Grave Injustice

Summary

---

48 Hours: "Grave Injustice"

Original Air Date: July 2, 2026
Host: CBS News (various correspondents, including Pam Koloff)

---

Episode Overview

"Grave Injustice" investigates the devastating 1992 mass murder in Somerville, Texas, and the wrongful conviction—and ultimate exoneration—of Anthony Graves. Through interviews with family, legal experts, investigators, and Graves himself, "48 Hours" exposes how a man spent 18 years on death row for a crime he did not commit, unraveling failures in the pursuit of justice, manipulations by prosecutors, and a remarkable fight for truth led by students and advocates.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Crime and Initial Investigation

• Details of the Crime:
  • In August 1992, six family members—four children, their 16-year-old aunt, and their grandmother—were brutally murdered in a house fire. The crime scene was described as "the most brutal crime that ever happened in that part of the state." (Keith Davis, 00:33)
  • "Firefighters found six bodies... 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."
    —Keith Davis (00:33)
  • The victims suffered 66 stab wounds, multiple types of weapons were used, including a gun, knife, and hammer.
    —Otto Hanock, Investigator (01:04)
• Pressure on Law Enforcement:
  • "There's a lot of pressure to find this person or these people that have done this."
    —Otto Hanock (01:21)

The Arrest and Prosecution of Anthony Graves

• Tunnel Vision & Questionable Evidence:
  • Law enforcement arrested Anthony Graves solely four days after the murders, heavily relying on a coerced witness statement by Robert Carter, the father of one of the child victims.
    —Nicole Cazarez (01:30, 01:37)
  • "Tunnel vision. Total tunnel vision."
    —Otto Hanock (01:37)
• Character Testimonies:
  • Friends and family noted Graves' gentle character, strong ties to his children, and disbelief at his arrest.
    —Roy Ritter (05:43): "Anthony would never hurt or raise a hand to a woman, and especially not a child."
• Investigation Shortcomings:
  • The only evidence tying Graves to the crime came from Carter, who was under duress when giving his statement.
  • No physical evidence, fingerprints, or DNA linked Graves to the murders or the crime scene.

Anthony Graves’ Trial and Conviction

• Reliance on Carter’s Testimony:
  • Despite Carter’s changing stories and later recantations, prosecutors built their entire case around his courtroom testimony implicating Graves.
    —Pam Koloff (11:40-12:38); Carter was described as "a liar" and "a problem witness."
  • "He lied. He said I did a crime with him."
    —Anthony Graves (12:30)
• Knife Evidence:
  • Investigators used the existence of a knife—given to Graves by his friend Roy Ritter—as incriminating, despite the actual murder weapons never being found. Ritter’s testimony about the knife haunted him.
    —Roy Ritter (11:12); "The blade fit inside the skull cap perfectly."
• Jailhouse Witnesses & Prosecutorial Pressure:
  • Five jailhouse witnesses claimed to overhear incriminating conversations, but their credibility was later debunked by student investigators.
    —Kelly Siegler (13:33): "When you have five people who overhear conversations, very damning conversations..."
• Lost Alibi:
  • Graves’ girlfriend, a key alibi witness, was intimidated out of testifying by the DA’s tactics.
    —Nicole Cazarez (22:40, 23:16): "She fled in fear and in tears... What's to stop them from putting me in jail on nothing? Nothing."
• Conviction:
  • "[He] looked like an evil person to me at the time, and the jury agreed. Anthony Graves was convicted of six counts of capital murder. The sentence, Death."
    —Keith Davis / Pam Koloff (14:50-15:06)

Years on Death Row & the Fight for Justice

• Maintaining Hope:
  • "I just need to hold on to something. A good memory."
    —Anthony Graves (17:08)
• Student Investigators’ Breakthrough:
  • The Innocence Network and journalism professor Nicole Cazarez, with her students, took up Graves’ case, seeking the truth rather than an exoneration.
    —Nicole Cazarez (18:08): "Our goal was just to find out the truth."
• Key Discoveries:
  • Robert Carter repeatedly recanted, including statements made moments before his execution, but these recantations were suppressed by DA Charles Sebesta.
    —Pam Koloff (19:00-20:25)
  • "It was me and me alone, he said. Anthony Graves had nothing to do with it. I lied on him in court."
    —Narrator (19:00)

