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Grave Injustice | Full Episode

February 04, 2025 / 41:42

This episode of 48 Hours Mystery covers the brutal 1992 murders of the Davis family in Somerville, Texas, and the wrongful conviction of Anthony Graves. Key discussions include the details of the crime, the investigation, and the eventual exoneration of Graves.

The episode recounts the horrific crime where six family members, including four children, were murdered. Firefighters discovered the bodies in a house fire, and the community was left in shock. The investigation led to the arrest of Anthony Graves, who was convicted based on questionable testimony.

Robert Carter, the father of one of the victims, initially implicated Graves. However, his credibility was undermined by inconsistencies and a recantation before his execution. The episode highlights the role of Nicole Cazares and her journalism students at the University of St. Thomas, who investigated the case and uncovered crucial evidence supporting Graves' innocence.

After spending 18 years on death row, Graves' conviction was overturned in 2006 due to prosecutorial misconduct and lack of evidence. The episode emphasizes the flaws in the legal system and the impact of wrongful convictions.

Ultimately, Graves was exonerated in 2010, leading to an emotional reunion with his family and a reflection on his lost years. The episode serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of justice and the consequences of a flawed legal process.

TLDR

The episode details the wrongful conviction of Anthony Graves for the 1992 murders of the Davis family and his eventual exoneration after 18 years on death row.

