YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → Anthony Graves: From death row to exoneration | The InnerView

Anthony Graves: From death row to exoneration | The InnerView — Transcript

by TRT World · 4,443 words · 621 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:01on August 18th 1992 police in sumerville
0:04Texas arrived to the scene of a house on
0:07fire the remains of six bodies were
0:10found
0:11inside investigators quickly discovered
0:14that the home was set a light after a
0:16mass
0:17murder among those killed were a mother
0:20grandmother and four young
0:23children the youngest Just 4 years old
0:26their attacker or attackers had
0:28bludgeoned shot and stabbed them
0:32repeatedly the prime suspect was the
0:34father of one of the murdered children
0:36Robert Carter this is him attending his
0:39son's funeral with bandages covering
0:41burns on his hand and face during
0:44interrogation Carter confessed to the
0:46crime under pressure from investigators
0:49who were convinced he couldn't have done
0:51it alone Carter accused his wife's first
0:54cousin Anthony Graves of being an
0:57accomplice but the investigation into
0:59Graves was botched at every stage the
1:03prosecution exaggerated weak evidence
1:05against Graves and ignored red flags
1:08that Carter was
1:10lying even graves's defense at trial
1:13failed to call on key witnesses to
1:15corroborate his
1:16Alibi in 1994 Graves was convicted and
1:20sentenced to death he would spend 18
1:23years of his life imprisoned for a crime
1:25he did not commit much of it on death
1:28row awaiting execution
1:32tion his case only reopened years later
1:35after a group of Journalism students
1:37revealed the gaping holes in the
1:39evidence against him on October 27th
1:422010 the charges against Graves were
1:44dropped before a retrial even started
1:47bringing his nightmare to an end on this
1:50episode of the interview I'll speak to
1:52Anthony Graves about his life on death
1:54row and his difficult journey to Justice
1:58and forgiveness
2:00[Music]
2:16I've been following this story for more
2:18than a decade I've looked deeply into it
2:21I've interviewed Anthony Graves before
2:23and every single time that I do it
2:26becomes more unbelievable it's an
2:29extraordinary story and I'm delighted to
2:30tell you that Anthony Graves joins us
2:32now on the interview Anthony how you
2:34doing I'm doing good sir how are you
2:37yeah I'm good thank you very much um 18
2:40and a half years incarcerated on death
2:44row for almost two decades in solitary
2:46confinement for a long long time for a
2:48crime that you did not
2:52commit what does justice mean to you
2:55when you when you look back at the
2:56Injustice against you
3:00wow that that's that that's an important
3:04question uh yeah I it's true that I've
3:06gone through uh hell in with the justice
3:10system here in the United States Justice
3:13to me means admitting when we get it
3:15wrong and working to fix those things so
3:18that it doesn't happen again Justice to
3:21me mean educating our community about
3:24our criminal justice system so that we
3:26can be better informed and we can make
3:28more informed decisions around it
3:30because when we able to do that we're
3:32able to save time and save life so
3:36Justice to me is just all of us joining
3:38our hands and putting our heads down and
3:40making sure that we are uh uh building
3:44the best system so that we don't destroy
3:47families uh justice to me is Peace and
3:51Freedom that's what Justice is there
3:54were many victims in this in this crime
3:57Bobby Davis and her family the grandma
4:00her
4:01daughter those innocent children I was
4:04doing the numbers and I I think one of
4:07the kids would be in their 40s now the
4:09rest in their mid-30s now those children
4:13robbed of their lives and you were a
4:14victim as well an innocent man fingered
4:18by Robert Carter when you when you look
4:21back and you think about Robert Carter
4:25and why he named you and why he fingered
4:27you he was executed you know more than
4:29two decades ago do you forgive
4:32him yeah I forgive him and I I will
4:36never forget what he did to me but I
4:38forgive him because it was bigger than
4:40him uh he shouldn't have been allowed to
4:42do that to me anyway uh you a a young
4:46man who didn't even really know me just
4:48called my name and it interrupted my
4:50entire life uh that should not be the
4:52way our system is set up and designed to
4:55operate uh Robert Carter shouldn't have
4:57been able to just lie on me and then
4:59take my freedom just like that so for
5:02that it was just it's it's a bigger
5:04picture right it's me understanding that
5:07it wasn't even just about me it was
5:10about a criminal justice system that is
5:12becoming criminal and uh I needed to be
5:15exposed to it so that I can dedicate my
5:17life to uh making it better so it was so
5:21it was easy for me to forgive once I
5:23understood that it really is not about
5:25me it's really about a whole criminal
5:27justice system that is Criminal on his
5:30face and I needed to be exposed to it so
5:33what's criminal about
