great news for mitt romney, who's running as sort of a conservative to moderate republican, and while everyone else is lining up on his right, fracturing that very conservative vote. >> she would make a huge impact my question is, when you call people, fund-raisers, activists, no one says she's saying do this, do that, start raising money, but, boy, she could produce a good video, though. >> she gets our attention. maybe she's turned on the mainstream media. maybe she likes us more. >> ryan lizza, thank you for coming in as well. that's all for us as well. anderson cooper, 360 starts right now. good evening, everyone. we begin with breaking news, libya's momeammar gadhafi on th brink of defeat which is good to hear, but possibly planning a final offensive against libyan civilians which could be chilling. the prospect of a blood thirsty, unpredictable and mentally unstable dictator lashing out, barbara starr broke the story. one u.s. official telling her,

quote, he could be planning for a last stand. another saying it could be -- he could put civilians in the crosshairs. but both officials say they just don't know what form a final offensive might take. recent nato airstrikes are clearly upping the ante. our people there are telling us they are under way again tonight. loud explosions being heard in tripoli within the past hour. opposition forces telling us they're making use of the air attacks to try to make progress on the ground. those forces in zawia, fierce artillery fire could be heard today. opposition fighters telling our reporter they could be moving on the capital within a number of days. that could just be optimistic talk on their part. meantime, the opposition says a former libyan prime minister has defected, fleeing tripoli with his family.

no sign his former boss momeamm gadhafi is going anywhere and that's the potential problem, a potentially violent and bloody problem. joining us, sara sidner, and commander wesley clark, and cnn national security adviser fran townse townsend. how close are the forces to tripoli, and how much trouble is gadhafi in right now? >> reporter: anderson, they're just 30 miles from tripoli. we're talking about nothing, basically. but what we are seeing in thezy of zawia, which is strategically important, the rebels gave us a tour of the refinery, it's in perfect condition, it's one of the only functioning refineries left in the country. and for them, it's very important that they're able to cut off that oil supply to tripoli. so they're very happy about that, and they say they have not gotten control of 80%, 80% of

the city, but they're still battling it out in 20% of the city. we heard heavy, heavy fire, gunfire and rounds going off in the city. they feel they'll end this thing in the next day or so, and then they plan on pushing forward to tripoli, which is just about a 40-minute drive away. >> so are they in control of zawiya? >> reporter: they're not in complete control. we were in the middle of the firefight today. we got so close and suddenly we found ourselves having to run out of the area because of all of the mortars that were coming in and the shelling that was happening. we made it out safely. the firefight was continuing to go on throughout the day. so 20% of that city is still being battled over. but they did take control of 80% of the city, and you can see that. the city is mostly abandoned, but there are still a few residents around who have decided to stick it out. what you're seeing is rebel tanks, tanks they've taken from gadhafi forces they're now using

against gadhafi forces in that city. >> matthew chance, you're in tripoli. what's it like there now? does it feel like a city preparing for the worst? >> reporter: well, it feels like a city which is under pretty intensive airstrikes by the nato warplanes that have been circling the skies above tripoli for the past several hours, particularly, but over the past several days as well. we've seen an intensification of the describistrikes. also when you speak to the residents in the city, there's a sense they're very much under siege. the fact that it's fallen to the rebels and the road to the west out of tripoli into tunisia has been cut off by that military action. it's had a big psychological impact on the people here. their escape route has been cut off, and they really have sort of taken on this siege mentality. it's been compounded by the fact that we're hearing airstrikes every couple of minutes now, perhaps every half an hour or so, in the libyan capital,

anderson. >> general clark, if gadhafi does make his last stand in tripoli, doesn't try to escape somewhere else or flee or give up, knowing what we know about him, his military capabilities and the potential for urban fighting, what could a last stand there look like? >> well, if he has disciplined forces and ammunition, it could be ugly. and it could go on for days, just like the fighting in misrata went on for days and days and days. but my guess is that that's unlikely to happen. i think if gadhafi goes into tripoli and pulls in there, an soon as it starts to go against him, they're going to be struggling for a way out. once he goes into tripoli, there's no -- other than just saying, okay, we surrender, we lay down our arms and give some kind of a political solution, he's lost his bargaining position by going into tripoli.

