out of the blue one day i get this call from an inmate. you get this thing saying, "you have a collect call from an inmate at sing sing correctional facility." okay. >> reporter: soon she found herself spending hours on the phone with the inmate. >> at first it was all, you know, business, his case, his case.

but, you know, by the time you've talked to somebody every day then the personal things start to slip in. >> reporter: friendship. >> friendship. >> reporter: in the meantime, her boss, attorney peter cross, was checking out eric's claims of innocence. did you believe it at the beginning? >> i didn't disbelieve him. i have been practicing law for a long time, okay? >> reporter: and people lie. >> they certainly color the truth. this is a man who was convicted of murdering someone. so of course i approached it with some skepticism. >> reporter: but once cross learned the facts he agreed to take eric's case at no charge, representing a man who didn't seem hardened by prison but almost frightened. >> it's terrifying because you could just be walking in the yard and you could be shanked. that's the life in prison. >> reporter: a life he's lived for nearly two decades. the story he was telling us, if true, was as explosive as it was tragic. >> it turns out that the police and the district attorney had

all the evidence at their disposal to solve this crime from the beginning. >> reporter: not only was eric insisting he was wrongfully convicted, he said others were, too. all of them locked away for life for the same crime. >> five other people -- five other people was also convicted of this crime. >> reporter: six people. could all of them actually be innocent? >> time now is approximately 7:15. >> reporter: to find out, we'll go back almost two decades and take a hard look at how it all began. >> is it possible to get something so important, so wrong, about so many people? when we come back, we investigate what the police didn't, to find out what one witness really saw from her window the day of the murder. >> how the detectives could've decided to run with that still shocks me today. huh, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

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>> reporter: within the walls of sing sing, a convicted murderer has convinced a nun and a corporate lawyer that there's been a terrible miscarriage of justice. eric glisson is in the 18th year of a 25-to-life murder sentence. he claims he's innocent. you ever been in prison before this? >> no. >> reporter: what's it like to live in prison? >> it's hell. >> a brutal killing of a fedex recruiter is under investigation. >> reporter: eric glisson's nightmare began on the night of january 18th, 1995. the new york city detectives lining this hallway in the bronx

were entering a crime scene as chilling as it was violent. >> wins news time at 11:32. she had three pairs of handcuffs bound her wrists. >> reporter: the victim's name was denise raymond. she was an executive with fedex. cops taped the entire scene and anything that might seem important. >> detectives are mystified over the vicious killing of a successful executive. >> reporter: the case went to detective tom aiello, a 20-year veteran. aiello led a team of detectives who worked through the night, knocking on doors and collecting evidence. then, as the sun rose the next morning, some of those cops turned their attention to another murder, another bloody crime scene. this is the video police recorded of that second murder scene. it was seemingly unrelated, but just a half mile away, in the same precinct. this was a busy night for the murder business in the bronx. >> the time is now approximately 7:15 a.m. on january 19th, 1995. >> reporter: this time, a livery

cab driver named bathe diop had been found slumped over his steering wheel, shot multiple times, the victim of an apparent robbery. the driver's money and cellphone were missing. the investigation of the cab driver's murder would be headed by 31-year-old detective mike donnelly, who worked alongside detective aiello. the two detectives, donnelly and aiello, ended up putting their heads, and their cases, together, concluding the same group of several people committed both crimes. did you know the other people? >> i knew two of them. >> reporter: from the neighborhood? >> from the neighborhood. >> reporter: these are good friends of yours? >> acquaintances. >> reporter: just guys you saw around. >> yes. >> reporter: one of those guys was 19-year-old michael cosme, the first suspect arrested. >> you have the right to remain silent. >> reporter: he was the only one to be videotaped by police. >> now that i've advised you of your rights, are you willing to answer questions? >> no. i do have have one thing to say.

