Death Row Stories

Capital-murder cases are examined in this documentary series.

Cast:Susan Sarandon , Clive Stafford Smith , Concetta Tomei , Don Degabrielle , Edna Buchanan , Don Moody , Vicki Benoit , T. Don Tenbrook , Rick Garfield , Bill Dodge , Tom Lorenzi , Charles Falco , Theresa Van Vliet , John Hickenlooper , David Sirota , Gwen Gurley , Rocky Harris , George Brauchler

1Season 1

S1.E1 ∙ Innocence and the Intern

Sun, Mar 9, 2014

The case of Edward Lee Elmore is recalled. Elmore was convicted in 1982 for sexually assaulting and murdering a woman in Greenwood, S.C., and was released from prison in 2012.

2Season 1

S1.E2 ∙ Ride to the Rescue

Sun, Mar 16, 2014

Examining the case of Gloria Killian, who was convicted of a 1981 murder and served more than 16 years in prison before being exonerated in 2002.

3Season 1

S1.E3 ∙ Blood & Water

Sun, Mar 23, 2014

The case of Joe D'Ambrosio, a Cleveland man sentenced to death for murder in 1989, and his decades long quest to prove his innocence.

4Season 1

S1.E4 ∙ Killer Cop

Sun, Mar 30, 2014

The case of James Duckett, who was convicted of the 1987 rape and murder of an 11-year--old girl, is examined.

5Season 1

S1.E5 ∙ Rough Justice in the Big Easy

Sat, Apr 5, 2014

Examining the case of John Thompson, who was convicted in 1985 for a murder he did not commit.

6Season 1

S1.E6 ∙ Kris Maharaj: Murder in Miami

Sun, Jul 13, 2014

The case of Kris Majaraj, convicted of the murders of Derrick Moo Young and Duane Moo Young in 1987, is examined. He was a millionaire businessman who moved from England to Florida.

7Season 1

S1.E7 ∙ Double Jeopardy

Sun, Jul 20, 2014

The story of Army soldier Timothy Hennis and the North Carolina stabbing deaths of a mother and her two girls is full of twists and turns.

8Season 1

S1.E8 ∙ Eye for an Eye

Sun, Jul 27, 2014

The case of Nathan Dunlap, who was sentenced to death for the 1993 murders of four people at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Aurora, Colorado.

1Season 2

S2.E1 ∙ Wrong Man

Sun, Aug 2, 2015

CNN examined the case of Ruben Cantu, who was executed in Texas in 1993 despite serious doubts about his guilt.

2Season 2

S2.E2 ∙ Murder on the Mountain

Sun, Aug 9, 2015

Story of San Quentin Death Row inmate Kevin Cooper, who was convicted of the brutal murder of four people in the Chino Hills area of California in 1983.

3Season 2

S2.E3 ∙ Death, Lies and Videotape

Sun, Aug 2, 2015

Caso Pablo Ibar and Seth Peñalver are convicted of a 1994 Miramar triple murder. But subsequent retrials reveal a cover up and a surprising amount of evidence not disclosed by the prosecution.

4Season 2

S2.E4 ∙ Murder in Paris

Wed, Aug 19, 2015

In 1987, Randy Steidl was sentenced to death for the double murder in the small town of Paris, Illinois. He spent 12 years on death row trying to prove his innocence. Finally he was exonerated and released.

5Season 2

S2.E5 ∙ Mother V. Texas

Sun, Jul 12, 2015

A Texas mother Darlie Routier is on death row for murdering her two sons in 1996. She asserts her innocence to this day.

6Season 2

S2.E6 ∙ Cruel and Unusual

Sun, Aug 16, 2015

A report on botched executions in several states, including Ohio, Arizona and Oklahoma. Episode reviews known cases when lethal injection executions ended horribly wrong.

1Season 3

S3.E1 ∙ Two Brothers

Sun, Mar 18, 2018

After an eleven-year old girl is found suffocated with her own underwear, two step-brothers, ages 15 and 19, confess to the murder. After 30 years they were declared innocent and released.

