these are the top stories on al-jazeera united nations says more than a quarter of a million syrians have been displaced by two weeks of fighting in southwest syria splits are emerging and opposition groups and province delegation involved in talks with the russian military pulled out of cease fire negotiations and some rebel leaders are making separate so-called reconciliation deals with the government has more from beirut. well these so-called crisis group which represents the opposition they released this statement a few hours ago saying that they are no longer going to sit on the negotiating table and engage in jordanian mediated talks with the russian military in that statement they say that the conditions that the russians are demanding are humiliating and they just can't accept them after so many years of sacrifices there

even pointing the finger of blame at some f.s.a. free syrian army rebel commanders saying some of them are traitors in clear reference to some of those commanders who made separate deals local deals we have to remember in the past few days a number of towns a handful of towns agreed to so-called reconciliation agreements which really amounts to a surrender but people really do not have much of a choice that is surrounded by the government yes a gorgeous jordan yes it borders the occupied golan heights but both israel and jordan of close that territory the allies of the opposition they've abandoned them even the united states telling the rebels do not expect us to intervene militarily on behalf of you against the syrian government so the opposition really has been weakened there have been a number of reconciliation agreements but this opposition delegation saying no we're no longer going to sit with the russian military which only means one thing

we are going to see a stepped up military campaign and that's what we're seeing on the ground particularly in the eastern countryside of the government tries to take more ground since this operation began the government now controls sixty percent of the province before the operation began it controlled thirty percent. syria's border with jordan which talks an astronaut's that continues until monday morning jordan's only appointed prime minister visited one of the border crossings with syria to inspect. under his money lopez obrador is set to become mexico's first leftist president in decades for his line. victory in the vote he told ecstatic supporters in mexico city it will fulfill his promise of to feeding corruption. one of the well everyone should be honorable and fight against corruption and against privilege try to work in benefits of the development of the country there will be no need to increase taxes in real terms and in debt the

country nor will there be increases in prices of gas i will bring down the current account and i will increase public investment to promote productive activities and create jobs. united nations secretary general is in bangladesh for his first visit to camps hosting around one million ranger refugees from miramar the bangladeshi government is seeking more support for the refugees whose camps are at risk of being washed away in the monsoon season maybe as national oil corporation is suspending exports from east libya the cut follows capped the capture of two oil terminals last month by forces loyal to warlord holly for huffed up his forces have prevented oil shipments from being loaded several oil ports in a so-called oil crescent jemmy's interior minister and to resign rather than back down from his stance on chancellor angela merkel's migration policy or say however is unhappy with the e.u. migration deal agreed in brussels on friday more than forty leaders are attending

an african union summit aimed at tackling corruption and extremism on the continent or to any other host nation has warned of regional security failings following recent attack by armed groups in mali the leaders of the g five sign hell states met on the sidelines of the summit and also hold talks with french president emmanuel. and it's now be nine days since a youth football team went missing in a flooded cave in northern thailand rescue divers are advancing in the main passageway inside the cave and navy seals are aiming for a sandy chamber they believe the group may have retreated to. their headlines i'll be back with another news updates here on al-jazeera after the system.

m c no nicky i missed you know i got like three nine millimeter just pointed directly i'm a face on night what is this a bad ways you come to me and would go a drone for they latest on a green and out of your body peeing me i see ok what's going no sin to you know just to take to be it i'm like no he's a disguise columbo. he's a have you ever seen a t.v. series colombo se a grown up growing up in a west colombo a few times these days so you know columbo always gets sees me so i'm telling you right now. you we have be failing to listen. to the american criminal justice system enforces our laws and keeps watch over us at first. but who is watching the system. go broner not use my camera for twenty years to knock down doors and pursue the truth just now we're going inside the american criminal justice system i'm in charge of the law enforcement the elected officials the court

system the corrections to find out if justice is served. you know every day in this country thousands of suspects are identified by eyewitnesses and a shocking number of these eyewitnesses get it wrong in fact in all of the d.n.a. exonerations that have happened today seventy percent of them have involved faulty eyewitness identification but what happens when there's no d.n.a. evidence. in dallas christopher scott spent thirteen years in prison trying to get to the bottom of that question me and i was were again taking care of my family our ways home enough to feed my key is put into being taken to school i was a. everest a guy and when i went in they gadda be kidding me christopher scott's case is one of the hundreds that have been reinvestigated by the dallas county district attorney's office james hamm in the lead the investigation. here dislocation two