>> i'll read you those rights again, and you can answer them. >> i only have one thing to say, though. i'm innocent. i didn't do it, i wasn't there, i was in my house asleep. >> reporter: detectives didn't believe him, and cosme was arrested for both murders. days later, so was eric glisson. originally you were charged with both murders, with the denise raymond murder and the cab driver murder. >> yes. >> reporter: but by the time eric went to trial, prosecutors dropped charges against him in the denise raymond case citing lack of evidence. so what evidence was there against him in the cab driver case? it's really pretty simple. there was a witness against him. her name? miriam taveras. tavares told the cops she looked out her window and saw it all. eric and the others smack in the middle of the cab driver robbery that ended in murder. is it possible that miriam saw you commit a crime? >> no. >> reporter: not any crime? >> i wasn't there. >> reporter: bad blood between you and miriam?

>> yes, bad blood. >> reporter: eric says he had a brief sexual relationship with miriam that did not end well. >> you have a fling with a girl, then you just cut it off abruptly. she may feel slighted. >> reporter: slighted enough to make you a murder -- >> i guess. >> reporter: -- suspect? >> i guess so. >> reporter: whatever her motivation, the question is how reliable was she as a witness? all these years later, eric finally had someone to take another look at miriam's story, attorney peter cross. >> there's no doubt that this woman was lying. i went out to the crime scene. she could not possibly have seen what she said occurred. >> reporter: so what could miriam tavares really see? here's the problem with miriam's story. from that police video, we know the cab came to rest. but we also know the shooting itself happened several car lengths back, sort of where that red suv is. we know a man in that building called 911 when he heard the

shots, and he says he saw only one person running away from the scene. now a couple of weeks later, miriam tavares comes forward. she lived in that building right there. now you're looking at me from just outside the window through which miriam says she saw all of this happen. now this has to be easily 100 yards away. and she said she saw six people from the neighborhood commit the crime. she said she heard what they said, and she saw what they stole. and she said she saw all of it looking through this bathroom window. the only problem is, if you go back to where the shooting actually happened, it's pretty clear miriam taveras couldn't have seen anything at all. >> she said from her bathroom window she heard these conversations going on inside the car. i mean, it's just incredible testimony. >> reporter: but what disturbed cross even more, detective donnelly never looked at the crime scene from the perspective you just did. wouldn't that sort of be standard operating procedure, to check out what witnesses say?

>> you would think so. i think that they got on a horse early on in this case and they rode that horse. and they weren't going to change direction. >> reporter: we wanted to speak with miriam taveras. she died of a drug overdose in 2002. other than her testimony there was no physical evidence, no forensics, no prints, nothing that tied eric or the others to the cab driver's murder. even so, detectives donnelly and aiello went with what they had and closed both murder cases. within three weeks they arrested their suspects, and the bronx district attorney tried them. in all, six people were convicted. we'll call them "the bronx six." five men and a woman, all sent away, facing 25 to life. one of them was eric glisson. what's it like to hear that verdict read? >> it's like a shot in the chest. it's like your heart just melts. it just dissolves. you actually think that, you

know, they read the wrong verdict. that this can't be true. >> reporter: the nypd was quite proud of detectives donnely and aiello's work. so proud that five months after the arrests the department allowed the detectives to be featured in "new york" magazine about how they amazingly cracked the cases. >> how the detectives could've decided to run with this and send them to jail for the rest of their lives on the basis of this garbage. it still shocks me today. >> reporter: all these years later, attorney cross knew his opinion of the detective work in this case wasn't going to free eric glisson or anyone else. >> i think the only kind of evidence that's going to sway a court is if we can point to who the real killers are. >> reporter: that was quite a lot to hope for. but from behind bars, eric glisson was already on the trail. >> i got some documents. and so i see this guy gilbert. gilbert name keep coming up.

>> a surprise visitor and an answered prayer. >> he said, "i'm sorry. i know you're innocent. i know the guys who committed this crime." >> when "dateline" continues.