Unraveling the Conviction

• Withholding Evidence:
  • The federal appeals court overturned Graves’ conviction due to “egregious” misconduct by Sebesta, who withheld Carter’s recantation and manipulated official testimonies.
    —Pam Koloff (24:21): "The court skewer Charles Sebesta called his behavior egregious for… intentionally withholding evidence."
• Collapse of Prosecution’s Case:
  • Investigator Otto Hanock and prosecutor Kelly Siegler, initially intent on a retrial, concluded there was no real evidence against Graves, thanks to the work of Nicole Cazarez and her students.
    —Otto Hanock (29:31-31:09): "We found nothing. We can't find anybody who can positively say in court…"
  • On the knife: "I personally do not believe that that blade is strong enough, nor is this knife made well enough to go through human skulls."
    —Otto Hanock (30:11)

Exoneration and Aftermath

• Full Exoneration:

  • All charges were dropped in 2010, after 18 years of wrongful imprisonment:
    —Nicole Cazarez to Graves: "You're free, man. You can walk, you can leave right now. It's over, Anthony." (34:31-34:44)
  • "I feel good. I feel good. 18 years was a long time. I think I've lost a lot. But today I gave my freedom."
    —Anthony Graves (35:24)

• Reuniting with Family and Forgiveness:

  • Emotional reunions (36:28-37:30) and forgiveness towards Roy Ritter, whose testimony helped convict Graves.
  • "No, it wasn't hard at all. He just became another pawn in their game of chess" —Graves on forgiving Ritter (37:54)

• Condemnation of Prosecutorial Misconduct:

  • "Charles Sebesta handled this case in a way that would be best described as a criminal justice system's nightmare."
    —Keith Davis (38:17)
  • Sebesta was eventually disbarred for his actions in the Graves case (42:16).

• Compensation Struggle:

  • Graves’ compensation for wrongful imprisonment was delayed due to typographical issues in paperwork. Only public pressure and legislative action led to payment (40:14-40:41).

• Advocacy and Legacy:

  • Graves became Chief Community Liaison for Harris County Public Defender’s Office and a prominent criminal justice reform advocate (42:08).

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “When she took that last breath, I guarantee you her last thought was, how am I going to protect those babies.”
  —Nicole Cazarez (00:50)
• “We're Texas. We like to execute people.”
  —Nicole Cazarez (01:57)
• “My mother didn't raise a murderer. My mother raised a good son. That meant something to me.”
  —Anthony Graves (18:18)
• “If there's ever a time when someone might be telling the truth, I would think that might be it.”
  —Pam Koloff, on Carter’s recantation before execution (19:18)
• “They put him in jail on nothing. What's to stop them from putting me in jail on nothing? Nothing.”
  —Nicole Cazarez quoting Graves' girlfriend (23:16)
• “It wasn't even a difficult decision. It was pretty clear… No motive, no reason, no connection, nothing.”
  —Keith Davis, on concluding Graves was innocent (33:12, 33:22)
• “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, to people I don't even know?”
  —Anthony Graves (41:21)

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Segment | Timestamp (MM:SS) | |---------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------| | Opening remarks on the horror and scope of the crime | 00:11—00:56 | | Details of murders and community shock | 01:00—03:06 | | Anthony Graves is named and arrested | 05:10—06:22 | | Prosecution’s evidence and trial highlights | 10:04—15:22 | | Robert Carter’s recantations revealed by student investigators | 18:37—20:25 | | Discovery of DA misconduct/Case unraveling | 24:08—33:22 | | Exoneration and Graves’ first moments of freedom | 34:31—36:05 | | Emotional reunions and scenes of forgiveness | 36:28—37:54 | | Final condemnation of DA’s actions and Graves’ advocacy | 38:17—42:16 |

---

Conclusion

"Grave Injustice" takes listeners on a harrowing journey through catastrophic legal failure and the painstaking process required to free an innocent man from death row. Through personal anguish, decades-long advocacy, and the meticulous investigation by students and journalists, the episode exposes not only how easily the system can go astray, but also how truth and persistence can prevail, even against overwhelming odds.

The story stands as both warning and inspiration—a chilling reminder of the stakes when justice gets it wrong, and a tribute to those who fight to set it right.

