All language subtitles for True.Crime.Story.It.Couldnt.Happen.Here.S01E01.720p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-NTb_Eng_sdh

[ominous music]

♪

It was real late,
probably 2:00 Friday night,

Saturday morning,
September of '98.

We got a call that somebody
had seen--they said

it looked like a body
or something strange

in the parking lot
over at Taco Bell.

♪

When we arrived,
right around in this area here,

there was a woman laying
in the middle of the road here,

and she was shot in the eye
almost at point-blank range.

So the person watched
her eyes go dark.

♪

The tight-knit fabric of
a small town can be torn apart

when a violent crime happens.

I grew up in a small town.

And when my husband
and I decided to have kids,

we decided we wanted
to raise them in a small town.

We like knowing our neighbors.

We know all the families that
our kids go to school with.

There's just a connection
that we really had difficulty

finding in a big city.

But in every small town
that I've lived in,

there's a flip side
to the coin.

When a violent crime happens,

you know all
the players involved.

You know the victim.

You know the law enforcement,
the judge, the prosecutor,

and chances are,
you know the killer as well.

And that's where it gets
incredibly complicated.

I remember the first murder

that took place
in my childhood.

It was
a local high school boy,

and he was stabbed
at the gas station

right down the street
from my house.

And it shook me up.
It changed the town.

And I definitely think
it planted a seed

to keep looking
at stories like this,

because you want justice
to exist

in these small,
beautiful spaces, right?

So it's important that we
shine a light on these stories

so that they get the attention
that they deserve.

♪

[guitar music]

♪

I have been down in Georgia
for months now

'cause my husband
works down here.

It's been fun driving through
all these little small towns

and really get a sense

of, like, the history
of the area.

♪

And the small town we're
in today is Adel, Georgia.

♪

They've got delicious pizza,
according to the sign.

♪

This is, like, the country.
Everybody know everybody.

Everybody's related
in this town.

You know, you wave,
everybody waves.

♪

I came out here
for a family reunion,

and I fell in love
with the slow pace,

5,000 people in the town,

every morning
like a Sunday morning.

Pretty much a lot
of Southern hospitality.

It's a nice place to live.

♪

[church bells ringing]

Adel is small,
population about 5,000.

Sweet, it's all-American.

But 20 years ago,
this place was really rocked

by a series
of super brutal murders.

There were four of them in,
like, a two-year time span.

And for a town this size,
that's nuts.

That's a horror show.

Now add to that,

there is still a dark cloud
hanging over the convictions,

so the town has never had
a chance to recover.

[ominous music]

♪

[distant sirens wailing]

You can smell it,
and see it,

and hear the surroundings.

All of your five senses are
super heightened at the time

that you're at a crime scene.

It was pretty immediate

after we arrived on the scene

that they knew
that it was Donna.

Donna Brown, the night manager
at Taco Bell.

When I found out
who that it was,

it kind of hit me
a little bit in the chest

because I had known Donna.

♪

She was interested in people
and so nice to everybody.

We'd drive in through there,

and Donna going,
"Hey, how you doing?"

and coming around the counter,
and "How's your day going?"

♪

She was a single mom.

She could get
her kid to school,

and when it would be nighttime,

she would have to go to work.

It's hard to think
that somebody would

take away somebody
that's so nice to everybody.

It's just tough to believe.

That evening,
she had to stay late

because they were
having glitches

in the computer system.

And so, instead of all
the employees leaving at once

and walking out
with each other to the cars,

she let the employees go home.

Businesses that would close
later at night,

they would call,

ask police officers to come
and escort them to the bank,

make sure they dropped off the
deposit without any problem.

That night, we didn't get
a call at the Taco Bell,

so I guess she was tired
and just gonna try

to take it herself
and go on to the bank.

So she would have
locked up here for the night

and walked this way across
to her car, carrying the bag,

and coming across this way.

Right around in this area here
was where she was confronted.

And now she's trapped
between a locked door

and no way to get to her car.

♪

From the shot,
and the stippling on the face,

she was shot almost
at point-blank range.

♪

Somebody holding a gun
that close to somebody,

it's an execution.

Murder is not
a strong enough word for it.

This grass,
it was very matted down,

and you could see

where somebody had been
there laying in wait

for quite some time
for her to leave.