>> reporter: these are the

people we're calling "the bronx six," five men and a woman, all convicted and sent away for 25 years to life for committing murder. all insisted they were innocent. we met one of them, eric glisson, in sing sing, where from behind bars he'd been trying to get answers ever since he was locked up. >> i've been fighting these people for years, asking for documents which they denied me at every turn. >> you're not going to convict me for something that i didn't do and just expect me to accept it. i'm gonna fight to the end. i'm a fighter. i die on my feet, not on my knees. >> reporter: as the years passed, eric took college courses offered by the prison. he learned about the law and fought his case. how did he get that evidence in his possession? the courts denied all his appeals. >> i don't have any appeals left, nothing. >> reporter: it was a lonely fight. and then, in 2006 when he met

sister joanna chan in one of the prison's programs, the woman he calls grandma -- >> he would say, "grandma, it's really hard." >> i told her, "grandma, i just lost my last appeal. i don't know what i'm going to do." >> i always say, "eric, let's keep the faith. you know that there are many sisters praying for you." >> reporter: sister joanna offered more than just her prayers. that's when she brought in peter cross, who was now fighting for eric on the outside. >> you have donnelly as the officer assigned. >> reporter: with eric as his guide, cross got up to speed and he found some troubling information about how detectives donnelly and aiello connected the two murders. it was through this witness. her name is cathy gomez. >> cathy, we're on the record. >> reporter: cross tracked her down and videotaped his interview with her.

>> you know i'm hear today because eric glisson. >> reporter: gomez, who was 16 at the time of the murder, says she first came in contact with the detectives for only one reason. she was friends with miriam tavares, who spoke only spanish. >> so you served kind of as a translator? >> yes. >> reporter: but by the time she walked out of the police station, cathy gomez had become the key witness in the investigation in the fedex murder. gomez had signed a sworn statement claiming she overheard the same suspects talking about details of both crimes that only the killers, or cops, would know. >> tell me if you recognize your signature on that document. >> yes, that's my signature. >> reporter: here's the problem, it's a crime cathy says she knew nothing about. >> i even told them, "i didn't see nothing like that." >> reporter: what's more, gomez says she could hardly read or write english. >> i couldn't read it. they just want me, "oh, you have to sign this and don't worry

about it, you don't have nothing to do with this." >> cathy gomez told me that entire statement was prepared by the police. and she signed it without knowing even what was in it. >> reporter: even so, gomez did testify, now saying she only took the stand because, she says, detectives threatened to arrest her if she refused. >> they put me in handcuffs to take me because i refused to go to court. i was just freaked out because who want to be in handcuffs or in jail or something like that? nobody. >> reporter: in fact, court transcripts show she even attempted suicide as the trial began. but because cathy didn't testify against eric her claims all these years later wouldn't help him. to have any chance of having another day in court, eric knew he'd need powerful evidence, evidence of actual innocence. he started thinking, if he and the other five codefendants had nothing to do with the murders then who did?

after more than a decade of trying, finally some of his requests for documents in his case began trickling in. >> i came across one document which had my name as well as my other codefendants, but one name stood out. it was a individual who i found out who was part of a gang called sex, money, murder. >> reporter: eric was on to an important lead -- sex, money, murder. even veteran cops knew those three words meant danger, a notorious gang from the soundview section of the bronx. >> 1997, october, sex money and murder became my assignment. >> reporter: pete forcelli was an nypd detective assigned to take down the gang. this was all sex, money, murder territory? >> yeah, we're in the heart of it. >> reporter: while forcelli was investigating the gang, an informant told him details of a crime the gang members had committed. >> there was a cab driver who had been killed in vicinity of soundview. >> reporter: so forecelli went to the 43rd precinct in the south bronx to see if there was any truth to the story.