Transcript

[Narrator/Reporter]

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. He's on the line.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

The thing about this case that's hard to deal with is those little babies

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

in this fire gutted house. Firefighters found six bodies.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

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.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

When she took that last breath, I guarantee you her last thought was, how am I going to protect those babies

[Narrator/Reporter]

now, whoever committed the crime was in a frenzy. There were 66 stab wounds.

[Otto Hanock (Investigator/Former Texas Ranger)]

66, 66. Minimum of 66. By the way, those are the ones that they counted.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

Those were living people.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

Those are my daughters.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

That was my niece and my nephew.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

Who can do that. That's what's so horrible.

[Otto Hanock (Investigator/Former Texas Ranger)]

There's a lot of pressure to find this person or these people that have done this.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Four days after the crime, law enforcement had their suspect.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

They got their man, and that's the end of the story. They did not do their job.

[Otto Hanock (Investigator/Former Texas Ranger)]

Tunnel vision, Total tunnel vision.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Anthony Graves was convicted of being an accomplice.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

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.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Nicole and her students played a really pivotal role in this.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

What did you see yourself as being up against?

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

We're Texas. We like to execute people.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

How many people have you put up on death row lot?

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

There's nothing wrong with winning when you're convicting people who are guilty.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

We want to get him out. We think he is truly an innocent person.

[Narrator/Reporter]

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.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

There is an innocent person who is going to death row if I don't do my job.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Does this man get to live? Does this man get to die? This was such a horrific event in that town and continues to be an event that really haunts the people of Somerville.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

This used to be where the Davis family lived before the early morning hours of August 18, 1992. In the midst of the rubble, the police found those six bodies. All members of the same family.

[Narrator/Reporter]

This was a family that almost everyone in town knew, liked, respected.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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.

[Narrator/Reporter]

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 and athlete who was bludgeoned and shot. And then there were the four grandchildren. They were nine year old Danitra, six year old Brittany, five year old Lerin and four year old Jason.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

My daughters. Were exotically beautiful.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Glenda Rutledge was Leigh, Erin and Brittany's mother.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

They were my legacy and I was so looking forward to the chance to get it right, to raise strong, sure, confident, successful women.

[Narrator/Reporter]

You know, I wanted to do that so bad.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Glenda's ex husband, Keith Davis, lost almost his entire family that night. These were little babies 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

[Kelly Siegler (Prosecutor)]

area harming anyone in my family because

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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. Five days after the crimes, he remembers hearing there was a break in the case.

[Roy Ritter (Friend and Witness)]

I could hear the radio and the news would always come on. And it was early in the morning and they came up and they said, you know, arrests have been made. And they said, Anthony Charles Graves, age 27.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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 so close. The Graves had even been in Ritter's wedding party.

[Roy Ritter (Friend and Witness)]

It just freaked me out. But my immediate thing was, yeah, right, no way. And what could possibly be going on here?

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

You know, you didn't believe it?

[Roy Ritter (Friend and Witness)]

Well, of course not. Absolutely not.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Ritter knew Anthony Graves as a gentleman, a father of three. And he now was hearing his friend was a murderer of women and children.

[Roy Ritter (Friend and Witness)]

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.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

And when Graves was arrested, he seemed equally stunned.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

You're charged with the offense of capital murder.

[Advertisement Voice]

Who?

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

Capital murder.

[Advertisement Voice]

Me.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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.

[Roy Ritter (Friend and Witness)]

There's no way they have anything. They don't have anything.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

But police did have the words of this man. Robert Carter was the father of the youngest victim, four year old Jason. And investigators had grown suspicious when they noticed Carter had injuries that were hard to explain.

[Narrator/Reporter]

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.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Carter claimed he burned himself after his lawnmower blew up.

[Narrator/Reporter]

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.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He very clearly wanted his four year old son dead.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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.

[Narrator/Reporter]

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 and killing six different people.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

The Rangers interrogated Carter for hours, and he finally gave them a name.

[Narrator/Reporter]

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 was his wife's first cousin.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Within hours, Anthony Graves had been arrested and taken to the police station. He took a lie detector test and failed.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

Man, this a big mistake. Captain's a murder. I never even shot a gun in my life. I was dreaming. Of what, man?