so my guess, he's not going in, and, b, if he does, that it's not going to end up in a misrata-like, months-long combat. >> if gadhafi makes a stand in tripoli, what do you think it would look like? do you think he has those loyal organized forces? or do you think as many have hoped for all along, his inner circle might turn on him in the final push? >> yeah. anderson, i think what's most likely is the forces that remain around him will melt away. and in fact, i think something that i learned from a very senior western europe intelligence official is indication that gadhafi is preparing for the last stand. we had heard reports that he was -- had some plan to flee to tunisia and this senior intelligence official with firsthand knowledge said to me, no, that's not right. this is the women and son were seeking permission to land the

plane in tunisia. why a plane? because rebel forces have that western border, they couldn't travel by land. tunisia denied permission to bring a plane in with his family. i think he wants his family out because he's prepared to have that last stand, to have that battle there and to die there. he said, you know, he will become a martyr and let his blood flow on libyan soil, and i think that's in his mind if he's got to go, that's his plan. >> sara, in terms of the opposition forces, i mean, for so long they were completely disorganized. we talked about this the other night. you said they have made some improvements, but in terms of -- i mean, how much of a disciplined fighting force do they have? do we know what percentage of the forces are actually -- have actual training, have actual experience? and in a fight in a city would be able to fight effectively if it came to that? >> reporter: yeah, it's a really hard question to answer, but a very good question, anderson. i can tell you from what we have seen over the -- of the few

months that we've been in, inside of this country, what we've seen is there was continuing, and is continuing to be training. and so there is something like a boot camp, i guess you could say, in places like benghazi and here in the western mountains where people who have never held a gun before will go, get intensive training over, for example, a week or two weeks' time. but because the force isn't that big, what you're seeing is sometimes people coming in that have very little knowledge of how to deal with this. never mind strategically trying to figure out what the right thing to do is. just like you mention, when you talk about urban warfare, you really need to be trained. it's one of the most dangerous kinds of warfare that there is. because something could be just around the corner, and you really have to be trained for these things and have the right equipment. and i can't say that they do, but i can tell you this. when we asked them, look, are you planning to push into tripoli, and if so, what is the plan? is there a plan that has been set out for coordination for all of these different groups and brigades that are coming in.

and the answer was, well, with he have a plan, and i said what is it? he said, well, we have a plan, sort of. so if that is what's going on, this will be a very difficult fight. if gadhafi decides he really wants to make a last stand, this could get really, really bloody, anderson. >> the other question is, how many forces loyal to the opposition may still be in tripoli laying low in the event that opposition forces did enter tripoli, whether they would be joined by people who are actually living there. a lot we don't know. matthew chance, appreciate it. stay safe. sara sidner as well. fran townsend, wesley clark. what do you think? i'll be tweeting tonight as well. next, a deadly day on the streets of syria. how many days have we said this now? but it has been another deadly day. top syrian diplomat telling us, no, no, they're actually protecting protesters. we're keeping them honest. later, three young men

convicted of killing three second graders, the west memphis three they've been known as, all three men are out of prison today. one was on death row. were they wrongly convicted or wrongly freed? crime and punishment, the west memphis three. isha? you have to see it to believe it, and even then, a baby in a stroller in the back of a pickup. and wait until you hear what the babysitter said about it. that and much more when "360" continues. every time a local business opens its doors or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business -- it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts and extending $18 billion in credit last year.

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that was weird. but awesome ! ♪ nationwide is on your side syria stepped up its campaign to kill anyone who speaks up against the assad dictatorship. how else can you describe the killing of more than 2,000 people and at least 23 today alone. in a moment you'll hear from a top syrian diplomat who says security forces are there to protect protesters, not mow them down with gunfire. he says we have it all wrong, the world has it all wrong. we're keeping them honest tonight. the firsthand account of someone who says syrian authorities are hunting us like animals. he spent the day, though, not in hiding, but in this.

