we'll have a report in one hour. and don't forget, you can get the latest on cnn.com. but first, a brand new else of cnn's original series, "death row stories." that begins right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com on this episode, the murder of a wealthy young man in the big easy seals the fate of a petty drug dealer. >> that's the guy who did it and there's no question in my mind. >> and gives two out of town lawyers a crash course in new orleans justice. >> do you really understand what you're up against? >> when evidence of innocence emerges -- >> something was going on that was very unscrupulous and deliberate. >> the system will stop at nothing to get the verdict he wants. >> we had struck out and he was going to die.

>> there is a body in the water. >> he was butchered and murdered. >> many people proclaim their innocence. >> in this case there are a number of things that stink. >> this man is remorseless. >> he kneads to pay for it with his life. >> the electric chair flashed before my eyes. >> let the truth fall where it may. >> world famous bourbon street. you can buy a song and dance for a dim. >> on december 5th, 1984, ray, a fun loving 34-year-old bachelor from a prominent new orleans family was out on the town celebrating his promotion to vice president of one of the city's biggest hotels. >> way was the epitome of people, the art and the history, the fine cuisine as well as the music.

>> late that night, as he returned to his garden district apartment, he was approached by someone in the dark. >> he was robbed at gunpoint. he complied with the perpetrators, giving them up everything that he had. he asked them not to shoot him. and they did five times. >> we got the call that there was a shooting on barone street. the thing that distinguished the crime scene was the amount of violence that occurred. >> blood, bullet holes in the side of the house. the suspect just kept faring his gun. every bullet and the weapon that he had. >> he laid there as the ambulance approached and the police officers, he said why did they have to shoot me? he was then transported to charity hospital where he was pronounced dead.

and my father collapse asked had a heart attack. i'll never forget that night as long as i live. >> it was all over news as soon as it happened. >> there was a tremendous am of publicity. it has been a great shock to us will. >> ray liuzza sr., a well known member of the community, was able to recover from his heart attack and went public to find his son's killer. >> time is the great cure-all. as time goes on, we will be able to adjust. but nothing will replace the loss of our son. >> they set up a $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of their son's killer. but a month went by and police struggled to find any solid leads. until one night, a local fence named richard perkins contacted the liuzza family. perkins claimed he had the murder weapon. he said it had been given to him

by a man named john thompson. >> john thompson was a low level drug dealer and fence. he grew up in the projects in new orleans. he was raised mostly by his grandmother. his father was a career criminal. >> richard perkins confronted him after the fact and got him to confess that he was the one who kill mr. liuzza. >> perkins said he had an accomplice named kevin freeman. police arrested both freeman and thompson. >> the story that kevin freeman told police was that he and john thompson had been driving home together and the car had run out of gas. ray liuzza drove past them, park and ran across the street to his apartment. at that point john thompson turned to him and said i'm going to hit that guy and pulled a gun out of his pocket. >> and then mr. freeman got cold feet, if you will, and decided he didn't want to be part of it.

>> the police charged freeman and thompson with murder. the local prosecutor wanted the death penalty for thompson but knew it would be an up-hill battle because thompson had never been convicted of a violent crime. that was about to change. >> on december 28th, 1984, 19-year-old jay, his sister who was 16, and their younger brother who was 12, went to the super dome for a college basketball tournament. after the game, as they were getting in the car, an african-american man jumped into the back seat, pulled out a . .357 magnum and said i'll taking your car, i want your valuables. jay was instructed on drive away from the super dome. rather than did that he did something that was either very brave or very stupid and deliberately caused a car accident. the carjacker then left forward

with the 21 and jay turned around and met him and they had a fight. jay is pressed with his back against the driver's side door and manages to kick the carjacker in the face and out the side door. the carjacker obviously injured, drops the gun and gets away. that claim remained unsolved until pictures of thompson appeared in the paper for the murder of ray liuzza. >> when thompson's photo appeared, all three of the lagarde children identified thompson. thompson went on trial first because prosecutors knew a conviction would make him more likely to receive the death penalty for the liuzza murder. this was in keeping with the policies of the long term, father of the famous musician, harry connick jr. during his nearly three decade