2Season 3

S3.E2 ∙ NYE Foul Play

Sun, Mar 25, 2018

In 1995, Hank Skinner was sentenced to death for a New Year's Eve triple-homicide of his family.

3Season 3

S3.E3 ∙ Love Kills

Sun, Apr 1, 2018

DNA from Stacey Stites' body matched Rodney Reed and he is sentenced to death. A decade later, victim's former fiancé, police officer Jimmy Fennell, is imprisoned for sexual assault. New evidence casts doubt on the declared timeline of the crime.

4Season 3

S3.E4 ∙ Snitch Work

Sun, Apr 8, 2018

A 4-year-old girl from Philadelphia is found murdered, her body left in a TV box on the curb. The case goes cold, until 4 years later, when a neighbor is arrested for the crime.

5Season 3

S3.E5 ∙ Mississippi Mother

Tue, May 22, 2018

Sabrina Butler,a 17-year old African-American woman arrives at a Mississippi hospital with her baby dead on arrival.

6Season 3

S3.E6 ∙ Murdered Babysitter

Sun, Apr 29, 2018

A babysitter is found brutally murdered in Santa Ana, California, with five young children in the home left unscathed. Kenneth Clair, a local burglar is convicted of capital murder and sent to death row.

7Season 3

S3.E7 ∙ Feds vs. Outlaws

Sun, May 6, 2018

Clarence "Smitty" Smith, the leader of the notorious biker club The Outlaws, is accused of a quadruple homicide in Fort Lauderdale.

8Season 3

S3.E8 ∙ Family Lies

Sun, May 13, 2018

After a family of six is found brutally murdered in a rural Texas town, a perpetrator confesses to the crime. Police however, can't believe one man alone could murder six people, and Anthony Graves is named as an accomplice. Graves is sentenced to death, but maintains his innocence. His case is eventually taken up by a journalism professor who discovers a District Attorney engaged in misconduct who is intent on keeping a guiltless man in prison.

1Season 4

S4.E1 ∙ The Boy's Story

Sun, Jun 2, 2019

A money order salesman is brutally murdered and two teenage brothers and their friend are arrested. They spend almost four decades behind bars, until a journalist takes notice of the case and uncovers evidence of the men's innocence.

2Season 4

S4.E2 ∙ Web of Lies

Sun, Jun 9, 2019

The shooting of a newspaper carrier in rural Mississippi lands Marlon Howell on death row. Convicted on the word of two co-defendants and the identification of an eyewitness with a checkered past, Marlon maintains his innocence.

3Season 4

S4.E3 ∙ A Prison of His Own

Sun, Jun 16, 2019

Nick Yarris's uncanny knowledge of a gruesome kidnapping and murder makes him a prime suspect and eventually lands him on death row. Twenty years and one escape attempt later, new evidence emerges that offers Nick one last hope for freedom.

4Season 4

S4.E4 ∙ A Woman Wronged

Sun, Jun 23, 2019

A man is found dead in his rural Mississippi home, shot four times with his own 9mm pistol. His 19-year-old son names his hospitalized mother, Michelle Byrom, as the mastermind of the murder, claiming she hired the boy's friend to shoot her husband, and promising to pay him from the life insurance payout. Sentenced to death, Michelle spends 14 years awaiting execution - until a determined team of lawyers unearths a dark history of domestic and sexual violence, and a confession that points to an alternate suspect.

5Season 4

S4.E5 ∙ Body of Evidence

Sun, Jun 30, 2019

After a month-long search, the body of missing nineteen-year-old Melissa Trotter is recovered in a Texas forest. Local police quickly zero in on Larry Swearingen, who was last seen with Melissa just before she disappeared. After physical evidence and the murder weapon tie Larry to the murder, he is convicted and sentenced to death. Twenty years later, Larry maintains his innocence, pointing out flaws in the State's case - including incomplete DNA tests, an alternate suspect, and forensic evidence that suggests Melissa may have been killed after Larry was arrested.

6Season 4

S4.E6 ∙ Murder in Broad Daylight

Sun, Jul 7, 2019

A case that has sentenced a reformed gang member to death unveils the corruption in the criminal justice system.