gentlemen went in to protect some drugs gunfire and shoot and the resident at this house was killed. when the police arrived they were looking for a transmission area two black males one tall one short the victim with just the c.e.o.'s could be given that description it was reported that she awoke and there were two men in the house and spouse had just been murdered happen pretty quickly within minutes police cars descended upon the scene on the lookout for two suspects an officer passed another car that had two black males in it he turned around trying to light on him as they pulled into a driveway often while. saw that there was a tall one shorter one which matched the big description given by the c.s. could beat out and call for backup christopher scott was in that car along with a friend named claude simmons and you know i got like three now a millimeter just pointed directly i'm a face on my what is this a bad ways you come at me and would go a drone for where you just need to come outside and we'll get away with being situated maybe everything is ok then we're late you go they ended up taking chris

into custody taking down the police station interviewing down there and if you did having to do it they can only be released how would you as concerned about was being put is out of a podium and have indeed in it be. christopher scott's fate literally his life would hang up on whether or not an eyewitness could correctly identify him. and eye witness of a different race who had just seen a high impact home invasion robbery and murder go down in a matter of seconds. this is when i seen a plot they put me in front of a big glaze window door like handcuff me to the beach but everybody else in the room wished. would a pin c.d.'s in to be taken only see me in my head it was day on the tardis early in the morning i raise up a cop walk the lady up and say this is the guy to keep you hooked. behind a glass window but i concede like i'm seein you. now i know she.

can these criminal justice system was just beginning another inmate in new orleans was already eleven years deep into a life sentence in one thousand nine hundred four george toko was identified by two witnesses both of them white who accused coke of accidentally shooting his best friend. in the course of a robbery. all of the time all of the time. you saw eric. marlin the fellow was on active duty on the day of the murder. because of the fall of the store and they will pause here and yes they walk to the car they were confronted by two suspects at least one holding a gun and they demanded property money while the gunman held the female robbery

victim on the driver's side of the car eric but began to struggle with the male victim. the gunman panicked fired a shot at the passenger and the taste in the head. so when i had received an information that eric was dead to first name came to mind was joyce choking. a few hours later marlin to fill the arrested george coca the next day the two witnesses identified using this photo lineup provided by the new orleans police department. and then. from. there. claims he was never there he told police that he spent the night in this motel after attending a high school dance at the superdome. leave the dance with another young man who fits the description of the gunman given by the witnesses. the police his story

and eyewitness when you have. to. do it. in one nine hundred eighty five tried found guilty of murder and sentenced to life . he's doing hard time in one of the toughest places in the country louisiana's ingall of prison twenty nine years later george's sister sandy is still convinced that he's innocent i think about george of the. oh they alone you know he's on my mom and i wake up it's like you know i thank god i say my prayers and i always pray for my brothers. book cover him such a horrific environment you know and just keep his mind you know keep his sanity i don't remember getting the news and falling all off the porch fall and all down in the street in you know just crying out to go like why how you know it is

unbelievable if he was guilty in a crime didn't act in risk because at least i know you you've been there for something better you have to be the big bindo bright spot on from a seventeen year old child to a forty eight year old man for a crime they're treating camy sandy has never given up on her brother but she's not battling the system alone in fact she has the kind of support and rarely found in a murder case the support of the victim's family. being falsely accused incarcerated for something he did not do and at such a young age joyce doli as nephew was eric but the man george toca was convicted of murdering two loving brothers you know they could have been closer no one is listening to us that george is innocent each day each year is going to be the year you know you finally get the chance to prove his innocence where he can't hold

until intil we can't get for us my family we can finalize eric's death because we don't have the satisfaction of the personal difficulty of it being punished for it and that somebody else wasn't guilty how life is going down the drain for something you didn't do. george polk his case raises troubling questions about the procedures used by police to obtain accurate i with this identifications many of these practices a bill in place for years but now they are being put to the test. so we're here at john jay college of criminal justice and then happened to see dr jennifer dyson we're going to do some experiments and i win this identification and i kind of love coming to criminal justice schools and meeting with young people because they haven't yet lost their idealism and they still have a strong belief in the system it's going to remind yourself of what the system can day. i joe berlinger jennifer dyes her pleasure to meet you.

