Daniel Villegas was just 16 when he admitted killing two men in a drive-by shooting in El Paso, but after nearly two decades of professing his innocence from behind bars, he may be on the brink of a new trial.

Now 35 years old, Villegas continues to insist the recanted confession that helped a jury find him guilty was coerced. But as he awaits a judge's decision on whether he'll get a new trial, he has more than just his jailhouse claims to back up his story. A private investigator hired by friends of his family, a team from Northwestern University Law School's Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth and a pair of men exonerated after serving time for murder have taken up his cause. And Jesse Hernandez, who survived the shooting, says Villegas is not the killer.

"I believe with all my heart he is innocent," Hernandez told FoxNews.com. "I always thought I knew who else might have done it from the beginning. I had never heard of Daniel before."