>> early 1998, walked in the precinct. went upstairs. walked into the detective squad room. >> reporter: so you go in there and say, "what about this murder? what do you know about a murder?" >> yeah, i wanted to know about a cab driver murder in soundview or the area around soundview. >> reporter: and the response? >> they had nothing to fit that description. >> reporter: but forcelli's informant insisted the murder did happen. you didn't only make one trip to the 43rd precinct. >> no, two. made two. and again, came out saying we have nothing that fits that description. >> reporter: is there any conceivable reason why the police department wouldn't tell you the truth? >> well, i thought about that. >> reporter: forcelli says the answer might be simple. as far as the nypd was concerned, this homicide was solved. closed. >> the detective may have looked only in the open homicide drawer and never bothered to even look to see if there was anything other than an unsolved homicide that fit that description. >> reporter: and as far as you know, that was the end of it. >> right, i'd moved on. >> reporter: forcelli soon retired from the nypd, not knowing six people had been already been convicted.

in the meantime, eric was stuck in prison. it wasn't until 2012, 14 years later, that he hit paydirt, and it came in the form of cellphone records. remember, the cab drivers cellphone had been stolen by whoever killed him. >> and i found hundreds of calls after his death. >> reporter: the records showed the first call was made from the victim's phone minutes after the shooting. the numbers called traced back to relatives of two sex, money, murder gang members named jose rodriguez and gilbert vega. eric believed he finally had evidence showing who the real killers were. >> it took me 16 years, 17 years to get those through freedom of information. >> reporter: they were never provided to the defense? >> no. it turns out that the police and the district attorney had all the evidence at their disposal to solve this crime from the beginning. >> reporter: so he wrote a letter to the u.s. attorney proclaiming his innocence and detailing the information he

found out about the sex, money, murder gang. it was a hail mary pass. in an amazing stroke of luck, eric's letter landed on this man's desk. his name, john o'malley, an investigator for the u.s. attorney in new york. days after reading eric's letter, o'malley made a personal trip to see eric in sing sing. >> immediately john o'malley just stood up and he asked me, "did you write this letter?" and i said, "yes." he shook my hand. and he said, "i'm sorry." and i said, "sorry for what?" he says, you know, "i know you're innocent." when he said that, i said, "what are you talking about, sir?" he said, "listen, i know the guys who committed this crime." >> reporter: how did o'malley know? it turns out o'malley worked with detective forcelli on that gang case ten years earlier. and back then, those two gang members, jose and gilbert, actually confessed the cab driver shooting to o'malley. >> he said, "when i read this letter, everything just came back to me from that day.

i put it all together from that day when these guys confessed to me." >> reporter: o'malley didn't want to appear on camera but told us he also checked with the nypd after getting those confessions in 2002, and like forecelli before him, o'malley was told they had no record of the crime. after getting eric's letter in 2012, o'malley addressed the court in a sworn affidavit stating that eric glisson and the others were innocent of the cab driver shooting. armed with that kind of statement you'd think eric would be, literally, home free. you'd be wrong. >> coming up -- but eric glisson isn't giving up. >> this is my wall of hope. everyone here has been unjustly convicted and freed. >> will his own picture ever be on it? >> tears welled up in my eyes.

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>> reporter: for the first time in his 18-year struggle to prove that he didn't pull a trigger, eric glisson finally had his hands on a smoking gun. an affadavit from a federal investigator saying eric was innocent. >> he asked me do i have a attorney. and i told him yeah. and he says, "i promise you i will call this lawyer today." >> i was standing online in the bank. >> reporter: peter cross remembers that phone call. >> mr. o'malley tells me, "peter i'm with the u.s. attorney's office. we know your client is innocent." and that was such an emotional moment for me tears welled up in my eyes right in front of the teller. >> thank god every day for john o'malley. when i looked in that man eyes, you know, i seen a man who has integrity. i seen a man who was honest.

affidavit was enough for the bronx d.a. to reopen the case and to get in front of a judge. but that would take time. two more months. but now, at least eric had reason to hope. in his cell he assembled his own little gallery of others who'd been exonerated. >> this is my wall of hope. everyone here has been unjustly convicted and freed. >> reporter: on august 5th, 2012, eric's lawyer goes to court. >> this is our first appearance to try to get the judgment vacated. >> reporter: cross is joined by his assistant, charmaine chester. by now they've worked on eric's case for six years. >> i want to see him out. yeah, i told him the last time i went up to sing sing. i said, "i'm not visiting you here again. this is it." >> reporter: finally, cross argues his case to the judge. >> my client's already spent 17 years plus in jail for a crime he hasn't committed. >> reporter: but it doesn't go down like a hollywood script.