to tell us what we're what we're going to do today absolutely so i am an eyewitness identification researcher i've been studying the factors that influence eyewitness reliability for about fifteen years and so i thought today we would run you through an experiment so you can see how the research is conducted right and how accurate are i wouldn't say them patients who are studying not only people in the research lab but also witnesses in the real world about thirty percent of the time witness is a real cases who pick someone and say yes that's the person who committed the crime are wrong and i actually have a demonstration if i can i can show you know it ok. so here's an example that like to show you we've called the penny example and the instructions i'll give you is like you take a look at this and tell me which one is the real penny. i would say that is it number four what most people do if they don't immediately recognize the

person they go to the second process which is can i figure it out like a multiple choice question and so they'll eliminate a bunch one two and three those are ten eleven and twelve are often ghana's in the opposite direction and at the end of the day people narrow down their options and pick the one that is the best and we researchers call that relative judgment relative to the others you pick the one that's the best in fact now i want to switch to number five such a number five there were five is actually the most commonly chosen penny but this also demonstrates another very important principle for witnesses in real cases and that is law enforcement are supposed to tell the witness that the real perpetrator or penny may or may not be there so that none of the above and the multiple choice question really is an option and here none of them are actually the real penny. tell me that i did not tell you that just like many law enforcement officers because it's not part of their policy and they're not mandated to do so don't tell

witnesses in advance keep in mind we may not have the right guy right the real perpetrator may not be here that's not part of their repertoire. what jennifer dicer and other leading researchers believe is that the identification procedures used by the majority of the police departments in this country are outmoded and unscientific that was the case in dallas in one nine hundred ninety seven a witness had just identified christopher scott as the man who shot and killed her common law husband during a robbery he said you know you committed this crime and i what crime is did so you know even told me what i would be a book for so i said i'm not answering no more question into you t.m. me who typical cops see you it in the south dream to me what you know so i say we i have used to reassure me abby excuse reassure he say yeah of course you can go to work so i know when you are one of those rules you win you won't get you look up whatever room you win this is when the. easy and you proud of them do you know what i am so when i walked up and i see homeless out. april fifteenth

one thousand nine hundred five two eyewitnesses testify they see george accidentally shoot his best friend eric but teased during the course of an armed robbery. that. you know right. toko was convicted and has spent more than half of his life in prison he maintains that he's innocent he agreed to talk with us about this case during his weekly phone call to his family. and make x. comedienne to shake hands very pretty nice guy conversation though they think oh god you know. i. call me up a ill. everybody feel. a comment or they have

done. from. every my family call you. that i'm going to describe i could kill my best friend. ok but they are not going to they are full of guilt by association. ahead of a very bad because what i love is. because they will commit a crime. for solid i am five hundred dollars a polish gold piece. allow myself to call a record to. figure out i was not a color suspect toca believes that because he is black in the eye witnesses against him were white the odds were stacked against him in a place like new orleans. bigger than the boundary in the middle.

the female witness got the closest look at the shooter she picked out george polk from a photo lineup but toca believes when the witness saw him in court she realized her mistake i think really going to be a fun. one to get all the control i think i think when you question him it would go ok i've been pretty good i mean i was not. i don't see why she had come forward with their courage or what it was downright mean only she. is still amazed how both witnesses continue to stand by their stories. they have. to get a good look at the. tree stump. why would i want to telegraph no secret if you've got your history. could be a part of we have learned a lesson i want to. finally come forward to try not to get involved really what

we're going to find kind of america fired right here all right. probably only on. that. innocence project who won and has always taken on difficult cases cases that take years and years and years to when we took on judges case because he's innocent it's very clear i think most lay people looking at the case can see that he didn't do the crime emily maus the director of the innocence project in new orleans since two thousand and one c.m. her staff of help when these on a ration of twenty wrongfully convicted inmates do is take his conviction is based exclusively on across racial identification by two witnesses who were exposed to procedure by the new orleans police department and has been proven time and time again in every way that the police department conducted it to increase in accuracy and identification the innocence project is arguing that the state willfully ignored those inconsistences and has suppressed efforts to give toca

a new trial as a lawyer who is frequently challenging convictions when there is new evidence of innocence court still look to an eye witness and say that the eye witness identified. baffles me that that happens given what we know now by the potential problems with eyewitness identification in the last ten years cognitive psychologist like jen dicer have been shattering the myths surrounding eye witness identification they're like some basic beliefs that i think a lot of people have why would somebody falsely confess or how could you miss identify. what they fascinating thing about the whole system in the process is that generally speaking these are mistaken witnesses who really believe they're accurate they're not lying today dyce art has invited a group of students to her offices at john jay college to demonstrate how police procedures work and how witnesses behave. the students have been told they will be participating in a social science study but that's all they've been told they have no clue about

what is going to happen next something that takes place here will turn them from in this in bystanders into witnesses to are just going to be watching a video and then answer questions about it and a lot of thoughts and more minds and hearts just to give your consent to be a part of the study. and look at my i don't actually have to want to. let me just go grab it i'll be right back to you guys just sit tight for a second. does anybody know vicki she just said she just stepped out on your pickup a laptop on for my t.v. so imagine that so i thought i'd still. think if. ok so we can get started i've got my forms press in my laptop your friend came in.