Episode

41:42
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[Music] this is definitely a life and death struggle I don't think the stakes get
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any higher than what's at stake here this is a man's life who's on the line the thing about this case it's hard
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to deal with is those little babies in this fire gutted house firefighters found six bodies it was a shock to
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everybody it was probably the most brutal crime that ever happened in that part of the state you're talking about
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four little babies asleep in their bed a 16-year-old asleep in her bed and their
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grandmother who's also killed at the age of 45 when she took that last breath I guarantee you her last thought was how
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am I going to protect those babies now whoever committed the crime was in a frenzy there were 66 stab
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wounds 66 66 minimum of 66 by the way those are the ones that they counted those were
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living people those are my daughters that was my niece and my nephew who can do that that's what's so
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horrible there's a lot of pressure to find this person or these people that have done
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this 4 days after after the crime law enforcement had their suspect they got their man and that's the end of the
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story they did not do their job tunnel vision total tunnel vision Anthony Graves was convicted of being an accomp
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I'm absolutely convinced that he's innocent I'm a professor I'm not paid to be a lawyer I do it because I believe in
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it Nicole and her students played a really pivotal role in this what did you see yourself as being up against we're
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we like to execute people how many people have you put up on death row a lot there's nothing wrong with winning
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when you're convicting people who are guilty we want to get him out we think he is truly an innocent
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person I've written crime stories for Texas monthly for 13 years what I wanted to do was to try to get to the bottom of
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what had happened in this case there is an innocent person who is going to death row if I don't do my
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job does this man get to live does this man get to die grave in Justice tonight's 48 Hours
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mystery [Music] this was such a horrific event in that town and continues to be an event that
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really haunts the people of Somerville this used to be where the Davis family lived before the early morning hours of
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August 18th 1992 in the midst of the rubble the police found those six bodies all
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members of the same family this was a family that almost everyone in town knew liked
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respected the victims a grandmother her daughter and four grandchildren who were
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staying with them reporter Pam Koloff is still moved by the fact that the family never had a chance there
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was Bobby Davis the grandmother to the four children who was bludgeoned and then stabbed to death there was
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16-year-old Nicole her daughter who was a high school student an athlete who was
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bludgeon and shot and then there were the four grandchildren they were 9-year-old denitra 6-year-old Britney
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5-year-old learon and four-year-old Jason my daughter's were exotically beautiful Glenda rutage was Lee Aon and
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Britney's mother they were my legacy and I was so looking forward to the chance to get it
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right to raise strong sure confident successful women you know I wanted to do that so
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bad Glenda's ex-husband Keith Davis lost almost his entire family that night these were little babies and and my
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mother who I you know who we adored who was the center of our life he was convinced it was a random crime I just
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couldn't imagine someone from that area harming anyone in my family cuz we had never we didn't have any enemies we
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hadn't been in any trouble Roy Ritter lived and worked not far from the murders 5 days after the
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crimes he remembers hearing there was a break in the case I could hear the radio
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and the News would always come on and it was early in the morning and and they came up and they said you know arrest
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have been made and they said uh Anthony Charles Graves age 27 Anthony Graves was one of Ritter's
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best friends Graves had worked for him for a while at his machine shop and the two became came so close that Graves had
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even been in Ritter's wedding party it just freaked me out but my immediate thing was yeah right no way and what you
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know what what could possibly be going on here you know you didn't believe it well of course not absolutely not Ritter
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knew Anthony Graves as a gentleman a father of three and he now is hearing his friend was a murderer of women and
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children in my heart my convictions were that's impossible because Anthony would
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never do that Anthony would never hurt or raise a hand to a woman and especially not a child especially the
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way he loved his children and when Graves was arrested he seemed equally stunned you're charged
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with the offense of Cal murder who capital murder me Roy was so sure of his best friend's
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innocence that he even put up $10,000 of his own money to hire a top lawyer for his upcoming hearing convinced it would
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all soon be over there's no way they have they have anything they don't have anything but police did have the words
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of this man Robert Carter was the father of the youngest victim 4-year-old Jason
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and investigators had grown suspicious when they noticed Carter had injuries that were hard to explain at the funeral
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for the victims Robert Carter showed up heavily bandaged on the left side of his
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face and his left hand and the bandages were covering up severe burns Carter claimed he burned himself after his
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lawnmower blew up the Texas Rangers obviously noticed Mr Carter at the funeral he was difficult to not notice