[speaking in a foreign language] >> the experience just as you see it here, wave after wave of gunfire directed at people chanting god is great. syrian state tv tells another story clearly ad at odds with the video. the standard story. protesters are armed sunni muslim fanatics, say the government. the people look to be ordinary syrians and the protesters themselves say that's what they are. the only weapons you see and you rarely see them anywhere are stones. the weaponry you hear belongs to syrian authorities. in other new video also posted today taken today shows where the so-called protecters are actually doing to people. the beating, not unusual.

we've seen people clubbed, people stuffed into the trunks of cars. we've seen victims of all ages gunned down, murdered, some of them only children. like this little girl, 2 years old, shot through the eye, shot down as she and her family were reportedly trying to flee a neighborhood under attack by government forces. as always what you see here cannot be independently verified. every day, though, fresh evidence arrives, posted on youtube by people risking their freedom and their lives to document what they are seeing, what they are experiencing. again, the syrian government has a very different explanation for what you just saw and what we've all been seeing for months now. last night we played a portion of my interview with an ambassador to the united nations. more now of that conversation. >> a government allowed peaceful demonstrations to take to the street and they are protected by the police. >> sir, that's not true. you know that's not true. you're a very educated man. you simply know that is not true. >> no, no, no, no, no.

>> when people are asking for children to be released, you're telling me they weren't fired upon? they weren't killed? >> you don't know all the facts of the story. >> first of all, because you're not allowing us in. you're not allowing reporters to actually go to the front lines and see this. you're restricting reporters. so it's a little disingenuous to say you don't know the truth when you're not allowing the international community to see the truth. >> anderson, this is wrong too, we've allowed three delegations, big delegations of journalists and reporters. >> oh, come on. >> into the country. >> and you control them very carefully. >> we don't control anybody. we are there to protect them from the armed groups. >> sir, i reported in damascus and i had a minder with me who watched everything i did and every person i talked to. so to say you're allowing free rein for reporters is simply not true. >> anderson, you are biased and taking side and you shouldn't do that because you are a -- >> i've got to say, i just think

what you're saying, you have not offered any proof. >> this is not the truth. this is not the truth. i'm afraid this is not the truth. you are reporting what somebody told you. this shouldn't be done on cnn. >> sir, i'm reporting what i've seen with my own ieyes and i've seen children with their penises cut off, broken, battered bodies, people trying to get the bodies of their wounded families and complete strange engineers and i've seen people getting shot at while they're trying to retrieve bodies. >> you wouldn't be more sorry than us seeing these victims. they are our own people. >> is there anything that you would say that your government has done wrong in the last five months in terms of how they have dealt with your own citizens? >> you know what? in all military and police operations, all over the world, it happens that sometimes there are some mistakes. and the president himself acknowledged that there were some mistakes at the beginning. because we were not prepared, i mean our forces of police, were

not prepared for such an unexpected situation. so some people may have made some mistakes, anderson, we're not talking about the peaceful demonstrators. the peaceful demonstrations according to the law. >> sir, that's not true. that's not true. >> this is your opinion. this is your opinion. >> i talked -- i've talked to many -- i've talked to protesters. i've talked to protesters and human rights activists inside syria who say this is not true. a woman whose husband was arrested and kidnapped, taken away, and held for weeks and weeks without her having any knowledge of what happened to him. i talked to these people. >> you may have talked to one or three or ten or 100. but syria is 23 millions. you would have to be more objective, more genuine in your approach and analyzing what's going on in syria. the syrian official point of view also. i'm not saying you shouldn't listen to the other side. continue listening to the other id so, but please reflect the

syrian official point of view and here i'm telling you, we have had 500 officers and soldiers killed so far. plus, of course, almost 1,000 civilians lives gunned. >> the u.n. says actually about 2,000 civilians have been killed by your government. about 2,000 and thousands more have been -- are being held in detention. >> this is wrong, anderson. this is wrong. the same way i am denying here with categorically unequivocally that our warships shelled the palestinian -- our tanks -- >> would you allow the international red cross to examine your prisons to go into your prisons? i've heard many protesters whose loved ones get injured or shot, they can't go to hospitals because your security forces are inside the hospitals and will arrest anybody who's taken in. >> this is another lie, anderson. this is wrong. >> well, if that's a lie, it means virtually everyone, except the assad regime itself is lying. the u.n. is lying.