5:36it the practice itself the fact that we
5:39as human beings think that we have built
5:42something infallible to the point where
5:44we can now make judgments on people's
5:46lives whether we they should live or die
5:49uh how stupid are we to think that we
5:51can create a system of justice by man
5:55and that it would always be an
5:57infallible system the system is broken
5:59broken it is broken it is broken it is
6:02broken and it's Taking Lives of people
6:05who are broken so the system is designed
6:08to pray on broken people so uh yeah it's
6:12a lot of things that are that are wrong
6:14with the criminal justice it is a it is
6:17a system that was designed when black
6:20men in America didn't even have right
6:23and it's still practice that way it's a
6:25system that need to be thrown out with
6:26the bath water and rebuilt for the 21st
6:28century uh we haven't caught up with the
6:3121st century yet when it comes to our
6:33criminal justice system so uh we got a
6:35lot of work to do and uh I've dedicated
6:37in my life make sure that the work get
6:39done The Marshall Project released
6:43something very recently to show that the
6:45the situation is still bad the prisons
6:48are not in great condition there are a
6:50lot of unnecessary deaths suicides a lot
6:53of abuse taking taking place in the
6:56prisons does it disappoint you does it
7:00does it depress you to know that all
7:02these years later even though you're
7:04fighting against this system and trying
7:07to reform the system make it better and
7:10so many people are
7:12now are now being apologized to for
7:16having been unfairly stitched up by the
7:18system who are on death row I don't know
7:20more than 160 people um I stand
7:23corrected but it's it's a big number
7:25despite all of that the system's not
7:27good enough does that frust frustrate
7:30you yeah it's very frustrating man
7:33because you know people politicians in
7:35particular uh put their finger up in the
7:37air and just uh depend on which way the
7:40wind blowing is the way they talk about
7:42it but uh fact is we have a big problem
7:44with our Criminal Justice System we've
7:46allowed our criminal justice system to
7:48become criminal and it's very
7:50frustrating that we make excuses for
7:53criminals uh and that is our system we
7:55make an excuse all the time for the
7:57system and and yet we have evidence that
8:01prove that we do not always get it right
8:03that the system does get it wrong I lost
8:0618 and a half years of my life because
8:09the system got it wrong I was almost
8:11executed twice because the system got it
8:14wrong so uh yeah the system has become
8:18very criminal uh because we have uh
8:22decided that it is more important to uh
8:27convict people than it is to Justice and
8:30that has caused our criminal system to
8:32become the criminal that it is
8:35now you believe the system is corrupt
8:38and broken and wrong and criminal there
8:41are those who defend the system who
8:42believe that they are just some Bad
8:45actors within that system some rotten
8:47apples within that system like the
8:49prosecutor in in your case Charles
8:52sester A gung-ho prosecutor would try to
8:56throw anything that that would stick
8:58against you
9:02um how much of it was just the fact that
9:04sester was a really bad prosecutor who
9:06ended up being disbar so in that sense
9:09even though he was already
9:10retired he failed at his job he
9:13destroyed people's lives yes but the
9:15system kicked him out belatedly but
9:18there was still enough in that system to
9:20show that it could correct itself are
9:22you partial to that argument at
9:25all well I mean you know and the way I
9:28see it is that uh regardless of the Bad
9:30actors that should be guard rails in
9:31place so they don't get to act bad uh
9:35and that's the problem we don't have
9:36guard rails in place for bad act uh
9:39everybody just make things up on the go
9:41and then circumvent it along the way uh
9:44we need a system that have guard rails
9:47in place that keep people from
9:49practicing their biases we do not have
9:52that we take it for granted that people
9:54are going to be professional in their
9:56profession and it's not the case people
9:59people are human beings they have their
10:01own biases conscious and unconscious and
10:04we do not have the guard rails in place
10:06to protect people against their own
10:09biases and that is a big problem with
10:12our criminal justice system is we're
10:13just depending on people to do the right
10:15thing and people are not going to always
10:16do the right thing there are too many
10:18incentives for them to do uh whatever
10:21they can to win uh such as uh getting a
10:25promotion of to becoming a judge from a
10:28prosecutor should you have such a
10:30stellar record of convictions there are
10:32too many incentives in place that that
10:35mislead and misguide us in our practice
10:38so I think that the problem is that that
10:41need to be more guard rails for example
10:44when it comes to the death penalty one
10:45man shouldn't decide alone whether or
10:47not to seek the death penalty that
