wants to be a millionaire." ten years ago it started. the return this week. a million-dollar moment. we don't know if it is a winner. here is a winner, "ac 360" who is gunning for regis' job. >> not true. not true. >> good evening. the white house wavering on a key piece of health care reform. the public oms. it has drawn the ire of others who say it puts too much government in your life. last month mr. obama said any reform bill has to include the public option. this weekend he and his administration were down playing it because lawmakers don't support it. is the public option dead tonight and if so what does that mean for president obama and for you? >> we begin with tom foreman and the "raw politics." >> reporter: even with hundreds of health care reform supporters, that's right,

supporters cheering him on at a rally in arizona, this was a hot day for president obama. >> health care now! health care now! >> reporter: he came to talk to military veterans and threw in a plug for health care. >> one thing reform won't change is veterans health care. no one is going to take away your benefits that is the plain and simple truth. >> reporter: it drew applause but not enough to drown out the fire he is taking from all sides. following weeks of republican opposition over the weekend the white house seemed foplay down the importance of one part of the democratic reform plan, a government-backed insurance program to compete with private insurance companies. and liberal democrats met that trial balloon with buck shot. >> in the house of representatives without a strong public plan, even stronger than the one we reported out of committee it would have a difficult time getting 218 votes. >> reporter: as if to make sure he may be courting legislative

failure the speaker of the house nancy pelosi called the president out by quoting his own words bas at him. the thinking of the public option is that it gives consumers more choices and helps keep the private sector honest. we agree with the president. by midday today the white house was trying to reassure liberals, suggesting the public plan is alive and well driving conservatives into yet another lather. >> if we let pelosi and people like that direct us, we are doomed. >> reporter: and all that apparent seesawing is doing nothing to calm those who call themselves fiscally moderate and can't stomach the cost. >> i cannot support this bill in the version it's in now. we can do better. >> reporter: the white house tried better to quiet the storm issuing yet another statement reiterating the president's commitment to expanding coverage and lowering cost.

telling cnn he still believes the public option is the best way to achieve those goals, but the question of the moment, how will he pass a bill for health care reform with such a war raging? anderson? >> tom, one of the alternatives to this government-run program to the public option is getting insurance from a health insurance co-op. that sounds like a woodstock commune but it traces back to farmers. here to explain what it might mean "360" m.d. sanjay gupta. explain the difference between a public option and a co-op? >> first of all, a co-op is not government run. a not-for-property government organization that could offer insurance through a health exchange. or they could choose insurance coming from a co-op. this is everyone who buys into the program, pays premiums is essentially on the board as well. they are all sort of members as well as insured people.

they figure out what the premiums are going to be. exactly what benefits are going to be offered. they are members as well as people who benefit from the plan. >> how does the co-op work? do they have their own doctors? >> you can have an organization that is not comprised of doctors or health care professionals. and they bid on services. you skrould doctors and nurses that provide care. there are different models. there are a couple of co-ops that exist like this in the country in washington state for example and minnesota. it can be made up of a variety of things t. big issue is scale. how big might it be. a state level, regional level or national level. >> the idea of the public plan are people who are not insured would be covered. would a co-op guarantee coverage for people? >> that is a good question. it would guarantee access much in the way we have been talking about health care reform

broadly. we talk about reform and people can't be discriminated against based on preexisting conditions, for example. from what i'm understanding, some of this is fluid as you know. all the programs that participate in the health exchange, again, this place you can go if you don't have health care insurance and try and find health care insurance none can discriminate based on preexisting conditions. if you can pay the premium you can get health care insurance. it doesn't mean everyone is going to be covered automatically. you have to bid and a pay the premium. >> would this co-op provide competition against massive insurance companies the idea being competition would help everybody? >> if you look at the co-op across the board they have a couple of things going for them. they are not for profit, for example. they have low administration fees. as a result they may be able to have lower premiums. that would be competitive. that is the objective part.

the subjective part that people cite who are fans of co-ops will say because everyone who is getting insured is a member of this, there is a collective feeling of how to do the best for its members who are the people insured. i can tell you this, looking at a lot of these historical knowledge of co-ops, unless you get scale, hundreds of thousands of people participating, it is hard for a co-op to compete against a private insurance company which is why the people who are such supporters of the public option are crying foul. they are saying, look, the public option was a national option, it had scale. hundreds of thousands if not more people. that could compete. could a co-op even at a regional level compete? it all depends who joins. sanjay will be back tomorrow night taking your questions. a lot more online at ac360.com including a special guide to the debate. while you are there join the live chat underway. i just joined up. if president obama

compromises on the public option does he appear weak? we are digging deeper. later, michael vick. he says he is sorry. he is back in the nfl after torturing dogs, forcing them to fight to the death, drowning some, electrocuting others. do you buy his apology? you can be the judge on "360." so? mmmm ok. you were right. these healthy choice fresh mixer thingys, they taste fresh... say it again! what? say it like, "mmmm, these healthy choice fresh mixers taste freshh!!" they taste fresh... wait. what are you doing? got it. you're secretly taping me? you were good too! but you know, it wasn't a secret to us, we knew... yes, but it was a secret to me. of course, otherwise i would be sitting like this and completely block his shot. so that's why i was like... didn't you notice this was weird? no. they taste fresh because you make them fresh. healthy choice fresh mixers. in the soup or pasta aisle.

mom knew i needed calcium from day one. now i'm the mom. and i know... 80% of us don't get enough calcium from food. our bodies can steal it from our bones. give yourself some tlc. tender loving caltrate. and give tlc to somebody you love.

president obama said a government-provided option like medicare is needed to keep insurance companies honest. this weekend he backed away and

today seemed to tiptoe back. digging deeper with david gergen, nia-malika henderson and david fromm. i want to play what kathleen sebelius said on "state of the union." she was asked about the public option and her answer raised a lot of eyebrows. >> what i think is important is choice and competition. i'm convinced at the end of the day the plan will have both of those. that is not the essential element. >> so the public option is not a deal breaker for the president's standpoint? >> i think there will be a competitor to private insurers. that is the essential part. you don't turn over the whole new marketplace to private insurance companies and trust them to do the right thing. we need some choices. we need some competition. >> she didn't say public option is off the table. she is talking about competition. the white house officials say nothing is changed.

what is going on? >> almost every major newspaper in the country led with the fact there seemed to be a retreat on the pat of the white house. the press wasn't being hysterical. that was the logical interpretation sfeal when president obama said the public option is only a sliver of his whole plan when it seemed to be a central part of it. i think what is going on is the white house has tipped its hand it is willing to give it up in a much more open manner. it is seening as a pre-emptory retreat by the left, by the liberals who have always seen the public option as being the holy grail of health care reform. for liberals, anderson who believe in a single-payer system, the government runs the whole system the public option was a way to build up a large government system and eventually open the door to single payer. so from a perspective of the left the white house seems to be

giving away this essential element of the plan even before some of the tough negotiations start. >> nia, is the reality that town hall protests have rattled the white house? >> that seems to be the case in part. what you have seen the white house do in the sense of the death panels, they are doing the same thing. maybe the public option isn't the best choice. it is one of many choices. in some ways they are moving to take the wind out of the sails of republicans who have made this argument and talked about the government plan undermining private insurance. politically it makes some sense for them but, of course, they are angering the base. they are angering progressives. my blackberry was filled up all day with messages from congressmen essentially saying it is troubling to them the white house seems to be retreating on this public plan. the question is are they going to be able to get -- if they lose some votes or support from

progressives perhaps they get support from republicans or blue dog democrats. >> david fromm, do you think the white house is getting wobbly, to paraphrase market thatcher, based on these town hall meetings? >> i think they are getting wise. the question is what is reform about? what does it mean? what are you trying to accomplish. there are people on the president's left whose idea of reform is essentially to move the united states to drive out private insurers. they see the profit motive the source of the problem the reason why health care costs go up and up every year. that doesn't bear scrutiny. the point of view the large majority of americans are trying to conserve and protect what they are have. the prices go up. there are abuses by insurance companies and they want what the white house is shrewdly begun to call health insurance reform, a curb of the worst elements of the private insurance system. nia makes a good point about the

base. the problem a democratic white house has, the democratic coalition as a whole is quite big the democratic liberal base is small. probably only 1/5 of the country. democrats more than republicans cannot afford to govern from the base. >> david gergen, there are liberals who are saying does president obama have a backbone to fight on any issues. he called himself a fierce advocate of gay and lesbian issues. gay and lesbians don't think he is that right now. he seems early on in the process willing to give up a key cornerstone of his plan. >> president obama is rewriting the book on leadership in his own way. perhaps this will work out. but i think from the traditionalist point of view what we look to is a president who sounds clear and certain trumpet. someone who says follow me. here's where we are going and here are the three things i

want, if i have to give up one to get the two but i will do it at the last minute. here the white house seems to be giving it up without getting anything in exchange. i don't know what they picked up as a result of this. it has antagonized the base and left a lot of left feeling is he really one of us or not? the problem he is getting into is he is getting into a cross fire with the left, he is not certain he is one of them, and moderates and conservatives believe he is too liberal. >> david frum, you have been in the white house under george bush. from a leadership standpoint does this send a message to opponents he can be pushed around in. >> i don't think it would. he faces the problem. his own party is not crazy about this public option t. chairman of the senate finance committee, kent conrad said he would vote against it. the fees to pay for this have to pass through conrad's committee. barack obama's core problem is simply this. he placed every chip he could

lay his hands on and about 800 billion more he could borrow on his stimulus plan delivering results in short order. germany is coming out of recession, japan is coming out of recession. france, canada, the united states is mired in it. unemployment plus underemployment is 16%. and the public doesn't see benefits from this massive debt. that is why he is so weak this month because he doesn't look like his ideas are working. if they looked better, he would be stronger. in the future if they look better, he will be stronger. if in the future they look weaker, he will get weaker. >> nia-malika, what's next? >> he is going on vacation next week. there will be essentially a vacuum in terms of leadership from the white house and talking points from the white house. it will be interesting to see how folks from the hill fill this discussion up and at the town halls if things get more heated there. again, it is certainly possible

he has taken some of the wind out of the sails of some of his critics. the larger question as david said is whether or not he's shown weakness in this idea that maybe he can be pushed around and doesn't necessarily have a spine when it comes to using his political capital for what was supposed to be his signature effort. >> i want to disagree with david frum on one point. he is right there are significant democrats not in favor of the public option but the overwhelming people in the democratic party are for a public option. four committees have reported it. it is in all four committee reports so far. they are having a hard time holding on to the moderate democrats. and that's where the problem is. >> david frum, david gergen, nia-malika henderson. the supreme court doing something it has not done in nearly half a century. why it granted an appeal to a

death row inmate. if you open up your wallet right now chances are you have illegal drugs and you don't know it. what drug is in your wallet or at least the residue of it. you can do both. special lease offers now available on the 2009 es 350.

did you hear the milwaukee mayor was attacked by a guy at a pipe at a state fair after he tried to assist a grandmother calling for help. he ended in the hospital. first, erica whil the "360" bulletin. the first atlantic hurricane bill is gaining strength. it is still far from shore. winds are topping 110 miles per hour and the storm is on track to close in on bermuda by week's end. claudette and anna tropical depressions. claudette drenching florida's panhandle, anna is threatening haiti still. weak consumer spending

caused a major pullback on wall street. the dow plunging 180 points, 2%. the nasdaq and s&p 500 had steep declines. >> a miami man and two unidentified russians indicted, accused of hacking into heartland payment systems and stealing data on 130 million debit and credit cards. the company has not disclosed how many accounts have been compromised. still looking for that detail. 90% of paper money circulating in u.s. cities, get this, if you guessed before the break, contains traces of cocaine. a new study found that in some larger cities all of them, 100% of them had coke on them. isn't that amaze something they say the amount is minuscule. but, it doesn't pose health risk. it happens by bills coming in contact with each other and

currency counting machines. the residue is left on the machines and put is it on to the other bill. >> are that many people doing cocaine? >> apparently it only takes a few. a death row inmate gets the rare chance to prove his innocence. what is it going to take for troy davis to win his freedom? nfl quarterback michael vick back on the field speaking out about his dogfighting days. he blames himself for the mess that landed him in prison. do you believe his apology?

it hasn't happened in nearly 50 years. today the u.s. supreme court

stepped in and granted a death row inmate's request for appeal. the condemned inmate who is being held in georgia swears he is not a killer of a police officer. several witnesses for the prosecution have recanted their testimony. others believe he is guilty and think he should pay for the crime. is an innocent man on death row or is he hoping to escape justice? gary tuchman has more. >> reporter: a jury only took a few hours to decide troy davis was guilty of murdering a police officer in savannah, georgia. a few more hours to decide to send him to death row. brenda forest was a juror. >> he was definitely guilty. all the witnesses were able to i.d. him as the person who actually did it. >> reporter: the primary reason he was convicted? the witness testimony. the slain police officer's wife agrees. >> they were so adamant about what they saw, when they saw it.

>> reporter: this is how the juror feels now. >> if i knew then what i know now, troy davis would not be on death row. the verdict would be not guilty. >> reporter: what she knows now is this, almost all of the prosecution's star witnesses have changed their stories. some saying police pressured them to say troy davis did it. daryl collins signed a police statement implicating troy davis. >> i told them over and over i didn't see this happen. they put what they wanted to put in that statement. >> reporter: 20 years ago a savannah police officer was working an off duty job here providing security for this bus station and this burger king restaurant out of business. a homeless man was being harassed. he yelled for help t. officer ran over and seconds later officer mark macphail was shot and killed. two decades later it is still horrifying. the man who admitted to harassing the homeless person

went to police and told them he saw troy davis shoot the officer. wanted posters went up over savannah and a reward, racial tensions inflamed. after the shooting troy davis was in atlanta four hours away, his sister says, scared for his life. >> my brother decided to turn himself in they had a shoot to kill order on him. >> reporter: this man, a pastor, got in touch with davis. he agreed to pick him up and turn him in. the d.a.'s office never interviewed him. you are with this man four hours, they never interviewed you? >> never. >> reporter: never asked about your journey? >> nothing. >> reporter: if he admitted to the crime? didn't admit to the crime? >> nothing. this is the one case nobody wanted to know. i don't think now looking back anybody cared. >> reporter: savannah police said witness interviews were

taken properly, no coercion. prosecutors stood by the conviction. witnesses signed affidavits changing their testimony. dorothy ferrell is one. she writes i was scared that if i didn't cooperate with the detective then he might find a way to have me locked up. so i told him that troy davis was the shooter even though i didn't see who shot the officer. and another man writes the police came and talked to me and put a lot of pressure on me. they made it clear the only way they would leave me alone is if i told them what they wanted. >> reporter: this woman left out testimony. sylvester coles asked you to hold his gun? >> yeah. >> reporter: he is the man who was harassing the homeless person, who fingering troy davis. >> he opened the screen door. >> reporter: this screen door here? >> this screen door which this

was not here. it was a wooden screen door. this was tore out. he opened the door, set the gun here and shut the door back. >> reporter: and you -- did you think he did the shooting? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: did you ask him? >> reporter: how come? >> i was scared. >> reporter: you were scared to ask him? >> yes. i'm still scared of him. >> reporter: he is still in town? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: a free man? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: you are scared of him. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: how come you are talking to me, i admire you are. >> i don't want to see this innocent man get killed for something he didn't do. >> reporter: we tried to find sylvester "red" coles. we talked to family members but couldn't track him down. >> i don't believe red coles killed mark at all. >> the officer's wife looks at sylvester coles in a different light.

>> sylvester came forward. he didn't have to. troy ran and he didn't have to. if he were innocent he should have come forward. >> reporter: what does she think about people like tanya johnson, with her new information? >> five minutes of fame. >> reporter: pope benedict has asked for davis' sentence to be commuted. jimmy carter and bob barr have asked for the case to be reopened. he was hours from execution three times. i spoke to troy davis and asked him if he thought he would be executed he said no. he has faith in the justice system, ironically a view shared by the wife of the murdered police officer. >> we have to believe in this justice system. >> reporter: she is waiting for a much different outcome. >> jeffrey toobin is going to be here to talk more about this case. you can log on to ac360.com for behind the scenes photos. michael vick, shame, the new

interview. vick said he cried in prison. do you believe his apology? you can decide for yourself. we play it for you. late word from randy kay on how much money michael jackson memorabilia could bring and the court battle is far from over. when consistency is added, that's when it becomes real. ♪ at northwestern mutual, we've been able to deliver real strength... for over 150 years. northwestern mutual. consistency counts. put our strength to work for you. learn how at northwesternmutual.com. (pouring rain)

i had a great time. me too. you know, i just got out of a bad relatio... it's okay. thanks. goodnight. goodnight. (door crashes in, alarm sounds) get out! (phone rings) hello? this is rick with broadview security. is everything all right? no, my ex-boyfriend just kicked in the front door. i'm sending help right now. thank you. (announcer) brink's home security is now broadview security. call now to install the standard system for just $99. the proven technology of a broadview security system delivers rapid response from highly-trained professionals, 24 hours a day. call now to get the $99 installation, plus a second keypad installed free. and, you could save up to 20% on your homeowner's insurance.

call now-- and get the system installed for just $99. broadview security for your home or business - the next generation of brink's home security. call now. before the break we told you about troy davis death row inmate who today was given a rare chance to appeal his conviction by the supreme court. davis said he didn't murder an off duty police officer. several witnesses say they were coerced to lie. there are other trials where it is not the story being questioned, but the actual science. how microscopic evidence solves a crime. we talk about how reliable forensic science is with jeffrey toobin. he joins us now. you are surprised the supreme court would look into this. >> amazing. they have had the chance too look into this case before.

what they did was so unusual today. usually basically what happens is a district court a trial court decides and acourt of appeals a circuit court and maybe the supreme court takes it. there is a very unusual procedure where you can go straight to the supreme court to raise an issue. it almost never succeeds but today the supreme court decided to stop this execution and order the hearing just for the first time in 50 years. >> why do you think the with this case? >> i think it is very clear. i think some of these justices are concerned an innocent person is about to be executed and they couldn't live with that. one of the interesting legal issues about this case is the court has never decided is it unconstitutional to execute an innocent person? that legal issue you would think has been decided. they never squarely faced the issue. >> scalia and thomas disagreed with the ruling by the supreme

court. >> right. they said and you can see their point, this case has been going on for 20 years, many courts have reviewed it. enough is enough. just let the process go forward. that was their argument. >> let's talk about forensics. this is about recanted testimony. we all believe that forensics can prove things definitively. we see it on "csi." you have done research into this. nothing is cut and dried as we think. >> one thing with forensics you have to draw distinctions. dna is the gold standard. dna does establish conclusively that the blood, the semen found in one place is the dna of someone else. once you get into other tests it is murky. >> what about fingerprints. >> fingerprints are close to dna. they are not 100% because it is not mathematical. sometimes you don't know how many matches you have on a

single fingerprint. >> what about bullet identification? there is the belief no one bullet has the same pattern or you can identify a bullet down to what batch it came from. >> that's where you start to get into some questionable decisions. bullets. bite marks. >> bite marks? that is junk science? >> it is often junk science. the question is how much do you rely on it? the word that is so pernicious used in court all the time is "match." >> the bite marks match the -- the suspect's bite marks match the bite marks on the victim. what does that mean? how certain is that? that is -- should be a scientific determination but a lot of this science comes exclusively out of the world of criminal law not out of the world of science. so those sorts of quantifications have never been made and there is a lot of loose and misleading testimony that

goes on. >> jeff, appreciate it. tomorrow on our crime series, crime scene fraud continues to look at who went to prison for years because of grave errors from a crime lab. >> how old are you? >> 46. >> how old were you when you went to prison? >> 23. >> reporter: behind bars since 1986 for a kidnapping and rape. are you angry, ernest? >> i'm angry, but i'm not, you know -- i forgive though. i forgive but i won't forget. >> he is not the only one. a crime lab's corruption and ineptitude. coming up, michael vick in his own words. hear what he says the suffering his dogfighting operation caused to so many animals. is he really sorry? the latest on the milwaukee mayor attacked at a state fair over to weekend. what provoked it and how is he doing now?

nfl quarterback michael vick is back on the field practicing with his new team, philadelphia eagles after 18 months in prison, football drills in the summer heat are the first steps getting back into the game. he is speaking out about dogfighting. he said he cried in prison. this is what he told cbs news "60 minutes." >> a life. that wasn't the way things was

supposed to be and all because of the so-called culture that i thought was right. i thought it was cool and i thought it was, you know, it was fun and it was exciting at the time. it all led to me laying in a prison bunk by myself with nobody to talk to but myself. >> who do you blame for all of this? >> i blame me. >> michael vick clearly trying to rehab his image as he prepares for the football season. joining me again jeffrey toobin, also john ridley. jeff, did you buy the apology? >> i don't have the ability to look into michael vick's soul. as far as i'm concerned -- >> that never stops anyone in cable news. >> i think he paid his debt, he went to prison. he should be allowed a second chance. i would like to see less celebrated people get second chances.

what i don't care about him saying i want to be a role model. please. this guy is very far from a role model. he should shut up and play football, stay out of trouble and that is what he should do. >> this is what else he had to say about his first day in prison. >> the first day i walked into prison and they slammed that door i knew, you know, the magnitude of the decisions that i made. and the poor judgment and what i, you know, allowed to happen to the animals. >> john, what did you make of him on "60 minutes" do you buy his explanations. >> well, listen, i don't mean to be too much of a cynic. is he sorry for what he did or is he sorry he got caught. he said when the door closed i realized the magnitude of the things i had done. not fighting the animals, not picking up the carcasses, not shooting the animals it was when i was in prison i realized i screwed up. >> when you look into what his

operation did, it is not just dog -- drowning dogs, electrocuting dogs. a lot of his mea culpas sound the same. >> it was wrong. everything i did was wrong. it was unnecessary. >> it was wrong. i don't know how many times i've got to say it. i mean, it was wrong. >> john do you think he's been coached in how to apologize? >> i hope so. this is someone who is going be asked these things over and over again and he has one chance to make a second impression. i hope someone is saying, don't say too much, say you are sorry and take the blame and acknowledge what you did was the worst possible thing you could do to animals. is it coached? i hope. i hope it is heartfelt.

>> the whole idea of i realized later. you didn't realize when dogs were being eelectrocuted and drowns it was wrong. he paid the penalty. >> here is what he said about his actions. >> it sickens me to my stomach. the same feeling i'm feeling right now is what people was feeling. >> that one i didn't quite get. the feeling he is getting in the interview is the same feeling that people have watching? >> that one i don't quite understand either. to be honest with you. the thing is so much attention has been put on michael vick. he has paid his debt. i think he has overpaid his debt. i want to be clear what he did was wrong and bad and systematic. you have donte stallworth killed a guy while drinking to driving was sentenced to 23 days and

vick was sentenced to 24 months in prison. i think the problem is we are putting a lot of focus on a bad act against dogs. i wonder if we should look at the entire system of how these individuals are looked at and how they are punished and houde it is dealt with rather than one individual because it seems so bad because it was puppies. >> it is interesting, jeff, some people pay more attention to this case because animals were involved than the death of a human being. >> when we covered this originally, i got more e-mail on this subject from viewers than any human murders i covered. people are incredibly passionate about dogs. you're a dog owner, i'm a dog owner. we love dogs. there seems to be disproportion in how people react. perhaps he got a tough sentence if there had not been all the attention. you know what? good. sometimes criminal law is supposed to have a deterrent effect. in case anybody was in any doubt

that dogfighting is illegal they sure know it now and that is only good news. >> he has the humane society on his side and is working with them. do you think he can make a difference in terms of trying to curb illegal dogfights. >> you know, i think for people into dogfighting and don't have the fear of god in them i don't know this is going to change. it is a terrible thing. in some ways the sentence outweighs the crime. for some reason i don't think the fact he got caught -- if you can do this to animals, not only fight them, electrocute them, shoot them, drown them, any other bad behavior f somebody else got caught it is not going to happen to me. >> this is why i don't understand with celebrity cases. he is giving speeches. he should be the last person on earth giving speeches. i don't understand why he becomes an expert. >> because he can play football again. >> if he throws for 300 a game

it will all be forgotten in philadelphia. >> nobody will care. >> john ridley, jeff toobin, thanks. the mayor of milwaukee is hacked with a pipe. how it happened, who he was protecting and how he is doing now. a massive wildfire in california is connected with the brutal drug war in mexico.

a trip to the state fair ended in a violent attack for the mayor of milwaukee. what prompts the assault? erica hill has the latest. >> reporter: until this weekend most of the questions surrounding milwaukee mayor's future is whether he is planning to run for governor. that changed while he was attacked while trying to help a woman and her granddaughter. >> my granddaughter's birth father just tried to pull her out of the car, broke my cell

phone, threatened to shoot us and to shoot himself. >> where is he right now? >> he ran down orchard street. there were some people from the fair that were walking past and i jumped out of the car and i shouted for them to call 911. >> reporter: one of the people who heard the call was mayor barrett heading to his car after spending the evening at the state fair. he didn't make it home. >> there is a beating on 88th and orchard. there's some guy arguing with his girlfriend and my uncle just tried to step in. there is a bleeding man and we need an ambulance. >> tom stepped up and did the right thing. he called 911 and tried to calm the situation, protect the grandmother and her grandchild. as a result of his actions, tom was attacked and struck repeatedly with a metal object.

>> an emotional jon barrett on sunday outside the hospital. on monday he gave cnn more details about the attack and how his brother ended up laying op the treat in a pool of blood. >> the individual after he knocked the phone out and stomps on the phone and says you are not calling says i have a gun and i'm not afraid to shoot everybody here. kids start to cry. tom said to my sister get the kids out of here. >> reporter: the mayor stayed and took a punch in the gut that doubled him over. he came up swinging and shattered his hand. when it was all over the mayor lost teeth, plastic surgery for cuts on his teeth and stitches in the back of his head. tonight the mayor is home recovering. a 20-year-old suspect arrested on sunday is behind bars. the little girl's grandmother tells cnn they are both fine while john the balance of her time is both proud and relieved. >> i'm just glad that he's okay.

he is my brother and i love him and i'm glad he's okay. >> mayor barrett got a phone call from the president who called to check in. he said the mayor went above and beyond the call of duty and he was proud of selfless active courage. he is cracking jokes in jail. his brother says he has a sense of humor. >> in the hospital? >> in jail. i meant in the hospital. sorry, mayor barrett. >> it will be interesting when he speaks. in central california crews are starting to get a handle on a major wildfire there and perhaps more importantly they know what may have started it. the blaze burned 75,000 acres. it is 25% contained. good news there. we also are learning how it may have started. officials say the fire started in the kitchen of an illegal marijuana operation run by one of the mexican drug cartels.

the obama administration taking a rhetorical step away from the defense of marriage act that bars same-sex marriage. the justice department called the 1996 act discriminatory and should be repealed. however, the department said it will defend that act in court as long as congress keeps it on the books. a judge in los angeles paving the way for the sale of michael jackson memorabilia. the proceeds would go to his estate. randy kay learned the lot is expected to bring in $15 million. attorneys were unable to agree on a second proposal for a memorabilia exhibition worth about $5 million. they'll be back in court on friday. he could be the ultimate underdog. the congressman once known as the hammer, tom delay, well now he is going to be leading on the dance floor. he is part of the lineup for the ninth edition of "dancing with the stars". >> what? >> yes. host tom bergeron says it is not

going to be easy. there is a new double elimination in the middle of the season. he calls it a ball room blood bath. tom bergeron may not have spend some time in washington. >> tom delay is used to political blood baths. >> yeah. >> i wonder if he can dance? >> i don't know. >> tucker carlson didn't make it past the first week. >> what about you? >> never going to happen. is the white house wavering on a key piece of health care reform. on a completely different note, an ancient relic, who does that look like? could it be michael jackson? >> no. >> the "shot" just ahead. doing more for my high cholesterol. what was i thinking? but now i trust my heart to lipitor. when diet and exercise are not enough, adding lipitor may help. unlike some other cholesterol lowering medications,

lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk... of heart attack, stroke, and certain kinds of heart surgeries... if you have several common risk factors... or heart disease. lipitor has been extensively studied... with over 16 years of research. lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems... and women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. you need simple blood tests to check for liver problems. tell your doctor if you are taking other medications, or if you have any muscle pain or weakness. this may be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. i learned the hard way. but you may be able to do something. have a heart to heart with your doctor... about your risk. and about lipitor.

erica, time for tonight's "shot." this bust is a few thousand years old. part of the permanent collection of the field museum in chicago. does it remind you of anybody? >> that is creepy. straight up creepy. >> a museum spokes woman said it is egyptian from 1550 bc. an interesting bit of trivia. statues were defiled by early christians and muslims because they looked at like idolatry. taking the knows off made them less offensive. >> taking off his nose to spite his face. >> you can see all our shots at ac360.com. >> fine website. the battle for and against health care reform. is president obama backing down on a piece of it? ms. during the lexus golden opportunity sales event, you can do both.

special lease offers now available on the 2009 is 250.

>> good evening. is the white house wavering on a key piece of health care reform? the public option. government-provided health insurance. supporters said it would hold insurance companies accountable. it has drawn the ire of others who say it puts too much government in your life. last month mr. obama said any reform bill has to include the public option. this weekend he and his administration were down playing it because lawmakers don't support it. is the public option dead tonight and if so what does that mean for president obama and for you? >> we begin with tom foreman and the "raw politics." >> reporter: even with hundreds of health care reform supporters, that's right,

supporters cheering him on at a rally in arizona, this was a hot day for president obama. >> health care now! health care now! >> reporter: he came to talk to military veterans and threw in a plug for health care. >> one thing reform won't change is veterans health care. no one is going to take away your benefits that is the plain and simple truth. >> reporter: it drew applause but not enough to drown out the fire he is taking from all sides. following weeks of republican opposition over the weekend the white house seemed to play down the importance of one part of the democratic reform plan, a government-backed insurance program to compete with private insurance companies. and liberal democrats met that trial balloon with buck shot. >> in the house of representatives without a strong public plan, even stronger than the one we reported out of committee it would have a difficult time getting 218 votes.

>> reporter: as if to make sure he may be courting legislative failure the speaker of the house nancy pelosi called the president out by quoting his own words back at him. as the president stated in march -- the thinking of the public option is that it gives consumers more choices and helps keep the private sector honest. we agree with the president. by midday today the white house was trying to reassure liberals, suggesting the public plan is alive and well driving conservatives into yet another lather. >> if we let pelosi and people like that direct us, we are doomed. >> reporter: and all that apparent seesawing is doing nothing to calm those who call themselves fiscally moderate and can't stomach the cost. >> i cannot support this bill in the version it's in now. we can do better. >> reporter: the white house tried one more time to quiet the storm, issuing yet another statement, reiterating the

president's commitment to expanding coverage and lowering cost. telling cnn he still believes the public option is the best way to achieve those goals, but the question of the moment, how will he pass a bill for health care reform with such a war raging? anderson? >> tom, one of the alternatives to this government-run program to the public option is getting insurance from a health insurance co-op. that sounds like a woodstock commune but it traces back to farmers in the heartland 75 years ago. here to explain what it might mean "360" m.d. sanjay gupta. explain the difference between a public option and a co-op? >> first of all, a co-op is not government run. you are talking about a not-for-profit organizatigovernt organization that could offer insurance through a health exchange. or they could choose insurance coming from a co-op. this is everyone who buys into the program, pays premiums is essentially on the board as well. they are all sort of members as well as insured people.

they figure out what the premiums are going to be. exactly what benefits are going to be offered. they are members as well as people who benefit from the plan. >> how does the co-op work? do they have their own doctors? >> you can have an organization that is not comprised of doctors or health care professionals. and they create this organization that sort of tries to bid on doctors' services or certain hospital services. you could have doctors and nurses that provide care. there are different models. dating back to when you said up to now. there are a couple of co-ops that exist like this in the country that work pretty well in washington state, for example, and minnesota. it can be made up of a variety of things. the big issue is scale. how big might it be. a state level, regional level or national level. >> the idea of the public plan are people who are not insured would be covered. would a co-op guarantee coverage for people? >> that is a good question. it would guarantee access much in the way we have been talking about health care reform

broadly. we talk about reform and people can't be discriminated against based on pre-existing conditions, for example. from what i'm understanding, some of this is fluid as you know. all the programs that participate in the health exchange, again, this place you can go if you don't have health care insurance and try and find health care insurance none can discriminate based on pre-existing conditions. if you can pay the premium you can get health care insurance. it doesn't mean everyone is going to be covered automatically. you have to bid and pay the premium. >> would this co-op provide competition against massive insurance companies the idea being competition would help everybody? >> if you look at the co-op across the board they have a couple of things going for them. they are not for profit, for example. they have low administration fees. overhead fees. as a result they may be able to have lower premiums. that would be competitive. that is the objective part.

the subjective part that people cite who are fans of co-ops will say because everyone who is getting insured is a member of this, there is a collective feeling of how to do the best for its members who are the people insured. i can tell you this, looking at a lot of these historical knowledge of co-ops, unless you get scale, hundreds of thousands of people participating, it is hard for a co-op to compete against a private insurance company which is why the people who are such supporters of the public option are crying foul. they are saying, look, the public option was a national option, it had scale. hundreds of thousands if not more people. that could compete. could a co-op even at a regional level compete? it all depends who joins. sanjay will be back tomorrow night taking your questions. a lot more online at ac360.com including a special guide to the debate. while you are there join the live chat underway. i just joined up. if president obama compromises on the public option does he appear weak?

we are digging deeper. david gergen, david frum and nia-malika henderson. later, michael vick. he says he is sorry. he is back in the nfl after torturing dogs, forcing them to fight to the death, drowning some, electrocuting others. do you buy his apology? you can be the judge on "360." . introducing new centrum ultra men's. a complete multivitamin for men. it has antioxidants and vitamin d... to support your prostate and colon. new centrum ultra men's.

this is my verizon small business specialist, tom. now, i know the catering business but when i walked in here i wasn't sure what i needed. i'm not sure what i need. tom showed me how to use mifi to get my whole team working online, on location. i was like, "woah". woah ! only verizon wireless has small business specialists in every store to help you do business better. you're like my secret ingredient. come in today and connect up to five devices on one 3g connection. now only $99.99

president obama said a government-provided option like medicare is needed to keep insurance companies honest. this weekend he backed away and today seemed to tiptoe back. digging deeper with david gergen, nia-malika henderson and

david frum. david gergen, i want to play what health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius said on "state of the union." she was asked about the public option and her answer raised a lot of eyebrows. >> what i think is important is choice and competition. i'm convinced at the end of the day the plan will have both of those. that is not the essential element. >> so the public option is not a deal breaker for the president's standpoint? >> i think there will be a competitor to private insurers. that is the essential part. you don't turn over the whole new marketplace to private insurance companies and trust them to do the right thing. we need some choices. we need some competition. >> she didn't say public option is off the table. she is talking about competition. a co-op koulfit that bill. the white house officials say nothing is changed. what is going on? >> almost every major newspaper in the country led with the fact there seemed to be a retreat on the pat of the white house.

the press wasn't being hysterical. that was the logical interpretation when president obama just the day before said that the public option was only a sliver, a sliver of his whole plan when it seemed to be a pretty central part of it. i think what is going on is the white house has tipped its hand it is willing to give it up in a much more open manner. it is seen as a pre-emptory retreat by the left, by the liberals who have always seen the public option as being the holy grail of health care reform. for liberals, anderson who believe in a single-payer system, the government runs the whole system the public option was a way to build up a large government system and eventually open the door to single payer.

so from a perspective of the left the white house seems to be giving away this essential element of the plan even before some of the tough negotiations start. >> nia, is the reality that town hall protests have rattled the white house? >> that seems to be the case in part. what you have seen the white house do in the sense of the death panels, they are doing the same thing. maybe the public option isn't the best choice. it is one of many choices. in some ways they are moving to take the wind out of the sails of republicans who have made this argument and talked about the government plan undermining private insurance. politically it makes some sense for them but, of course, they are angering the base. they are angering progressives. my blackberry was filled up all day with messages from congressmen essentially saying it is troubling to them the white house seems to be retreating on this public plan. the question is are they going to be able to get -- if they lose some votes or support from progressives perhaps they get support from republicans or blue dog democrats.

>> david frum, do you think the white house is getting wobbly, to paraphrase market thatcher, based on these town hall meetings? >> i think they are getting wise. the question is what is reform about? what does it mean? what are you trying to accomplish. there are people on the president's left whose idea of reform is essentially to move the united states to drive out private insurers. they see the profit motive the source of the problem the reason why health care costs go up and up every year. that doesn't bear scrutiny. the point of view the large majority of americans are trying to conserve and protect what they are have. the prices go up. there are abuses by insurance companies and they want what the white house is shrewdly begun to call health insurance reform, a curb of the worst elements of the private insurance system. nia makes a good point about the base.

the problem a democratic white house has, the democratic coalition as a whole is quite big the democratic liberal base is small. probably only 1/5 of the country. democrats more than republicans cannot afford to govern from the base. >> david gergen, there are liberals who are saying does president obama have a backbone to fight on any issues. he called himself a fierce advocate of gay and lesbian issues. a lot of gay and lesbians certainly don't think he is that right now. he seems early on in the process willing to give up a key cornerstone of his plan. >> president obama is rewriting the book on leadership in his own way. perhaps this will work out. but i think from the traditionalist point of view what we look to is a president who sounds clear and certain trumpet. someone who says follow me. here's where we are going and here are the three things i want, if i have to give up one to get the two but i will do it at the last minute. here the white house seems to be giving it up without getting

anything in exchange. i don't know what they picked up as a result of this. it has antagonized the base and left a lot of left feeling is he really one of us or not? the problem he is getting into is he is getting into a cross fire with the left, he is not certain he is one of them, and moderates and conservatives believe he is too liberal. >> david frum, you have been in the white house under george bush. from a leadership standpoint does this send a message to opponents he can be pushed around? >> i don't think it would. he faces the problem. his own party is not crazy about this public option. the chairman of the senate finance committee, kent conrad, a democrat, has already said he would vote against it. the fees to pay for this have to pass through conrad's committee. barack obama's core problem is simply this. he placed every chip he could lay his hands on and about 800 billion more he could borrow on his stimulus plan delivering

results in short order. germany is coming out of recession, japan is coming out of recession. france, canada, is comes out of recession. the united states is mired in it. unemployment plus underemployment is 16%. and the public doesn't see benefits from this massive debt. that is why he is so weak this month because he doesn't look like his ideas are working. if they looked better, he would be stronger. in the future if they look better, he will be stronger. if in the future they look like now, he will get weaker. >> nia-malika, what's next? >> that is a great question. of course, he is going on vacation next week. there will be essentially a vacuum in terms of leadership from the white house and talking points from the white house. it will be interesting to see how folks from the hill fill this discussion up and at the town halls if things get more heated there.

again, it is certainly possible he has taken some of the wind out of the sails of some of his critics. the larger question as david said is whether or not he's shown weakness in this idea that maybe he can be pushed around and doesn't necessarily have a spine when it comes to using his political capital for what was supposed to be his signature effort. >> i want to disagree with david frum on one point. he is right there are significant democrats not in favor of the public option but the overwhelming people in the democratic party are for a public option. four committees have reported it. it is in all four committee reports so far. they are having a hard time holding on to the moderate democrats. and that's where the problem is. >> david frum, david gergen, nia-malika henderson. the supreme court doing something it has not done in nearly half a century. why it granted an appeal to a death row inmate. a convicted cop killer. see what was so different about this case. if you open up your wallet right now chances are you have illegal drugs and you don't know it.

what drug is in your wallet or at least the residue of it. ever worn your clothes in the shower? if you're using other moisturizing body washes, you might as well be. you see, their moisturizer sits on top of skin, almost as if you're wearing it. only new dove deep moisture has nutriummoisture, a breakthrough formula with natural moisturizers... that can nourish deep down. it's the most effective natural nourishment ever. new dove deep moisture with nutriummoisture.

superior natural nourishment for your skin.

did you hear the milwaukee mayor was attacked by a guy at a pipe at a state fair after he tried to assist a grandmother calling for help. he ended in the hospital. first, erica hill with the "360" bulletin. the first atlantic hurricane bill is gaining strength. the good news tonight, it is still far from shore. winds are topping 110 miles per hour and the storm is on track to close in on bermuda by week's end. tropical storms claudette and anna tropical depressions. claudette drenching florida's panhandle after coming ashore

today. storms from anna are threatening haiti still. weak consumer spending caused a major pullback on wall street. the dow plunging 186 points, that's 2%. the nasdaq and s&p 500 had steep declines. the justice department called it the largest identity theflt case ever prosecuted. a miami man and two unidentified russians indicted, accused of hacking into heartland payment systems and stealing data on 130 million debit and credit cards. the company has not disclosed how many accounts have been compromised. still looking for that detail. 90% of paper money circulating in u.s. cities, get this, if you guessed before the break, contains traces of cocaine. a new study found that in some larger cities all of them, 100% of them had coke on them. >> how awful. >> isn't that amazing?

>> they say the amount is minuscule. but, it doesn't pose health risk. it happens by bills coming in contact with each other and currency counting machines. the residue is left on the machines and it puts it on to the other bill. >> are that many people doing cocaine? >> apparently it only takes a few. a death row inmate gets the rare chance to prove his innocence. what is it going to take for troy davis to win his freedom? his story ahead. nfl quarterback michael vick back on the field speaking out about his dogfighting days. he blames himself for the mess that landed him in prison. do you believe his apology? you'll hear it yourself tonight. new olay complete ageless renewing lotion. moisture, spf 20, antioxidants and vitamins help reveal a younger-looking appearance in five days. try new olay complete ageless.

that can take so much out of you. i feel like i have to wind myself up just to get out of bed. then...well... i have to keep winding myself up to deal with the sadness, the loss of interest, the trouble concentrating, the lack of energy. if depression is taking so much out of you, ask your doctor about pristiq®. (announcer) pristiq is a prescription medicine proven to treat depression. pristiq is thought to work by affecting the levels of two chemicals in the brain, serotonin and norepinephrine. tell your doctor right away if your depression worsens or you have unusual changes in mood, behavior, or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase suicidal thoughts

and behaviors in children, teens and young adults. pristiq is not approved for children under 18. do not take pristiq with maois. taking pristiq with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. tell your doctor about all your medications, including those for migraine, to avoid a potentially life-threatening condition. pristiq may cause or worsen high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or glaucoma. tell your doctor if you have heart disease... or before you reduce or stop taking pristiq. side effects may include nausea, dizziness and sweating. (woman) for me, pristiq is a key in helping to treat my depression. (announcer) ask your doctor about pristiq. hi, may i help you? yes, i hear progressive has lots of discounts on car insurance. can i get in on that? are you a safe driver? yes. discount! do you own a home? yes. discount! are you going to buy online? yes! discount! isn't getting discounts great? yes! there's no discount for agreeing with me. yeah, i got carried away. happens to me all the time.

helping you save money -- now, that's progressive. call or click today. it hasn't happened in nearly 50 years. today the u.s. supreme court did something extraordinary. it stepped in and granted a death row inmate's request for appeal. the condemned inmate who is being held in georgia swears he is not a killer of a police officer. several witnesses for the prosecution have recanted their testimony. others believe he is guilty and think he should pay for the crime. we want to know what you think. is an innocent man on death row or is he hoping to escape justice? gary tuchman has more. tonight's "crime and punishment" report. >> reporter: a jury only took a few hours to decide troy davis was guilty of murdering a police officer in savannah, georgia. a few more hours to decide to send him to death row. brenda forest was a juror. >> he was definitely guilty. all the witnesses were able to i.d. him as the person who actually did it.

>> reporter: the primary reason he was convicted? the witness testimony. the slain police officer's wife agrees. >> they were so adamant about what they saw, when they saw it. >> reporter: this is how the juror feels now. >> if i knew then what i know now, troy davis would not be on death row. the verdict would be not guilty. >> reporter: what she knows now is this, almost all of the prosecution's star witnesses have changed their stories. some saying police pressured them to say troy davis did it. daryl collins signed a police statement implicating troy davis. >> i told them over and over i didn't see this happen. they put what they wanted to put in that statement. >> reporter: 20 years ago a savannah police officer was working an off duty job here providing security for this bus station and this burger king restaurant that is currently out of business. a homeless man was being

harassed and intimidated. he yelled for help. the officer ran over and seconds later officer mark macphail was shot and killed. it was shocking and horrific. two decades later it is still is. the man who admitted to harassing the homeless person went to police and told them he saw troy davis shoot the officer. wanted posters went up over savannah and a reward, racial tensions inflamed. after the shooting troy davis was in atlanta four hours away, his sister says, scared for his life. >> my brother decided to turn himself in they had a shoot to kill order on him. >> reporter: this man derrick johnson a pastor got in touch with davis. he volunteered to pick him up to drive him back to surrender. he said troy davis insisted he was innocent. 2 da's office never interviewed him. you are with this man four hours, they never interviewed you?

>> never talking to me. >> reporter: never asked you a question about your journey? >> nothing. >> reporter: if he admitted to the crime? didn't admit to the crime? >> nothing. this is the one case nobody wanted to know. i don't think now looking back anybody cared. >> reporter: savannah police said witness interviews were taken properly, no coercion. prosecutors stood by the conviction. witnesses signed affidavits changing their testimony. dorothy ferrell is one. a former prison inmate. she writes i was scared that if i didn't cooperate with the detective then he might find a way to have me locked up. so i told him that troy davis was the shooter even though i didn't see who shot the officer. and jeffrey sapp writes, the police came and talked to me and put a lot of pressure on me. they made it clear the only way they would leave me alone is if i told them what they wanted. then there is this women who said she purposely left out testimony. sylvester coles asked you to hold his gun? >> yeah. >> reporter: he is the man who

was harassing the homeless person, who fingering troy davis. we talked to tanya johnson near her old home. >> he opened the screen door. >> reporter: this screen door here? >> this screen door which this was not here. it was a wooden screen door. this was tore out. he opened the door, set the gun here and shut the door back. >> reporter: and you -- did you think he did the shooting? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: did you ask him? >> no. >> reporter: how come? >> i was scared. >> reporter: you were scared to ask him? >> yes. i'm still scared of him. >> reporter: today you are scared of him? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: he is still in town? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: a free man? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: you are scared of him. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: how come you are talking to me, i admire you are. >> i don't want to see this innocent man get killed for something he didn't do. >> reporter: during the trial davis' attorneys tried to convince jurors coles was the killer.

we tried to find sylvester "red" coles. we talked to family members but couldn't track him down. >> i don't believe red coles killed mark at all. >> reporter: the officer's wife looks at sylvester coles in a very different light. >> sylvester came forward. he didn't have to. troy ran and he didn't have to. if he were innocent he should have come forward. >> reporter: what does she think about people like tanya johnson, with her new information? >> five minutes of fame. >> reporter: pope benedict has asked for davis' sentence to be commuted. jimmy carter and death penalty supporter bob barr have asked for the case to be reopened. troy davis has been hours a way from execution three times only to have the case reviewed. i spoke to troy davis and asked him if he thought he would be executed he said no. he told me he has faith in the justice system, a view that is ironically shared by the wife of the murdered police officer. >> we have to believe in this justice system. >> reporter: she is waiting for a much different outcome.

gary tuchman, cnn, savannah, georgia. >> jeffrey toobin is going to be here to talk more about this case. you can log on to ac360.com for behind the scenes photos. michael vick, shame, the new interview. vick said he cried in prison. do you believe his apology? you can decide for yourself. we play it for you. late word from randy kay on how much money michael jackson memorabilia could bring and the court battle is far from over. %

before the break we told you about troy davis death row inmate who today was given a rare chance to appeal his conviction by the supreme court. davis said he didn't murder an off duty police officer in 1989. several witnesses say they were coarsed coerced by the police to lie. there are other trials where it is not the story being questioned, but the actual science. how microscopic evidence solves a crime. we talk about how reliable forensic science is with jeffrey toobin. there's a lot to say on this subject and the troy days appeal. he joins us now. you are surprised the supreme court would look into this. >> amazing. they have had the chance too look into this case before. what they did was so unusual today. usually basically what happens is a district court a trial

court decides and a court of appeals a circuit court and maybe the supreme court takes it. there is a very unusual procedure where you can go straight to the supreme court to raise an issue. it almost never succeeds but today the supreme court decided to stop this execution and order the hearing just for the first time in 50 years. >> why do you think with this case? >> i think it is very clear. i think some of these justices are concerned an innocent person is about to be executed and they couldn't live with that. one of the interesting legal issues about this case is the court has never decided is it unconstitutional to execute an innocent person? that legal issue you would think has been decided. they never squarely faced the issue. this case may force them to decide it. >> scalia and thomas disagreed with the ruling by the supreme court. >> right. they said and you can see their point, this case has been going on for 20 years, many courts have reviewed it. enough is enough.

just let the process go forward. that was their argument. >> let's talk about forensics. this is about recanted testimony. we all believe that forensics can prove things definitively. we see it on "csi." you have done research into this. nothing is cut and dried as we think. >> one thing with forensics you have to draw distinctions. dna is the gold standard. dna does establish conclusively that the blood, the semen found in one place is the dna of someone else. once you get into other tests it is murky. >> what about fingerprints. >> fingerprints are close to dna. they are not 100% because it is not mathematical. sometimes you don't know how many matches you have on a single fingerprint. fingerprints are very good. >> what about bullet identification? there is the belief no one bullet has the same pattern or

you can identify a bullet down to what batch it came from. >> that's where you start to get into some questionable decisions. bullets. bite marks. >> bite marks? that is junk science? >> it is often junk science. the question is how much do you rely on it? the word that is so pernicious used in court all the time is "match." the bite marks match the -- the suspect's bite marks match the bite marks on the victim. what does that mean? how certain is that? that is -- should be a scientific determination but a lot of this science comes exclusively out of the world of criminal law not out of the world of science. so those sorts of quantifications have never been made and there is a lot of loose and misleading testimony that goes on. >> jeff, appreciate it. tomorrow on our crime series, crime scene fraud continues to look at who went to prison for

years because of grave errors from a crime lab. here's a preview. >> how old are you? >> 46. >> how old were you when you went to prison? >> 23. >> reporter: behind bars since 1986 for a kidnapping and rape. are you angry, ernest? >> i'm angry, but i'm not, you know -- i forgive though. i forgive but i won't forget. >> he is not the only one. more allegations of a crime lab's corruption and ineptitude. coming up, michael vick in his own words. hear what he says the suffering his dogfighting operation caused to so many animals. is he really sorry? he says he is. we'll let you be the judge. the latest on the milwaukee mayor attacked at a state fair over to weekend. what provoked it and how is he doing now? t half and you get half. ( chirp ) team three, boathouse? ( chirp ) oh yeah-- his and hers. - ( crowd gasping ) - ( chirp ) van gogh? ( chirp ) even steven.

- ( chirp ) mansion. - ( chirp ) good to go. ( grunts ) timber! ( chirp ) boss? what do we do with the shih-tzu? - ( crowd gasps ) - ( chirp ) joint custody. - phew! - announcer: get work done now. communicate in less than a second with nextel direct connect. only on the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com. these days, when you have to spend, shopping online can help save. doing it with bank of america can help save a lot more. up to 20% cash back from over 300 online retailers

with our add it up program. just sign up and use your bank of america debit or credit card when you shop online. it's one of the many ways we make saving money in tough times a whole lot easier. with cialis for daily use... a clinically proven, low-dose tablet for erectile dysfunction you take every day so you can be ready anytime the moment is right. tell your doctor about your medical condition and all medications and ask if you're healthy enough for sexual activity. don't take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. don't drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long term injury seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than 4 hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision

stop taking cialis and call your doctor right away. (announcer) 36-hour cialis. or cialis for daily use. ask your doctor about cialis today, so when the moment is right, you can be ready. nfl quarterback michael vick is back on the field practicing with his new team, philadelphia eagles after 18 months in prison, football drills in the

summer heat are the first steps getting back into the game. he is speaking out about dogfighting. he said he cried in prison. many nights because of the guilt he felt. this is what he told cbs news "60 minutes." >> a life. that wasn't the way things was supposed to be and all because of the so-called culture that i thought was right. i thought it was cool and i thought it was, you know, it was fun and it was exciting at the time. it all led to me laying in a prison bunk by myself with nobody to talk to but myself. >> who do you blame for all of this? >> i blame me. >> michael vick clearly trying to rehab his image as he prepares for the football season. joining me again jeffrey toobin, also john ridley. jeff, did you buy the apology? >> i don't have the ability to look into michael vick's soul.

as far as i'm concerned -- >> that never stops anyone in cable news. >> i think he paid his debt, he went to prison. he should be allowed a second chance. i would like to see less celebrated people get second chances. what i don't care about him saying i want to be a role model. please. this guy is very far from a role model. he should shut up and play football, stay out of trouble and that is what he should do. >> this is what else he had to say about his first day in prison. >> the first day i walked into prison and they slammed that door i knew, you know, the magnitude of the decisions that i made. and the poor judgment and what i, you know, allowed to happen to the animals. >> john, what did you make of him on "60 minutes" do you buy his explanations. >> well, listen, i don't mean to be too much of a cynic. if he is sorry, he is sorry. the question is is he sorry for what he did or

is he sorry he got caught. he said when the door closed i realized the magnitude of the things i had done. not fighting the animals, not picking up the carcasses, not shooting the animals it was when i was in prison i realized i screwed up. >> when you look into what his operation did, it is not just dog -- drowning dogs, electrocuting dogs. it is pretty brutal stuff. a lot of his mea culpas sound similar. i want to play something he said on "60 minutes" publicly. >> it was wrong. everything i did was wrong. it was unnecessary. >> it was wrong. i don't know how many times i've got to say it. i mean, it was wrong. >> john, do you think he's been coached in how to apologize? >> i hope so. this is someone who is going be asked these things over and over again and he has one chance to make a second impression. i hope someone is saying, don't say too much, say you are sorry

and take the blame and acknowledge what you did was the worst possible thing you could do to animals. is it coached? probably. but it should be coached to a certain degree. i hope it is heartfelt. >> the whole idea of i realized later. you didn't realize when dogs were being electrocuted and drowned that it was wrong? but look, he paid the penalty. and, you know, i think it is probably time for people to accept it for what it's worth. >> here is what he said about his actions yesterday. >> it sickens me to my stomach. the same feeling i'm feeling right now is what people was feeling. >> that one i didn't quite get. the feeling he is getting in the interview is the same feeling that people have watching? >> that one i don't quite understand either. to be honest with you. the thing is so much attention has been put on michael vick. he has paid his debt.

if i could just throw in, i think he has overpaid his debt. i want to be clear what he did was wrong and bad and systematic and horrible. you have donte stallworth killed a guy while drinking and driving was sentenced to 23 days and vick was sentenced to 24 months in prison. i think the problem is we are putting a lot of focus on a bad act against dogs. i wonder if we should look at the entire system of how these individuals are looked at and how they are punished and how it is dealt with rather than one individual because it seems so bad because it was puppies. >> it is interesting, jeff, some people pay more attention to this case because animals were involved than the death of a human being. >> when we covered this originally, i got more e-mail on this subject from viewers than any human murders i covered. people are incredibly passionate about dogs. you're a dog owner, i'm a dog owner. we love dogs. there seems to be disproportion

in how people react. perhaps he got a tough sentence than he might have had there had not been all the attention. you know what? good. sometimes criminal law is supposed to have a deterrent effect. in case anybody was in any doubt that dogfighting is illegal they sure know it now and that is only good news. >> he has the humane society on his side and is working with them. do you think he can make a difference in terms of trying to curb illegal dogfights. >> you know, i think for people into dogfighting and don't have the fear of god in them i don't know this is going to change. it is a terrible thing. in some ways the sentence outweighs the crime. for some reason i don't think the fact he got caught -- if you can do this to animals, not only fight them, electrocute them, shoot them, drown them, any other bad behavior, somebody else got caught it is not going to happen to me. >> this is why i don't

understand with celebrity cases. he is giving speeches. he should be the last person on earth giving speeches on this subject. i don't understand why he becomes an expert. >> because he can play football again if he does. >> if he throws for 300 a game it will all be forgotten in philadelphia. >> nobody will care. >> a lot of people talking about it on the blog. john ridley, thanks, jeff toobin as well, thanks. the mayor of milwaukee is hacked with a pipe. how it happened, who he was protecting and how he is doing now. a massive wildfire in california is connected with the brutal drug war in mexico. there's the life i live. and the life i want to live. fortunately, there's enbrel. enbrel can help relieve pain, stiffness, fatigue, and stop joint damage. because enbrel suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal, events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma and nervous system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test

you for tuberculosis. also ask your doctor if you live in an area with a greater risk for certain fungal infections. don't start enbrel if you have an infection, like the flu. tell your doctor if you're one to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding or paleness. ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you, and help bridge the gap between the life you live and the life you want to live.

trip to the state fair ended in a violent attack for the mayor of milwaukee this weekend. it is an unbelievable story. one minute he's with his family. next a guy hitting him other the head with a metal pipe. what prompted the assault? once again, erica hill has the latest. >> reporter: until this weekend, most of the questions surrounding milwaukee mayor tom barrett's future had to do with whether he was planning a run for governor. that all changed after the mayor was attacked late saturday night while trying to help a woman and her granddaughter. >> emergency, 911. >> my granddaughter's birth

father just tried to pull her out of the car, broke my cell phone, threatened to shoot us and to shoot himself. >> where is he right now? >> i -- he ran down -- ran down orchard street. there was some people from the fair that were walking past and i jumped oust the car and i shoutsed for them to call 911. >> reporter: one of the people who heard the call was mayor barrett. after visiting at the state fair. he didn't make it home last night. >> what's going on? >> there's a beating on 88th and orchard. there's some guy arguing with his girlfriend and the uncle just tried to step in. >> reporter: that bleeding man was mayor barrett. >> tom stepped up and did the right thing. he called 911 and tried to calm the situation, protect the grandmother and her grandchild. as a result of his actions, tom

was attacked and struck repeatedly with a metal object. >> reporter: an emotional john barrett on sunday outside the hospital where the mayor was being treated. on monday, he gave cnn more details about the attack and how his brother ended up laying on the street in a pool of blood. >> the individual after he knocked the phone out and stomped on the phone, said you're not calling, he said, i have a gun and i'm not afraid to shoot everybody here. then tom's kids start to cry. tom says to my sister, you know, get the kids out of here. >> reporter: the mayor stayed and took a punch in the gut that doubled his over. he came up swinging and shattered his hand. when it was all over, the mayor lost teeth, had to have plastic surgery for cuts on his face and according to his brother, stitches in the back of his head. tonight the mayor is home recover iing.

a 20-year-old suspected arrested monday is behind bars. the little girl and the grandmother are both fine. john barrett is proud and relieved. >> i'm just glad he's okay. he's my brother and love him and i'm just glad he's okay. >> barrett got a phone call from the president today. he said the mayor went above and beyond the call of duty and was proud in the selfless act of courage. he's still cracking jokes. he's still got his sense of humor. >> cracking jokes in the hospital. >> yeah, he didn't go to jail. sorry, mayor barrett. >> it's a remarkable case. it will be interesting when he speaks public. you have a "360" bulletin. >> california, crews are starting to get a hand on the fire. the blaze in sant ra barbara county is 25% contained. good news there. we also are learning how it may have started.

officials say the fire started in the kitchen of an illegal marijuana operation which was allegedly run by one of the mexican drug cartels. obama administration taking a rhetorical step from the defensive marriage act which bars same-sex marriage. the justice department called the 199 act, quote, discriminatory. the department said it's going to continue to defend that act in court as long as congress keeps it on the books. a judge in los angeles paving the way for the sale of michael jackson memorabilia. the proceeds would go to his estate. "360's" randi kaye learned the lot is expected to bring in $15 million. a lawyer representing katherine jackson were unable to agree on a second proposal for a memorabilia exhibition. that will be back on court friday. he could be the ultimate underdog. the congressman once known as the hammer, tom delay, former republican majority house leader

is going to be leading on the dancefloor. part of the lineup for the ninth edition of "dancing with the stars." it's not going to be easy this go around. there's a new double elimination. in the middle of the season. he calls it a ballroom blood path. >> tom delay is use to political bloodba bloodbaths. i wonder if he can dance. >> i have no idea. >> who else -- tucker carlson. >> i don't think he made it past the first week. we'll never know about you, will we? >> not going to happen. ahead on "360," an ancient relic? who does that look like? could it be michael jackson in (announcer) your doctor knows tylenol doesn't interfere with certain high blood pressure medicines the way aleve sometimes can. that's one reason why doctors recommend tylenol more than any other brand of pain reliever.

what's in it for me? i'm not looking for a bailout, just a good paying job. that's why i like this clean energy idea. now that works for our whole family. for the kids, a better environment. for my wife, who commutes, no more gettin' jerked around on gas prices... and for me, well, it wouldn't be so bad if this breadwinner brought home a little more bread. repower america. i hope our senators are listening. brought home a little more bread. repower america. how about a swim? i'm a little irregular today. don't you eat activia? for my little issues? they're not that bad. summer's no time to put up with even occasional digestive problems. believe me, once they go away, it's amazing how good you feel. announcer: activia is clinically proven to help regulate

your digestive system in two weeks. summer's a wastin'... take the activia challenge now. it works, or it's free. ♪ activia

erica, time for tonight's "shot." an ancient relic with a familiar face. this bust, a few thousand years old, part of a permanent collection of the field museum in chicago. remind you of anyone? >> it is creepy. >> a museum spokeswoman told us it's egyptian from around the king tut period. an interesting bit of trivia. statues were, quote, defiled by early christians and muslims because they were looked at as idolatry. taking the nose off made them less offensive.