my friend it's a kind of freaky teen i have no idea who that was i think someone just on my laptop i guess i should call security. ok as you guys probably guessed already this is part of the experiment and the person that was here we're going to find that that was an actual fact that his laptop so was going to happen that was going to happen and we're going to bring participants back one at a time we're going to ask them to give a description of the criminal who stole the laptop and then we would show them some photographs to see if they can make a correct id decision ok let's let's bring along the line of questioning utilized here is consistent with the questions that law enforcement used with real eye witnesses starting with the physical attributes of the suspect as much as you can remember about what he looked like what he was wearing any details really that you can remember but i can remember ziska or i think you were in a blue collar unders black sweater white collar top. five nine and six i

have technicians harris i kind of greyish not to wait here brown hair and blue jeans back pants brown shoe was a little bit over medium build so we'll have a you when you think about it most of these answers are pretty they in fact they could have been describing just about any middle aged white man in america. and think about the real world cases we have two african-american man accused of violent crimes that took place in a matter of seconds the men were also identified by witnesses of a different race research has shown these cross racial identifications can be biased when i witness cases are overturned forty percent of the time the witnesses have got it wrong where members of a different race will move around in my case they have hispanic latest and she remembered seeing a black guy kid you know a cross racial you look in it you know how could your complete me into

a medium height i mean to me black mean in america you describe and when you describe it you describe what would be most a majority to mean in america they say there are two days in a prison sentence the day you go in and the day you go home for christopher scott that first day never should have happened a ticket on a chain. g.o.c. it is in a day you want to say i say yes ma'am i say convicted to romania and in believe me when i tell you this i will be back to fight my case this is not over. back in new york at our eyewitness identification experiment a laptop has been stolen and the witnesses have already given conflicting descriptions of the suspect. the next step is for the investigator in this case vicki to show the witnesses a lineup this is how most police departments do it it's called the six pack six pictures on one page. the next thing i want to do is i'm going to show you

a line of six people that's what you try to find which one is ok. it looks more like the guy on the bottom right. do you think that's him yeah i think that's him on the bottom right i mean i'm confident i feel very confident that it was that guy that was that ok. that was bad yes ok why do we call it. was not a not a recommended police practice first all of the individuals were presented at the same time what this tends to result in is witnesses who compare the photos and pick the one who's the best and you could actually almost hear that in the language where it kind of settled on number six. this is just one of the potential errors made by the new orleans police department in the case against george polk the department has become notorious for outmoded police tactics and corruption.

toko was given a life sentence for the murder of his best friend eric but he's there in the commission of a robbery. the way that the police conducted this procedure was in every way full of creating an inaccurate identification of an innocent suspect in this case george polk said this here is the six pack you can see here this is george toca a maze of the fillers that they used at the time of the shooting both witnesses describe the gunman as being tall and having a medium build george polk is five foot five and weighed just over one hundred pounds it's one of several inconsistency in the accounts given to the police by the eyewitnesses what's interesting is you can see highlights from here you can see very clearly whether or not george took a house. for very prominent gold teeth. in a crime went to pass and hilton. spaced out spoken there is no way that if they

would not have noticed his guilty as we are seeing in these identification experiments it's easy for eyewitnesses to get an accurate information i got a good look at of his that these are like the way looks like the innocence project case goes much further it accuses the new orleans police. a minute perverting justice by miss the entire eyewitness identification procedure there is no evidence in the record at all that they were told when they were shown this photo lineup that the perpetrator you know the suspect may or may not be in this life that is very important to do and there's been significant research bearing this is one of the things the department of justice recommend agencies do the new orleans police department declined our request to comment on this case.

the afghan national army. guardians of a country ravaged by decades of war and occupation abandoned by its liberate his. young men who know that each day could be the last it to continue to fight for a future free from calix. afghanistan's own battle and witness documentary on al-jazeera. when the news breaks. on the mailman city and the story builds to be forced to leave the world just. when people need to be heard women and girls are being bought and given away in refugee camps al-jazeera has teams on the ground to bring you the award winning documentaries and live news on al-jazeera i got to commend you all i'm hearing is good journalism on air and on mine.

