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Jun 3, 2008 10:28 pm US/Central
Charges Dropped Against Man Jailed For Murder
ARLINGTON (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
A North Texas man is free after spending 18 months in jail accused of murder.
Cell phone records played a key role in dismissing the charges against Robert Fleming, who hasn't been a free man since December 2006.
After spending 9 months behind bars at the Tarrant County jail, he spent another 9 months under house arrest. As he waited to go to trial, he never stopped saying he was innocent.
"I cried a whole bunch of nights. I cried a whole bunch of nights; just sitting back there for nothing," said Fleming.
He admits he got into a fist fight with his neighbor Ashley Hegazy on October 27 of 2006. "It was a fight over someone trying to break into my apartment," he said.
But when Hegazy was shot to death at their Arlington apartment complex later that day, Fleming said he was three miles away at a barbershop.
Fleming said he had called 911 to tell officers Hegazy was threatening his family. "The same time I was on the phone with the operator, he was getting killed," he said.
Fleming was still arrested for Hegazy's murder. He spent the next year and a half proclaiming his innocence.
Prosecutors didn't drop the charges until the case was about to go to trial last month. Attorney Mike Hieskell said cell phone records cleared his client's name.
Fleming said the hardest part about being in custody was not being able to provide for his mother.
The two moved to Arlington from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Fleming said he relied on his faith to get him through the ordeal.
At least two witnesses told police that Fleming was the killer. The case remains under investigation, and a spokesperson for the Arlington Police Department said charges could be re-filed against Fleming at a later date.
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