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

At first, there was little more than Carter's word to tie Anthony to the case. But investigators would soon get help from the last place anyone would expect Anthony's best friend.

[Roy Ritter (Friend and Witness)]

And then they asked me if I'd ever known him to carry a knife. I said I gave Anthony a knife. One time.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

In Somerville, Texas, Nothing moves very swiftly except for the occasional freight train and sometimes the desire for justice.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Emotions were running sudden, 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, quote, bring back the hanging tree.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

Things you See, in a horror movie, they said, I did it.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

And did you?

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

No. Would never do anything like that. I'm not a violent person at all. It was just crazy.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Graves 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.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

I'm like, whatever's going on is going to be cleared up. I haven't done anything wrong.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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 Ritter.

[Roy Ritter (Friend and Witness)]

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.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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.

[Roy Ritter (Friend and Witness)]

And they said, well, would you mind if we examined it? And I said, no, I wouldn't mind at all.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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.

[Roy Ritter (Friend and Witness)]

The blade fit inside the skull cap perfectly.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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 babies skulls?

[Roy Ritter (Friend and Witness)]

Yes, sir.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

What did you make of that? I didn't want to believe it, because if that was true, my friend was a murderer.

[Roy Ritter (Friend and Witness)]

Right.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

And his friend Anthony Graves murder trial began in October 1994. District Attorney Charles Sebesta's star witness was Robert Carter.

[Kelly Siegler (Prosecutor)]

I would have hated to have had to have gone to the jury without Carter's testimony.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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?

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

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.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

So what did he say when he got up on the stand?

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

He lied. He lied. He said, I did a crime with him.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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.

[Roy Ritter (Friend and Witness)]

I mean, it was a Very bad position to be put in. I was very torn, you know, conflicted about it, but they said it fit perfectly.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

How did his testimony feel to you? As opposed to the other testimony?

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

Night betrayal. Night betrayal. Because he knows me. This man knew me, knew my family, knew my kids.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

And there were more damaging witnesses waiting to testify against Graves. Sebesta 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.

[Kelly Siegler (Prosecutor)]

When you have five people who overhear conversations, very damning conversations between Carter and Graves on 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.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

We had five.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Sylvester may have had corroborating witnesses, but Anthony had alibi witnesses. Where were you that night?

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

I was in my mother's apartment with my brother, a lady friend, and my sister.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Anthony's brother Arthur Curry testified for him and has never changed his story. My brother never left the house that night.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

Never.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

He never, ever left and never is.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

Never. He never left the house that night.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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?

[Kelly Siegler (Prosecutor)]

A murderer.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

It was though he had horns like a devil. He looked like an evil person to me at the time, and the jury agreed. Anthony Graves was convicted of six counts of capital murder. The sentence, Death.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

This is crazy. I go from my home where I was supposed to be safe, feel safe, and I'm going to death. Rope for something I didn't even do.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

But as it turns out, the jury might not have heard everything.

[Narrator/Reporter]

They did not know that there was a critical piece of evidence missing.

[Advertisement Voice]

You wake in the middle of the night alone in your apartment, and that feeling starts to set in that something is wrong. Realizing your home is no longer safe, you plan your escape. But he has other plans. The details are the kind that stay with you. Water running in an empty apartment. A locked door that shouldn't be locked. That uneasy feeling of being watched. That's the setup for Unhinged, the new immersive game experience on Netflix. Your phone becomes your controller, flashlight and lifeline to your best friend. As the attacker in your building closes in, the phone in your hand will ring. The question is Will you answer? Play now Only on Netflix.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

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?

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

By 2002, Anthony Graves had spent eight 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?

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

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.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

end of the tunnel.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

And just to even fathom him being put to death, that would be the

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

ultimate nail in all of our caskets.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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 Cazarez's journalism class at Houston's University of St. Thomas.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

We weren't out to prove anyone innocent. That was not our goal. Our goal was just to find out the truth.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Did you have any faith in them? I mean, did you think they could help you?