♪

The money was taken.

The suspect got
in her car and left.

So when we arrived
and found the body,

we immediately called the GBI,

or the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation.

In these small towns,

they don't have
the infrastructure

or the resources to deal
with serious violent crime,

because it doesn't happen
often enough.

So it makes sense that they
would call in the big dogs,

the big state
law enforcement agencies.

♪

They started asking us,
trying to find the car.

We knew it was a Monte Carlo,
dark color.

We had to find it fast.

There's no telling.
If they're gonna kill one,

they might kill two or three.

And I-75 is literally 2/10
of a mile away,

and you jump on that,
either way,

you could be in Florida
in a matter of minutes

and Atlanta
in a matter of a few hours.

We were kind of thinking that
that was

probably gonna be a hard thing
to find--was her car.

But then, two blocks away,
at the Pizza Hut parking lot...

♪

One of the officers
just happened

to drive through here.

The parking lot was never lit.

This would be a perfect place
to dump a car

if you were gonna dump it.

Alerted the GBI that we had
a second crime scene.

With the car being parked here,

I was pretty sure
that it was somebody local.

I was sure that,
if it was somebody local,

we were gonna be able
to catch him.

[upbeat music]

♪

This is cute.

♪

It's got a flower festival,

which is a very Southern deal.

So here's the main strip.

This is a cute,
bustling downtown.

♪

These mom-and-pop shops
are family-owned businesses.

People still value
the local community.

This is a small,
tight-knit community,

so when Donna Brown,

the night manager
of the Taco Bell,

was murdered,
it really changed things.

People were scared
because it kind of looks into,

you know,
the heart of the town

when you have something
like that happen.

So many people
knew Donna Brown

from going to Taco Bell.

It wasn't something
that they let go easily.

It's scary.

We're just kids, you know,

and it's, like,
right in our back door.

It actually set
the whole region on fire.

That incident did change
how the town

and the surrounding towns
feel about the security.

It did change my life.

♪

We are headed to go meet
with a law professor

at Georgia State University,
Jess Cino,

and she has just
immersed herself

with all of the murder cases
in Adel.

♪

Hi!
- Hey!

- How are you?
- Good, how are you?

I'm good.
I really appreciate your time.

So this is a brutal murder
in a small town.

So what are the first steps
that the investigators take?

All through the night,

the GBI is processing
the crime scene.

And Adel police are
the first line in introducing

and bringing GBI agents in
to talk to witnesses.

So the next day,
that is sort of the, "Okay,

we need to question pretty much
anybody who's on our radar."

And Adel is small,

so it's not a huge canvass
that they have to do.

But Devonia Inman,
a 20-year-old kid--

he was on
the police radar early.

He had minor in possession.

He made threats
to his girlfriend.

And he allegedly had a gun,

which he brandished
to a man named Zachary Payne

and threatened to rob him
or take his marijuana.

So they pick him up
for the Zachary Payne incident.

They pick him up
on a totally different warrant.

Totally different charge.

But the GBI starts asking him
about the Donna Brown case.

Mm-hmm.

I was at home in California.

My sister called me and told me
that they had arrested Vonia.

I couldn't believe it.

My name is Dinah Ray,
and I'm Devonia Inman's mom.

I was born
and raised here in Adel.

I was 16 years old.

I gave birth to Devonia
on the couch

at my parents' house.

[soft music]

Devonia was about six months
when I left Adel.

And we ended up in California

with Devonia's father.

But it didn't work out,
so we divorced,

and I met

and married my new husband,
David Ray.

He was a great father
since day one.

But Devonia--as a teenager,

he was getting in trouble
for choosing wrong friends.

[ominous music]

I finally decided
to bring Devonia back to Adel.

My dad was pretty strict,

one of those, "you gotta go
to church seven days a week."

So I thought that would be good
for Devonia, the country life.

Devonia wasn't happy
about that.

When I was leaving him,
he was in behind the car,

and he was saying to me,
"Mom, don't leave me."

[soft music]

All I could do
was asking myself,

"Did I make the right choice
or not?"

♪

When the GBI
questions Devonia

about Donna Brown's murder,

what is his response to that?

What is his excuse, his alibi?