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and they visited him at his house after the funeral and took him in for questioning Carter insisted he had
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nothing to do with the murders but the Rangers had learned that he had a motive Carter was married but he had recently
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been served with a demand for child support from another woman the mother of his son Jason and investigators believe
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Carter went there to kill Jason he very clearly wanted his four-year-old Son dead after the murders investigators
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believe Carter set the fire to cover his tracks but from the beginning they believed he must have had help there
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were so many victims and so many weapons there was a gun there was a knife and there was a hammer and
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investigators found it difficult to believe that one person could have wielded three different objects in
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killing six different people the Rangers interrogated Carter for hours and he finally gave them a name during his
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interrogation Robert Carter placed himself at the crime scene but he said that he had not taken part in the
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murders himself that the person who had committed the murders was a man named Anthony Graves who is his wife's first
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cousin within hours Anthony Graves had been arrested and taken to the police station he took a lie detector test and
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failed man this this a big mistake Capal murder I never even shot a gun in my life
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God and my dream in the wood man at first there was little more than Carter's word to tie and Anthony to the
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case but investigators would soon get help from the last place anyone would expect Anthony's best friend and then
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they asked me if I'd ever known him to carry a knife I said I gave Anthony a knife one
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[Music] [Music] time in Somerville Texas nothing moves very swiftly except for the occasional
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freight train and sometimes the desire for justice emotions were running so high in
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Somerville leading up to these trials that the mayor at the time said that people in the community didn't even want
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to bother that they wanted to quot bring back the Hanging Tree but events would unravel a little
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more conventionally Robert Carter stood trial and was quickly convicted and then
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it was time for Anthony Graves the man whom Carter had named as his accomplice things you see in a horror movie they
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said I did it and did you no would never do anything like that I'm not a violent
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person at all it was just crazy grav said he knew Robert Carter only in passing and didn't know the victims at
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all in fact there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime I'm like whatever's going on is going to be
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cleared up cuz I haven't done anything wrong but authorities only focused more on graves he had said he never owned a
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knife but investigators learned he once did and that it was given to him by his good friend Roy rter and I said I gave
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Anthony a knife one time around his birthday and I have one that's exactly like it and they asked me if I still had
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that knife and I said yep the actual murder weapons were never found but investigators wanted Ritter's knife the
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one he said was identical to the knife he gave Graves and they said would you mind if we examined it and I said no I
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wouldn't mind at all Ritter thought the knives were too flimsy to inflict any serious wounds and some of the victims
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had knife wounds that went through their skulls so Ritter was stunned when those
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test results came back the blade fit inside the skull cap perfectly so all of these folks from the DA's office told
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you that your knife which was identical to the one you gave Anthony fit perfectly into the holes in those baby
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skulls yes sir what did you make of that I I didn't want to believe it because if that was true my friend was a
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murderer right and his friend Anthony graves's murder trial began in October 1994 District Attorney Charles sesa's
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star witness was Robert Carter I would have hated to have had to gone to the jury without Carter's testimony but
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Carter was a problem witness he was a liar he had changed his story several times sometimes implicating Graves
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sometimes not and so when he got on the stand were you worried about what he would say no why because I told my
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attorney I wanted him to testify I said because there's no way this man can look
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me in my face and lie on me I was just trying to have faith in the fact that this guy would be honest you know
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because this is my life this is my life so what did he say when he got up on the
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stand he lied he lied he said I did a crime with him Carter took the stand and said it
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was Graves who stabbed several victims to death and Roy Ritter had to testify about the knife he gave Graves I mean it
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was a very bad position to be put in it was I was very torn you know conflict conflicted about
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it but they said it fit perfectly how did his testimony feel to you as opposed to the other testimony
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night betrayal night betrayal because he knows me this man knew me knew my family knew my kids and
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there were more damaging Witnesses waiting to testify against Graves sesta said he had found five people at the
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jail where Graves and Carter were held who told him they heard them talking about the murders when you have five
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people who overhear conversations very damning conversations between Carter and Graves on what what they did and what
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they've got to do that in itself that's significant that's very admissible I probably could have done with one or two
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in a capital murder case you want as much as you can we had five sester may have had corroborating
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Witnesses but Anthony had Alibi Witnesses where were you that night I was in my mother's apartment with my