prosecutors do not admit there's been a terrible mistake. >> your honor, we'll be seeking an extension of time to answer those motions. >> how much of an extension are the people seeking? >> at this point, your honor, we're asking for 30 days. >> reporter: another month? cross is frustrated. >> he told me they were starting their investigation in june, looking into this matter. i was able to get my papers ready. it seems to me that another couple of weeks should be enough to get a response to the motion. >> reporter: you've heard the saying that "the wheels of justice grind slowly"? now you've got a front-row seat. >> we've been trying to put together the facts and circumstances surrounding this now 15-year-old trial. >> if at any point in time you make a determination that you are going to concede, i'll advance the case. >> reporter: translation? this isn't going to end today. eric stays in prison. but two weeks later, peter cross heads to sing sing. earlier that morning, he'd gotten a call from the

d.a.'s office. he has good news for eric. >> i received a call from the d.a. in the bronx telling me they're ready to make a deal. i'm going up now to see eric to talk to him about the conditions for his release. >> reporter: eric's used to visits from his lawyer and very used to keeping his own hopes on ice. >> hey, eric. >> hey, how you doing, mr. cross? >> you're looking good. >> thank you. >> they get you out in the yard? >> yeah, i was working out, running, jogging. >> reporter: cross wants to make sure this sinks in. and so he slowly reveals the details. >> i was very surprised today. well, i got a call from ed talty today saying that, "we have a proposal for you." the d.a. is now prepared to give you a conditional dismissal of the indictment and vacate the conviction. >> today? >> it's not going to be today.

but it'll be by the 13th, i think. >> oh, you serious? >> can you believe that? >> oh, it hasn't set in yet. the initial shock. all of the fighting that we've done over these years. i don't know what to say right now. >> reporter: but unfortunately for eric, a month later he's still behind bars. >> that these people just don't want to let me go. they want to continue to hold me and torture me. you know, the mental -- the mental trauma i'm going through right now because of this. i'm wondering whether they may renege on this agreement. >> reporter: but as excruciating as these hours are, eric shares with us something beyond his wall of hope that's helped him wake up every morning. >> there's a bench by the water that on, you know, each time i go to the barber shop, i look at

that bench and i wonder if i'll ever be able to sit on it and look back up here instead of looking down there. that's been one of my main, you know, goals while i was in there. to sit on that bench as a free man. >> coming up -- will eric glisson ever get to sit on that bench? >> when "dateline" continues. yn of the pre-treat soak treat soak? those are fond memories, but those things are amazing. once i saw what they did, i actually started to relax. don't touch my things. those little guys clean, brighten and fight stains. so now i can focus on more pressing matters. like your containers. isn't it beautiful? your sweet peppers aren't next to your hot peppers. [ gasps ] [ sarah ] that's my tide. what's yours?

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>> reporter: this bench outside sing sing is only a few hundred yards from the prison, but to eric it might as well be in china. how many times you look at that bench? >> every day. >> reporter: and thinking, "i'll be on there one day"? >> i want to see what it looks like from that bench to the window. because all i know is what it looks like from that window to the bench. >> reporter: finally, on october 22nd, 2012, four months after a federal investigator vouched for eric's innocence, his day in court has come. eric's been transferred from sing sing and is waiting in a holding cell in the bronx county courthouse. it's also been a long painful road for lawyer peter cross. >> this is the one case that has kept me up at night for six years because i knew we had to

find, really, like, the one-armed man to get him out of jail. >> reporter: eric walks into the courtroom. >> numbers four and five on the calender, eric glisson and cathy watkins. >> reporter: standing next to him is cathy watkins, the only woman of the bronx six. like eric, she was tried only for the cab driver's murder, and in 1997 they went on trial together. eric says he doesn't know her now and didn't know her then. >> when trial started, the officers brought her up and they said this is watkins. i said, "you're cathy watkins?" and she said, "yeah, who are you?" and i said, "i am eric glisson." and i said, "how are you involved in this?" and she says, "i don't know. how are you involved, what's going on?" and we both didn't know. we was confused. >> reporter: now, 18 years later, assistant district attorney nicole keary says her office believes there may have been an injustice but only agrees to release glisson and

