13 Alibis - Ep. 5: Breaks My Heart

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Speaker 7 It's been 10 months since I first met Richard Rosario's kids, Amanda and Richard Jr.

Speaker 1 Now, after nearly two decades of failed appeals, they have new hope that their father's latest motion will be granted.

Speaker 8 While they wait for news, they make one of their twice-a-year trips from Florida to visit their father.

Speaker 10 Here at the airport, about to get on the plane soon.

Speaker 6 Hopefully, go see our father in New york and they let me tag along i'm dan slepian and this is 13 alibis

Speaker 8 when amanda and richard jr arrive in new york i offer to drive them to the prison I'm curious what the visits are like for Rosario and his kids.

Speaker 8 Have they ever spoken with their dad about what it's like growing up without him? Amanda's answer surprises me.

Speaker 3 I haven't talked to him about it ever.

Speaker 12 It was a strange feeling in the car.

Speaker 6 A mixture of sadness and anticipation and excitement.

Speaker 5 Along the way, we discussed how the relationship with their dad has evolved over the years.

Speaker 12 I don't know if it's rare. I don't know if this relationship you have with him, you live in a different state, the only way you've known him is in prison.

Speaker 12 And yet, you keep coming up, you keep flying up.

Speaker 6 What is it that keeps that bond so tight?

Speaker 3 Despite the fact that I wasn't able to see him when I was little, I always got a card. I always got

Speaker 3 so much from him as a little girl.

Speaker 16 You always made it known that he was our father.

Speaker 14 And that he loved us. That he loved us.

Speaker 14 You know, life would have been really different if my father was around. As a boy, you go to your father for guidance and for help because he's another man in your household.

Speaker 9 After about a two-hour drive, we arrive at the prison.

Speaker 12 Get any feeling in your

Speaker 12 gut when you see this prison over this hill?

Speaker 14 Nerve-wracking. Yeah,

Speaker 14 I get butterflies. I get nervous.

Speaker 6 The visiting room at the Sullivan Correctional Facility feels like a small cafeteria.

Speaker 9 There are square tables and vending machines lining the walls. Amanda and Richard are seated at a table in the corner, near the door where their father will walk out.

Speaker 17 Oh man, I'm getting nervous.

Speaker 6 They often sing to themselves while they wait.

Speaker 5 The kids tell me it calms them.

Speaker 12 And then the bell rings, meaning Rosario has arrived from the cell block.

Speaker 17 My dad.

Speaker 15 You saved?

Speaker 15 How are you?

Speaker 18 It's up, man.

Speaker 12 It's obvious how happy they are to see each other.

Speaker 6 For a moment, we could have been anywhere.

Speaker 5 It's easy to forget we're in a maximum security prison.

Speaker 19 How was your trip over?

Speaker 17 It was good. It was cool.

Speaker 20 You look sharp.

Speaker 5 After some small talk and catching up, Amanda brings up the topic she says they've always avoided.

Speaker 3 On the way over here, we were talking about we've never really expressed individually how this whole thing has affected us.

Speaker 14 I can't even come up with the words how I feel.

Speaker 1 I mean, just let it out, man.

Speaker 18 It breaks my heart every time I have to come here

Speaker 18 to see you sitting here and just like

Speaker 18 why is he here?

Speaker 18 And that's something the biggest thing I can lose in life is my father.

Speaker 20 It's different with you know us because it wasn't like I was a deadbeat dad.

Speaker 1 I was dead, you know?

Speaker 20 If you don't remember a lot of things, I used to take out a parks and you should just be us.

Speaker 1 How you feel about all this?

Speaker 17 Yeah.

Speaker 23 I get anxiety before I come.

Speaker 15 I get to

Speaker 15 depressed when I leave. I know.

Speaker 3 I try to stay positive and I appreciate the phone calls and I appreciate the letters and I thank God that I can at least visit you.

Speaker 23 But I don't know. It's just, it's hard.

Speaker 23 I know. I hate making memories over the phone.

Speaker 15 I hate.

Speaker 1 And I feel like the older I get,

Speaker 3 the worse it gets for me.

Speaker 20 You know, I'm going to die on my feet fighting for my freedom, for my children.

Speaker 20 And that's what I'm going to keep doing for the rest of my life, whether I'm here or out there.

Speaker 20 And that's what you got to do.

Speaker 13 Despite the circumstances, despite the pain this has caused all of them, despite that they've never directly talked about this, you can hear the commitment and the love they share.

Speaker 20 You want to talk about this anytime, how you feel?

Speaker 19 Life in general, we could talk about anything.

Speaker 20 You don't have to feel no shame. I've cried plenty of times.

Speaker 20 Because I love my family, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Speaker 20 And that's one thing that, you know, I'm glad. It's like I tell your mother, she's the best thing that happened in my life.

Speaker 20 Because through her, I have you guys. So, you know, me and your mother did something good in life.
I did something good in life. And despite what I'm going through, I haven't gone to that.

Speaker 6 Their visit isn't all deep and serious.

Speaker 1 They talk about the things any normal family would, like the latest movies.

Speaker 15 Like, I have an app on my phone where I can watch it.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.
Happy to watch it.

Speaker 15 I'm about to tonight, huh?

Speaker 1 And then, all too soon, it's time to say goodbye.