7Season 4

S4.E7 ∙ Caught on Tape

Sun, Jul 14, 2019

A Spaniard is sentenced to death for the murder of a young Florida couple. His family appeals to the international media to fight his conviction.

8Season 4

S4.E8 ∙ Memory of a Murder

Sun, Jul 21, 2019

A masked attacker shoots up an apartment in Bucyrus, Ohio, leaving three dead and two young children clinging to life. After witnesses report seeing a "large black man" near the scene, police close in on Kevin Keith, a local drug dealer who was recently busted based on information offered by a snitch. It was the snitch's family that was murdered, leading prosecutors to argue Kevin's motive was revenge. Despite the lack of physical evidence, Kevin has spent 25 years locked up - but a young public defender believes long-hidden case records will shed new light on the Bucyrus murders and clear Kevin's name.

1Season 5

S5.E1 ∙ The Lost Boy

Sun, Apr 19, 2020

A former trouble-maker sits on Ohio death row for killing an elderly couple, while a desperate team of journalists, attorneys, and former law enforcement make the case of his innocence.

2Season 5

S5.E2 ∙ Tale of the Tape

Sun, Apr 19, 2020

After a Delaware store clerk is murdered, a local drug dealer confesses to the crime..but can what he says on tape be believed?

3Season 5

S5.E3 ∙ Predator or Prey?

Sun, Apr 26, 2020

There's no doubt Terry Williams committed murder - but what drove him to kill?

4Season 5

S5.E4 ∙ Forensics by Fire

Sun, May 3, 2020

In August 1985, a quiet Philadelphia neighborhood is shattered by tragedy. A house goes up in flames, with two young boys trapped inside. Police and fire investigators suspect their father, Daniel Dougherty, intentionally set the fire, but they don't have the evidence to arrest him - until fourteen years later, when Daniel's ex-wife comes forward to say he confessed to her. In the years since he ended up on death row, Daniel's case has gone to trial an astonishing three times. Daniel claims the fire science that put him away is deeply flawed - but his own dark past, and lingering mysteries about the fire itself, make this anything but an open and shut case.

5Season 5

S5.E5 ∙ Death by the Bayou

Sun, May 10, 2020

The story of a Louisiana DA' reckless and wrongful conviction of Corey Williams, sending him to death row. And the heroic 20-year-long fight to get his freedom.

6Season 5

S5.E6 ∙ The Wrong Gun

Sun, May 17, 2020

In May 1992, four young men enter a park in Houston, Texas. Minutes later, one of them is dead from a bullet and a shotgun blast to the head. When police track down one of the surviving drug dealers, he names 17-year-old Nanon Williams as the shooter, and other witnesses back up the story. Nanon becomes one of just over thirty juveniles on death row in America, but he pleads his innocence. As his appeals attorneys reexamine the evidence, they learn that the state made a grave error: the bullet in the victim's brain didn't come from Nanon's gun, but his co-defendant's - a man who only served four years in prison. Prosecutors stand by the conviction, even as Nanon tries to prove he's redeemed himself behind bars.

7Season 5

S5.E7 ∙ The Hit That Wasn't

Sun, May 24, 2020

In Philadelphia, the brazen killing of a state's witness leads police to an alleged hitman - but could the evidnce against him be nothing more than smoke and mirrors?

8Season 5

S5.E8 ∙ Once Bitten, Twice Tried

Sun, May 31, 2020

When single mother and Phoenix bartender Kim Ancona is found brutally stabbed to death, her passing tears her family apart. Combing the crime scene, police find an intriguing clue: bite marks on Kim's body that suggest her attacker has crooked teeth. Detectives turn to Ray Krone, a local mailman with a damaged jaw. A renowned prosecutor pushes for a death sentence, but Ray's family and appeals attorney refuse to give up hope. They win Ray another trial, forcing him to go up against the same bite mark science that put him away the first time. Ultimately, Ray's freedom depends on the emerging science of DNA - and finding Kim's true killer.