as soon as i you can gon leave ♪ ♪ got ms in the bank like yes indeed me and my dawg goin all the way ♪ >> hands up, what's up, lil baby! this is "nightline." >> tonight, cheers of joy. the 12 young soccer players and their coach finally heading home, telling harrowing stories of survival.

now they're finally breathing fresh air and making up for lost meals. and lost time with their parents. plus the last defense. a young basketball star convicted of murder. was it all a setup? >> i know my brother's innocent. i just don't see how they still have my brother locked up. >> implicated by a known criminal, now on death row, his last hope, a key piece of evidence never before tested for dna. and sister survivors. it was a night of celebration and pride at the espys. but one emotional moment brought everyone to their feet. first though the "nightline 5." hurry to jcpenney for the mystery sale. get your coupon in-store for an extra 30%, 40%, 50% off regular or already reduced prices, thursday through sunday, in store only. get there before it's gone. jcpenney, value and style for all. with bladder leakage the products didn't fit right. they were very saggy.

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good evening. a sweet day of celebration for the thai soccer team now speaking out for the first time since their rescue from that cave. their communities rallying together to welcome them home amidst tearful family reunions that might not have happened. and tonight what they're doing to honor the thai navy s.e.a.l. who lost his life on a mission to save theirs. abc's james longman is in thailand. >> reporter: if freedom tastes like anything here, it's kentucky fried chicken's 11 herbs and spices.

>> we have the special kfc. >> reporter: that's what 14-year-old adil dreamed about while trapped in the cave, hoping to be rescued. he says every night before going to sleep he got on his knees. here in the small baptist church he grew up in, it seems his and so many others' prayers were answered. ♪ since the end of a big celebration here, boys all over this area, their families are welcoming them home. just an extraordinary atmosphere. all over town last night, those 12 young boys who were separated from their families, stuck in a dank, dark cave for almost three weeks, finally going home. the boy nicknamed tee, swarmed by relatives, sleepy but strong. >> hello, how are you? you're happy? >> yes. >> how are you feeling? >> reporter: hours earlier flashing wide grins.

clad in their uniforms, the wild boars soccer team suited up at long last. triumphally walking through the halls of the hospital that's been their home over a week, saying good-byes to the staff that carefully nursed them back to health. for the first time in almost a month with their hands clasped in gratitude, tasting fresh air. arriving to their first press conference. this has been an absolutely amazing morning, hearing all sorts of new details about their extraordinary rescue. flashing "v" for victory that's been their hallmark. the boys and their 25-year-old coach introduced themselves. nicknames and all. >> translator: we truly appreciate all your kindness. currently, physically and mentally, the boys are ready. >> reporter: doctors say they lost on average nine pounds while in the cave but have gained roughly six back. >> translator: after eating three to four meals, their body

strength is coming back. >> reporter: joining the boys, the three navy s.e.a.l.s who led the heroic effort and the doctor who stayed with the team in that deep, dark cave. his nickname? superman. are you a hero? >> no, no, no. >> reporter: everyone here thinks you're a hero. is there one phrase in english you can use to describe how you feel today? >> really, really happy and impressed. >> very happy, it's been a good day. >> reporter: elated now, he admits he was worried the boys would make it out alive. in honor of the rescuers, half the ys announcing they want to be navy s.e.a.l.s when they grow up. the other half, professional soccer players. in front of the world today they all apologized to their parents for ever going into the cave in the first place. >> translator: i want to say sorry to my mother because i'm a stubborn boy. when i went to the cave, i didn't tell her. >> reporter: their ordeal began 3 1/2 weeks ago. this video taken the day the 12

boys and their assistant coach made the roughly 45-minute bike trek up this road towards the cave. two members of the wild boars who didn't make the trip told my colleague matt gutman that team excursions into the caves were nothing unusual. >> i've gone inside four times. it takes about five or six hours. >> was it scary at all when you went into the caves? >> no. because when we visit the cave, we all go together and bring plenty of flashlights and food. >> reporter: the coach today explaining why the team first journeyed there, saying it was something they'd planned in advance and had only planned to stay there about an hour. >> translator: we put it on facebook on wednesday. we met saturday at 10:00. after we warmed up we went to the cave to study, see what's inside. >> reporter: but it was the beginning of the rainy season. and sure enough, while they were in the cave, outside, it began raining. hard. the soccer team was trapped. the coach clarifying today the boys actually did know how to swim. it's something they do after

practices and games. but on that day, the water came too fast and too high. >> translator: everybody says, do you want to go in there and look? if you want to go, you have to swim. >> reporter: 24 hours after the group disappeared, rescue workers started to make their way in. the team remained trapped, unaware of night or day, and especially of the growing international effort to find them, saying today they followed clear water deeper into the labyrinth thinking it might lead to an exit. then ten days into the team's ordeal, finally a sign of hope. >> how many of you? 13? brilliant. >> reporter: all 12 long-lost boys and their coach huddled together, exhausted, hungry, but alive. surviving by drinking water dripping from the cave walls. during today's press conference, the boys talking about seeing that british diver for the first time.

