- There are countless people doing hard time
in American prisons for crimes they didn't commit.
I've interviewed dozens of them for my podcast.
Now, we're bringing these powerful stories
to your screens each week.
I'm Jason Flom and this is Wrongful Conviction.
Rob Will was convicted of the murder
of a Texas police officer and he's been sitting on death row
for over 18 years.
At the time of the murder, Rob was in handcuffs
and he's always maintained that it was another guy,
the son of a police officer, who pulled the trigger.
Rob's legal team has since found
compelling new evidence of concealed documents
as well as actual confessions and they've been requesting
a new trial to prove his innocence.
This is his story.
(somber music)
- I don't really discuss like, my childhood
and things like that but, I mean, you know,
my dad was murdered.
I mean, he had been in and out of prison
and had other family members who are very criminal, I guess.
I have family who are like maniacs and geniuses
and sometimes a little mix of both.
I remember just never having anyone to talk to
like even after my dad was murdered
I didn't, I never talked to anyone at all about it
and didn't know or kinda realize how bad it is.
I grew up an evangelical Christian
in Southern Texan household.
You didn't talk about problems, you didn't talk about
emotion, you didn't talk about issues.
I wanted to get a degree in child psychology
okay, I could help children who went through the same thing
I went through that didn't have anyone to talk to, right.
- He had gone to school and had a very good GPA
and was starting to make his way in the world
with a young baby at home and then,
things went as far off the rails as they possibly could.
(suspenseful music)
- Even though I didn't to commit this murder,
I was doing stupid stuff, hanging around idiot people.
I'm responsible for engaging in activity
that I should have known could've led to bad things.
- One of the neighbors called 911
saying that there's a theft.
A patrol vehicle arrives at the scene a few minutes later.
Deputy Michael Kelly was in that patrol vehicle
and also Deputy Barrett Hill.
When they arrived, Rob and Rosario,
they both begin to run away.
(suspenseful music)
About 20 seconds later, the dispatch tapes show
that Deputy Hill had Rob arrested and in custody.
(suspenseful music)
- I ran away.
I mean, I saw someone get killed, yeah, I'm running away.
Yeah, I'm getting the hell outta here.
(suspenseful music)
- We know that Rob was shot in the process
in his left hand, right?
- At the time of trial, it was the state's theory
that Rob had this firearm before the murder,
somehow shot himself handcuffed, and miraculously
freed himself of these handcuffs.
The problem with that theory is that no gunshot residue
was ever found on Rob's right hand.
No DNA evidence linking Rob to the crime.
And there's been no eye witness testimony
discovered that links Rob Will to this crime.
- You wanna think that the system
is righteous, the system is honorable.
Those people in positions of power
are gonna do the right thing.
I mean, I didn't understand anything
about the system as a whole.
(suspenseful music)
- To appear as spectators in uniform
which is against the Harris County Sheriff's
employment manual.
This had nothing to do with evidence,
everything to do with creating an atmosphere of
(suspenseful music)
- They didn't turn over some of the main field
physical evidence in my case.
They wanted a year and a month until the day before trial.
Just look at the physical evidence.
Prosecutors had created this narrative like,
you know, look how he reacted afterwards, right.
But they don't even wanna talk about
the actual physical evidence in my case
and now that's very important.
- Documents that were concealed that should
not have been concealed by the district attorney's office,
that Rob's trial team could have used,
could have developed, and could have presented as evidence.
(suspenseful music)
- They were law professors who were,
like academic commentators who will say,
well, yeah, we probably executed four or five
innocent people in Texas.
That's not ok.
Just 'cause there is so many biases
against criminal offenders just like, well you know
these guys are kind of bad anyway,
they're doing bad stuff so, I'm not too concerned.
No, no, it's not ok.
I'm absolutely innocent.
This isn't some ridiculous game or anything.
I want people to really, really realize this,
take the time to look at the evidence.
(suspenseful music)
- The State said that Rosario only had about eight seconds
to cover about 300 feet.
Our independent, careful analysis that matches
the testimony of Deputy Kelly with the actual records
shows that Rosario had approximately one full minute
to cover that distance and come to the scene of the crime.
We believe after Rob was placed in custody
by Deputy Hill, that Rosario reached
the end of that driveway, took a left
and proceeded back to the area where Rob was handcuffed
and in custody
Freed Rob of the handcuffs ad they both fled.
We've uncovered no gunshot residue
or DNA evidence linking Rob Will to the crime.
We've uncovered a police report
that shows a police bloodhound
tracked Rob's co-defendant Michael Allen Rosario
directly to the scene of the crime.
We've uncovered that Rosario lied
on multiple occasions to the police that morning.
First he denied being there, at all.
Second he denied even knowing Rob Will
and third he denied any knowledge
of the gun used to murder Deputy Hill
only to walk back that denial
in a later statement to the police.
If Rob were the shooter and in such close proximity
to Deputy Hill, he and his clothes
would have been drenched with Deputy Hill's blood.
That's not the case.
(suspenseful music)
We've uncovered a new witness, David Cruz,
who says that Rosario confessed
to the murder of the slain officer,
but that he was going to blame Rob Will.
We've discovered police records that show Rosario
attempted to have Rob Will killed after the murder.
The state of Texas knew about this document
but they concealed it from Rob's defense team.
And they now claim that they didn't know how
it got into the district attorney's file.
Or why it wasn't turned over to the defense.
- A district court judge Ellison,
I'm gonna read a quote from him.
He said that Rob Will has submitted no less
than five witnesses who have stated that the co-defendant
confessed to murdering Deputy Hill,
of course the co-defendant is Rosario.
Beyond that the trial court's exclusion of witnesses'
testimony linking the co-defendant to the murder
was almost certainly an
(suspenseful music)
- If you're gonna seek the death penalty against someone,
let's make it a fair fight.
Don't hide evidence.
Don't conceal evidence.
Live up to your obligations.
All we're asking for is a chance
to raise some of these critical, legal issues.
(suspenseful music)
The fact that he has been on death row
almost 24 hours a day in solitary confinement,
can maintain the intellectual and emotional fortitude
to engage in his artwork which is truly exceptional.
- I was always artistically inclined.
I'd do drawings and little sketches and stuff as a kid
but I didn't have any, like formal art classes or anything.
Sometimes officers say, oh yeah, it's really good art.
Yeah, I think it's just the power of art though
can kinda captivate people.
Some of the staff are really supporting my art.
And you know, I teach art to a lot of inmates.
(suspenseful music)
We're working on appeals and trying to live life, man.
I miss everything, I miss music, I miss being able to,
you know, the first word I ever spoke
when I was a little kid was tree.
I love nature.
I haven't really seen any type of nature in forever.
I miss family, I miss my son,
I miss the sun.
Haven't really felt the sun hardly at all in almost 20 years
I read so much and I study so much
I think I've always kinda been like that
but it's a compulsion to understand society
and understand the system and understand
more of the intricacies of life.
I mean, you could wallow in fear
and just let that break you.
Just seeing dudes go insane, or do we say
all right, what does that mean?
What is the idea of the memento mori, right?
What is the idea of understanding death?
And what I, the conclusion I come to is
Live life, you know what I mean.
There is just this beauty everywhere, everywhere.
Like I was listening to some Coltrane
John Colt - just listen to some John Coltrane, man.
How can you be sad listening to John Coltrane?
(suspenseful music)