Casea Prosecutors Nightmare News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Tough. >> reporter: but what really made this case a prosecutor's nightmare was the fact that all the physical evidence pointed away from the man they thought was the killer. any defense attorney would ask, if police found javier's dna and fingerprint, why would they charge sam? were you surprised you didn't find sam's dna there? >> yes. >> reporter: he thought newer, better tests might find sam's dna, but it was too late for that. cathy's family had sold the car. the case against sam would have to be entirely circumstantial. murphy felt the key to that was somewhere in those interviews sam ga...

And yeah, it looked really tough. >> reporter: but what really made this case a prosecutor's nightmare was the fact that all the physical evidence pointed away from the man they thought was the killer. any defense attorney would ask, if police found javier's dna and fingerprint, why would they charge sam? were you surprised you didn't find sam's dna there? >> yes. >> reporter: he thought newer, better tests might find sam's dna, but it was too late for that. cathy's family had sold the car. the case against sam would have to be entirely circumstantial. murphy felt the key to that was somewhere...

>> reporter: which means they tried very hard to make a case and they couldn't do it? >> they tried very hard. that's right. and they figured, based on their review, that they couldn't do it. >> reporter: and some of the reasons were apparent from the get-go -- >> when you look at it on its face, this case is a real tough one. >> reporter: for one thing, there was so much evidence they didn't have against sam. >> there was no murder weapon here. we had no witness. we had no confession. we had no dna. so you can look at it that way, in a conventional review. and yeah, it looked really tough. >>...

His name is matt murphy, and he noticed one thing right away. >> the first thing you see when you look at the file is a big rejection from really good lawyers who reviewed it individually and as a group. >> reporter: which means they tried very hard to make a case and they couldn't do it? >> they tried very hard. that's right. and they figured, based on their review, that they couldn't do it. >> reporter: and some of the reasons were apparent from the get-go -- >> when you look at it on its face, this case is a real tough one. >> reporter: for one thing, there was so much evidence they didn't ...

This time though, something different happened. a prosecutor unfamiliar with the case agreed to take a fresh look. his name is matt murphy, and he noticed one thing right away. >> the first thing you see when you look at the file is a big rejection from really good lawyers who reviewed it individually and as a group. >> reporter: which means they tried very hard to make a case and they couldn't do it? >> they tried very hard. that's right. and they figured, based on their review, that they couldn't do it. >> reporter: and some of the reasons were apparent from the get-go -- >> when you look at...