amnesty international, lying. human rights watchers, lying. u.s., france, britain, saudi arabia, turkey, is it possible? anything's possible. is it likely? you can ask yourself that. then having seen what you have seen tonight and night after night, ask yourself if your own eyes are lying too. are they lying about this? while the ambassador enjoys his diplomatic posting in new york and distent who we're calling alexander to protect his identity, was in these crowds today as security forces opened fire. we spoke shortly afterward. so alexander, what happened today after you attended friday prayers? what did you see? >> we were in central damascus and protests actually erupted inside the mosque, which is in the area, at least 2,000 to 2,500 people took part in the protests that left the mosque. just as we were coming out of the mosque and pouring into the main street, suddenly the gunfire started. it was coming from different

directions, really, but we did see the shooting coming from a certain direction where there was security forces, and basically armed men in plain clothes. they were taking cover behind some transport buses. and the protesters actually defied them. what we did the second it started was we started running away, but then we realized some people stood still and actually got in a rock fight with the people who were armed and shooting at them. >> the syrian ambassador to the united nations told me that the government of syria, the regime in syria is actually protecting peaceful protesters, that they're not shooting at them, they're not killing them, they're protecting them. have you -- was that the case today? has that ever been the case in any protest you have seen? >> that wasn't the case today, and that's not -- that's never been the case. that's just total nonsense. what the government is actually doing to these people protesters is they're cracking down on them. they're chasing them down in the streets, hunting them like animals. they're detaining them and then torturing them for days on end.

these people leave the security branches, frightened to death, not able to take to the street again because of what they've done to them. they've humiliated them. they've killed people in the streets. they've killed women. they've killed children. just to stop the protest movement. and everything that's happening now in it syria is obvious. anyone who comes and sees can see for themselves. they're basically slaughtering are the protest movement and not allowing anyone to take part in these protests. >> alexander, why is it that you are doing this? why is it so important for you to go out in the streets, to stand up, to use your voice, and to call for change? why is it important for you to risk your life to demonstrate and also to talk to us? >> well, it's been 41 years that syria has witnessed this fascist regime that just treats people like dirt. and the syrian people want change. the syrian people want a different sort of life.

a democratic life. where people respect each other. and that's what happened on the 15th of march in syria, when people took to the streets, they decided that they will not take this anymore. and that's why this has happened. and i actually do my part by talking international media. these are simple people that just want their universal right to have a democratic country where all civilians respect each other. >> alexander, stay safe. thank you for talking to us. >> thank you. thank you. still ahead, an american wok missing for weeks in aruba now, but the prime suspect in the disappearance of robyn gardner is just beginning to talk. the new details of what he's sharing with police. also a gruesome crime revisited, the memphis three convicted when they were teenagers for the brutal murders of three little boys in arkansas. today after nearly two decades behind bars, they walked free.

why they were released and the startling reaction from one victim's father when we continue. [ waves crashing ] [ martin luther king jr. ] i still have a dream that one day on the red hills of georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. i have a dream today! [ male announcer ] chevrolet is honored to celebrate the unveiling of the washington, d.c., martin luther king jr. memorial. take your seat at the table on august 28th. i'm not looking forward to my flight. try this. bayer aspirin? i'm not having a heart attack. it's my back. no, this is new bayer advanced aspirin... clinically proven to relieve tough pain twice as fast as before. what, did you invent this or something? well, my team did.

