mike callahan was soon transferred back to patrol, a humiliation for someone who had been a commander of investigations. >> he goes, i guess i just tried to tell the truth. and he said, diane carper removed me from this case. that was a hard time. it was one of those fight or flight things where we just had to fight. >> by 2001, the illinois courts had repeatedly declined to give randy a new trial. randy's last chance at freedom would now come at the federal level. >> it is the court of last resort. after 15 years of state court findings, most federal judges assume that those state court findings are correct. >> judge mike mccuskey would oversee the case, a veteran of

mike callahan was soon transferred back to patrol, a humiliation for someone who had been a commander the truth. and he said, diane carper removed me from this case. that was a hard time. it was one of those fight or flight things where we just had to fight. >> by 2001, the illinois courts had repeatedly declined to give randy a new trial. randy's last chance at freedom would now come at the federal level. >> it is the court of last resort. after 15 years of state court findings, most federal judges assume that those state court findings are correct. >> judge mike mccuskey would oversee the case, a veteran of the bench, mccuskey had never granted a petition for a new 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