His statement is,
he was up late,

playing video games with his
girlfriend at her apartment,

and the girlfriend's statement
supports that.

Okay.

Christie Swain Thomas,

Devonia's girlfriend
at the time,

said on that night,
Vonia came over at about 9:00.

Vonia was there all night
to the next day until 9:30.

On the other hand,
you've got Marquetta Thomas,

who is sister/roommate
to Christie,

and she tells the police
something else.

♪

I was going
by Marquetta back then.

Since then,
I have transitioned

from female to male.

I now go by Que.

Back in around 1998,

me and my sisters were very,
very close,

and we had our own
three-bedroom.

And my baby sister,
my younger sister,

Christian--we called
her Christie.

She met Devonia
at the car wash.

♪

The car wash was,
like, the hangout

'cause Adel was so small,

there were not, like,
any clubs or party sections.

So for most of the Blacks,
we went and hung out.

It was a big deal.

"Y'all going to the car wash
tonight?"

The latest cars, or rims,
or paint jobs,

or loudest music system.

Sit on the hood,
and females walk by

with their little
booty shorts on

and get hollered, and yelled,
and whistled at.

So my sister Christian, Christie,

she loved going
to the car wash.

Devonia kind of stood out

'cause I had never seen him
around in Adel.

Like I said, Adel is so small.

And he was attractive, and
he was something different.

He had came from California.

He just became, like,
a regular figure

around the house after that.

♪

My name is
Tekeisha Pickett-Johnson,

and Devonia is my first cousin.

Well, he was the new guy
in town,

but Devonia had
a very smart mouth,

just speaking out and
talking back to the police.

"I ain't got to do this.
I ain't got to do that."

He gave them reasons
to think he was so bad

and so tough
that they kind of like,

"Oh, we're gonna get
this little guy.

He think he's the [bleep]
because he's from California."

He was a jerk.
I really didn't like him.

But it seemed
to make her happy.

Christie had smaller babies
at the time,

so he actually helped her
with the two little boys

that she had at the time.

So he was a good caretaker,

I would say,
as far as the baby.

But he definitely was verbally
and physically abusive.

How did Marquetta's story
conflict with Devonia

and his girlfriend's story?

Marquetta places Devonia
at Christie's apartment.

Okay.

But then says he left
at a time

where he could have committed
the crime.

Huh.

When the police
came to talk to me,

I told them
that he wasn't there.

I also told them

that the next day
he showed up at our house

with a pocket full of money,
and the money had blood on it.

Marquetta Thomas,

she happened to know
a good deal about it.

And that was pretty much when
the teeth of the GBI came out,

and they started getting into
the heavy part of the case.

What happens next?

A witness named
Virginia Tatum surfaces.

She tells the police that

on the night
of Donna Brown's murder,

she saw Devonia whipping
around a corner

at a high rate of speed,

driving Donna Brown's car.

[ominous music]

♪

We were kind of
knocking the bushes

and trying to find out
who might know what.

It was probably a week later.

We get a call from one

of the newspaper
delivery people.

Normally, late at night,
they would be outside

while they would be
dividing up the paper.

The witness said
she saw Devonia Inman

inside of the car
that belonged to Donna Brown.

♪

The newspaper carrier says
she saw him in the car.

Yes, so now
you have a witness

who can put Devonia
in the victim's car...

Yeah.

Moving from crime scene A
to crime scene B.

So that witness testimony
comes into play.

Mm-hmm.

What else does the state
have against him?

Then, you've got
LarRisha Chapman,

who is one of the employees
at Taco Bell

who was working that night
with Donna Brown.

And LarRisha says,

"When I was leaving,
I saw somebody in the bushes,

and I heard a voice, and it
was that Devonia Inman guy."

She said she distinctly
remembered his voice.

Now you've got a witness who
places him at the crime scene.

That's not looking good
for Devonia.

No.

So Devonia is sitting
in prison.

He hasn't been indicted yet.

They're just keeping him
on the warrant.

They're just keeping him
on the other warrant,

for the Zachery Payne incident,

while the investigators
start really building

this case against Devonia.

But you don't have
Devonia's confession.

He has, time and time again,

despite relentless interrogation,

denied everything.

♪

I don't think
that a investigation

ever really stops
into a murder,

because there's always
gonna be questions.