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in crime and punishment tonight, the mystery in aruba. after days of silence, suspect gary giordano is offering new details about his vacation with this woman, robyn gardner. giordano was arrested three days later. his story was that gardner vanished while the two were snorkeling in rough waters. fearing for his own life he says he simply lost track of her and suddenly she was gone. police say it doesn't add up. the seas were calm that day, they say, and what about those travel insurance policies he bought just before their trip? one for him, one for her. each valued at $1.5 million. that is harder to explain. here with the latest is martin savage. he joins us from aruba. giordano cooperated with police, but once they arrested him, he went silent. apparently now he's talking again. what's he saying?

>> reporter: well, that's right. a couple days ago authorities said he wasn't cooperating and wasn't talking. now he is talking. only sort of, because here's the way authorities describe it. he's picking and choosing what answers he wants to give. if they're going over new questions, new material, he gives them an answer. but if they're going back over old stuff, he just says, you know what? i've answered that before. they say that that's his tactic to try to avoid their tactic, which of course police like to ask you to repeat your story over several days to see if there are any inconsistencies. he's apparently figured that out and that's why he's saying, you know, i already answered that. i also asked him, what's his attitude during these interrogations, and the police simply used one word. belligerent. >> what's the latest on the travel insurance policies? giordano, who did he list as his beneficiary and do we know who was listed as her beneficiary? >> reporter: well for the first time authorities are now admitting there are two policies, one for him, one for her, both $1.5 million each.

we know for the documents that cnn obtained that gary giordano named his mother as the beneficiary. when it comes to robyn gardner as to who the beneficiary is there, they won't say. there has been some speculation. at this point, though, we did have a conversation with american express, and they said, you can't just take out a policy on somebody else and list yourself as the beneficiary. they would in fact say, robyn would have to sign a document that says, yes, i make gary giordano my beneficiary. now, did she do that? could she have been fooled into doing that? we're still digging on that one. >> he's been in jail two weeks now. do we know where he's being held and what his conditions are like? >> reporter: he's at the kia prison, and what's interesting about that, authorities say he's living a lot better than he was in the local jail. apparently it's a much bigger room he's in. 33 by 33 feet. now he's got to share it with two other men, but at least he gets to move around during the

day. he gets to interact with other prisoners, which he never had the opportunity to do. he's got visiting days twice a week, although authorities say nobody has visited him. he does not have access to the media. so that's where he is for the time being. >> and i mean, obviously it's possible that he's telling the truth. that this is all some terrible tragedy. >> reporter: and that's exactly right. i mean, and it probably hasn't been said enough, that, yeah, he could be telling the truth. however, there are three things that are sort of stacked against him. two of which are his own doing. number one, he did take out a hefty insurance policy on a woman who's now missing and he did it just days before she vanished. number two, his track record when it comes to dealing with other women and the accusations they've made against him is, well, not very good. and number three, this is aruba. the island where six years ago natalee holloway vanished without a trace, and many americans still believe that case was bungled. and so the last thing aruban authorities want is to be perceived as being soft on

another missing american case. however, you know, that said, a lot of legal experts on the island say unless they come up with something better than just an insurance policy, in two weeks, it is quite possible that gary giordano will go home free. >> interesting. martin savage, thanks. still ahead, the three men convicted in the infamous west memphis three murder case are out of prison tonight. a complicated legal proceeding set them free. we'll have the full story ahead. let's check in with the news and business bulletin. wall street ends an awful week with another awful day. the dow jones tumbled 173 points, losing 1.6% of its value. the nasdaq and the s&p 500 recorded steep declines as well. all due to fears about the u.s. economy and europe's debt crisis. a court hearing today over a lawsuit filed by the trustee appointed to recover billions of dollars from bernard madoff's ponzi scheme. the trustee is suing the owners of the new york mets for $1 billion, claiming they invested