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brother a lady friend and my sister Anthony's brother Arthur Curry testified for him and has never changed
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his story My Brother never left the house that night never he never ever left and
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never is never he never left the house that night Anthony's girlfriend another Alibi
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witness was set to take the stand as well but when the day came she unexpectedly
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refused the man who lost most of his family Keith Davis had heard more than enough
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I've seen this guy hundreds of times in court when you looked at Anthony Graves what did you see a murderer it was
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though he had uh horns like a devil he looked like a evil person to me at the time and the jury agreed Anthony Graves
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was convicted of six counts of capital murder the sentence death this is crazy I go from my home where I supposed to be
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safe feel safe and I'm going a death rope was something I didn't even do but as it turns out the jury might
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not have heard everything they did not know that there was a critical piece of evidence
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[Music] [Music] missing [Music] I'm not a violent person I'm not a bad person I respect people I carry myself
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in a dignified manner why me out of all the people in the world why me by 2002 Anthony Graves had spent 8
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years on death row one more inmate who swore he was innocent as the state of Texas moved ever closer to executing
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him were you thinking about your death no never thought about my death thought about my
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life my children my mom I just need to hold on to something a good memory Anthony's optimism may have kept
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him going on death row but for his family as the years passed it was getting harder to keep hope
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alive I couldn't see a light at the end of the tunnel and just to even fathom him being put to death that would be the
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ultimate nail in all of our casets if they killed him for nothing Robert Carter was executed and
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Graves kept losing his appeals he was running out of chances when his case caught the attention of the Innocence
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Network which sent the case to Nicole ceres's journalism class at Houston's University of St
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Thomas we weren't out to prove anyone innocent that was not our goal our goal was just to find out the truth did you
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have any faith in them I mean did you think they could help you yeah yeah because being exonerated by the public
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meant just as much to me as being exonerated by the courts I want people to know that my mother didn't raise a
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murderer my mother raised a good son that meant something to me it didn't take long for the students
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and their Professor to realize the case against Anthony Graves had serious problems beginning with the star witness
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I think one of the first things that we noticed was that Robert Carter had recanted his testimony against Anthony
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right before he was executed and that's very un usual in May of 2000 while strapped to
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the gurnie in the Texas death chamber Robert Carter took sole responsibility for the murders it was me and me alone
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he said Anthony Graves had nothing to do with it I lied on him in court and I think it's really important
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to listen to someone's essentially dying words if there's ever a time when someone might be telling the truth I
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would think that might be it in fact for years before his execution Robert Carter
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said to anyone who would listen that Anthony had nothing to do with the crimes he even said the only reason he
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named Graves as his accomplice was because he saw him on the street before he was
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arrested Anthony Graves did not have any part in the murderers and was not present before during or after I
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committed the multiple murders at the Davis home this is Robert Carter in a 1997 s statement in it he says he told
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sester the same thing in fact he swears he said that to sester just hours before
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he took the stand in graves's trial I told the district attorney investigator that Graves is innocent had nothing to
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do with his murder but sesta didn't believe him Carter went on to testify against Graves anyway because he said he
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felt pressured by the da without Robert Carter's testimony the state didn't have a case except defense
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lawyers say seesta never told them that Carter had just recanted as sesta was required to do by law imagine that
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you're Anthony's attorney and you are facing Robert Carter on cross- examination how meaningful would it have
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been for you to be able to say Mr Carter isn't it true that just five minutes ago
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you said Anthony Graves had nothing to do with this what would Robert Carter have said would he have cracked would
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have he have have taken back his testimony we'll never know sesta has long insisted he told the defense what
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Carter said his response was that uh what is that his eighth or ninth story but graves's attorney denies that while
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the lawyers spent years arguing before appet courts about what seesta did or did not tell the defense the students
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were gathering new evidence on the off chance that Graves might get a a new trial we did weekend trips and we would
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take two cars and uh we would have a list of people and places that we were going to go and the amateur
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investigators were uncovering troubling evidence especially about those jailhouse Witnesses who sesta said
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overheard incriminating statements from graves from nearby cells and over the intercom it was Texas summer so there
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were large fans running one of the intercoms was actually ripped out of the wall and it was just wires Megan Bingham
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is one of the students that maybe this intercom system wasn't all that fantastic you know what could you hear