The biggest question is,
he doesn't answer why.

It was extremely brutal.
Why would you do this?

Why didn't you just
steal the money?

Is there that much hate
in this person's heart

that they've
gotta kill somebody

for basically
1,200 bucks or so?

What is the "aha" piece
of evidence

that just locks it in
that it's gotta be him?

♪

December of 1998,

two-ish months
after the Donna Brown murder,

Devonia gets moved
to Valdosta State Prison.

All of a sudden,
we have a new witness,

and his name
is Kwame Spaulding.

♪

Kwame is an inmate
with Devonia

at Valdosta State Prison.

And Kwame has a story to tell.

Devonia has confessed
the entire crime to him.

Start to finish, Devonia admits

that he committed
the Taco Bell crime.

♪

So now you have Marquetta

showing Devonia has his hands

on the money
from the Taco Bell.

You've got--LarRisha
puts Devonia at the Taco Bell.

Virginia puts Devonia
in Donna Brown's car,

and Kwame Spaulding, who has
the jailhouse confession.

That's an airtight case

from the prosecution's
perspective.

That's the confession
they've been waiting for.

Yes, he had a very organized

"this is how the crime
occurred" narrative,

and "I got all this information
from Devonia himself."

January of '99,

we get an indictment
for the murder of Donna Brown.

♪

And then, in April of 2000,
when Inman was still in jail,

awaiting trial,
we had another murder.

♪

Around noon was when
the call came out.

There was a store
that was down here

that was owned by the Patels.

Evidently left the brother,
the uncle running the store

while they went on a trip.

So they had called
on a welfare check

because he didn't show up
for work the next day.

So when the officers
first arrived,

nobody came to the door.

He was looking inside

and could see blood everywhere.

It was a pretty horrific
crime scene.

You know,
the adrenaline starts pumping.

Your mind starts racing
on what's going on.

Because a murder--
that was just really rare.

With Donna still fresh
on everybody's mind,

and then now you've got
another murder that's happened,

now the community's looking
like it's a crime spree.

♪

[ominous music]

Devonia is behind bars,

but the murders don't stop.

They don't.

The second murder
was Shailesh Patel.

He was running a store.

On this night,

Shailesh decided he would
leave with the money bag

and walk back to the house.

Somebody followed him and got
inside of the house with him.

Once inside the house,
a fight ensued,

ended up with them
taking a large television set

and smashing it over his head.

The GBI, to this day,

have it posted
on their website as unsolved.

- They have not--
- They've never solved it.

♪

And then, seven months later,

there's
another robbery-homicide,

a double homicide.

We had some railway workers
call in and said,

"Hey, something terrible
has happened over here

at Bennett Grocery,
need everybody quick."

Three railroad workers
interrupt a robbery in progress

at Bennett's Cash and Carry,
right by the railroad tracks.

♪

When the first responding
officers arrived,

they found, I believe,
Mr. Bennett first.

And then later on,
they found Rebecca Browning,

who was working for him.

They found her in
another section of the store.

They were beaten to death.
They were beaten to death.

You just won't find
very many crime scenes

that are that brutal
and that senseless.

They're making it
into a church now,

which is just
a beautiful thing.

Where somebody lost their life,
now there--brings new life

to people.

Knowing Mr. Bennett's
Christianity is,

I'll tell you he'd be--he's
smiling right now.

He's smiling down.

Well, when I heard
that Mr. Bennett was beat

to death with a baseball bat,
was just, like, so hurtful.

I mean, I cried like this man
was some kin to me

or something,
like he was my family.

And it was just like, "Wow,
why would somebody do that?"

And it's like,
all you had to do was ask him.

He would've
gave you the money.

It was just hard
for everybody.

Having two homicides
in a year is

just unheard of in this town.

But having three,

that really blew everybody
away in the community.

But this time,

they are quickly able
to get the suspects.

One of the railroad workers
saw the getaway car.

Police locate the car.

And in that car, there's a man.

His name is Hercules Brown.

Police immediately arrest
Hercules Brown

for the
Bennett-Browning murders.

So what do they have
on Hercules Brown

to charge him
with these murders,

besides those
three eyewitnesses?

He has blood on his shoes.