tenure, his office handled upwards of 30,000 cases and often faced accusations of hard line tactics. >> harry connick, in death penalty cases i don't think he would have offered a deal. he would have said no, you can't have it. he was very aggressive and he wanted to lock them up all together. >> jim williams took great pride in his numerous death penalty convictions. he even kept a miniature electric chair on his desk. >> jim was regarded as one of the most aggressive prosecutors. he recalled sliding up behind defendants and buzzing in their ears to mimic the buzz of electricity. >> thompson's carjacking trial lasted only two days. the testimony of the lagarde children was enough to convict thompson of armed robbery. he was given the maximum sentence. >> co-hardly stop eating.

that was my first conviction. but he gave me the maximum, 49 1/2 years. i realized that i was in some serious trouble. because now, now we won't go through the murder trial. >> at the murder trial, both kevin freeman and richard perkins testified that thompson killed ray liuzza and since thompson had no alibi, even his defense attorney thought the situation smelled bad. >> i can't make chicken salad out of chicken [ bleep ]. the facts are the facts, the case is the case. with the public, the nature of the crime, the black on white, we were one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. >> if thompson took the stand in his own defense, jill williams would be able to bring up the carjacking conviction. >> i couldn't defend myself because the first question you would ask me on the stand, have i been convicted for anything, i would have to say yes. for what? i would have to say robbery. so my lawyers advised me not to

take stand in my own behalf, although we wanted to. >> the jury convicted thompson of killing ray liuzza within two hours. during sentencing, the prosecution was able to use thompson's carjacking conviction to argue for the death penalty. >> the state called the carjacking victim in a little catholic school uniform. she told a chilling story of how the person who carjacked them was holding a gun to the brother's head. she just knew both would be murdered together and she would never see her family. >> that's the guy who did it. and there is no question in my mind. >> with that, the jury decide that had mr. thompson deserved to die. he killed this man and he almost killed these three kids. so they decide to sentence me to death for a crime i didn't do.

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death row at angola penitentiary, awaiting his execution when he got an unexpected call. >> from philadelphia, the law firm from philadelphia. he's coming down to see you. >> the call was from a nonprofit group devoted to appealing death sentences. >> i'm on death row. i've got a date of execution. you're sending me a lawyer saying they're representing me. come on. get real! >> gordon and i normally represent big companies and employment litigation, trade

secret litigation, but this was my first case representing a criminal defendant. >> michael banks and gordon cooney were high powered corporate lawyers with an interest in pro bono cases. >> the case itself did not suggest innocence. there was nothing we read that caused us to say, wow! this guy didn't do it. i was skeptical of his innocence. but i remember feeling a very strong sense from reading john's file that things that happened in john's trial were just fundamentally unfair. >> banks and cooney went to meat their new client. >> the first time i met john thompson was at the louisiana state penitentiary at angola. frankly, we had a bit of a hard time communicating. >> they didn't know nothing about new orleans. we had a criminal justice system that locked up more people than our state pen tenry could hold. the first thing i asked them, do you really understand what you're up against? >> neither michael or i had any

idea in 1988 that we would spend the next quarter century working with john thompson. >> michael and gordon began preparing an appeal. their key argument was that the prosecution's star witness, richard perkins, had a hidden motive in the case. >> mr. perkins had been promised reward money by the prosecutors and that information never made its way into the jury. >> she knew new orleans inside and out as defense investigator on the case. >> there is something smells fishy, there is a reason. humans lie. and they do things for their own advancement and their careers. looking for some cash. people are very unscrupulous. >> seeking a reward that today would be worth more than $30,000, richard persikins

requested a meeting with a representative of the liuzza family. >> i know he will appreciate it. >> [ inaudible ] . >> people were paid to testify. you give a tip and if it leads to a conviction, you get a chunk of money. and it is very enticing. >> perkins received over $10,000 in reward money immediately after the trial and told by the police not to mention the payment of the reward for anybody. >> soon they were saying he received $10,000 to do this.

