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He was a big blond kid with a blond mustache. >> it just fit. it just fit like a glove. >> during the retrial richardson kept his discovery from the prosecution. timing the mystery walker's entrance for maximum impact. >> the back doors burst open, defense calls john ropa and at 3:30 in the morning you couldn't help but think, could that be who patrick cone saw on the road. >> here's another tall white guy, blond, walking down the street. it was effective. >> it was just one of those magical moments in the courtroom. the walker gave that jury a reason to have reasonable doubt. it gave them a r...

Eastburn home on the night of the murders? >> billy was going door to door, interviewing every neighbor. why don't you talk to that kid that walk the street. >> i see that fella all the time. he walks the neighborhood all the time. >> they didn't know who he was. so billy did a vigil, became this quest for the mythical figure of the walker. >> you cannot win your case sitting in your office so i sat out there for six weeks. >> richardson even hoped he might find the real perpetrator but he came up empty-handed. then before the second trial richardson hired an investigator to renew the search. ...

Cheating because it turns out the prosecutors knew exactly who john ropa was. >> the state had found the guy and it basically hid him from us. >> as the jury began deliberating, richardson told the judge what he discovered about the prosecution's conduct. >> deputy sheriff went to john ropa, and they brought him in, and they had him bring his jacket and his hat and they took it from him and put it in the trunk of one of the detective's cars. and they returned it to john ropa after tim hennis was on death row. that's exactly the kind of evidence in a death case that could have tilted it their w...