hello again america is the top stories on al-jazeera the united nations says more than a quarter of a million syrians have now been displaced by the government offensive to retake there are province in the southwest hopes of a cease fire being thrown further into doubt with splits emerging in opposition groups over negotiations with russia and overnight towns near syria's border with jordan with talks isn't as strikes that continued until monday morning jordan's newly appointed prime minister visited one of the border crossings with syria to inspect aid deliveries. andres manuel lopez obrador is set to become mexico's first leftist president in decades following his landslide victory in the boat he told ecstatic supporters in mexico city he would fulfill his promise

of defeating corruption. well everyone should be honorable and fight against corruption and against privilege try to work in benefits of the development of the country there will be no need to increase taxes in real terms and in debt the country nor will there be increases in prices of gas i will bring down the current account and i will increase public investment to promote productive activities and create jobs in the united nations actually generalism bangladesh for his first visit to camps hosting about one million rangar refugees from in march the bangladeshi government is seeking more support for the refugees whose camps are at risk of being washed away in the monsoon season libya's national oil corporation is suspending exports from libya by cart follows the capture of two oil terminals last month of forces loyal to the warlord khalifa haftar and his forces have prevented oil shipments from being loaded at several all ports in the so-called oil present

maybe as un backed government has warned international companies against dealing with haftar. germany's interior minister has threatened to resign both of them back down from his stance on chancellor angela merkel's migration policy horse as a whole for is unhappy with the e.u. migration deal agreed in brussels on friday and it's been nine days since a youth football team went missing in a flooded cave in northern thailand rescue divers are advancing in the main passageway inside the cave the navy seals are aiming for a sandy chamber they believe the group may have retreated to you up to date now with all the headlines i'll be back with more news here on al-jazeera but first let's get you back to the system. the nature of news as it breaks although thousands of women have reported rape and other sexual atrocities in south sudan's war threats are going to say the figure is likely much higher with detailed coverage nearly fifty schools took part in the drive each one responsible had to get

a different school supply of clothing from around the world. are still very new here but these players are very old for the very ones to be able to leave and made people want to play on the international study. back in new york at our eyewitness identification experiment a laptop has been stolen and the witnesses have already given conflicting descriptions of the suspect. but i can members i think we're in a blue collar unders black sweater white collar top. five nine and six missions harris i kind of greyish not to put it on white here brown hair. here's the six pack photo lineup that was shown to the witnesses but with their choice of been affected if they were told originally that the actual suspect is not pictured here he also was not told in advance that the actual person who stole the laptop

may or may not be there so he's led to believe induced to believe that he's supposed to pick someone who looks more like the guy on the bottom right inducing or guiding a witness to make a decision is a major flaw in the witness identification system and the next witness here in this experiment is proof of how this can happen. i think that. the closeness and i'm not. really. that's the guy that we think is the person to. accuse the cause he's the closest so you can see the witness starting to change their identification decision because it's. in subtle pressure absolutely. in dallas the eyewitness identification procedure used in christopher scott's case was a powerful tool for the prosecution despite its many flaws it took me straight to my lawyer he told me say look. this is capital murder ok what is.

the life and death. whence you mean he's exactly what i see they don't need to keep you a give you a life sentence and with no forensic evidence to lean on the prosecution put all of its weight behind the testimony of its star witness i can believe she was seeing where she was seen because. it is michael play it's like a movie when you see the prosecutor doing his theme with his witness lead her into all of her questions when guided the it is is just a guy to be it it is she saying yes it is him i remember him our window if we get him he ruined my life i can believe it. cording to george toca the real person who shot and killed his friend eric batiste new orleans is still on the streets and very.

very. stiff with jail you know just show every show. she watched especially george's sister cindy had heard rumors about the suspect in the neighborhood but as the years went by she couldn't find anyone who would be willing to talk about it on the record then she got a call from a girlfriend who remembered that the guy she was dating at the time of the murder had shown up visibly shaken by something that had just happened. that morning he came over to the house you know he had on his muddy clothes and you know got up i was so scared i know was going on it is she talking. i literally dropped the phone but why would you keep there from me knowing that's my brother live on the land we talking about i didn't know at the time a whole lot about the law you know but at the same time i know i needed to do something to help my brother at least get some type of attention talk to somebody

less involved or somebody that knows somebody because they were getting into all of this connection sandy went back to the live feed housing complex where she and george grew up. it was a high crime area and a tough place to get information about an old case especially a case that pointed a finger at the police. lawless is one of the words this police force in america any of that has been like there for years i ever since i can remember from being a young key to every battle petrified. we grew up in uprising you would even call the police you understand people were trying to handle things on the own because did they have to fund to protect in third but it wasn't all protection not a service they were providing and it was a no service so where were bill if it you so you never felt safe it was so much police brutality these kids to start really really growing up when this almost