I had known Hercules
since he was a juvenile.

He was constantly in trouble.

He evidently had
a very bad snap temper,

that he could go from 0 to 100
in a snap of a hat.

♪

Four murders now
that have happened.

Are there more murders
after he's arrested?

So the murders stop

after Hercules has
been arrested.

Whenever they found out that
Hercules Brown was the one

who killed Mr. Bennett
and his sister-in-law,

everybody started saying

Hercules is the same person
who killed Donna Brown.

We never had a robber
before now.

Devonia's in jail, and people
are still getting robbed,

and now somebody--two
people dead, and he's in jail.

So who you think did that?

Was there any link between
Hercules and Donna Brown?

He, at the time
of Donna Brown's murder,

worked at the Taco Bell.

♪

I had just quit
working there in 1998.

Donna Brown is the one
who replaced me.

As soon as I heard that this
lady was murdered at Taco Bell,

and Taco Bell was robbed,

I automatically start thinking
of one person,

and one person only.

It was Hercules Brown,

because me
and him worked together,

and he brought
this proposition to me

that I let him rob me,
and then we split the money.

And I was like "No, heck no."

And I never thought
in a million years

that he would actually do it.

But after this robbery
at Taco Bell,

I talked to one
of the GBI agents of Georgia.

I told them
that Hercules Brown came

to me with this proposition,

and as they got the wrong guy,
and, you know,

they had my cousin
already locked up for this.

Basically,
he took my statement,

and pretty much,
they left it at that.

♪

Who else comes forward
and basically tells the GBI,

like, "you're wrong"?

The defense at the time
had a couple

of witnesses
it wanted to present,

one who says,
"I worked with Hercules,

Hercules talked about doing an
inside job at the Taco Bell,"

and the other one being
Thomas Dwayne Edwards.

They were friends who said,
you know,

Hercules had told him that
he had committed the crime.

And so the defense
presents that,

and that gets
affirmatively shut down.

Why?

The judge concluded that
the alternate suspect theory--

they didn't have enough
to move forward with it,

so any evidence about Hercules

being the actual perpetrator
of the crime is kept

out of the case.

- Okay.
- Yeah.

So, as the defense is
getting ready for trial,

do all of the witnesses
maintain their stories?

No, it's a free-for-all.

Facts start to come out
of the woodwork.

I think that my initial
statement and testimony is

what got Devonia arrested
in the first place.

I initially told the police
and the GBI agents

that Devonia was not
with us that night.

At that point, I literally
hated this man's guts,

so I was just willing to say

or do whatever to get him
out the picture.

There's no way that Devonia
could have been at Taco Bell

that night
because he was there with us.

Yes, I totally just lied
on him.

Just basically,
I lied on Devonia.

From the prosecution's
perspective,

they had an airtight case
against Devonia.

They had someone placing him
at the scene of the crime.

They had
the jailhouse confession.

They had all their little boxes
neatly aligned.

And then things
started to shift.

I lied on him
because I felt like

I was protecting my sister.

I think the police--

they had no idea
who had did this crime.

I don't think
they had any leads,

or suspects, or evidence,

so I think
they were very hungry

and desperate to pin it
on someone.

It was two or three big
six-foot tall white guys

with suits.

They would come to my house

at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning.

It was very intimidating.

I was young.
I was a teenager.

I thought, "I got to tell them
what they want to know,

or they're not gonna
leave me alone."

So I'm thinking
the first Black hood Negro

they can pin it on,
that's what they wanted,

and that's what I gave them.

♪

And I did not know
the severity

of what I was saying,

how it would affect him,

and how it would take his life
or take his freedom,

until I became
incarcerated myself.

When I was snatched away
from my kids,

my heart and conscience
is like,

"No, this is not right.
I can't do this."

And I did everything
in my power

to recant my testimony.

But they wouldn't listen.
It was too late.

They had a person,
and that was it.

Seal the deal.

So Marquetta takes back
that first statement.

♪

This was the foundation,

the bedrock
of the prosecution's case,

and she just now drove
a bulldozer through it.

The prosecution's case
is eroding.

You have, for example,
LarRisha Chapman,

one of the employees
at Taco Bell, who says,

"I saw somebody in the bushes,
and I heard Devonia's voice."

