Grave Injustice | Full Episode | Forensic Files

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

Convicted of murder and sentenced to death -- 16 years later students help set Anthony Graves free. "48 Hours" correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

Brief Summary

Anthony Graves was wrongfully convicted of a brutal family murder, exonerated after 18 years on death row due to investigative journalism.

Key points

The Brutal Crime. A shocking crime leaves six members of the Davis family dead, including four children.
Tunnel Vision in Justice. Anthony Graves is convicted based on flawed evidence and witness testimony.
A Life on Death Row. Anthony Graves spends eight years on death row, fighting for his innocence.
The Recantation. Robert Carter recants his testimony against Graves just before his execution.
A Break in the Case. A federal appeals court overturns Graves's conviction due to prosecutorial misconduct.
The Fight for Justice. Kelly Seagler, a tough prosecutor, faces challenges in building a case against Anthony Graves, revealing the weaknesses in the prosecution's evidence.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This is definitely a life and death struggle.

0:13WatchFeb 4, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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