hatred in the what the police department. the new orleans police and gays in the pattern of practice of conduct that was both discriminatory and unconstitutional and that too often undermined the public's trust and the city's efforts to effectively prevent crime in march of two thousand and eleven the justice department released the findings of a two year investigation of the new orleans police. the report found that wallace police used too much force against civilians too often didn't report it and often failed to investigate the use of force darling in order that african-americans were just importantly arrested when compared to white citizens the report was explosive it found some of the most widespread dysfunction and corruption in the history. big city policing in america. today the justice department and the city of new orleans filed a consent decree to ensure that local police services are delivered in a manner that is affective in compliance with constitution and the laws of the

united states it's an extreme measure and one hundred twenty six pages the federal consent decree is aimed at correcting longstanding patterns of police misconduct and it specifically requires the new orleans police department to completely overhaul its eyewitness identification procedures but as far as george told his lawyers are concerned there is little evidence of change we have a district attorney's office here that has said publicly if all we've got is one eye witness i'm willing to take that case to try one piece of evidence that has been shown to be one of the most unreliable kinds of evidence in criminal cases the consequence is in many of these trials a life without parole i think that is a huge disservice to the citizens of this city if george polk and his supporters are looking for hope that justice will come to new orleans they can take a look at the city of dallas and what happened to another inmate stuck in the system christopher scott. nearly given up hope when he showed his case to a jailhouse lawyer and he read it any made me want to end he was like do it

is no way in a word you want to get out of prison you've got to mean it when she is on my why you would you have no d.n.a. in your case somebody has to come back and say did they actually committed this crime before you get released and i had told him i say you know would almost be out of a meeting to get out of prison for the. case. i'm leanin be it i'm trying to figure out my name may. create. the kid from oak cliff. county's next district attorney. not only. for those bad guys but i'm responsible for making sure that if someone comes out of the courthouse we're not going to be down there trying to put them in a crime they didn't i was elected in two thousand and six i was the first african-american elected in the whole state of texas. being

a person of color obviously i have issues with law enforcement it didn't work for me and people look like me. for a long time and so i wanted to come in and make sure that law enforcement worked for community that basically distrusted the thought process was that a da was to protect a conviction at all cost and when i came in i looked at these cases to make sure that if a person was wrongfully convicted that they got their fair day in court and they would be exonerated and also we would actually go in pursuit of the actual person that committed the crime in two thousand and seven watkins created a special unit to reexamine those cases he named it the conviction integrity unit and they started unpacking case files the unpacking of the case starts with getting all the documents that we can that are available normally that's a transcript of the trial so we can see what happened jim would handle

a substantial amount of the factual investigation and cynthia will handle the legal side. and then we'll all get together and we pose questions to each other so that we challenge the validity of the conviction within a year of the unit was investigating four hundred guilty verdicts and they cleared six men through the use of d.n.a. technology. won't he be exoneration exoneration exoneration and i'm like oh yeah you know it may be china happened to some of us i want to beg writing that is again a people but the real test was clearing someone like christopher scott chris forgot case is one of the first cases that we actually investigated from the standpoint of i winced indication it was a non d.n.a. case. craig watkins was putting his career and the credibility of the conviction integrity unit on the line. if i go with this case based on the

subjective information i would just in case my going to ruin the opportunity for us to pursue this program that we have if this individual actually committed the crime and is found out years later so the first thing i did first thing out as first time i've ever done this was i'm going to go go down and talk to him face to face he was in his you know geo uniform. looked him in the eye and ask him. you know i truly believed him when he answered the questions but he didn't commit the crime scott's next break came when he met a lawyer from the dallas county public defender's office. this you know i say you do. thank you michel moore was racking up a string of exoneration victories and dallas when i was in prison i seem a shia more on t.v. again god's exonerated and i was saying my of i can get this lady to represent

me i'll probably get exonerated like a week later i get it from dallas canny create walk in southeast sandwich or was appointed my castle and we talked and here i do it i said that from the beginning i can a last hope for a little bit and fighting as much but i didn't do it and never told anybody i did it i completely innocent and i have maintained that the entire time even when i've lost hope with the system i maintain my innocence the unthinkable is happening in dallas public defenders and prosecutors who are working side by side on a wrongful conviction case word was spreading throughout the system that christopher scott's case was mishandled and another person had gotten away with the crime. christopher scott finally caught a break when an inmate serving time for another gun related crime came forward to identify himself. this was the man police should have been looking for. is name is