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was it actually working they were working some of the intercoms and some of the celles were not working I don't
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know which ones but I do know that at least one of those intercoms on one and two or whatever sales they were was
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working how do you know that because I was told this by law enforcement Nicole and the students also tracked
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down and met with graves's former girlfriend the one who could have provided him an alibi if she had taken
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the stand she said she was very sorry that she hadn't testified at Anthony's original trial so why didn't the
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girlfriend testify right before she was supposed to take the stand da Charles seesta said in open court that she was
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was a suspect in the case and might be indicted even though investigators had nothing on her sir couldn't that be read
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though as sort of a koi Ploy if you will to scare away a woman who could very well Alibi your your defendant had
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absolutely nothing to do with that she fled in fear and in tears she said they put him in jail on
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nothing what's to stop them from putting me in jail on nothing after a 4-year investigation talking to
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more than 100 Witnesses Nicole cazarez in her students turned over their findings to Graves lawyers to help with
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his appeals Anthony Graves is innocent Anthony Graves is innocent Anthony Graves is an innocent
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[Music] man but Anthony Graves remained behind bars on death row until March 2006 about
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12 years after he was found guilty and then he got his first big break a federal appeals court one of the
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toughest in the country tossed out his conviction I cried and I pumped my fist and I was
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like yes God is good yes I knew it is my case was overturned somebody seen the truth District Attorney's Office the
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court skewer Charles seesta called his behavior egregious for among other things intent Ally withholding evidence
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that could have helped Graves most notably that Carter had recanted right before he testified Anthony gra did not
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have any part in the Mur and was not prison but even after the Court's decision Anthony was not a free man
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sesta had retired but the new DA said he would try Graves again so Anthony walked
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out of death row and into the county jail where he sat waiting for his his next trial for 4 years and you can't
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believe that it could actually happen in real life but it did this time around Graves has a season defense team
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appointed by the judge Katherine Scardino and Jimmy Phillips assisted by Nicole cazarez we don't know what we' do
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without her I mean she's like our in our Graves encyclopedia the lawyers will have to be on their toes because this is
00:25:27
their opponent like you're mad like you're a friend like you can't can't stop Kelly seagler widely regarded as
00:25:34
the toughest prosecutor in Texas what does that say about David Tim has been appointed to handle the graves case have
00:25:41
you ever lost a capital case a death penalty case yeah [Music] no I would say this is one of the worst
00:26:00
capital murder cases that anyone could ever talk about or deal with Kelly seagler should know she sent 19 men to
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death row you will hear from the evidence in this case so in February 2010 she was ready willing and eager to
00:26:18
make it an even 20 when she was appointed to retry Anthony Graves did that scare you that she was coming after
00:26:27
you no why not I was standing up for what was right so it didn't make no difference who was on the case the fact
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that I was innocent wasn't going to change by the fall of 2010 Pam koloff's investigation of the case had produced
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one of the longest articles in the history of Texas monthly magazine there were so many things about this case that
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fascinated me beginning with how weak the evidence was I wanted to understand how someone could be sent to death row
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on so little evidence of course making graves's case in print is a lot easier than making it in court
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with the trial date approaching and Kelly seagler circling defense attorneys Katherine Scardino and Jimmy Phillips
00:27:12
were feeling the pressure you make a mistake in a death penalty case and it's over they chose to hire a good
00:27:20
prosecutor we're going to have to work hard and be doubly triply prepared Kelly is a formidable opponent seagler has
00:27:28
beaten most of the best lawyers in Texas and now she asked for a meeting with the
00:27:33
graves team why did she wanted to meet with us was she trying to get information from us was she trying to
00:27:39
learn what our trial strategy was I didn't really know what to make of it seagler met with the graves lawyers
00:27:46
around this table and she asked a lot of questions but the defense team could not
00:27:51
have imagined why the prosecutor with her 19-0 record on death penalty cases was having serious problems with the
00:28:00
case against Anthony Graves I read every page of every document in 25 boxes and at some point it switched from getting
00:28:08
ready to go to trial to can we go to trial to oh my God what happened here seagler and her investigator OT hanik
00:28:18
soon realized Nicole and her students were right on target every single time we would reinvestigate or ret talk to a
00:28:26
witness that they had talked to we would find that they were right one by one the
00:28:31
pillars of the prosecution's case crumbled we tried to find paperwork people anything that we could especially
00:28:39
a motive to say Anthony Graves committed the capital murder with Robert Carter and we found nothing otoh hanik tried to
00:28:47
confirm the testimony from sesa's jailhouse Witnesses we can't find anybody that can positively say in court
00:28:55
or in this room that I heard heard Anthony Graves say this I heard Robert Carter say this he looked into Roy
00:29:03
Ritter's knife the blade is flimsy and according to hanik a knife this flimsy could not have caused the kind of wounds
00:29:11
to the skulls that were found on some victims I personally do not believe that that blade is strong enough nor is this
00:29:19
knife made well enough to go through human skulls it's a switchblade knife they're made pretty sturdy da Charles
00:29:28
sesta had argued graves's identical knife had inflicted 66 stab wounds the night of the murder there's no doubt
00:29:36
that that knife could have survived that we had Texas Ranger testimony that that
00:29:40
it could have done it but hanik who is a former Texas Ranger himself believes the
00:29:46
knife would have left its mark on the killer when you get down to the 10th 11th 12th Stab Wound the knife becomes
00:29:55
very slippery becomes very bloody the person that inflicted those wounds is also going to have an injury themselves