But months later,
she writes a letter,

as she says,
to clear up a huge lie.

"I don't even know
what his voice sounds like.

"I didn't see anyone
in the bushes either.

"I was so tired
of the whole ordeal.

"I told those gentlemen
only what they wanted to hear.

They kept pressuring me."

"They" being the police,

"threatened
to take away my kids."

- Really?
- Yeah.

How old was she at the time?

Oh, she was a teenager.
She was 18.

What about the newspaper
carrier who says

that she saw Devonia
in Donna Brown's car?

Does anyone else
back that up or--

No, in fact, she has
another guy there with her,

and his name is Lee Grimes.
- Okay.

Lee Grimes has been
consistent the whole time,

never happened.

There was not any point
in that evening

where what Virginia
said occurred,

which is Donna Brown's car
whipping around the corner.

And Lee Grimes pretty much says
Virginia Tatum's lying,

that she made it up,

and he says
to get the reward money.

♪

But prosecution
keeps moving forward.

What else does the state
have against him?

Is there any forensic evidence?

Zero, but they still had
their two stars.

They had Virginia Tatum,
and then you've got,

you know, Kwame Spaulding,
the jailhouse snitch.

And that's what
the prosecution goes with.

No physical evidence.

- No.
- Just that.

♪

The questions surrounding
Devonia's guilt are nagging.

I'm meeting with Dinah
and Dave Ray,

Devonia Inman's parents.

Dinah and Dave
are being gracious enough

to sit down with us
and tell us about their son.

Hi, I'm Hilarie.
It's so nice to meet you.

Hi, nice to meet you.

- Hi, Hilarie.
- Hi, really nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.
- Come on in.

Did they give you any idea

what the evidence
they had against your son was?

There was no evidence.

And that's why, to this day,
I don't understand.

There was no evidence.
Everybody knew he didn't do it.

The small town was talking,

and they were trying
to tell

the authorities who did it,

but authorities
weren't listening.

This whole trial was just
like something off a TV.

You know, they had us in a room

so that we couldn't sit
in the courtroom

to show support,
you know, for my son.

I just didn't get that.

You weren't allowed to sit
in the trial at all?

At all.

They told us that because
we were witness,

that we couldn't sit in there.

Rather than showing him
with his family,

he seems like a loner.

Yep, exactly.

♪

The prosecution was really
effective, portraying Devonia

as a thug
who is an outsider,

who is coming into Adel
to cause trouble,

and the jury needed
to do something about it,

that it was their duty
to protect their town.

That district attorney
said to the jury,

and I'll never forget,

"The decision that you make
today is gonna affect you

and this town the rest
of your life."

I couldn't believe it.

♪

Waiting to hear the verdict
was nerve-racking.

That's the only time that we
were allowed in the courtroom.

The verdict came back guilty.

♪

Were you able to see your son
or communicate with him?

See him, but they wouldn't
let me touch him.

They wouldn't let me hug him.

My own son turned around
and told me,

"Dad, stop crying."

And I said,
"I can't stop crying."

And I've been crying
ever since.

I told my wife--I said,

"I'm still a man,
but I love my son.

"I'm still a man.
I can cry.

It's all right.
I can cry."

You know, it was hardest thing

I ever had to hear.

I felt like

I'm never gonna see
my son again.

♪

When the verdict
was announced,

the town was really happy,

glad that somebody
was convicted

of the murder of Donna Brown.

Well, I was really young
when it did happen.

They caught the wrong person
at first, I feel like.

♪

Everybody knows everybody.

It's good,
but then it could be bad

in certain situations.

Things that other people say
is not always true.

♪

Do we want the right person
prosecuted?

Of course we do, 100%.

♪

And all I can tell you is

is there's just about
as many people

that said that he is
not guilty as guilty.

And that 50/50 break, man,
that hurts a lot of people.

♪

Devonia Inman's case
first came

to the Georgia
Innocence Project

when he wrote a letter after
he was convicted at trial.

Devonia has always said,

"I did not commit this crime.
I am innocent.

I need help
to right this wrong."

Before the Georgia Innocence
Project would step in,

we have a screening process
for our cases.

One is that there has to be DNA
evidence involved in the case

that has not yet been tested

that can point us
to who perpetrated the crime.