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

Yeah. Yeah. Because being exonerated by the public meant just as much to me as being exonerated by the courts. I wanted people to know that my mother didn't raise a murderer. My mother raised a good son. That meant something to me.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

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 unusual.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

In May of 2000, while strapped to the gurney 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

[Narrator/Reporter]

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.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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 murders and was not present before, during, or after I committed the multiple murders at the Davis home. This is Robert Carter in a 1997 statement. In it, he says he told Sylvester the same thing. In fact, he swears he said that to Sylvester just hours before he took the stand in Graves trial. I told the district attorney and investigators that Graves is innocent and had nothing to do with these murders. But Sebesta didn't believe him. Carter went on to testify against Graves anyway because he said he felt pressured by the da.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

Without Robert Carter's testimony, the state didn't have a case.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Except defense lawyers say Sebesta never told them that Carter had just recanted, as Sebasta was required to do by law.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

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 he have taken back his testimony? We'll never know.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Sebesta has long insisted he told the defense what Carter said.

[Kelly Siegler (Prosecutor)]

His response was that, what is that his eighth or ninth story?

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

But Graves attorney denies that. That while the lawyers spent years arguing before appellate courts about what Sebesta did or did not tell the defense, the students were gathering new evidence on the off chance that Graves might get a new trial.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

We did weekend trips, and we would take two cars and we would have a list of people and places that we were going to go.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

And the amateur investigators were uncovering troubling evidence, especially about those jailhouse witnesses who Sebesta said overheard incriminating statements from Graves from nearby cells and over the intercom.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

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.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Megan Bingham is one of the students

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

that maybe this intercom system wasn't all that fantastic. You know, what could you hear?

[Narrator/Reporter]

Was it actually working?

[Kelly Siegler (Prosecutor)]

They were working. Some of the intercoms and some of the cells were not working. I don't know which ones, but I do know that at least one of Those intercoms on 1 and 2 or whatever cells they were in was working.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

How do you know that?

[Kelly Siegler (Prosecutor)]

Because I was told this by law enforcement.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Nicole and the students also tracked down and met with Graves former girlfriend, the one who could have provided him an alibi if she had taken the stand.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

She said she was very sorry that she hadn't testified at Anthony's original trial.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

So why didn't the girlfriend testify right before she was supposed to take the stand? DA Charles Sebesta said in open court that she 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 coy ploy, if you will, to scare away a woman who could very well alibi your defendant had absolutely

[Kelly Siegler (Prosecutor)]

nothing to do with that.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

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? Nothing.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

After a four year investigation, talking to more than 100 witnesses, Nicole Cazarez and her students turned over their findings to Graves lawyers to help with his appeals. Anthony Graves is innocent.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

Anthony Graves is innocent. Anthony Graves is an innocent man.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

I cried. I pumped my fist and I was like, yes. God is good. Yes. I knew it. My case was overturned. Somebody seen the truth?

[Kelly Siegler (Prosecutor)]

District attorney's office.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

The court skewer. Charles Sebesta called his behavior egregious for, among other things, intentionally withholding evidence that could have helped Graves. Most notably that Carter had recanted right before he testified. Anthony Graves did not have any part in the murders and was not present. But even after the court's decision, Anthony was not a free man. Sebesta 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 next trial for four years.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

And you can't believe that it could actually happen in real life, but it did.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

This time around, Graves has a seasoned defense team appointed by the judge, Catherine Scardino and Jimmy Phillips, assisted by Nicole Cazarez.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

We don't know what we'd do without her. I mean, she's like our Graves encyclopedia.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

The lawyers will have to be on their toes because this is their opponent.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

Like you're mad, like you're afraid, like you can't.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

Can't stop.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Kelly Siegler, widely regarded as the toughest prosecutor in Texas.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

What does that say about David?

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Tim has been appointed to handle the Graves case. Have you ever lost a capital case?

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

A death penalty case?

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

Yeah.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

No.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Evening. Buyer's remorse.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

Buy a new car.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

I'll be moving in. Let's get started.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Sorry, I think there's been a mistake.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

I bought it from Carvana.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

You what?

[Advertisement Voice]

Yeah. Great price.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

I even have seven days to love it or return it.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

So there's no.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

No.