00:30:04
and did Anthony Graves have any injuries on his hands not at all did Robert Carter have any injuries on his hands no
00:30:11
what does that tell you that tells me that this is not the knife that caused those injuries seagler thought any new
00:30:19
case against Graves would have to be built almost solely on Robert Carter's testimony but that was before she found
00:30:26
out how Charles seesta got that testimony from his star witness he made a deal with Mr Carter
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and what a deal he made sebesta had a powerful card to play Carter's wife Teresa shortly after the killings
00:30:42
sebesta had also indicted her for capital murder she had given conflicting statements about his Burns there were a
00:30:50
number of things that she did the deal sesta made he would not question Carter about his wife on the stand if he
00:30:58
testified against Graves how does a prosecutor I should say how does an ethical prosecutor put a witness on the
00:31:06
stand your your main piece of evidence in a death penalty case and say okay you get up there and talk about what you did
00:31:14
and what grav did but I'm not going to ask you about your wife you can't do that why in the world would you agree
00:31:21
not to ask him about her well I needed his testimony and points out the deal was
00:31:28
approved by a judge and the defense never questioned it I put on the record I did put on the record the indictment
00:31:36
against Carter's wife was later dismissed due to a lack of evidence and seagler never bought into sesa's theory
00:31:44
that there had to be multiple Killers we appreciated the fact that you didn't have to have three killers because five
00:31:52
of the people killed were children some little babies asleep in their bed how hard is it for a grown man to stab
00:32:01
little babies asleep in their bed and all the evidence seagler says points to Robert Carter not Anthony Graves there
00:32:11
must have been a moment when you concluded gee W this guy's innocent not just not guilty but innocent it wasn't
00:32:17
even a difficult decision it was pretty clear and by innocent you mean he wasn't
00:32:22
there he had nothing to do with it nothing he had never even been in town no motive no reason no connection
00:32:29
nothing never in a million years would I have predicted that this would be the outcome of this case particularly with
00:32:35
Kelly seagler as prosecutor oh my God what happened in Anthony Graves trial on an Autumn afternoon in the
00:32:52
burles County Texas jail Anthony Graves was summoned un expectedly out of his cell I'm sitting and writing a letter
00:33:02
they come get me and say put your shirt on and walk me up to the front of the jail Nicole cazarez and Jimmy Phillips
00:33:10
members of his legal team were there to see him with a message he'd waited to hear for 18 years the murder charges had
00:33:21
been [Music] dropped both of us could barely talk was so emotional and she says Anthony God is
00:33:33
great and he knew and she just say you're free man you can walk you can leave right now it's over
00:33:43
Anthony thing and on October 27th 2010 The Man known as inmate number 99127 got his his good name back Anthony
00:33:59
Graves carrying all of his belongings and looking a little dazed walked out of jail and into the warm Texas Sun
00:34:12
unbelievable this is probably the dumbest question I've ever asked but I got to ask you anyway ask away come on
00:34:18
uh how do you feel oh well I feel good yeah I'll bet you do sir I feel good I I feel good uh 18 years was
00:34:33
a long time I think I've lost a lot but today I gain my freedom you want to talk to someone here
00:34:44
hold on his first call as a free man is to his mother say what you cooking tonight his mother didn't know that her
00:34:52
son was free can can you put some on cuz I'm on my way this is your son and just so you know I did not
00:35:07
escape and his first stop is home to his sons who had grown up without [Music] him and at long last to an
00:35:22
Embrace with his mother when was the last time you were able to put your arm around your mother 18 years
00:35:32
ago years ago you haven't touched your son no in 18 years 18 years 18 years ago I had no
00:35:40
idea he is rejoining the world picking up where he left off okay guys here he is and after all that time Behind Bars
00:35:50
he finally has places to go and people to see at his lawyer's office Graves is able to
00:36:04
thank the people who may well have saved his life the students who got him off death row are you I'm but there's
00:36:12
someone else in the crowd for the first time since graves's trial he sees Roy rter damn you look C his best
00:36:22
friend whose testimony did so much to put him away it happens to the best of us but you know I love you
00:36:33
man oh my God what did that mean to you for him to take those minute minute and a
00:36:42
[Music] half and give me that [Music] Assurance you know that's what life is really all about was it hard to forgive
00:36:56
him no no it wasn't hard at all he just became another pun in their game of chest in Anthony Graves trial this Kelly
00:37:12
seagler is not nearly as forgiving at a news conference she lashed out at Charles sesta who was once a fellow
00:37:20
prosecutor I think ultimately it's the prosecutor's responsibility Charles sesta had handle
00:37:27
this case in a way that would be best described as a criminal justice systems nightmare what are you saying about him
00:37:34
I'm saying that Charles sesta did everything he could manipulating Witnesses fabricating evidence using
00:37:42
people misrepresenting things to the judge and to the jury to make sure Anthony Graves got convicted of capital
00:37:48
murder and put on death row graves's attorneys had filed a complaint against seesta but the Texas State Bar dismissed
00:37:56
it and sesta insists he did nothing wrong that seagler was just afraid of losing a big case they didn't have an
00:38:05
intention of trying this case basically they're looking for a way out sesta says
00:38:10
you didn't want to take the risk of losing it at trial really that's what he said well I would say that he's going to
00:38:21
have a hard time finding any single other person that would agree that I'm afraid to go to trial on anything but
00:38:29
seagler says there was one thing she dreaded about this case telling the victim's family that the man they
00:38:36
believed was a murderer for so long is not 18 years they' believed that the two men responsible for killing their family
00:38:47
their babies their mom their sister um got what they deserved it could have been
00:38:53
different Glenda rutage lost her two daughters that August Night in 1992 some of them are never going to
00:39:02
change their minds they're always going to think Anthony grav is guilty no matter what I
00:39:07
say how do you get upset with them they're as much a victim of what happened as Anthony Graves
00:39:15
is for his own troubles Anthony Graves should have been paid 1.4 million when he was released that's what the state of
00:39:23
Texas figures 18 years of wrong imprisonment is worth but there was a paperwork snafu his release documents
00:39:32
never used the words actual innocence so Texas refused to pay two words two words
00:39:39
they're holding me hostage behind two words finally after 9 months of public pressure the legislature passed and the
00:39:48
governor was quick to sign a special measure awarding him the money Graves credited 48 Hours mystery
00:39:56
for drawing attention to what he was owed but he had already won the biggest fight of his life for his life and for
00:40:05
his freedom you could put your hands out and touch both walls while I was living it
00:40:10
you know he can come and go as he pleases as he tries to absorb how far he's come from a previous life he's
00:40:20
still struggling to understand they were trying to kill me I still can't wrap my mind around how
00:40:29
the hell did I go from home to death row for a crime that happened in another town about to people I don't even
00:40:40
know it's it's crazy and and and I gave 18 years of my life [Music] [Music] he

