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Details that he was able to begin showing the fallacies and the falsehoods in his case, and i had never done an appeal of a capital case. it was terrifying. >> narrator: lorenzi knew he faced an uphill battle, so he enlisted the help of veteran appeals attorney clive stafford smith. >> i had worked on another capital case where i had needed a favor and tom lorenzi had very kindly helped me out. so when tom got roped into smitty's case, he called me back and i sort of owed him a favor. >> narrator: clive was concerned to learn that hard-line judge frank shea, notorious for fast tracking trials,...

Ft. lauderdale police." yep, told you we was going to get you, and then they extradited me over to new orleans. >> narrator: the fbi believed smitty was behind the murder-for-hire killing of a federal witness named robert collins in 1981. >> robert collins had evidence against what was regarded then as one of the more powerful organized crime families in the united states that allegedly was buying and distributing drugs throughout the gulf coast. >> narrator: the 38-year-old collins had turned state's witness after being caught with cocaine, but collins was murdered before he could testify. de...

People that i could relate to. we had our love for motorcycles, the freedom of the road, came down to fight and raise hell. >> announcer: weeks before smitty's 1983 trial, he married his girlfriend bridgett in a jail house ceremony. >> smitty was about to stand trial for his life. if he lost, he had a very good chance of going to death row and he wanted and she wanted to be able to formalize their relationship before that happened. >> i bought a nice dress, did my makeup and hair. to me it was a celebration of life. >> she brought in a cake, had a nice white dress on, flowers. she looked good....

In 1997 clarence smitty smith was put on trial for rico violations in federal court. and bridget, smitty's estranged wife, had returned to testify against him. >> the outlaws told me that wives can't testify against husbands. and to me that was the way to save my life. because until they told me to marry him, i was waiting for one of them to kill me. >> when bridget learned she might be asked to corroborate smitty's alibi of bar hopping with yankee the night of the murders, she panicked. >> i decided to run and run as far as i could. i had heard before i left that the girl survived and she was...

Smitty clearly had a beard. >> not a skinny build by any stretch of the imagination, so it just didn't match up. >> announcer: for corroboration, tenbrook also submitted smitty's alibi, turning to smitty's wife bridgett who had been working in a topless bar. >> smitty's alibi was that he was essentially bar hopping with yankee and some of his other friends, and i listed bridgett as a defense witness because she was with him on the night of the murders. >> but before she was slated to testify and just days after their marriage, bridgett disappeared. >> i was concerned because she was listed as ...