[Narrator/Reporter]

No buyer's remorse.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

More like buyers rejoice.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

I guess I'll let myself out. Congratulations. I mean it.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

Buyers rejoice. Buy your car today on Carvana.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Limitations and exclusions may apply. See our seven day return [e-mail] what

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

if everything you learn in history class was only half the story? I'm Dr. Haruni Bhatt, host of Hidden History. Every Monday I go where history gets mysterious. Vanished civilizations, doomsday prophecies, paranormal phenomena and events that science still I can't fully explain on Hidden History. I treat these moments like open case files. Not myths, not superstition. Just incomplete explanations waiting for a closer look. Listen to and follow Hidden History. Available now wherever you get your podcasts.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

I would say this is one of the worst capital murder cases that anyone could ever talk about or deal with.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Kelly Siegler should know. She sent 19 men to death row.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

You will hear from the evidence in this case.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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?

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

No.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Why not?

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

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.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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.

[Narrator/Reporter]

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.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Of course, making Graves case in print is a lot easier than making it in court. With the trial date approaching and Kelly Siegler circling, defense attorneys Catherine Scardino and Jimmy Phillips were feeling the pressure. You make a mistake in a death penalty case and it's over.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

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.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Siegler has beaten most of the best lawyers in Texas. And now she asked for a meeting with the Graves team.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

Why did she want 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.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Siegler 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 19.0record on death penalty cases, was having serious problems with the case against Anthony Graves.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

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?

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Siegler and her investigator, Otto Haneck soon realized Nicole and her students were right on target.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

Every single time we would reinvestigate or retalk to a witness that they had talked to, we would find that they were right.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

One by one, the pillars of the prosecution's case crumbled.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

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.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Otto Hanock tried to confirm the testimony from Sybesta's jailhouse witnesses.

[Otto Hanock (Investigator/Former Texas Ranger)]

We can't find anybody that can positively say in court or in this room that I heard Anthony Graves say this. I heard Robert Carter say this.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

He looked into Roy Ritter's knife.

[Otto Hanock (Investigator/Former Texas Ranger)]

The blade is flimsy, and according to

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Hank, a knife this flimsy could not have caused the kind of wounds to the skulls that were found on some victims.

[Otto Hanock (Investigator/Former Texas Ranger)]

I personally do not believe that that blade is strong enough, nor is this knife made well enough to go through human skulls.

[Kelly Siegler (Prosecutor)]

It's a switch filet knife. They're made pretty sturdy.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Da Charles Sebesta had argued Graves identical knife had inflicted 66 stab wounds the night of the murder.

[Kelly Siegler (Prosecutor)]

There's no doubt that that knife could have survived that. We had Texas Ranger testimony that it could have done it.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

But Hanock, who is a former Texas Ranger himself, believes the knife would have left its mark on the killer.

[Otto Hanock (Investigator/Former Texas Ranger)]

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.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

And did Anthony Graves have any injuries on his hands?

[Otto Hanock (Investigator/Former Texas Ranger)]

None at all.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Did Robert Carter have any injuries on his hands? No. What does that tell you?

[Otto Hanock (Investigator/Former Texas Ranger)]

That tells me that this is not the knife that caused those injuries.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Siegler 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 Sebesta got that testimony from his star witness. He made a deal with Mr. Carter.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

And what a deal he made.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Sebesta had a powerful card to play. Carter's wife, Teresa. Shortly after the killings, Sebesta had Also indicted her for capital murder.

[Kelly Siegler (Prosecutor)]

She had given conflicting statements about his burns. There were a number of things that she did.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

The deal Sebesta made. He would not question Carter about his wife on the stand if he testified against Graves.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

How does a prosecutor, I should say, how does an ethical prosecutor put a witness on the stand, 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 Graves did, but I'm not going to ask you about your wife. You can't do that.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Why in the world would you agree not to ask him about her?

[Kelly Siegler (Prosecutor)]

Well, I needed his testimony.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

And Sylvester points out the deal was approved by a judge and the defense never questioned it.

[Kelly Siegler (Prosecutor)]

I put on the record. I did put on the record.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

The indictment against Carter's wife was later dismissed due to a lack of evidence. And Siegler never bought into Sebesta's theory that there had to be multiple killers.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

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?

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

And all the evidence, Siegler says, points to Robert Carter, not Anthony Graves. There must have been a moment when you concluded, gee whiz, this guy's innocent. Not just not guilty, but innocent.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

It wasn't even a difficult decision. It was pretty clear.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

And by innocent, you mean he wasn't there. He had nothing to do with it.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

Nothing.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

He had never even been in town.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

No motive, no reason, no connection, nothing.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Never in a million years would I have predicted that this would be the outcome of this case, particularly with Kelly Siegler as prosecutor.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

Oh, my God. What happened in Anthony Graves trial?

