remember three years earlier esparza had turned mimbela away but this time mimbela was confident, given all that new detail he had unearthed, the da would be persuaded. but weeks went by. montnt. theyeyaited. all of them. do you allow yourself to imagine that day, walking out of here? >> yeah, i do. i visualize it a lot. >> reporter: but it's because it's a long shot, it's a dangerous one too. >> yeah. >> reporter: because if it doesn't happen. >> and that's it. >> reporter: then several days before christmasasthe d.a.'s office announced it t d reviewed the request and had d ven the judge its recommendation. >> and? >> we get the response from the d.a. asking the judge not to give us an evidentiary hearing. >> reporter: so it looked like he just put the bullet through your possibilities? >> that's it. >> reporter: word traveled fast across texas to daniel's prison cell, where he learned the d.a. had decided to fight his appeal still convinced thatataniel was the killer. >> what i can't undersrsnd the most is, like, is the d.a.'s office, right. i mean, everybody who reads this case they