translating and helping the rest of his teammates understand. >> you speak english? >> a little. >> reporter: he said hearing those british divers was like a miracle. he didn't know if they were real or just a hallucination. >> translator: i don't know what to ask him, i just say "hello." >> translator: you just say hello? >> translator: yes. >> reporter: this royal thai navy s.e.a.l. describing how he gave the clothing off his back to help the children. >> translator: i took my clothes off completely. when i arrived, i had to give it all to the kids. >> reporter: while inside, the coach led his team through meditation to keep everyone calm. >> translator: coach said everybody had to stay still to conserve energy? >> translator: yes. >> reporter: for the first time today, we're learning the boys volunteered for who would be rescued first. the team joking about wanting to stay down in the cave to eat the snacks the s.e.a.l.s had brought them. >> translator: the majority raised their hands slowly. most wanted to stay with the s.e.a.l. >> reporter: the world held its breath as one by one, over a harrowing three-day mission, the boys were pulled out.

>> translator: we conclude that they are mentally and physically healthy. we believe they can live a normal life. >> reporter: the boys also paying homage to saman gunan, the navy s.e.a.l. who died trying to rescue them. >> translator: i feel sorry for your loss. >> reporter: they'll be ordained as buddhist monks to honor his legacy. at this temple in the hills, prayers and thanks. the boys here to have their spirits welcomed home. their parents sitting in quiet contemplation with their children gathered at their feet. the boys have just kneeled in front of these newly ordained monks. and in the coming weeks, this is the path that they will follow. they will too be ordained monks. each family preparing their son for a period of religious service. but before that time comes, these boys get to be kids again.

at the home, his nickname is knight. another thai tradition to call his mind back after so long gone from home. all across masai, families like his clutching their children tightly, making up for the hugs they missed for all those days inside the cave of the sleeping lady. for "nightline" i'm james longman in thailand. next here, convicted of a murder he says he did not commit, now on death row, with one last chance. it's the ford summer sales event and now is the best time to buy. preparing classic campfire trout. say what? trout. trout. all right. you don't think i need both? why does he have that axe? make summer go right with ford america's best selling brand. now get 0% financing for 72 months plus $1,000 ford credit bonus cash on a great selection of suv's. during the ford summer sales event, get our best offer of the season 0% financing for 72 months plus

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tonight, one man's last chance at life. he's been on death row for more than a decade for a murder he swears he did not commit. his lawyers say evidence was planted in his house by the real killer. now for the first time a key piece of evidence that could exonerate him. here's my "nightline" coanchor juju chang. >> it was just an ordinary night. i really didn't have any idea how my life could change. >> reporter: time moves slowly for 37-year-old julius jones, as he sits and waits on death row in oklahoma. >> we think julius was wrongfully convicted and that oklahoma is at risk of executing an innocent man. >> reporter: each day for the past 19 years, jones inches closer to being executed for a murder many believe he didn't commit. but now key evidence never before tested could give julius a shot at freedom. >> i know my brother's innocent. i just don't see how they still have my brother locked up.

>> reporter: back in 1999, prison seemed an unlikely place to find julius jones. he was a champion high school basketball player. >> sophomore julius jones! >> reporter: loved by his teachers and a star student. >> julius attended the university of oklahoma. on academic scholarship as well. which was big-time. >> reporter: jones' case is the focus of a new abc docu-series "the last defense." from executive producer viola davis. >> we know the system doesn't get it right all the time. >> reporter: julius' story begins on a summer night almost 20 years ago when he was just 19. gunshots ring out in a quiet neighborhood in edmund, oklahoma, a wealthy suburb of oklahoma city. >> 911. >> my son's been shot out in the front yard. he's got no pulse. >> reporter: 45-year-old paul howell gunned down, the victim of a carjacking. his gmc suburban, a hot commodity for car thieves. >> the victim's sister was the only eyewitness.