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

On an autumn afternoon in the Burleson County, Texas, jail, Anthony Graves was summoned unexpectedly out of his.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

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.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Nicole Casarez 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 dropped. Both of us could barely talk. We were so emotional. And she says, anthony, God is great.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

And he knew. She just said, you're free, man. You can walk, you can leave right now. It's over, Anthony. It's the thing.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

And on October 27, 2010, the. The man known as inmate number 999127 got 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 gotta ask you anyway. How do you feel?

[Kelly Siegler (Prosecutor)]

Well,

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

I feel good.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

I'll bet you do, sir.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

I feel good. I feel good. 18 years was a long time. I think I've lost a lot. But today I gave my freedom.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

You want to about talk, talk to someone here, hold on.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

His first call as a free man is to his mother.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

Say what you cooking tonight?

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

His mother didn't know that her son was free.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

Can you put something on, cuz I'm on my way. This is your son. And just so you know, I did not escape.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

And his first stop is home to his sons who had grown up without 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?

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

18 years.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

18 years ago.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

You haven't touched your son in 18 years.

[Roy Ritter (Friend and Witness)]

18 years.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

18 years ago.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

I had no idea. He is rejoining the world, picking up where he left off.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

Okay, guys, here he is.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

How are you? I'm fine.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

But there's someone else in the crowd. For the first time since Graves trial, he sees Roy Ritter.

[Roy Ritter (Friend and Witness)]

Damn, you look old.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

His best friend, whose testimony did so much to put him away.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

It happens to the best of us. But you know I love you, man.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

Oh my God.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

What did that mean to you?

[Roy Ritter (Friend and Witness)]

For him to take those minute, minute and a half and give me that assurance? You know, that's what life is really all about.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Was it hard to forgive him?

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

No. No, it wasn't hard at all. He just became another pawn in their game of chess

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

in Anthony Gray's trial.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

But Kelly Siegler is not nearly as forgiving. At a news conference, she lashed out at Charles Sebesta, who was once a fellow prosecutor.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

I think ultimately it's the prosecutor's responsibility. Charles Sebesta handled this case in a way that would be best described as a criminal justice system's nightmare.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

What are you saying about him?

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

I'm saying that Charles Sebesta did everything he could. Manipulating witnesses, fabricating evidence, using people, misrepresenting things to the judge and to the jury to. To make sure Anthony Graves got convicted of capital murder and put on death row.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Graves Attorneys had filed a complaint against Sybesta, but the Texas State Bar dismissed it. And Sebesta insists he did nothing wrong, that Siegler was just afraid of losing a big case.

[Kelly Siegler (Prosecutor)]

They didn't have an intention of trying this case. Basically, they're looking for a way out.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Sylvester says you didn't want to take the risk of losing at trial, really? That's what he said.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

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.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

But Siegler says there was one thing she dreaded about this case. Telling the victim's family that the man they believed was a murderer for. For so long is not 18 years.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

They believed that the two men responsible for killing their family, their babies, their mom, their sister, got what they deserved.

[Nicole Cazarez (Professor)]

It could have been different.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Glenda Rutledge lost her two daughters that August night in 1992.

[Keith Davis (Family Member)]

Some of them are never going to change their minds. They're always going to think Anthony. Anthony Graves 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.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Anthony Graves should have been paid $1.4 million when he was released. That's what the state of Texas figures 18 years of wrongful imprisonment is worth. But there was a paperwork snafu. His release documents never used the words actual innocence. So Texas refused to pay.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

Two words. Two words. They're holding me hostage behind two words.

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

Finally, after nine 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.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

You could put your hands out and touch both walls. Where I was living it, you know?

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

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.

[Anthony Graves (Wrongfully Convicted Man)]

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, to people I don't even know? It's crazy. And I gave 18 years of my life. Anthony Graves became chief community liaison for

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

the Harris County Public Defender's office and

[Roy Ritter (Friend and Witness)]

advocates for Criminal justice reform. In 2015, Charles Sebesta was disbarred for

[Pam Koloff (Reporter)]

withholding evidence and presenting false testimony in the Graves case. He died in 2026.