all of us, saying we are ready to make a difference. and that's what we're doing tomorrow. >> all right. we will have coverage of this tomorrow from numerous locations around the country. to see how this all unfolds. jennifer, larry cohen, great to have both of you with us tonight. thanks for your time. we'll be back tomorrow with the story. "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton starts now. good evening, rev. >> good evening. thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, justice will be severed. that was president obama's message today to the terror group, isis. today american intelligence officials confirm the authenticity of this isis video showing the beheading of a second american journalist, steven sotloff. and early this morning, the president made his strongest statement to date on isis. >> whatever these murderers think they will achieve by killing innocent americans like

steven, they have already failed. they failed because, like people around the world, americans are repulsed by their barberism. we will not be intimidated. their horrific acts only unite us and stiffen our result to take the fight against these terrorists. and those who make the mistake of harming americans will learn that we will not forget and that our reach is long and that justice will be served. >> the president then headed to wales for a key nato summit. where the threat from isis will be a major point of discussion. we are also learning today about steven sotloff, the freelance journalist that was killed. he was a dual american-israeli citizen. a contributor to some israeli media outlets, a fact not acknowledged publicly in an effort to keep him safe. one fellow captive told an

american newspaper that he hid his jewish faith from his captors, even telling them he was sick so he could fast for yom kippur. today we caught glimpses of sotloff's mother at home in florida and late today, a family spokesman spoke to reporters saying steven will endure and the mother of other american journalists killed by isis offered her some words of comfort. >> we send all of our love and hugs to them. unfortunately, they are sharing the pain we are. so we just ask the world to embrace them as the world has embraced us. it helped us so much. >> we're all thinking of these families. we're all sickened by this brutal murders and today vice president biden channelled the nation's anger and demand for justice. >> when people harm americans,

we don't retreat. we don't forget. we take care of those who are grieving and when that's finished, they should know we will follow them to the gates of hell until they are brought to justice. because hell is where they will reside. hell is where they will reside. >> americans want justice done. president obama is rallying the world to fight isis overseas. because this group is like none we've ever seen. reports say there are 3,000 isis fighters from western countries. including around 500 from britain. around 500 from france. and as many as 100 americans fighting under a black flag. thousands of miles from home. joining me now from turkey pb,

is richard engel, chief foreign correspondent. richard, thanks for being here. >> reporter: it's a pleasure to talk to you. as you said, there are thousands of westerners and many from arab countries who have gone into syria, many of them coming through this city where i am right now in turkey. and decided that they wanted to take part in the war there, and they wanted to join isis. an unknown number of americans have done the same or tried to do the same, but they've been quite illusive. we have only learned about them after they've been killed. tonight on "nbc nighty news," we will hear from one american who tried join ice, aspired to join isis, a self-recruit. came here to turkey. had been in contact with isis members. and quite openly says that was his objective. his name is donald morgan. he is now in u.s. custody and he

is -- >> you wrote about this. you posted it on-line. >> yes, we released some reporting on-line. >> what prompts him and hundreds of thousands to joint terror group? >> exactly. well, our reporting shows that he, like other recruits, went for personal reasons. there was a spiritual element. he became convinced that isis's brand of radical islam offered the answers. offered a clear path of what is right and wrong. but also an angry person. someone who had been struggling with the law. had many different jobs. he wanted to join the military but never had a successful career there. and after struggling to fit in, he found this calling. he wanted to be part of something bigger. it is almost like someone who 10

or 15 or 20 years ago might have joined a religious cult. and this time he did join or tried to join a religious cult but a very, very aggressive, a very violent one, called isis. >> now what kind of impact have the u.s. air strikes had on isis, richard? >> the impact has been limited to iraq. isis, a few months ago, in june, broke out of syria, took over the city of mosul, and captured a huge stash, a horde of weapons and starting marching toward baghdad. now u.s. troops are there advising. they are trying to stop the isis advance in iraq. and they are having some success in iraq. the problem is, they are not doing anything to stop isis in its strong hold of syria. they are pushing some of the militants out of iraq, pushing them back into syria.

but they still hold their strong hold there and that is where they -- where many believe they held their hostages and where they executed those two americans, inside syria. >> will the u.s. have to take action there and can the u.s. take action there without allies or coalition? >> most military experts, officers i have spoken to, think that some military action will eventually be needed. but a few air strikes, even an air campaign, isn't enough. because you have to figure out who will take over afterwards. for the last three years, the united states and many other countries, in fact, have not been supporting or adequately supporting an alternative. they haven't been supporting a moderate opposition. so if you bomb isis, you could end up just having a situation like we do in somalia where you

continually have to bomb a few places, but that there is no stable alternative. president obama said he is still trying to find a strategy and i know many people have spoken to in the military, desperately wanting to find that strategy soon because the isis threat is not going away. >> you have covered a lot of terrorist groups. what is different about this group, richard? are they more ruthless, more brute yl. what is so different about isis? >> they certainly are brutal. they certainly like to expose their brutality on-line. but what's significant about this group is that they hold terrain. they hold a large part of syria. they still hold a large part of iraq and they have an enormous amount of weaponry. the city of mosul collapsed. they humiliated themselves. they didn't stand a fight p.

