♪ this is "nightline." lives destroyed for crimes they did not commit. >> when i went to prison, i was 17. when i got out, i was 45. >> some sentenced to death. >> i'm the first woman to be exonerated in the united states from death row. >> one man making it his mission to expose their trauma. >> it's always important to listen and to try to figure out where this person's coming from. plus billie eilish. ♪ happier than ever. explaining her love affair with los angeles in a new concert film. >> it formed me, you know? it made me who i am and gave me the opportunities that i got.

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plus, 0% interest for 24 months. only for a limited time. ♪ good evening. thank you for joining us. they were victims of justice denied. now one man's mission is honoring them and photographing them with the same distinction that's usually reserved for

presidents and others in high positions. so that they can be truly seen. here's abc's senior justice correspondent pierre thomas. >> may 19th, 1975. the day that's etched in my mind until the day i die. a beautiful summer day it was. one of the neighborhood girls leaned out the window and said, hey, guys, who's the man shot up at mr. robinson's store, he's laying on the ground dead. >> reporter: just a kid when he was falsely convicted of murder and sent to ohio's death row. based on the testimony of a 12-year-old boy who would later recant. >> when i went to prison, i was 17. when i got out, i was 45. yeah. >> reporter: it would take another 11 years to exonerate him, to finally prove his innocence.

>> it took us 40 years. the sad part about it was, all six of my great aunts passed away. my grandfather. my oldest brother. my oldest sister. my nephew. two cousins. three friends. something that money can't buy. and a little bitty lie. ripped from me. >> reporter: the stories of lives stolen. of time lost. now the subject of an exhibit by artist martin shore, known for his portraits of some of the world's most famous faces. collaborating with a nonprofit witness to insurance, shore has spent the past year crisscrossing the country in an rv. >> definitely a passion project

of mine. i want to help demolish the death penalty in the united states. >> reporter: meeting and photographing those who were wrongly accused and sentenced to death. >> this is one small way maybe to contribute. >> what drew you to this project? >> i always wanted to do something around the subject matter of the death penalty. it is only about revenge. and revenge doesn't make a society better. >> reporter: while death sentences have declined in the u.s., 27 states still allow capital punishment, and roughly 2,500 individuals currently face execution. research shows for every nine executions, one person on death row has been exonerated or had their conviction overturned. since 1976, 185 death row inmates have been exonerated. martin, you photograph some very famous people, from oprah to

president obama. how is that different from the photographs of these people who had traumatic but also triumphant stories? >> well, you know, i work -- i get to photograph all these very famous, well-known people because of magazine assignments. but this project is very different because i, you know, looked into the -- at this organization that i ended up falling in love with, and with it comes, obviously, a huge responsibility that sometimes can feel a bit overbearing, to make sure the work i create really has an impact. >> so anything they throw away, i keep. >> reporter: for this, scholler spent months getting to know his subjects, before finally using his camera to snap a moment in time that often tells a story of decades-long trauma. graham grew up on a plantation in the segregated south before moving to los angeles when he was a child.

>> that's where my trouble began, right there in south central los angeles. you didn't have to say yes, sir, no, sir to white people. i joined a neighborhood gang, just like every other young kid. in and out of juvenile hall. >> when you look back, what do you think was the driving force for your getting into trouble as a kid? >> lack of opportunity. indifference toward everything. >> reporter: by 18, serving time in prison. a leader in the growing black panther movement. but from behind bars, he would be wrongfully accused and later convicted for murdering a prison guard during a riot. >> uprising happened in that prison, and a human being, a guard named jerry sanders, was murdered. i remember coming down, they said a jury had come back, and they found i was guilty. >> reporter: it would take six long years before his death sentence was overturned. the court noting that black

