“The Past is Never Dead” details the story of David Robinson’s nearly eighteen-year struggle to prove his innocence and the devastating effects wrongful convictions have on not just the falsely accused but on their family and community. In the fall of 2000, David was arrested for murder in Sikeston, Missouri, a small southern cotton town near the Mississippi River. With the testimony of two suspect criminal informants he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. There was no evidence, DNA, or confession, and he had multiple alibis. The true killer confessed on audiotape in 2004 and committed suicide in 2009, and both informants have recanted under oath, claiming police coercion. Yet the state of Missouri held him in prison until May 2018.