with madoff and turned a blind eye to his scheme. they argue they knew nothing about it. and a 61-year-old lifeguard is suing the new york state parks department for age discrimination because it won't let him wear lycra shorts that stretch to his knees. he's required to wear boxers, briefs or board shorts but doesn't feel that clothing is appropriate for a man of his age. anderson, he says the older you get you should show less skin. >> but he likes the lycra. >> he likes the lycra. they're called jammers. >> really? >> apparently so. >> i did not know that. before we get to tonight's shot, a note about gerard depardieu, we put him on the ridiculous for peeing aboard an airplane, a friend says he has prostate problems and was trying to go in a bottle but others say he was drunk. i lost my composure and started laughing and that gave stephen

colbert to take me to task on his show. >> this has actually never happened to me. i'll see this on youtube. all right. >> i am shocked. i am shocked at this behavior from the award-winning journalist who stays poised while reporting during a hurricane, visiting an earth quake ravaged scape, in treahri square and riding his surf board through space. >> what are you going to do about it? >> i never heard that one growing up. >> he didn't discover pooper scooper, that was big in the '70s. >> take the fight to colbert. that's what i say.

team pooper, we're ready. >> i don't know how i'll respond, but we'll get him. >> i've got your back. >> thank you. appreciate that. straight ahead, serious stuff, a stunning reversal in the west memphis three case. they've been released despite admitting their guilt back then. a look at the rare legal deal that set them free. and a new twist in the tragedy of the indiana state fair. more when we continue. a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won't let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor!

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crime and punishment tonight, a big development in the so-called west memphis three murder case. three young men convicted of murdering three young boys in 1993 walked out of prison this afternoon. how they got out involves a tricky legal maneuver which i'll explain, but first some background on the case. 18 years ago you may remember the bodies of three second graders were found in a watery ditch, mutilated, hog tied with their own shoelaces. three men, teenagers at the time from left to right on the screen, jason baldwin, damien echols and jessie misskelley, jr. supporters of the three men have long argued no direct evidence linked them ever to the murders. now to the rare legal deal that set them free. it's known as the alford plea, which means while they claim they're innocent they acknowledge the state has evidence to convict them. a judge sentenced them to the 18

years already served and released them. here's what jason baldwin said after he was released. >> this was not justice. you know? in the beginning we told them nothing but the truth, that we were innocent and they sent us to prison for the rest of our lives here. the only thing the state would do is to say we'll let you go only if you admit guilt. and that's not justice no matter how you look at it. >> deborah feyerick investigated the case leading up to today's plea deal and even spoke to damien echols during his incarceration. here's her report. >> reporter: west memphis, arkansas, 1994. an awkward looking teenager with coal black hair and a far away gaze stands trial, accused of killing three 8-year-old boys. best friends, badly beaten, hog tied and hidden in the watery bayou in the woods where they played. >> the first verdict reads as follows. >> reporter: at trial, prosecutors call it a sat tannic cult, a demonic ritual, sexual

torture and mutilation. >> we the jury find damien echols guilty of capital murder in the death of stevie branch. >> reporter: he was sentenced to die by leithal injection. his two friends got life in prison, in part because of the confession by misskelley defense lawyers say not only was riddled with inconsistencies but was coerced. fast forward to today, and now many in the small midwestern town, including parents of two of the three victims, have the uneasy feeling the verdicts may have been wrong. one is john mark buyers, haunted by his son christopher's death. if i'd met you in may of 1993, how convinced would you have been of the guilt of the three teenagers? >> 100%. >> reporter: so now, do you believe that the three men in

prison are guilty? >> no, ma'am. they're 100% innocent. we needed someone to hate to survive because our child was dead. >> reporter: we meet damien echols at the super max prison, an hour's drive south of little rock. his hair is still coal black, but now his gaze is sharp. you were asked at the trial, did you kill christopher byers. your answer then was -- >> no. absolutely no. >> reporter: your answer is? >> no. absolutely not. even though it's been 20 years, you don't get used to being asked that. that's the kind of thing that screws with your head for the rest of your life. to have people, to constantly have to answer that question or constanley have people asking you that. it's like being kicked in the stomach over and over and over again. >> reporter: there's sterile images of the little boys down by the creek, how did those images affect you? >> i didn't see those all the way up until i was -- it was during the trial. so it was still sort of abstract