>> the jury would have thought different about that. >> they would not even have listened to his testimony. >> gordon and michael filed their appeal in june of 1989. after five years of waiting the court finally agreed to hear their case. >> we were able to prove beyond any doubt that in fact a reward was promised and paid. and that the prosecutors failed to disclose it. yet despite that, the judge said there was enough other evidence of john's guilt that the reward issue would not have made a difference. >> michael and gordon appealed the decision. to the u.s. district court, the fifth circuit court of appeals and finally the u.s. supreme court. they all denied the appeal. >> matters became desperate. now we had no more appeals or challenges. on april 19th of 1999, the final death warrant was issued. we had struck out, we had

failed, and he was going to die. >> the state set an execution date. >> we drove over to angola. john came into the room. we didn't tell him we had been coming but he knew why we were there. and he looked at us and he said, what is the date? we looked at him and said, john, it is may 20th which was basically a month off. >> i've been around death row at that time long enough to understand what was going on. i was like, wow, it's my turn, may turn. i was trying to be strong. i was trying to understand what is getting ready to happen. i'm getting ready to die for a crime i didn't commit. anxiety kicked in. i didn't know how to accept the reality that they're getting ready to kill me. >> and then john did a really remarkable thing. he said, my youngest son john

jr. is the first person in my family. he is going to graduate from high school on may 21st. will you please go to his graduation and make sure he is okay after i'm gone? and then he spent the next 20 minutes trying to make us feel better. it was not how could you let this happen to me, what are you going to do to save my life, it was about making us feel better about what we had done for him and making sure his son would be okay. that's the kind of guy john thompson is. >> we were mostly silent on the way from angola to new orleans. there was very little to be said. >> on the way, gordon chegd his voicemail. >> gordon had a message from alycea. >> they're driving very solidly like it is over as they're exiting angola. they had no cell phone coverage for miles and miles and miles. i'm calling their office in

philadelphia going berserk, i'm going nuts. >> there on my voicemail was a message saying i found something very important. i think this is really big. you have to call me right away. end of message.

this city is like the perfect storm for lots of crime. there's a lot of poverty, a lot of corruption, a lots of drunk tourists. there was so much crime in the paper and the news on a regular basis, i actually never paid attention to the murder of ray

liuzza jr. until michael banks and gordon cooney contacted me. >> with john thompson scheduled to be executed in less than a month, the defense investigator desperately searched for answers. >> i of course was a complete nervous wreck because john was facing an execution date. may 20th. so i began with the carjacking case. first i read the police report. >> in 1985, john thompson was convicted of carjacking three teenagers at gunpoint. without that conviction, thompson would have been much less likely to get the death sentence for the murder. she found reports from the first officer to respond to the carjacking scene. warren pope. >> when we got there, two cars were involved in a traffic accident and i noticed some spots of wet blood. >> one of the victims' shoes. he was uninjured and so was his brother and sister so we assumed that it was the perpetrator's blood. >> police filed confirm that the

carjacker's blood had been recovered from the victim's pants but elyse wondered why that evidence had never been introduced. >> i web to the evidence room and i see that the pants were checked out by one of the d.a.s and not return. hello! they were so sure that john thompson was the carjacker. he would have tested his blood and gone, tada! that would have been your nail. so i knew that something was going on. that was very unscrupulous and deliberate. deliberate. >> the defense was never told that the blood had been tested. so it revealed quite a bit about the prosecutors who had been handling thompson's case. >> so the next thing was to go to the crime lab. they tip off people at the police department that you're on to something naughty. >> i just go in and go, i need to see this old report, please. i think the crime lab report tells me that the blood type is

blood b. >> we were incredibly excited because we now knew the perpetrator had type b blood but we didn't know what john's blood type was. what we did first was we called john. blood type? i don't know. he said, you don't know your own blood type? no. he said, you think your mom long? i don't know. call her and ask. >> i spoke to his mother. please tell me you know his blood type. i don't. so i'm racking my brain i will ask john, did you ever have surgery at any time in your life? if you did, they had to take your blood and test it. >> yes. when i was a teenager i was at charity hospital. thank goodness. scramble, scramble, scramble. to go my connection there who was the director of the records room. i said three weeks from now this man is going to be executed. it is a matter of life and death. please dig it up for me and she did. >> the hospital records showed that thompson had blood type o. >> it was a smoking gun.

it dmenl straight that thompson was innocent of the carjacking beyond question. and there is no question that the prosecution had clear obligation to turn over evidence that the favorable to the defense. >> the carjacking victim had clearly misidentified thompson. >> eyewitness testimony is so unreliable. the more traumatic the event is that they witness, the more likely it is that they're wrong in their recollections and identifications. >> with clear evidence of prosecutorial misconduct, michael and gordon now felt they had no choice but to go after the legendary district attorney of orleans parish, harry connick sr. >> he was a big fan of jazz music and had a regular singing gig in new orleans. he was also thought of as being fairly aggressive as well. it was a stated policy in his office to provide the defense the minimum amount of information required by law and

nothing more. we talked about the right way to handle this and rather than hold a big press conference and point the finger at the district attorney's office, we thought that the right first step was to go to mr. connick himself. >> connick's reaction initially was that he wanted some time to think about it. we told him he had a matter of two, maybe three hours. we've got an execution date in less than two weeks. we said if you can't agree even with these facts, we'll take the next step that we think is appropriate. >> mr. connick realized he had no alternative. the evidence was all too clear. it was physically and scientifically impossible for thompson to have been the carjacker. >> michael gordon and connick met with judge patrick quinlan who had presided over both of thompson's trials. upon learning of the hidden blood evidence, judge quinlan grew furious with connick.

>> emhe would hold appearing of open court. he wanted all the citizens of new orleans to see. >> at the hearing they questioned the key prosecutors involved in the case including jim williams, the man with the little electric chair on his desk. a colleague testified that williams was given the blood results but williams denied it. >> williams' story is that he never received it. that he never saw it. so at the end of the day, the choices between dishonesty and incompetence. they can either be the prosecutors who knew that evidence was being with health in their case or they can be the prosecutors who weren't in charge of their cases when a man's line was on the line. >> visibly upset, judge quinlan overturned thompson's carjacking conviction. he also ordered a stay of execution and ordered connick to turn over every file on record to michael and gordon. >> that was the first time we really got a full look into the district attorney's files in the

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john thompson had been on death row at angola for 14 years. by 9319 they had proven he had not committed the carjacking. but they had yet to prove their client was new jersey of killing 34-year-old ray liuzza in cold blood. however, material michael and gordon received from the new orleans d.a.'s office provided ample grounds for appeal. >> the daily police reports showed us that these witnesses, freeman and perkins, had told very, very different stories in 1985 before the trial as compared to what they said on the witness stand. and we began to see how their stories were contrived to secure a conviction of an innocent man. >> there were numerous pieces of evidence inconsistent with john's guilt, were consistent with freeman's guilt. and that showed that freeman had lied at trial in his testimony

on behalf of the state. >> after testifying that he saw thompson murder ray liuzza, kevin freeman was given a plea deal and only served ten months in prison. >> we also received leads from the police reports about potential witnesses who would be helpful. there was a woman who lived across the street from mr. liuzza and she got a very good look at the perpetrator. witnesses who testified they saw a man with a bla steel revolver, six feet tall with close cut hair running past them. john thompson was 5' weight a big bushy afro. he went by the name kojak because of his close cut hair. once all the evidence was examined, it was clear beyond imagine able that kevin freeman acted alone killing ray liuzza. >> michael and gordon now believed they had a strong case for a new trial. >> we had an evidentiary hearing

in front of judge quinlan and quinlan vacated the death sentence but he refused to vacate guilt. >> judge quinlan refused to grant a new trial. we were devastated. yes, it was wonderful to have john thompson spared from execution but we were still looking at a man in his 30s who is going to be facing the rest of his life in jail. >> so you're going to take the death penalty back and give me a life sentence. i was scared to death even more so now. you're telling me, i will never go home again. that didn't give me no relief. none whatsoever. i was doomed. >> michael and gordon appealed the judge's decision. they knew this would be thompson's last chance for a new trial. >> john was going to go free or spend the rest of his life in prison. our arguments were twofold.

first that car conviction had been used to keep john from being able to testify in his own defense in the murder case. and secondly we argued that all the evidence we had amassed had shown that john thompson was innocent of the liuzza murder. >> michael and gordon filed their appeal in february of 2002. five months later, they received the decision. >> i'll never forget it. a reporter called and said what do you think about this decision? and i asked her to read it to me. and i said skip to the end. skip to the end. >> the last line read, conviction and sentence reversed. >> i called gordon into my office. i could not get the words out. i remember it was july 17th, 4:30 in the afternoon. i was tongue tied. i couldn't -- he said new trial? i said yes. we hugged. we were ecstatic. >> as michael and gordon began preparing for the retrial, they got an unsolicited offer from

the d.a.'s office. harry connick sr. had retired and the new d.a. had run for office on an anti-corruption campaign. now he wanted to make a deal. >> the district attorney's office was not really eager to go and try this case again based on the evidence as it then existed. john could plead to some lesser offense and be immediately released from prison. >> hell no! i'm not pleading guilty to nothing. after all this stuff, they're still trying to make me plead guilty to something i did not do. >> the jury got it wrong twice before. there was some risk that a jury would get it wrong again no matter how strong the evidence was. much as we were convinced of john's innocence. we had to think about getting him out of jail as our first priority. >> john, we're not talking to you no more as attorneys. we're getting ready to talk to you as a friend.

you can't control the mind of 12 people. we can only present them the facts. if 12 members come back and say you're guilty, could you handle that? is it fair on your mom? on your children? on one hand, to walk out that door. on the other hand you might stay the rest of your life. so before you make a quick decision like that, why don't you think about it?

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in april 2003, john thompson faced the decision whether to played guilty and walk away from prison or stand trial and risk the rest of his life behind bars. >> i didn't kill nobody, i'm not pleading guilty to nothing. so i got on the phone. may mom said baby, i was not home. i don't care what them people say. i know you didn't do it. i want you home. so i called the attorneys and said, come on. let's do it. time for me to meet my family. >> gordon and i went down to new orleans to be there when john got out of jail to have our big celebration. >> i was figuring out where john

was going to go after he was released from prison. and a criminal defense lawyer walked into the conference room where i was working and all the color drained out of his face and he said the district attorney's office has pulled the deal. >> we thought john was walking out of jail the next day. this was five days before the trial was to start and the d.a. said no deal. we go to trial. >> it is a turned out, the victim's family learned of the plea deal and voiced their objections to the district attorney. >> michael and i go to the prison. and john again put on a very brave face. and he said, you know, i didn't want that plea. it was going to hang over my head for the rest of my life. i didn't do this. you are going on win this case but we've just lost four days of preparation because we thought there was no trial. >> we need more time to prepare for the case and he said you won't do that. we're going on win this case. i can't spend another day in this place. as we walk down a very long

corridor, we turned around and looked back. and there was john with his head in his hands. we thought he was getting out of jail the next day. and now we found out that he had to stand trial with a risk of spending the rest of his life in prison. >> on the morning of may 7th, 2003, john thompson stood before the same judge in the same courtroom where he had been sentenced to death 18 years earlier. but michael and gordon had a problem. they couldn't attack the damaging testimony of kevin freeman. the man they believed murdered ray liuzza. >> freeman was shot dead in 1995 while committing a robbery. >> with freeman dead, his previous testimony stood as evidence that thompson had committed the liuzza murder. >> we had all this evidence that freeman had lied in his original

testimony and we wouldn't be able to use that evidence effectively if we couldn't cross examine him live on the stand. >> michael and gordon proposed an unorthodox solution. after freeman's testimony was read into the record, they would cross examine the empty witness chair as if freeman was on the stand. >> we took the evidence of the lies and put them into the form of questions. >> you told the jury you didn't know that john thompson was going to rob someone. isn't it true, however, that you sat out to rob someone. >> silence hung in the air after each question was posed giving the jury time to imagine freeman's response. >> you suggested in your testimony that you stole nothing from mr. liuzza at all. but you admitted you stole all of mr. liuzza's property, didn't you? >> we asked a series of questions culminating in the final one, isn't it true, mr. freeman, that you and you alone

murdered ray liuzza? the jury knew where we were coming from and they were able to see the lies in kevin freeman's original story. >> informant richard persianins also took the stand. this time his testimony was devastating. >> perkins admitted that one of the prosecutors put him in the room with kevin freeman before he testified at the original murder trial and said you guys get your story straight. >> perkins also admitted receiving $10,500 after thompson was convicted. >> we were able to show why perkins implicated thompson. he was a street kid who needed money desperately. he saw a chance for more money than he had ever seen or imagined in any one place in 1985 and he went for it. >> for the first time in 18 years, john thompson was finally able to take the stand and proclaim his innocence. >> you could hear a pin drop. i mean literally.

he finally had a chance to explain to a jury why he had a murder weapon. >> john thompson's testimony was that he did have the gun but he had bought that from kevin freeman. >> kevin freeman sold the murder weapon to an unwitting john thompson. john was involved in buying and selling some stolen property. not something he's proud of. >> i was a don't dealer. you was a burglar and a robber, you wanted dope. you need to bring me collateral. that was part of a drug trade. i'm sorry. that's how that came about. being in possession of the murder weapon. >> the defense rested and the case was handed over to the jury. >> the jury get up and leave with your fate in your hands and you try on smile, all of them passing right by you, all of them looking at your face for the last time. >> the pressure was enormous. it was like you could not

breathe. a lot of nervous energy and small talk. >> the jury reached a decision, boy, i was so scared. i said, what? how? that fast? >> the jury took only 35 minutes to agree on a verdict. >> so the jury files back in and whenever a jury come back, you're looking at every juror trying to look for some hint. it seems like an eternlt. the heart meanwhile is racing faster and faster and breathing is becoming increasingly challenging. this was the most agonizing moment either of us had ever had in our careers. then judge asked that the verdict be read allowed. in the ground,ething feed it, and care for it, don't we grow something more? we grow big celebrations, and personal victories. we grow new beginnings, and better endings. grand gestures, and perfect quiet.

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the retrial of john thompson lasted only a day and a half. the jury took 35 minutes to return their verdict. >> when the jury come back, the judge ask them, has the jury reached a decision. and the jury say yes, your honor. and then they say will the defendant rise. >> there is incredible tension and nervous energy. you just don't know, because juries can do anything. each word slows down in time. it's "we the jury, find the defendant, john thompson not guilty."

i can't describe that. i literally felt like i was lifted off my chair. >> i looked around at my mom and my son. the relief i felt of knowing that i'm going home. this is finally behind me. this is finally over with. >> we each gave him a big hug. it was a moment. >> after 18 years in prison, john thompson was finally going home. but aside from his freedom, he was walking away with little else. >> kick in the behind and $10. didn't have no compensation available for nobody like myself, no matter how many years you do in prison you, have you to fend for yourself. >> so we approached the district attorney's office, and we said, look, john lost the last 18 years of his life.