watkins if they wear monitoring bracelets as the d.a.'s office continues to investigate. >> we have made a decision to take this unprecedented, as you know, judge, exceptional step that we are going to consent to the conditional vacating the conviction for these two defendants. the condition being the defendants to wear those monitoring bracelets. >> reporter: all that's left now is for the judge to make it official. >> the record will reflect the conditional vacator of the conviction as to mr. glisson and ms. watkins is granted. each defendant is released on their own recognizance. [ applause ] >> reporter: eric's friends and family, and the media, are waiting for him outside. and now, for the first time in nearly two decades, eric glisson is about to take his first steps as a free man.

>> eric, what's your emotion right now? >> this is one of the most major pivotal points in my life. i worked hard, and with effort and determination i'm standing here before you. >> reporter: now it's his codefendant cathy watkins' turn, also wrongfully convicted. she was 29 when she went away. now she's 46. >> i didn't do it. 100% innocent, and this is what our judicial system did to me. innocent. all the way. >> reporter: by january 2013, the convictions for the rest of the bronx six were overturned for both the cab driver murder and fedex executive, denise raymond.

this is carlos perez, 25 when he was locked up. today he's 44. >> i even wrote the president. we're talking about 1995. who was that? george clinton? bush? who was that? the president? i said, "mr. president, we're innocent." but nobody listened. >> reporter: devon ayers. he was 19 when he was convicted. >> i spent all of my 20s and my 30s there, so i'm just trying to get on with life as i know it as today. >> reporter: and michael cosme, remember him? he was the only one videotaped by police. >> i only have one thing to say. i'm innocent. >> reporter: this is michael today, 18 years later. finally someone believed him. while we now know those two gang members confessed to the cab driver murder, fedex executive denise raymond's killer, or killers, have never been brought to justice. we wanted to speak with someone from the nypd or bronx district attorney's office.

but both declined comment, citing the multiple civil suits that they now face, as the bronx six seek millions in damages against the city. and those two detectives, donnelly and aiello, who were portrayed as super sleuths back in 1995 are now both retired and didn't have anything to say to us. but in court filings, attorneys for the city of new york deny that either detective threatened witnesses or falsified statements. and they also point out that several juries heard the witnesses testimony at the time and believed them. as for eric, it's finally a new day and a new life. one full of amazing discoveries. >> it's upside down. >> huh? >> coming up -- no prison bars. no prison guards. and doors he can open himself. eric glisson's first night of

freedom in almost 20 years. >> wow. >> and a reunion with the woman who helped him win it. >> oh, my god! oh, my god! grandma!

reporter: it's october 22nd, 2012. after living in a prison cell for 18 years, eric glisson is finally a free man. and we are by his side as he experiences all of it. eric's first few hours of freedom are part exhilaration, part discovery. he's never actually used a cell phone. >> hello. hello. hello. yeah, yeah, where's cynthia? >> you got it upside down, eric. no, no, it's upside down. >> hello? yeah, i had the phone upside down. can you hear me now? like the commercial?

that was my first cell phone call. >> reporter: his first meal? lamb chops. >> let me admire it first. it's like jumping up out of a coffin and walking. it's like being read your last rights, and all of a sudden a miracle happens. some doctor who knows what to do walks into the room and knows how to rescucitate you, and you're back living again, you're back out in society and you're wondering if they will accept you. >> reporter: on his first night of freedom eric's lawyer treats him to a hotel room. >> i'm going to the room right now. i got a key that's a plastic

card. wow. oh, this is excellent. holy -- wow. it's got to be at least a 46-inch tv. the bed. wow. you know, i'm used to sleeping on a metal frame, and now i'm on a comfortable bed. >> reporter: but the real joy for eric is reuniting with his daughter, cynthia. she was just a week old when he was arrested. now, she's nearly 18. and that degree he started working on behind bars? eric b