>> megan toby described the shooter as a young black man wearing a red bandana, a white shirt, and a stocking cap or skullcap. she was not able to identify the shooter's face because it was covered. >> she recalled is that the actual shooter had about half an inch from a stocking cap of hair. >> on friday, two days after the howell murder, the police stumbled upon the suburban parked at a grocery store. >> reporter: the store was just blocks away from a chop shop where police learned ladell king had offered to sell a suburban. >> you mention ladell king, i thought car thefts. he was involved in car thefts all around the metro area. he'd been doing that for years. >> ladell was interviewed by the lead detectives in this case. he told the police that on the night of the crime, a guy named chris jordan comes to his apartment.

a few minutes later, according to ladell king, julius jones drives up. >> reporter: chris jordan and julius jones were high school acquaintances. chris a suspected gang member. julius a college student who had recently been in trouble of his own. >> my first year of school, got into shoplifting. i stole pagers. i stole things i could sell. >> reporter: king says the two men came to see him, asking for help how to sell a stolen suburban. >> i'm a middleman relaying a message from this guy. >> reporter: he says the murder made it too risky to sell the car for parts. >> he said, man, i don't think i want to mess with no suburbans right now. heard some guy in edmond got shot over a suburban. >> reporter: king, a potential suspect himself, points the finger at julius jones. >> he had a red bandana around his neck. he had a stocking cap on. >> reporter: king accuses chris jordan of being the driver. jordan was taken into custody and charged with felony murder,

claiming he and julius were out looking for suburbans to steal, but says it was julius who pulled the trigger. >> people set me up to take the fall. >> both ladell king and christopher jordan were directing police attention to the home of julius jones' parents as a place that would have incriminating items of evidence. >> reporter: and they found them, a gun wrapped in a red bandana, tucked inside an upstairs crawl space. his attorneys say the evidence police found could have been planted by jordan the night after the murder. >> chris jordan said that the next day, thursday night, he had spent the night at julius' parents' home. >> he said he was locked out of his grandmother's house. >> julius slept on the downstairs couch. meanwhile, chris slept in the upstairs bedroom. >> reporter: chris jordan denied this claim during trial. the day after the evidence was found, julius jones was arrested for capital murder. >> when i went to open the door

up, man, there's cops all on the front porch with their guns out. >> the only way you're going to stop crime or even slow it down is to start punishing the people who commit it. >> shortly after julius was arrested, bob macy says publicly in the media he was going to seek the death penalty against julius. >> the prosecutor in this case, macy, had been responsible for sending 54 people to death row. well, half of those convictions were overturned later. >> a lot of them involved informants? >> correct. three of the people that macy sent to death row were later exonerated. >> reporter: at trial, jones' defense team was inexperienced, overwhelmed. first the only witness says the killer's hair stuck out an inch from underneath the cap. >> unfortunately, his defense team never submitted a photograph of a week prior -- of julius jones. we actually have a photo of him the week before, then immediately after arrest. is that his hair was incredibly

short. >> chris jordan, meanwhile, wore his hair in corn rows and it stuck out at the sides. >> reporter: julius' lawyers also point out the jury was not made aware that ladell king was facing felony charges in an unrelated case until after his damaging testimony against julius. >> unfortunately, in our criminal justice system, the first person to be interrogated who tells police a story can be the one who gets the deal. >> king was facing a minimum of 20 years on a check fraud matter because he had three strikes. >> it was dismissed entirely. >> reporter: chris jordan was sentenced to just 15 years and is now a free man. >> so they had every motive and incentive to lie, and a jury didn't get to hear all of that evidence. >> not only did they have that incentive, that incentive was not disclosed in the court? right? >> correct. from the prosecutor to the investigators, lead

investigators in the case. there's no question he didn't get a fair trial. >> reporter: what about that red bandana found in julius' house? it was never tested for dna. and today it might be julius' only hope. >> they agree to test the red bandana. and we are hoping there's something there that can identify who the real shooter was. >> that's good. it's good. just gives you hope. and you've given me hope. >> if the results come back with a profile, and if that profile came back to be chris jordan, that should exonerate julius jones. >> i want a new trial, i want a chance to tell a jury why i'm innocent. >> what's justice look like in jones' case? >> justice would be exoneration. but you can't get those 20 years back. >> our thanks to juju. don't miss the final episode of "the last defense" next tuesday night right here on abc. coming up next on

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finally here tonight, a powerful moment at the espys. the arthur ashe courage award presented to female athletes for speaking out about sexual abuse in sports. >> too often, abusers and enablers perpetuate suffering by making survivors feel that their truth doesn't matter. to all the survivors out there, don't let anyone rewrite your story. your truth does matter. you matter. and you are not alone. >> we too salute them for their courage. we want to thank you for watching "nightline" tonight. as always we're online 24/7 on our "nightline" facebook page. thank you again for watching and have a good night.