jurors had been systematically excluded. it would take two more years for him to be found innocent and finally released. >> i can remember like yesterday. i didn't want to hear. but i stood up. they said the jury found me not guilty. i can remember saying, 11 long years. my greatest nightmare has finally come to an end. >> reporter: research shows people of color have accounted for a disproportionate 43% of black people in this country are seven times more likely to be wrongfully accused of murder than their white counterparts. our time with scholler, dealing with racial reckoning since the death of george floyd, like much

of the united states, a system that deeply impacts minorities. >> i had a visceral reaction to watching george floyd's death. i can imagine someone who's been on death row and exonerated -- did you see yourself in him? lying on that ground? >> that's one of the reasons -- we've been dealing with this since i was a little kid, police brutality and racism, and we still deal with it today because we've been in denial about it. >> when you approach any subject, is there a particular thing you're looking for? >> yes, it's always important to listen and to try to figure out where this person's coming from, no matter who it is you meet. i think listening is the most important. >> reporter: scholler is in part drawn to this work having grown up in post-nazi germany, grappling with questions about humanity and government, and those society deems disposable.

>> i always wanted to do something about -- it's insane, after germany what the nazis did, how can you believe in any government? >> dead set on revenge. revenge is a big thing in the united states, seems like. my name is sabrina butler, and i'm the first woman to be exonerated in the united states from death row. i was tried and convicted in 1990 for the death of my son. >> reporter: in 1989, a teenage sabrina rushed her young child, walter, to a mississippi hospital after he stopped breathing. he would die the next day. she was arrested for child abuse. she says from the bruises on walter from her attempts to resuscitate him. a year later, she was convicted of murder. >> that term friend is hard to find these days. people are not your brother's keepers anymore.

>> reporter: she filed an appeal and was cleared. the court found the prosecution failed to prove it was anything other than a tragic accident. a medical examiner reversing course and concluding the boy died of a kidney malady. >> and it's just so incredible. one minute they're being called monsters, animals, and you know -- our system is trying to execute them. and all of a sudden they're let go, you know, sorry, we made a mistake. >> whoops. >> oops, we did it again. turns out the murderer is somebody else. or is a 12-year-old kid is the only witness to a crime. and then people get sentenced on death row. for 28 years kwame was in prison. >> reporter: decades later, the young witness whose testimony sent kwame away recanted. >> it was beautiful. it was just the greatest day ever. because i had completed the

mission i started. >> reporter: it's a mission now immortalized in photographs. images of both injustice and overcoming, which were displayed in new york city, online, and in a "national geographic" spread. >> it makes me feel like i finally made it. i'm finally accepted as one of the people that was just regular, you know? you know, that's a good thing. that's a good thing. >> when you heard about martin's project, portraits are very personal. why did you want to help him on his mission? >> show that people like myself, just like we put a face, that we're human beings. >> i'm hoping that by these few little scenes going out into the world, and martin doing what he's doing, that we can get some old soldiers on, and those old

soldiers will be the ones to make all this go away. that's what i truly hope. >> our thanks to pierre. you can read more stories in the series "sentenced to death but innocent" at natgeo.com. up next, why billie eilish is happier than ever. ♪ i'm happier than ever ♪ ♪ wish i could explain it better ♪ don't settle for products that give you a sort of white smile.

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♪ though she's 19 now, singer billie eilish has never strayed far from hometown l.a., the place she says made her. here's abc's will reeve. >> what has changed for billie eilish since we last talked and since the world has changed? >> everything. good and bad, you know? life is completely -- done a 180. i can't explain what's different, that's just growth, growing up. >> reporter: billie eilish is only 19 years old, but hare she's an international star. winning seven grammys, gracing countless magazine covers, selling out arena is ares worldwide. an icon in the making, she

recorded a debut album with brother finneas in their childhood home in los angeles. ♪ i'm the bad guy duh ♪ >> reporter: heats like "bad guy" making billie eilish a household name. her brooding, ethereal vocal arrangements and neon goth aesthetic setting her apart. with no signs of slowing down, her sophomore effort catapulted eilish back to the top, debuting at number one. the critics love it and the fans love it. how do you react to that reaction? >> it's amazing. i'm so pleased. i've been scared what was people are going to say. i couldn't be happier with people actually enjoying something that is meant to be enjoyed. >> reporter: accompanying her album is a new project, a genre-blending and bending ode to the place that made her. "happier than ever," a love letter to los angeles. streaming next month on disney plus, owned by our parent company, disney.

