. >> judge mike mccuskey would oversee the case, a veteran of the bench, mccuskey had never granted aw trial. >> you would think year after year, is somebody going to come with a case that you can look at and say this case was decided wrongly? you always wonder, if 100% of all your cases are going one way, are you looking at them correctly? >> fortunately, randy got the fresh eyes of a federal judge that was not connected to the prosecution in paris, illinois. was not beholden to the cops in paris. >> you've got witnesses that supposedly came off the street and are up watching a horrible murder, and they don't see each other. that is just unheard of. >> you have a federal judge that's saying that there was evidence favorable to randy steidl's case that was never disclosed by the prosecution. these are the same things i'd been telling the state police for three years now. >> on june 17th, 2003, i entered the following order. petitioners' conviction is hereby vacated. the state shall have 120 days from the date of this order to release or retry randy steidl. >> when judge mccuskey grant