they outnumbered isis something like 20-1 but decided to run away from the fight, handing this group an enormous amount of firepower. so when you have a violent group, a vicious group, with a state, with weaponry, that attracts lots of people. success from their perspective builds on success and that attracts recruits. that attracts this -- creates this mystique of isis that they are trying to build upon. >> richard engel, thank you so much for your time tonight. i want to bring in brian katoulous, senior fellow for american progress. brian, thanks for being here. >> great to be with you, reverend. >> the president at the nato summit this week, what do you think he will push for to fight isis? >> well, i think there should be two things. one, is to make sure our defenses, our homeland security defenses are strong.

as we have talked about and you mentioned, at least 3,000 europeans and americans that are part of isis and we definitely want to continue to coordinate with our nighto allies to make sure that our intelligence connections are in place to prevent attacks. i think the second thing they should talk about is the aspect of what needs to be done. the contingencies inside of syria's border against isis. because for the last nearly month, we have been conducting air strikes in iraq. the kurds of iraq have been fighting with us and some iraqi security forces have been fighting. i think that the discussion at nato will be, how do we actually build an international coalition. one that includes nato, and one

that includes nato members like turkey as well as some regional partners who have definite interest in defeating this threat. >> brian, i want to play to you some more of what the president said today on isis. listen to this. >> so the bottom line is this, our objective is clear, and that is to degrade and destroy isil so it is no long ear threat. not just to iraq, but to the region and to the united states. >> you know, brian, it is very similar to what he used to say about al qaeda. what reaction to you have to this statement? >> my reaction is that this is an administration that seems poised to do what we did in pakistan and what we are doing in yemen and what we did earlier this week in somalia. sounds like an administration that is preparing to actually

meet out some justice and take strikes against isis. we have done so in iraq. but that sort of language to me indicates that we're taking this threat seriously. i think when you add that with what president obama and his top team has been saying about building an international coalition, i think what we're going to see is a very busy fall with sharper focus on syria and what's going on inside of syria. again, i don't think we'll ever see boots on the ground and nor should we. u.s. troops going into syria. but i do think we are looking at some prospect of somebody, if not us, somebody going after isis inside syrian territory. >> preparing to meet out justice, strong words, brian. brian katulis, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. still ahead, how did a man handcuffed behind his back supposedly shoot himself in the front of his chest? he died in police custody.

and now his family is demanding a federal investigation. also breaking news from the chris christie bridge gate scandal. an explosive new report on how port authority officers were told to stay quiet and ordered not to reopen lanes during the traffic jam. also, a new reason for rush limbaugh to be hopping mad. looks like his big prediction about the mid term election may turn out to be just a bunch of hot air. i am so nervous right now, it's not even funny. oh my gosh... driver 1 you ready? yeah! go! [sfx] roaring altima engine woah! ahhhha! we told people they were riding nissan's most advanced altima race car.

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a missouri court official revealed michael brown was never convicted of a serious a or b felony at the time of his death. this news lit up our social media accounts and many of our responses were like this. kathy wrote, even if there had been, it has nothing to do with his death. nor would it make his death justified in any way. cathi, i couldn't agree with you more. please keep your conversation going on our facebook page. or tweet us. @"politicsnation." i'm type e.

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talking about it for months. the political way coming to congress. they predicted doom and gloom for democrats. this was their year. >> i fully expect the 2014 mid terms to be a way of election like 2010. i think the people of this country will sweep democrats out of office every clans they get. every opportunity that they get. >> a big political wave is about to break in america. and the obama care democrats are on the wrong side of that wave. >> i think that we're in for a tsunami type election in 2014. >> my belief is that it is going to be a very big win, especially at the u.s. senate level. >> well, today, two months before the election, they're

giving a lesson in how hard it is to forecast the political weather. the fight for senate control is up in the air. the "new york times" gives the republicans a 70% chance of taking control of the senate. but a princeton analysis gives the democrats the edge. with 65% chance of keeping senate control. and today, "the huffington post" also put the odds in favor of democrats at 57%. a close fight is not what republicans had in mind. and today, we see the panic. the right wing national review warns, quote, republicans continue to lack any strategy for winning the november elections beyond avoiding mistakes and hoping that president obama's unpopularity delivers control of the senate to them. make no mistake, democrats are in for a serious battle, but for

the gop, predictions of a big wave have crashed into reality. joining me now, democratic strategist jamaal simmons and salon.com's joan walsh. thank you for for being here. >> thank you, rev. is this a classic case of overconfidence from the right? >> yeah. this would be what my dad would call, selling wolf tickets. they won't do as well as they are telling people they're going to go but they're talking the game up so much to try to get people to believe it. i was talking to a senior white house economic official today talking to me about the unemployment rate, economic rate. and you could start to see the long-term unemployment is coming down. short term unemployment is coming down. job growth is continuing. we have new numbers at the end of this week. we just don't feel the same build that you felt even in 2010 toward those elections. you don't have obama care being the hot flash.