to me. they were just names. that's when it really hit me and -- it does something to you when you see something like that. it cracks you inside. >> reporter: after the boys were discovered here, police searched the area. and yet they found no physical evidence linking damien echols and his two friends to the crime scene. there was no dna. no fingerprints. nothing even suggesting a satanic rictual which prosecutos say was the motive for the murders. what was your alibi? >> i didn't fit in the town where i lived. i only dressed in black. i had, you know, pretty outrageous hairstyles. at the time that the police say the murders took place, i was actually on the phone with three different people. the problem was the attorneys i had at the time, the public defenders never even called them to the witness stand. never even asked them about this kind of stuff. >> reporter: west memphis prosecutors and police stand by their case. as to the parents of the third victim, who all believe the

right people are in prison. for damian echols, life or death could come down to a single hair. not his, but a strand found in the shoelaces used to tie up one of the boys. dna testing that did not exist two decades ago suggest the hair could belong to the stepfather of another victim, stevie branch. the stepfather, terry hobbs, has denied involvement. police have closed the case, and did not consider him a suspect. also new, forensic evaluations for the defense that show cuts, gashes and sexual mutilation, which prosecutors said were signs of satanic ritual were likely inflicted by animals after the boys were killed. is it just enough for you to be found innocent, or do you need for somebody to be found guilty? >> i guess i don't absolutely need it, i'll survive without them finally putting someone else on trial for this, but it would be a tremendous sense of

closure for me. if they don't, then you're always going to have people looking at you, wondering. you know, who knows what. it's hard to describe. >> reporter: it's a loose end. >> yeah. it is. >> reporter: deborah feyerick, cnn, west memphis, arkansas. >> cnn's david mattingly has also been following the case for a long time. he joins us from jonesboro, arkansas. these men had to plead guilty to crimes they say they didn't commit in order to go free. how does that work exactly, and can they now later try to get that reversed? >> reporter: what they can do now is walk out of that courtroom and proclaim their innocence. in order to do that, they had to admit to the state of arkansas, yes, you have evidence that, if we go back to court, go back and try this again, you could possibly convict us with that information. they had to admit that. the prosecutors take that as a guilty plea. so they can say we've got our

killers, this is case closed. well, the defense can also go out and say, well, they would never let these guys go if the state really thought they were guilty. you could look at it in a way as sort of a win-win that really doesn't make either side fully happy. >> clearly not for the former defendants. they've been in jail now for 18 years. why is this happening now? why did it happen today? >> reporter: it's been very slow coming. you've had a big groundswell of support that has just been building year after year after year. people continually beating the drum saying that it was emotion and fear that convicted these three young men, and not the facts. over time, people have examined these facts and say that there was nothing really linking them to the victims, to the crime scene or to the crime itself. so the last thing that the court saw before today was a new round of dna testing funded by supporters of the west memphis three. that dna testing didn't place

them at the crime scene at all. so now the court had this dilemma here, the prosecution possibly not being able to win the case, if they go back for another trial. and then the defense possibly not being able to protect their clients one more time for another round through court. so they felt like this was the best deal that they could come up with, the way they have it now. >> i mean, i think everyone who was around during this time remembers, you know, damien echols, the way he looked and there was no much kind of emphasis on the photographs of him, and that he seemed different in that town. you've interviewed him, what kind of a person is he? >> reporter: well, he is very intellectual. he seems very smart, very articulate, and a lot of people argue he has a certain charisma that's really elevated the profile of this case. if he was just the typical poor kid from arkansas with no personalty, he might have disappeared on death row and so would these two other young men. but instead, there was something

about him that fascinated people, they kept coming back, kept talking to him. this case stayed alive, and now he and those other two are free men, ready to start building a life that they wished they'd been able to do 18 years ago. >> david, i appreciate the reporting, then and now. programming note, stay with cnn for more in depth coverage of the west memphis three case. the documentary "presumed guilty" airs at 11:00 p.m. eastern right after "ac 360" at 10:00 p.m. still ahead, a florida babysitter's unbelievably bad call. she strapped an infant into a stroller and took him on a joyride in the back of a pickup truck, and wait until you hear her excuse. and new yorkers, sex and the city, why the city that never sleeps -- the story when we continue. [ male announcer ] they'll see you...before you see them. cops are cracking down on drinking and riding.

