HOST:
In １９９２, a heinous crime was committed in a small town
in Texas, USA: the brutal murder of a family including
four small children. Two men were sentenced to die. But one of them,
Anthony Graves, was eventually found to be innocent. But before being released,
he had to spend １８ years of his life in prison, １２ of which were
on death row.

Anthony Graves (m):
Someone that the police picked up as a suspect to a murder gave them a false story
and told them that I was involved in a murder with them.
And from there it just took on a life of its own.

SMTV (f):
How old were you at that time？

Anthony Graves (m):
I was ２６. I had a family. I had three sons, brothers, siblings, a mother.
I spent a total of １８ years and four months.

SMTV (f):
And how many years were you in prison before you were actually tried？

Anthony Graves (m):
I was incarcerated for about two and a half years.

SMTV (f):
And then you had the trial？

Anthony Graves (m): Then the trial. And what was the verdict？

Anthony Graves (m):
Well, they found me guilty of capital murder of killing six people and
sentenced me to death. I was given two execution dates where the state tried
to murder me for something I didn’t do.

HOST:
Till today, no evidence was ever found to indicate his guilt.
But everything that could go wrong, went wrong in Anthony’s case:
Evidence of his innocence was withheld; a key witness threatened
from testifying in his support. And the man who did commit the crime
was pressured to name Anthony as an accomplice, which he since regretted
and recanted multiple times before he was executed in ２００２.

Anthony Graves (m):
Even in his death, his last words were that I was innocent,
and that he had lied on me in court.

HOST:
But the recantment was concealed. And even after Anthony managed
to be taken off death row as his case was overturned in ２００６, he had to spend
an additional four years in jail waiting for his retrial.

SMTV (f):
And when were you finally released from prison？

Anthony Graves (m):
I was released October ２７, the year ２０１０.