Speaker 20 Let's end this stand standard.

Speaker 17 Love you, Daddy.

Speaker 22 We love you too.

Speaker 23 I'll see you.

Speaker 1 Love you, heart. Love you too, Dad.

Speaker 18 I love you guys, right?

Speaker 1 Keep working.

Speaker 5 And in all of their minds, is whether this will finally end.

Speaker 11 Rosario's fate is once again in the court's hands.

Speaker 20 I've been waiting for them to do the right thing for 19 years, but until then, I'm, you know, cautiously optimistic.

Speaker 8 Weeks, months, a full year passes, and now I'm back in the office of Richard Rosario's attorneys at the Exoneration Initiative.

Speaker 10 This time, the mood is a bit more somber as I begin speaking with lawyer Rebecca Friedman.

Speaker 12 Tell me what's happened.

Speaker 3 Our motion was denied.

Speaker 3 Without a hearing, the judge said there's not enough here for me to even give you your day in court.

Speaker 11 Denied.

Speaker 5 In his decision, the judge wrote that Rosario already had his day in court, referring back to that 2004 hearing where seven of Rosario's alibi witnesses testified and were rejected.

Speaker 7 The judge called that hearing extensive and ruled that Rosario's new motion to vacate his conviction is denied in all respects.

Speaker 10 Bronx DA Robert Johnson declined an interview, but I got an email from his office pointing out Rosario's long list of unsuccessful appeals all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

Speaker 6 I wish I could say I was surprised by the decision, but by now I've come to believe that even if you have a videotape of the crime itself, it's not enough.

Speaker 5 All right, maybe that's a little dramatic, but you get my point.

Speaker 11 Can you describe what it feels like to work on a case that long?

Speaker 5 Know the case the way you know it, and have your motion denied.

Speaker 3 It's incredibly frustrating.

Speaker 3 I think is the best way to put it.

Speaker 1 It's sad.

Speaker 3 It's dismissive of Richard's life. You know, this isn't just a name.
Richard never actually even appeared in court before this judge.

Speaker 3 We tried to get this judge to bring him to court so I could look at his face and see this is a man, this is a person. This is not just a name on a piece of paper.

Speaker 8 By the time that appeal was rejected in 2015, I'd known Rosario for about two years.

Speaker 7 I spoke with him often, got to know his case, got to know his family.

Speaker 6 But what I didn't know was how he'd react to the news that he was denied again. So I visit him, this time in a different prison from when I last saw him.

Speaker 16 A lot of barbed wire.

Speaker 12 You know, he's in a new prison over here.

Speaker 16 One night he was told to pack up his stuff and

Speaker 6 he was moved, which must be stress on top of stress.

Speaker 6 Mr. Rosario.

Speaker 13 How you doing, Dan? Good to see you again.

Speaker 1 Good to see you. He walks into the room apprehensive.

Speaker 1 He looks defeated.

Speaker 15 Listen,

Speaker 6 just be yourself.

Speaker 13 Of course. Just speak the truth.

Speaker 1 Of course.

Speaker 6 That's all that matters, right?

Speaker 6 You've been locked up for 20 years.

Speaker 21 20 years.

Speaker 6 And you just had your latest appeal denied.

Speaker 6 Yeah.

Speaker 5 How do you process that? How do you deal with that?

Speaker 15 I mean,

Speaker 22 I've been through it so many times, so my bar of expectation is so low.

Speaker 1 But it hurts.

Speaker 21 I mean, you get denied and then, you know, I'm on a visit with my wife and, you know, I can't even look at her because I don't want this for her.

Speaker 19 So it's difficult.

Speaker 1 He believes the people who put him away must know he's innocent by now and just won't own up to it.

Speaker 22 We're dealing with people that don't want to say, you know, we made a mistake.

Speaker 22 Nobody wants to say that. It was easier for them to just close a case and give somebody some semblance of peace, which is the victim's family, but you know, they caused them more harm.

Speaker 22 And God knows what happened with this guy, whoever did it. He's still running the streets or how many other victims he's had since.

Speaker 7 Rosario's fight continues.

Speaker 6 I go to see his lawyers, Rebecca Friedman and Glenn Garber, again, who have filed yet another appeal asking a higher court to grant Rosario a new hearing.

Speaker 12 When people see this, right, people are saying that, wait, I don't get it.

Speaker 16 What do you make of that?

Speaker 24 I mean, it happens because we live in a world that is upside down, okay, where jurists who have sworn to uphold justice don't do it. They look for ways to turn a blind eye to this, and it's gross.

Speaker 24 That's why.

Speaker 24 It's not rational. So don't ask us to give you a rational answer.

Speaker 8 Things are looking as bleak as they ever have for Rosario.

Speaker 1 Will he ever get out?

Speaker 8 That's next time on 13 Alibis.

Speaker 5 13 Alibis is a production of NBC News and Dateline NBC.

Speaker 8 It's produced and edited by Robert Allen and Grant Irving.

Speaker 7 Our music is by Nolan Schneider.

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Speaker 2 Hi, neighbor! Save up to 70% on classic furniture and decor through December 2nd. It's Black Friday at Birch Lane, a Wayfair specialty brand.

Speaker 2 Find Classic Style for joyful living and get free shipping on everything. Shop online at birchlane.com.