2 - 1000 Miles Away

13 Alibis - 1 - Behind Bars

Is Richard Rosario an innocent man? Or is he a murderer? Dan Slepian begins his investigation at a prison in upstate New York, and at the scene of the crime in the Bronx.

1 - Behind Bars

I'm innocent and I'm always being innocent no matter what the justice system does.

That's Richard Rosario speaking from a maximum security prison nearly two decades after

I just I still don't understand what I'm doing in prison.

I've been investigating these kinds of cases for two decades now and every time it's a long

Sometimes my reporting has helped innocent people walk free but I have also been lied to

many times from convicted killers looking for any way out.

So is Richard Rosario telling me the truth?

In these kind of cases I need to sort through what is fact and what is emotion.

The biggest thing I can lose in life is my father.

If let's say 98% of the prison population is guilty then that means there are about 40,000

innocent people right now sitting in a cell for a crime they didn't commit.

It happens because we live in a world that is upside down okay where jurists who have

They look for ways to turn a blind eye to this and it's gross.

This story brings up a lot of strong feelings but at the heart of it is a simple question.

How did a man who claims he had 13 alibi witnesses get convicted of murder and serve 20 years in prison? In this original series from Dateline NBC, producer Dan Slepian chronicles the case of Richard Rosario, who was convicted of a 1996 murder in New York City. Rosario has always insisted that he is innocent, and that 13 alibi witnesses will swear he was a thousand miles away in Florida while the crime was happening in New York. Ride along in real time as Slepian spends two years digging deep into Rosario’s case in a quest for the truth.


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0:00.0	I'm innocent and I'm always being innocent no matter what the justice system does.
0:12.9	That's Richard Rosario speaking from a maximum security prison nearly two decades after
0:17.5	being convicted of murder.
0:19.6	I just I still don't understand what I'm doing in prison.
0:23.4	I hear claims like this a lot.
0:25.8	I'm a producer for a date line NBC.
0:28.2	I've been investigating these kinds of cases for two decades now and every time it's a long
0:33.8	journey to the truth.
0:36.3	Sometimes my reporting has helped innocent people walk free but I have also been lied to
0:41.4	many times from convicted killers looking for any way out.
0:45.8	So is Richard Rosario telling me the truth?
0:48.5	I believe he did it.
0:49.5	I don't think he's innocent at all.
0:51.9	In these kind of cases I need to sort through what is fact and what is emotion.
0:56.8	The biggest thing I can lose in life is my father.
1:03.1	Think about this.
1:04.1	If let's say 98% of the prison population is guilty then that means there are about 40,000
1:10.9	innocent people right now sitting in a cell for a crime they didn't commit.
1:15.4	It happens because we live in a world that is upside down okay where jurists who have
1:21.0	sworn to uphold justice don't do it.
1:24.3	They look for ways to turn a blind eye to this and it's gross.
1:31.6	This story brings up a lot of strong feelings but at the heart of it is a simple question.
	...

1 - Behind Bars

13 Alibis

NBC News

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