10:49should be a panel he should have to take
10:51the evidence in front of that panel
10:53panel should weit at evidence and
10:54determine whether or not this this case
10:56justifies seeking death that's no that's
10:59nothing there that you know you just
11:01decide a prosecutor who's biased who's
11:03racist can decide he's going to kill a
11:05black man uh and use his position to do
11:08so which happened in my case there are a
11:12couple of things that we're going to do
11:13in the in the YouTube description we're
11:14going to put some
11:16links that point to the actual details
11:19of your case and and and the history so
11:21if anybody wants to to look at those
11:24they can and also some of the work that
11:26you're doing in order to try and bring
11:28about some more guard rails and some
11:30more checks and balances uh to the
11:32system so I encourage the viewers to
11:34sort of Click below and and and have a
11:36look but I want to talk a little bit
11:38about those 18 and 1 half years now uh
11:42because not only were you accused of
11:46homicide it wasn't quite the kind of
11:50accusation where they said well you know
11:52this guy is a suspect because he was in
11:54a he was in an argument with another guy
11:56and he pulled out a gun and he killed
11:58him and they were both drunk or
11:59something it it wasn't that it was that
12:02you were a baby killer that you stabbed
12:05innocent babies to death more than 60
12:10times and you killed a grandma and you
12:13were involved in the killing of a
12:1516-year-old and you set the house on on
12:18fire afterwards to conceal the
12:20evidence tell me about what it felt like
12:25to know that a lot of people believed
12:28that not not only were you a killer you
12:31were a baby stabber you were that type
12:34of killer tell me about how that
12:37felt wow
12:40uh yeah that was a that was a heavy
12:43cross to bear I you know I had to grow
12:47thick thick thick skin because here it
12:50is I'm totally innocent I've never HED
12:53anyone in my life I don't have that kind
12:55of record that's not my history but yet
12:57to have to live for almost two decades
13:00with some someone believing that I could
13:02have killed
13:04baby uh women
13:07children
13:09uh that was hard but what was even
13:13harder was whoever had done
13:17it got to enjoy the suffering of an
13:19innocent
13:21person while they were putting me
13:22through
13:23this someone else who had actually done
13:26this crime was still free
13:30uh but then I couldn't focus on that I
13:33couldn't focus what the world was trying
13:34to accuse me of what they were what they
13:37convicted me of what they uh labor me at
13:41my focus was on making sure that when I
13:44came home in a pine box or I came home
13:47standing that the world was going to
13:49know what was happening to me that the
13:51world was going to know that our
13:52criminal justice system is now the
13:54criminal and that we need to change that
13:57the world was going to know an in the
13:59grave I was going to make sure of that
14:01so I it was because of my mother it was
14:05because of my children I I did not want
14:07the world to see me as something I
14:09wasn't my mother did not raise a
14:11murderer she did not raise a baby killer
14:14my children didn't have a father who was
14:16a baby killer my children were baby at
14:19that time so it was just really hard
14:23that you know I was convicted wrongfully
14:26convicted of something like that but it
14:28made me more determined than ever to
14:30fight for justice and then from there uh
14:33it just gave me a purpose greater than
14:35myself that I don't want to see anyone
14:36else go through something like this so
14:39it's why now I've dedicated my life to
14:41doing the work that I do today which is
14:44fight for Criminal Justice
14:46Reform you said that the feeling that
14:48somebody else who was involved was
14:50walking free while you were suffering
14:52and being blamed for this
14:55so without I mean without going too much
14:58into the deta details here we we had
15:01Robert Carter go to jail and he was
15:04executed for the crime but and one of
15:07the reasons why sesta believed that you
15:08were involved is because the crime scene
15:10suggested that it was impossible for one
15:13person to have done it because PE all
15:16you know these innocent people were
15:17killed in multiple ways with with a
15:19knife and with a gun and and with a
15:21hammer so do you still believe there was
15:23somebody else involved with him on that
15:28day
15:30I let me just say this I'm gonna be
15:33bruty bruty bruty honest here I don't
15:35even believe he did it I think they just
15:37messed this whole case up I'm just going
15:39to be tot I think they executed the
15:41innocent man no one never want me to
15:43talk like this but I can't help it
15:45because I've never believed from day one
15:46that a man who had done something like
15:49this would have to make up seven eight
15:51different stories including himself in
15:53it just for the police uh for the
15:57investigators buy his stories he made up
15:59seven stories in the same night he was
