Richard Rosario was behind bars for two decades for a murder he says he did not commit until he was set free on Wednesday. And NBC’s “Dateline” has launched its first-ever digital documentary series, “Conviction,” telling the story from start to finish.
Coming on the heels of the hit Netflix docu-series “Making a Murderer,” “Conviction” delves into the case of Rosario, who served 20 years of a 25-years-to-life-sentence while maintaining that 13 alibi witnesses can verify he was in Florida when the crime for which he was convicted was committed in New York City.
“We’re always looking for new ways to tell stories and experiment with other platforms beyond TV,” “Dateline” executive producer Liz Cole told TheWrap. “This story, with two years of in-depth reporting, gave us an opportunity to do both.”
“Conviction” was produced and reported by “Dateline” veteran Dan Slepian, who was in the courtroom when Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark overturned the murder conviction.
Over the last two years, Dateline interviewed most of Rosario’s alibi witnesses.
The series was originally scheduled to be 10 episodes of roughly eight minutes each, but an 11th has been added to include dramatic footage of Rosario being set free and an exclusive interview with Clark, who explains why she made the decision to seek his release.
Check out the entire series here. And watch the first episode above.