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 95
    Most heartbreaking
  • 90
    Most emotional
  • 85
    Most dramatic
  • 85
    Most heartwarming

Episode Highlights

  • The Brutal Crime
    A shocking fire leads to the discovery of six bodies, including four children.
    “Four little babies asleep in their bed.”
    @ 00m 42s
    February 04, 2025
  • Tunnel Vision in Justice
    Law enforcement quickly arrests Anthony Graves, but many believe he is innocent.
    “Tunnel vision total tunnel vision.”
    @ 01m 40s
    February 04, 2025
  • Carter's Recantation
    Before his execution, Robert Carter takes full responsibility for the murders, exonerating Graves.
    “It was me and me alone.”
    @ 19m 08s
    February 04, 2025
  • Graves' Exoneration
    After years on death row, Anthony Graves' conviction is overturned by a federal appeals court.
    “Yes, God is good! Yes, I knew it!”
    @ 24m 16s
    February 04, 2025
  • Anthony Graves' Release
    After 18 years, Anthony Graves hears the charges against him have been dropped.
    “You're free man, you can walk, you can leave right now, it's over.”
    @ 33m 33s
    February 04, 2025
  • The Emotional Reunion
    Graves embraces his mother for the first time in 18 years after his release.
    “When was the last time you were able to put your arm around your mother?”
    @ 35m 30s
    February 04, 2025
  • A Long Fight for Justice
    Graves reflects on his wrongful imprisonment and the struggle for compensation.
    “I still can't wrap my mind around how the hell did I go from home to death row?”
    @ 40m 27s
    February 04, 2025

Episode Quotes

  • Four little babies asleep in their bed.
    Grave Injustice | Full Episode
  • I never even shot a gun in my life.
    Grave Injustice | Full Episode
  • I want people to know that my mother didn't raise a murderer.
    Grave Injustice | Full Episode
  • Yes, God is good! Yes, I knew it!
    Grave Injustice | Full Episode
  • Oh my God, what happened in Anthony Graves' trial?
    Grave Injustice | Full Episode
  • I feel good, I feel good, uh, 18 years was a long time.
    Grave Injustice | Full Episode

Key Moments

  • Life and Death00:13
  • Horrific Discovery00:42
  • Tunnel Vision01:40
  • Carter's Confession19:08
  • Hope Restored24:16
  • Freedom33:33
  • Emotional Reunion35:25
  • Struggle for Justice40:05

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown