British Ex-Millionaire Fights for Freedom

"I have a sworn statement from a George Abchal in Fort Lauderdale, who used to work at Hosein's garage," says Petrillo. "It was notarized, signed, and tape-recorded. He said Hosein kept a gun and a silencer in the drawer of the desk, and on the morning of the murders, he said, Hosein took the gun and left." The gun, Abchal claimed, was a 9mm Smith & Wesson, the same type of weapon used to kill the Moo Youngs.

Abchal also said that days before the Moo Youngs were killed, Hosein had tried to buy six kilos of cocaine from them on credit. They kicked him out because he allegedly owed them too much money.

Court documents show Hosein also had power of attorney over one of the Moo Youngs' two Panamanian corporations. And he placed a call to Room 1215 the day of the murders.

Hosein came from a notoriously violent family. In a celebrated 1970 trial at London's Old Bailey, Hosein's brothers, Arthur and Nizam, were convicted of murdering the spouse of a top newspaper executive. They had planned to kidnap the wife of publishing tycoon Rupert Murdoch but seized the wrong woman. The duo reportedly chopped up the victim and fed her remains to pigs. The case became so infamous that the Hosein brothers were featured in the Chamber of Horrors at London's Madame Tussauds wax museum.

Police never investigated Hosein in the murders of the Moo Youngs. He wasn't even questioned.

Another potential player, Jaime Mejias, a Colombian importer/exporter from Medellín who rented Room 1214, across the hall from 1215, was linked to Hosein, documents show. "I questioned him," an indignant Lieutenant Burhmaster retorts, explaining how he chatted with Mejias from the doorway to his suite. Burhmaster says he peered inside the room, without entering, and "everything seemed fine." Mejias was ruled out as a suspect, according to Burhmaster, because he "seemed legit." The officer never verified Mejias's alibi, nor did he take his fingerprints.

After occupying an office on the sixth floor of the DuPont Plaza for more than seven years, Mejias disappeared immediately following the murders. He hasn't been seen since.

Conservative Member of Parliament Peter Bottomley gave up his seat at Princess Diana's 1997 funeral in Westminster Abbey to appear before a Florida appeals court on behalf of Krishna Maharaj.

He is one of aproximately 300 British politicians who have since signed a petition calling for a retrial of the Londoner. The list includes some high-ranking members of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's cabinet.

But despite the support, in 2004 Miami Magistrate Judge William C. Turnoff rejected Maharaj's request, stating that "newly discovered evidence which goes only to guilt or innocence is insufficient to warrant relief." Under Florida law, it seems, evidence that could prove a man's innocence is not enough to warrant action.

Last year, after the Supreme Court refused to hear his case, Maharaj ran out of legal options.

Throughout the 20-year ordeal, Maharaj's Portuguese-born wife Marita has remained thousands of miles from her friends in Britain and steadfast in her devotion. For the 15 years her husband was on death row, she regularly made the 700-mile round trip to the prison in Starke, northeast of Gainesville. Today the jovial middle-age beauty resides in Tamarac. "I got married to Kris for life; I married him because I love him. And I will be here as long as he needs me ... as long as it takes to get him out of this."

Clemency is her husband's only hope. At the mere mention of the hearing, which isn't likely to be held until 2008, Marita chuckles heartily. "I've already started packing. Believe it or not, I started boxing everything up ... ready for when Kris comes home...." The rich laughter soon fades to a weary sigh. "I laugh, yes, but this is not a joke. We have been through hell.... I just want for us to go home, to London, to live out the rest of our days quietly."

Back home, some of Britain's top legal minds are rallying to help. In August former British Attorney General Lord Goldsmith wrote to Gov. Charlie Crist: "The case concerns serious acts of double murder, and there is a real question whether they were committed by Mr. Maharaj." A second former British attorney general, Sir Nicholas Lyell, brands the case "a serious miscarriage of justice."

The odds of an unjust conviction in a capital case are greater in Florida than any other state in the Union. Since 1973, 124 death row inmates from 25 states have been exonerated and freed from prison. Almost one-fifth were convicted in Florida courts.

"I'm away from my wife and my family ... for something that I didn't do and I knew nothing about," the ailing 68-year-old muses during a 2004 BBC interview.

A lengthy pause. "This is a nightmare. It has to end."