crime. there s no way. he can t be in new york and florida at the same time. the night he turned himself in, he gave a statement to the police and gave them alibis, names and addresses and phone numbers including yours. did anyone call you? not a single phone call. not a letter. at the time, john wasn t a cop yet. he was 21 and unemployed. nobody. no one from nypd called me just to confirm if what he was saying was true. after rosario s arrest, when he didn t hear from the police, he said he called from rosario s attorney but didn t hear back for more than a year. then sometime before the trial, he called asking john and his wife jeannine to testify. i testified at the trial but
legal victory, a new hearing before a judge. chip represented him and called seven alibi witnesses to testify. including the people i interviewed in florida. but the judge wasn t swayed. he found that rosario s additional alibi witnesses were questionable and not as persuasive as the two who testified at his trial and were discounted by the jury. and that in spite of the misunderstanding or mistake made by rosario s attorneys, they both represented him with integrity in a thoroughly professional, competent and dedicated fashion. most of all, the judge wrote the people s case was strong, and rosario s conviction was amply supported by the evidence. the motion was denied. why didn t the judge believe the alibi witnesses? it is inexplicable to me. i think it is awful. but i think the judge got it wrong. i wanted to ask the judge about his decision, but he passed away many years ago. i leave chip s office with a
rosario. sanchez picks out rosario. that afternoon? after the incident. later that evening, the porter, robert davis, also points out rosario s picture. two eyewitnesses, not good for rosario. and the fact that his mug shot was in that book meant he had been arrested before. i asked him about that. why was your picture in there? for robbery. who did you rob? i got caught with credit cards. you got caught with credit cards, you robbed somebody of their credit cards? of course, of course. i had already done a little homework and actually knew about rosario s criminal past, including acts he committed as a juvenile. but i want to test him to see if he ll come clean about it. and he does. i was your regular run of the mill hoodlum. and it is something that i regret. but it is a part of my life that i can t avoid or deny, you know. i was a kid growing up in the bronx, and i learned the wrong
the murder. this is my oldest son. scary part about it is this is how much time that has gone by that richard has been in jail. you know. from the time that he was born, this is how long it s been. john and janine seem so credible to me. but 12 jurors didn t believe their testimony. and when he testified in his own defense, the jury didn t believe rosario either. prosecutors painted him as a liar, saying rosario failed to disclose that a couple of months before the murder he had spent a few weeks in jail on a robbery charge. obviously there is more to the story and it is important that i keep an open mind. and that s what i m doing, working my way down the rest of rosario s list of alibi witnesses, the ones who never testified at his trial. so no one has ever interviewed you like this? no. that s next on conviction. per roll
to say they got the right guy. well, it was enough for the detectives and the bronx district attorney. with years late, a jury convicted him of murder and sentenced him to 25 years to life. so far, he served 20 of those years. i just i still don t understand what i m doing in prison. i m innocent. if he s telling the truth, think about all that s been lost. rosario was 20 when he was arrested. today, he s 40. he shared this picture with his wife and kids taken in the months before his arrest. today, amanda and richard jr. are adults. they visit their dad in prison a couple of times a year, this is what they look like today. to see our dad, we re excited. i haven t seen him in six months since his birthday. you know, my family, my children, my life, right in front of me, just taken away. after our interview, i m not quite sure what to believe.