We literally go,
and knock on the door, and say,

"We'd like to see what evidence
still exists in this case."

Okay, so this is
Donna Brown's car.

Yes.
When the police return the car

to the family,
the family calls them back

and says there's a ski mask
in the car

that's clearly not hers.

Is it evidence?

It's literally
on the passenger seat.

It couldn't be more apparent.
- More obvious.

This is what ultimately
gets recovered when they say,

"Hey, you need to come
and get this."

It's this makeshift ski mask,

which is really the bottom
portion of sweatpants

with two eye holes in it.

Doesn't get tested.

It's kind of forgotten about.

That seems like the most
vital piece of evidence.

So who sends it off
to get tested?

So the Innocence Project
sends the mask off

to get tested,
and the GBI agrees

to run it through
their offender database.

Okay.

Final answer, it doesn't
come back to Devonia.

The DNA on the inside
of the mask,

which means it's the DNA
from the person who wore it

and then left it
in Donna Brown's car,

is Hercules Brown.

How did you get the news
about the DNA?

I remember
she got the test back

and called us at work.

And I went out so that
we could sit in the car.

And she told us that
she had gotten the DNA back,

and it was Hercules Brown's
DNA on the mask.

And we just sat in the car.

[soft music]

We just sat in the car
and cried.

And we thought,

"Okay, this is--my son's gonna
be coming home.

Maybe there is light."

The Innocence Project
took those results,

drafted an emergency motion
for new trial.

And Judge McConnell,
the original trial judge,

hears all of this new evidence,

this new evidence that includes
the DNA results from the mask.

But also, this new evidence
includes Kwame Spaulding

saying that he made up
the jailhouse confession.

After the trial,

Kwame admitted that Devonia
never confessed to him.

They didn't even, you know,

interact all that much
in the prison.

He said he was pressured
by law enforcement

to put together this statement.

Once we get good evidence,

and they get a good trial,

you know, I'm all
for locking them up forever,

but we've got to,
as law enforcement,

get it right.

And we just can't go off words

and what people are saying
and stuff like that.

I mean, every day I see that
somebody is getting out that,

you know, 50 years ago,
they went in,

and now they've got
new evidence, you know,

this DNA stuff just
let them go.

Our goal at that point was
to present that evidence

to the court
and let the court know

we meet the legal requirements
to get a new trial.

We all kind of came out of
that hearing feeling optimistic

and hopeful that we were
actually gonna get justice

for Devonia.

That didn't happen.

The court denied our motion
for new trial.

The court found that the mask
wasn't that important.

The district attorney
made the argument

that this DNA
from Hercules Brown

on the mask does not show us

that Devonia Inman
didn't commit this crime.

At best, it shows us
that Hercules Brown

also might have been involved
in the crime.

The state has been
saying all along

Devonia Inman
did this himself.

They basically changed
their entire theory of the case

in order to fit
the mask evidence.

♪

We thought that this is
gonna be the hearing

where he comes home, and...

Everybody thought
he was coming home.

I'm still confused.

I see people come home
every day on the news

for DNA evidence.

I'm saying, why ain't Vonia
coming home?

I don't get that.

Every time
I see somebody come home,

I'm happy for them
to come home,

but I'm sad.

Why ain't Vonia coming home?
It don't make no sense.

♪

This case is very much
not forgotten.

I'm really, really sad

for a lot of the people
in this story.

So many families were destroyed

by this.

Donna Brown's family
was destroyed by this.

Shailesh Patel's murder
is still unsolved.

♪

William Carol Bennett
and Rebecca Browning,

their families were destroyed
by this.

But Devonia Inman,

he's still sitting there
in a prison.

You know,
they took my son away from me.

This is where Devonia was born,
in this house on the couch.

Who helped you?

- Nobody.
- Oh, no.

It just came out, I guess.

They took my son away
from his child.

This is Devonia's son.
- Nice to meet you.

Thank you guys
for letting me come by.

Away from his siblings.
We were a family, too.

And I feel like our lives
is on hold.

And my son
is a forgiving person.

He said to me,

"Mom, you have
to forgive these people."

He said,
"That's why I'm still in here.

You haven't forgiven
these people."

And I haven't,

but I'm working on it.

♪