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still ahead, there is sex in the city, apparently not this one. a new york city so tame it lands on the ridiculist. but first the serious stuff with the bulletin. in average, new details on the suicide bombing we first told you about last night. five taliban insurgents attacked the british council in kabul early friday. detonating explosives and waging a fierce gun battle as british and afghan forces tried to drive them out. at least eight people were killed, including the insurgents and a special forces soldier from new zealand. an emotional day in norways athe

families of last month's shooting victims visit the crime scene. 69 people died july 22nd where hundreds of young people were gathered for summer camp. a sixth person is now dead following the stage collapse at the indiana state fair. 22-year-old jennifer haskill died this morning. the accident occurred shortly before sugarland was to take the stage. and a florida babysitter is charged with child neglect after allowing an infant to ride in a stroller, as you see there, in the bed of a pickup truck. 23-year-old keyona davis insisted she didn't know it was wrong, saying, quote, it's not like they give you a handbook or anything. >> oh, my goodness. come on. >> no handbook. so a baby in a stroller in the back of a truck. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> all right. isha, thank you. here's piers morgan with a look of what's coming up tonight.

hi, anderson, i'm in san diego at the moment where i'm interviewing jon huntsman, but tonight it's a lot more of our friend christine o'donnell who's been coming out today fighting. she says i'm creepy, i'm a sexist, i'm apparently guilty of something bordering on sexual harassment all for the terrible crime of asking her questions about the book that she came on my show to promote and about the views that she discusses in that very book. all seems a bid weird to me, but in case i'm the one going mad, i've invited a bunch of experts on to the show tonight to rewatch the entire interview from start to finish, so they can make their minds up and give me their verdict, and so can the viewers at home and decide if christine o'donnell is the innocent little victim here or if i'm just a sexist pig. that's it for us. anderson, back to you. >> piers, thanks very much. they say if you can make it here you can make it anywhere. and tonight my hometown, new york city, made it, well, made its way on to our ridiculist. find out why.

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time for the ridiculist and tonight we're adding my favorite city in the world, new york city. because the list of america's most promiss cuous cities is out and somehow new york didn't manage to crack the top ten. it seems those 8 million stories in the naked city may not be that naked after all. the dating website okcupid compiled the list. in it, number one, portland.

seattle. pittsburgh. okay. miami, it's warm, everyone is in a bathing suit all the time. san francisco, dallas. san bernardino, denver, san diego, a lot of california cities on the list. and finally, houston. hello, where's new york? if you can make it here, you can make it it anywhere? i find it hard to believe more people are making it in san bernardino. this is kourpt intuitive. new york is the city that doesn't sleep. the conditions are right for the proverbial doing of the proverbial nasty. the bars stay open in the 4:00 in the morning. they give out new york city condoms for free. derek jeter lives here for crying out loud. but kathy griffin, she doesn't live here, but she visits a lot. if i've learned one thing when kathy comes to new york city, oh, she comes to get down. >> we're still like four minutes away. and we're going to be live all the way through, all the way through the new year. they're playing all the

traditional stuff we love. new york, new york -- what is going on? >> i'm taking your clothes off. >> all right. >> it's for america. i love america. >> even watching that makes me sweat. pretty sure kathy doesn't behave that way in portland. how did they get to be number one? is gossip girl set in portland? no, that would be new york. did they make "sex and the city" in portland? no, because no one would buy the concept of samantha wearing a flannel shirt and working as a ba ree barista. >> remember when people were content to be unambitious, sleep until 11:00, no patience whatsoever, maybe working a couple hours a week at a coffee shop. >> yeah, i thought that died out a long time ago. >> not in portland. portland is where young people go to retire. ♪ portland, all the hot girls wear glasses ♪ >> yeah ♪