16:02arrested until it fitted one of their to
16:05it fitted their Theory and then they
16:07arrested this man and then they arrested
16:09his wife then they let his wife go and
16:11then they made him lie on me and then
16:13they killed
16:15him but during this time this man had
16:17before had said that he had nothing to
16:19do with but because they went after his
16:22wife this man said he felt like he was
16:24in a rock between a rock and a hard
16:26place so he felt that he was going to do
16:28the lesser of the two evil he just kept
16:29lying on me and himself but if you ask
16:32me my honest opinion that has been
16:35nothing in this case no evidence
16:38whatsoever that said rival Carter
16:41murdered those people none he lied on
16:45himself they made him lie on his to
16:47protect his wife that man was innocent
16:51and the state of Texas murdered him and
16:53nobody's ever going to say that but his
16:56family and people that knew him before I
16:58didn't know
16:59him but nobody ever going to say that
17:02because why no one wants to Grapple with
17:03the fact that we executed an innocent
17:06man at the hands of a lying
17:09prosecutor that's what actually
17:12happened so I'm very I get very
17:15emotional about that because I feel in
17:17my heart of heart that man didn't know
17:20anything about it because if he did why
17:22did he have to lie on an innocent man
17:24why did he have to make up stories if he
17:26was actually there himself
17:29they arrested that man's wife and they
17:32held that over his head and made that
17:33man alloud himself and at the end of the
17:36day Texas executed an innocent man and I
17:39would always believe that because I was
17:42there in that jury in that in that
17:45courtroom while they was doing this to
17:47me makes me think they treated him
17:50anything any way different they lied on
17:52that man like they lied on me okay
17:54that's interesting and and again I don't
17:55want to get into the details right the
17:57issues of him appearing at the
18:00funeral and one of those people at the
18:02funeral was his own kid his
18:04four-year-old kid and he had the burns
18:06on him and the scars on him and so on
18:08that was used as part of the evidence
18:10there was a dispute over custody and
18:11paternity I I don't want to get into
18:13that and of course he's he's been
18:15executed it's gone it's done right yeah
18:18but you
18:19say they did the same to him that they
18:21did to you so help me unpack this a
18:23little bit he he changed his story seven
18:26times as you said sometimes it included
18:28you sometimes it didn't include you um
18:31he failed a polygraph you failed a
18:34polygraph um there was
18:36coercion there were there were threats
18:39let me let me beg you before you say
18:41that let me back here because make sure
18:43you your your uh your audience
18:46understand that liot detect test are not
18:48ADM court because they can manipulate a
18:51lot detect test I know that for for a
18:53fact that's that's part of my my
18:55question here is that so you're saying
18:58they put through what they put you
19:00through which made you question whether
19:02he was even guilty here I remember your
19:05star
19:07witness that was your Alibi was your
19:09girlfriend at the time if I'm not
19:11mistaken who they spooked just before
19:13she was about to testify by suggesting
19:16that she was also a suspect so she
19:17didn't show up so all of these things
19:19that were done by sesta and
19:22others were there were there times that
19:24you felt you were just going to cave and
19:26cut a deal or you were just going to
19:27admit to it because because you were
19:29bombarded by by all of this give me give
19:31me some insight into what they were
19:32actually doing to
19:34you listen man they would the I mean it
19:36was the good cop bad cop uh uh uh game
19:40that played with me it was the line it
19:42was the manipulation it was just the
19:44interrogation it was keeping me in a
19:47Cell against my will uh and you know uh
19:50it was telling me they going to kill me
19:52over and over and over trying to get me
19:54to cut some deal with them for something
19:56I did not do or didn't know anything
19:59about I just couldn't go there I that
20:01you was going to kill me or free me I
20:02was not going to compromise the truth
20:04and that was just my mindset from the
20:06minute you put me in custody for some I
20:08didn't know anything about I was not
20:09going to cave and just give you my life
20:11for something I didn't do that was just
20:13who I was and I was going to I was
20:15willing to die for
20:17that what was solit Tre
20:20like hell it was hell whatever you
20:24whatever you pict your hell to be that
20:26was hell for me every day for 18 and a
20:29half years
20:316,640 days of my life for a crime I knew
20:35absolutely nothing
20:37about and what's Freedom
20:43like freedom is a state of mind it is
20:48never giving up it is living your best
20:53life despite the
20:54circumstance it is knowing that you have
20:58choices in your life and that regardless
21:01of an act it is up to you how you
21:04respond to it and understanding that