alonzo hardy party had written a letter to the corps and said i did this i was i was not the shooter but i was a good guy i'm sick and you know i want to clear my conscience on this next party gave up the shooter it was a man named michael anderson a k a d mike you can see how frightened witness making cross racial identification could confuse kalid simmons with the mike michelmore arranged to meet harding he was able to take us through. going to five crack at the house previously kind of scoping out the house because they had actually seen a lot of money in the house going back to the house to steal money during the trial and during the initial investigation. his name along to hardy and michael anderson is names that come up in investigation that they were known to be committing these robberies that they were robbery mexican drug dealers in the area i've got to give

a lot of. jim hammond because look at the scene and going to the ballistic stuff he's like well there's stuff is missing and then they knock on the door they open the door. from want to launch a hardee's they recognized the mike from the previous robbery and alonzo hardy was standing by the door to the left and the victim shot at him. and piers just code did strike his body and all that pierced his coat and that and then as you saw in the gun toward my. hand and reinvestigated the scene and put the confession in the evidence together and after thirteen years the first non d.n.a. exonerations case in dallas was fred could this mean freedom for christopher scott and cause simmons. quite soon in christopher scott. reporting from the same court room receiving life sentences twelve years ago today

their names clear the evidence supports a final finding factually in each of these two cases are actually innocent. two individuals. in crimes in which they didn't commit i wasn't angry i wasn't being about to see to ation i was happy i had my time to be made and in prison i had my time to be be in prison it was no time because i didn't want to stagnate my growth that what i'm trying to do i have. to try to force see him make happen when christopher scott was released from prison the state of texas compensated him with a million dollar settlement he never forgot what it was like to wear that white jumpsuit every day so he built a store and filled it with color and style. and when an inmate is exonerated or if

they serve time with scott he helps them to get back some of their dignity with a fresh set of clothes to go which is. good on. christopher's mean where. he was in prison. you know what i mean. but the stories really homebase from the system changing work he does with the band the fellow is honorees each falsely identified by an eyewitness even twenty six years for a crime we didn't commit genin needed twenty five years for a crime he didn't complete they call themselves the house of renewed hope and what we do is we receive many many managers individual this imprison this claiming their innocence in we read they cases we read they try and train scripts in it we feel like it's something that we can do a should be done we dig deep into the case christopher scott's exoneration was

a watershed moment for the criminal justice system in the city of dallas the police department under intense public pressure decided to change their outmoded eyewitness identification procedures basically it was an opportunity to look at. the research that was out there ron waldrop is the former assistant police chief he helped to spearhead the changes in procedure we showed him the facts here is how many have been overturned by the n.s.a. and here's what the research said the first step was to embrace the findings of researchers like gen dicer time in two thousand and thirteen dicer along with ron waldron helped to publish a groundbreaking national institute of justice report the report breaks down the steps that law enforcement agencies should take in order to make their eyewitness identification procedures more accurate and fair we agreed and pushed for him to be a test city we took every step that the research indicated was beneficial and we

put it in the system. move the dallas police department away from what are considered bad practices like the ones we've seen so far in the experiment so to recap the laptop was stolen investigator showed the witnesses a six pack lineup this guy pick number six the wrong suspect. this woman was coerced into picking number five. now the way we changed it in dallas they would parallel and then they would give all the admonitions going to be a group autographs keep in mind that it's just as important to clear anisim people as right and i guilty it's things that you tell the witness that are important for them to know the people that you see in the photograph might not look exactly like they did at the time that you saw them because some pictures might change the person who committed the crime may or may not be in the photographs that you see to keep that in mind the person looking at the line of that no matter if they have in a fight about your mouth place are going to continue to investigate and regardless of whether you make an identification the investigation is going to continue they

would take it to a blind administrator so that's when the officer detective who's showing the images or the people should know who the suspect is in the case and that's so that they can't unconsciously or consciously influence the witness in any way then they show them to him sequentially one of the time. there can't be any unintentional shot him to watch and they have to make an independent decision on each photograph as they go through and no witnesses are less likely to make a mistake pick an innocent person if the images are just show one at a time. now and that gets us to the fifth recommendation ask the witness that they make their identification how certain they are now how are you. pretty confident turns out this witness is right the suspect was not in the lineup. these seem like such a basic and obvious thing is it surprising that everyone doesn't do it or is there