>> it is a concert film of my entire album. this is beautiful animations of this kind of ideal me, in search of this thing that she doesn't know what she's looking for. it tells a story, and it's also the only time i've ever, and probably will ever, do my whole album in order, front to back. >> is there a chance that in the future you will do something like this again, based on the experience that you had, and hopefully your fans have, in watching it? >> good one. i mean, i've always -- i've really always wanted to do a performance piece of a project of mine in order, just because i feel that that's how albums are supposed to be made and supposed to be listened to. >> reporter: billie's hometown is a central character and a muse. why did you specifically want to write this love letter to your hometown? >> it made me who i am and gave me the opportunities that i got.

and it was my childhood, you know, doing all the activities that i did as a kid, wandering around neighborhoods with my friends. i think i owed los angeles some love. >> how do you hope that your fans experience this and feel once they've seen it? >> just -- satisfied. and taken to kind of another dimension. and just, like, transported. the way that it is to watch a movie. >> reporter: shining alongside billie in the film, legendary composer gustavo dudamel and the philharmonic. >> they were celebrities to us in the kids choir. i don't know, it's a full circle, amazing kind of moment. ♪ can't stop thinking of your diamond ♪ >> reporter: eilish first burst onto the scene at 14 years old with her debut song "ocean

eyes." it seems so far, she has everything she's wanted. ♪ got everything i wanted ♪ >> billie eilish! >> billie eilish! >> billie eilish! >> reporter: making history during the 2020 grammys, becoming the first woman to sweep the four biggest ctegories, the youngest to take home album of the year. >> i never thought this would ever happen in my whole life. i only want to say that i'm great skillful that i'm so honored to be here. >> reporter: eilish's image is carefully constructed. her intentionally baggy clothes from earlier in her career serving both as a unique fashion choice and a deliberate attempt to avoid comments of any kind about her body. so when she debuted a more grown-up look for british "vogue," she set the internet ablaze. this photo, uploaded for her nearly 90 million instagram followers, setting the record for fastest post to reach 1 million likes. the cover of the magazine revealing eilish's self-empowering reinvention, showing your body or showing your skin, or not, should not take away any respect for you.

the star's next move, starting early next year hitting the road again for a global tour. "the arena" tour, what should we expect to see? >> it's going to be crazy. the energy is going to be through the roof. i really can't wait. it's going to be the most fun in the world. >> reporter: billie eilish, pop superstar, role model, activist. now add one more jewel to her crown. you are now technically, because this is on disney plus, a disney cartoon. is that accurate? >> oh! good one. i guess i am. that's pretty cool. >> our thanks to will. up next, the american heroes finally receiving their longtime overdue recognition. i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. with skyrizi, 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months, after just 2 doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections

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♪ finally tonight, the 369th infantry reg it, known as the harlem hellfighters, was the most celebrated black regiment of world war i. they spent 191 days in combat,

what's believed to be the longest stretch of any american unit in the great war, fighting alongside the french. because white american soldiers refused to serve with them. two hellfighters, henry johnson and nita roberts, were the first americans to get a french award for heroism. but the unit received little recognition from the u.s. government until today when president biden signed a law to award the harlem hellfighters the congressional gold medal. that's "nightline" for this evening. catch our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here we'll see you right back here is your family ready for an emergency? you can prepare by mapping out two ways to escape your home, creating a supply kit, and including your whole family in practice drills. for help creating an emergency plan, visit safetyactioncenter.pge.com another day, another chance. for help creating an emergency plan, make the most of it with the network that can deliver gig speeds to the most businesses. and get the advanced cybersecurity solutions