21:06gives you freedom freedom to
21:09choose so uh freedom to me is just being
21:13able to choose what I want to do in my
21:16life Point Blank That's True Freedom
21:20Anthony I asked you if you forgave
21:22Robert Carter who blamed you and said
21:25you were his accomplice in this horrific
21:29mass
21:30murder do you forgive Charles sester the
21:36prosecutor that's hard that's hard
21:40because charest knew exactly what he was
21:43doing Charles best knew that he
21:46was tening and convicting an innocent
21:50young black man and he had no problem
21:52with that charest knew that he was
21:55trying to kill an innocent black man and
21:58he had no problem with that but at the
22:00end of the
22:02day I'm God's
22:04child
22:07and I've forgiven Charles the best I
22:11even shook his
22:12hand when we was at the court I shook
22:15his hand and told him no hard
22:17feeling because that was my
22:20closure that was for
22:22me but I'll never forget what y'all best
22:26did to me and my family and
22:29only thing I can say is that God bless
22:32him and here I hope he was able to enjoy
22:35them why he took me away from
22:38mine no I cannot just straight up say I
22:43forgive Char sylvesters and my K but I
22:47have to because I'm God's
22:51child even when you were set free he
22:54stood firm he even took out full page
22:57ads in the new newspapers trying to
22:59prove your guilt did that anger
23:04you
23:05no at this at that time it the whole
23:10situation was bigger than me it was
23:12about exposing the criminal justice
23:15system that had gone off the rail it was
23:18no longer about Charles sest Charles
23:20sest was trying to save face for himself
23:22that had nothing to do with me that was
23:24all about him uh and you see how that
23:27turned out he was this B can never
23:30practice law again um he has a tarnished
23:36reputation everybody knows him to be a
23:38rogue prosecutor now so Charles sesta
23:41has to deal with Charles sester I I
23:43don't I don't think one day about
23:45Charles best like I say when I had to
23:48forgive him I cringe but I did it
23:49because I'm God's child but Charles best
23:52is
23:54uh I in hindsight I would have to I
23:58would have to thank Charles sesta in the
24:00way because Charles best is in his
24:04callousness about my life or toward my
24:07life his lying his cheating his uh
24:12unethical professional ways uh put me on
24:16the path man gave me a purpose greater
24:18than myself and now I help people I got
24:21after Dwayne Brown off a death row I
24:23used my story to help get him off a
24:25death row he was innocent man I've
24:27stopped men from getting executing
24:29instead of execution because I've been
24:31involved with the with their case I've
24:34uh created a whole nonprofit I've
24:37created an organization helping men who
24:39have been formally who are formally
24:41incarcerated coming back out and
24:42training them how to go back and mental
24:44other men and their family so Charles
24:47best and hansai gave me a blessing
24:48greater than I something that I never
24:51seen in my life so uh I can be upset
24:55with him all day every day for what he
24:57did but I not gone to this school of
25:00hard KN I wouldn't be out here doing the
25:02work that I do today so I and I I mean
25:05it all works
25:07out the death penalty
25:10itself is there a place for
25:12it no and and it's not so much because I
25:17just think it's bad uh I mean to each is
25:21own but I said in them cheap SE they
25:24tried to execute me twice and I was
25:27totally innocent wasn't even in the same
25:29town that the crime happened in had
25:31Alibi Witnesses and yet I was still
25:33facing the death penalty and I was still
25:35was trying to still execute me so we
25:39know now almost 200 men that come off a
25:41death row around our country just
25:44imagine if we actually executed them we
25:47would now know today that we would have
25:48executed almost 200 in some so is it
25:51worth it the the collateral damage the
25:56human suffering human capital is it
25:58worth it and then we still get it wrong
26:01I don't think so and anyone who has
26:03looked at it from that perspective
26:05whether you whether you believe in it or
26:07not we realize it just doesn't work I
26:10always say to people Chris Aon does the
26:13death penalty work it shouldn't matter I
26:16mean quit asking do you believe in a
26:18that it shouldn't matter that's between
26:20you and your God the question should be
26:23does the death penalty work and almost
26:25200 men have come home from being on
26:28death Road as innocent me answer that
26:31question does it work Anthony Graves you
26:35have an extraordinary story and you are
26:37an unbelievable human being thank you
26:40very much for joining us on the
26:41interview thank you thank you sir all
26:43the best have a blessed one youo

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of Anthony Graves: From death row to exoneration | The InnerView by TRT World, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 4,443 words across 621 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.