resistance or education it's a little bit of both. being frank the resistance across the country is more from prosecutors than it is from law enforcement you know law enforcement want the tools that are the most effective to help them with their job and their generally speaking receptor receptive to these kinds of reforms you're not going to eliminate mistakes i witness an identification you just try to make it as as good a system as you can to minimize the mistakes and then understand that mistakes can still be made and rely on other investigative means to try to resolve them before anybody spends or laugh in prison for something they didn't do. since the day george toko was arrested convicted and sentenced for the killing of his best friend eric bana least he has said he did not do it by two thousand and ten after twenty four years behind bars momentum was finally building for george polk. he was

granted a post conviction hearing to present new evidence a criminal court in new orleans if you're in was the culmination of years of amateur detective work by his sister sandy who never lost hope. no way you can guess and i know we've been down it with the innocence projects help sandy cox a number of reluctant with this is to come forward many who pointed the finger at another suspect. when you look at his physical description exactly matches the description initially given by the two witnesses to the crime june sixteenth two thousand and ten george polk is post conviction relief hearing open in new orleans for new witnesses testified another man shot eric battista nine affidavits were presented tokers a boy or is made the case that research on cross racial identifications prove them to be biased then judge julian parker ended the hearing. tearful testimony today from the victim's family was not enough to grant george token

a chance at freedom several other witnesses said that another man confessed about judge julian parker dismissed those claims. jersey literally sit there all those people right come all right have abused their day and the judge literally sit there and so everybody in the court you know law where they come from after twenty some years but he don't know who paid them over there i went to these people and literally paid the money to come forward the state actually argued in that hearing that it was a conspiracy of people from the feet high sing projects to free one of their own we all wanted to start stream and shouting and we knew not to do that because we probably locked up so we left the courthouse. with that type of feeling feeling that he was trying to give us an consideration but as far as we was concerned he gave us an oath consideration. the innocence project has filed an appeal but as

every year passes george hokum by gets harder and harder to prove his innocence. particular question i want. to. know everything to go on it so. i don't go out of there and have. to wrap your initial. along confided to the day he's really. a monkey surgeon is so. needed told to the calls the minute i need to talk to the cell. i'm not both with. you know to wheels of justice move slow but they do move in i just think at the right time right place it could be fixed but it's up to us to fix it because

this where we've had the glad to vote to put the right people in the right positions to make the change that we need not criminal justice. this is one of the most fun parts of our judicial system what to do with children examining juvenile justice he didn't adult crime he's got to face and i'd also times adolescents should not be demanding the rest of their lives protections that are taken at that q you don't feel life's is just as guilty and suffers the same consequences that's the law exploring the dark side of american justice the system with joe burden just on al-jazeera.

and the fans back. in the streets. the weather. welcome back we'll look at weather conditions across the americas this time starting in south america plenty of showers across northern areas as they have been over last a few weeks further towards the south looking fine in many areas asuncion there in paraquat enjoying a fine day in thirty degrees fourteen degrees as a mice from buenos aires but we've got a strengthening southerly flow so the cold direction which means the time to get through to choose day we're not even going to make it double figures temperature wise another stage we could be seeing some rain just pushing into santiago in chile but it should be a fine day in rio with highs of twenty nine degrees moving up into the caribbean region we've got more showers for parts the bahamas and western parts of cuba but otherwise for many of the islands weather conditions are looking largely fine woman

in kingston jamaica that thirty three degrees we have showers for panama and costa rica but otherwise looking generally dry through much of the isthmus so that we do see some showers developing for parts of mexico later on choose to mexico city likely to get the old downpour into north america and here we've got wildfires again across parts of california this yellow county near sacramento really weather conditions expected to remain drawing so no change there meanwhile across the eastern seaboard still warm but still pretty wet in places. the weather sponsored by catarrh as always. with over forty thousand people killed under his roof it took twenty five years to bring him to a court of law but why for so long was such a brutal dictator considered an ally of the west who are reporting to the congress that the press there were engaged in the first of al-jazeera unravels the history

of chad's notorious former president is saying had three dictator on trial on al-jazeera. when the news is restricted and send said the press is not free it is external interference in influence and the moon is used to exploit not explained. when journalists access to information she hinted at the time but i want us to press. the most of the costs. and just as never sees the light of day no i knew went on a bit into it on the weekend. what the show was. and the stories that matter and told in the press is not. and neither are we.

this is al-jazeera. hello there are a kyle this is the news hour live from doha coming up in the next sixty minutes biting and felt the therapist a quarter of a million more people out of their homes as ceasefire talks falta. begun promises but short on detail mexicans take a leap of faith left when paul hit us i think he can sell rump of violence.