you all nearly executed him eight times. you all need to do the right thing. and we were told in no uncertain terms that we could just jump in the lake. so we filed a lawsuit against the new orleans district attorney's office. >> they proposed a settlement of $500,000, hoping to get half that amount. >> under the united states constitution, prosecutors are required to give the defendants evidence that is favorable to the defense. and these prosecutors did not. >> your job is to prosecute the guy and seek a conviction. that's your job. >> ada hit kerr received a report showing thompson didn't commit. >> the understanding was, if you disclose exculpatory evidence. >> exculpatory meaning what? >> that's a good question. that's the kind of stuff that i

think was never perhaps clarified to the extent it should have been clarified. >> was there training for prosecutors on what that obligation meant? >> i don't recall there ever being training on that. i don't recall there being training, period. >> jim williams, who prosecuted thompson was asked who decided what evidence would be shared. >> it was up to the attorney trying the case. we were expected to follow the rules. >> were there any other guidelines that you can recall as to how you were to make that determination? >> no. >> when we asked the prosecutors about their knowledge of the law that requires that favorable evidence be produced, they got it all wrong. the district attorney's office had a handbook. it was flat-out wrong. their failures of understanding were frankly pretty surprising. >> i stopped reading law books when i was -- when i became the d.a. >> a jury concluded that under harry connick's leadership, the

district attorney's office failed to provide pertinent evidence and violated john thompson's constitutional rights. >> in 2007, when the jury awarded john thompson $14 million. >> but the d.a.'s office would appeal for the next four years. meanwhile, john thompson started an organization to help retirees after prison. he also became a leading spokesman against prosecutorial misconduct. >> it's extraordinary to see john as a tenth grade high school drop-out become a really very compelling advocate the way he has taken this tragedy that happened in his life and turned into it a force for positive change. >> after years of appeals, the dolphi district attorney's office finally argued their case to the u.s. supreme court. in 2011, the bitterly divided

justices voted 5-4 to deny the $14 million award. >> five justices of the supreme court believed the new orleans district attorney's office could not be like because there was not a prior pattern of similar misconduct. >> the majority opinion, written by justice clarence thomas found that even though connick's office withheld evidence in the thompson case, that was not enough to prove a pattern. and yet a study done in 2008 reported that during harry connick sr.'s tenure, in one out of every four cases where the death penalty was imposed, evidence was withheld. >> that was crazy. if that is not a pattern, i don't know what is. so who is going to get the last laugh? jim williams. >> in the photo of jim williams with the electric chair, of the five faces visible, all of them were released from death row. >> and my mine, we should charge them with attempted murder. this district attorney using

false information that he know is false to kill you. it's premeditated. so we're saying that he could get away with murder? what make him so special? the only thing he was hiding behind was district attorney badge. >> unfortunately, the thomas opinion is the law of the land. and it gives me great concern. >> make no bones about it. prosecutors are now a lot less accountable for what they do because they know that if they don't produce evidence, there is virtually no sanction for them or the office. >> john thompson's activism continues to sound the alarm against the supreme court decision and innocent people being found guilty and executed for crimes they did not commit. >> i'm thinking about my children. the same thing could happen to them. a person could have that much power over your life without being hold accountable for it. i can throw the evidence away and still try to kill you. whether you did it or not,

without no consequences. that's scary. that's should be scary to everybody in the whole world. new hope and new mystery. day 31 in the search for malaysian airlines flight 370. as time runs out on the batteries in the black box, a chinese ship again hears signals deep in the ocean. and did the plane intentionally try to avoid radar? >> it appears essentially they're saying that whoever was flying the plane was trying to essentially disappear off the radar map. >> and cautious new optimism from families about the passengers. >> maybe this is a time, maybe for the next couple of days, next couple of months, next couple of years, we will find the enemy.