there just isn't that combustible energy out there before. so i don't see a way. they will do well. i'm sure republicans will do fine, but i don't think they will take the senate. >> joan, let's look at what the senate looks like now. 53 democrats, 45 republicans. two independents who caucus with the democrats. so the republican needs -- the republicans really need to take six seats to gain control. but we just saw how close this is with nine toss-up races. what do democrats need to do in the next two months to fight for control, joan? >> well, i think they really need to churn out. there is a funny balancing act we have do with this news, rev, where i think when it looks like a way of election democrats can get depressed and stay home. but we don't want anyone to think this is the bag for democrats, because if isn't. it is still up hill. republicans count. every four years they do better when fewer people turn out. that is sad. that is, to me, a sad way to

inelection if i had to count on fewer people turning out, then i win. that's what they do. they are right, that's what happens. so if democrats can bump up their turn out and make it more, it is not going to get to that 2012 level but make it more like 2012 and less like 2010, i think they are going to do better than -- >> i have been talking about this a lot. it'll be down the turnout. you know, jamaal, the senate is really what everyone is watching and there's a lot at stake here. listen to what republican candidates in key states have said. >> what we have to do is find a way to divide and conquer the people who are on assistance. >> i think that the congress as a whole may need to say hell no to barack obama a little bit more. >> facing repercussions. whether that is removal from office, whether that is impeachment. he has become a dictator. he is not following our constitution.

>> you know, jamaal, we haven't seen a christine o'donnell or sharon engel, but how can they use this rhetoric to run against them and get the base turned out? >> you know, i was listening to what joan was saying. i wish republican operatives had the same value structure that she has. you want to win, regardless of the number. you just want that w on the wall. but, the democrats have got to be able to turn this around and talk a lot more about things like impeachment. talk a lot more about things like shutting the government down. use some of the rhetoric they're hearing from the right to kind of animate the base. sadly, i will say, i'm not sure as many democrats have done the work they need to in terms of building relationships. with the people on the ground, communities, getting the majority animated. so now they've got the back up against the wall so they have to

do what they can and turn people out in whatever method they can. >> furgason, in terms of the african-american vote, crucial in the new york times, a big story on that over the weekend, i mean, talking about minimum wage. you have to turn people on to turn people out and the democrats have got to show that. >> yeah, i think democrats at times have been afraid with linking them self with the president. linking them self with the affordable care act. there's a little timidity that i think people may regret. but we see the first lady will campaign in georgia for michelle nunn. that's a great thing. >> that's great. >> i think that we're seeing people get more energized. and i think republicans are saying, oh, we've got these great candidates. no one is talking about legitimate rate but they have extreme candidates who have learned not to use the "r "word but to use the "i" word.

jo joni ernst is too independent and they need democrats to tune in, too. >> i want to get this before i run out of time. i want to hear from both of you on this. first highlight today, what's at stake for the gop not want running the senate, saying it could turn into a nightmare for the party. quote, it'll hurt recruiting in 2016. it could spark leadership fights. and it could rekindle the central id logic cal debate in the party. >> they want to turn out as many republicans as possible. but joan just start said to touch on something that's really important. there are other states out there that are important. georgia, they have a good candidate with michelle nunn. kentucky will be tough for the republicans. kansas, pat roberts is not doing a great job. can you see democrats put up a

good fight in kansas. it doesn't mean we will win all the races but republicans will be consumed by trying to hold on to some of those senate seats. >> joan, what's at stake for republicans? >> i think they will have another blood letting, if they don't -- if they don't take senate. don't do as well as expected. mitch mcconnell may not be part of that battle. he is fighting for his political life. he is not just fighting to gain leadership. it is interesting and not what they expected. not at all. >> thank you both for your time tonight. >> thanks, rev. >> still ahead, breaking news from the chris christie bridge gate scandal. new details about how police officers were literally told to shut up about the traffic jam. ordered to stand aside and not do their job. >> and scott brown is running into more trouble in new hampshire. or is it massachusetts? that's in tonight's gotcha. also, a pitch perfect night from

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see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. the senate race is starting to heat up and come the democrat jean shaheen is trying to fend off a challenge from the carpet bagging former senator from massachusetts, scott brown. the latest polls show shaheen leading brown 46-44. so what his plan to close that gap in coming weeks? he floated an interesting idea during radio interview. >> ask scott why people should vote for him after the other -- instead of the other gop candidates. that's from vermont, actually. >> sure. the first -- where is it from, vermont? >> yeah. 860. >> well, they can come over and

do same-day registration if they want to come down and vote. so if they feel like doing so, come on down. >> maybe it's connecticut. i don't know. >> well, they can come on up. >> people from other states should come on down and vote. are you kidding, senator brown? actually his campaign did release a statement saying, he was clearly joking. but he does know a thing or two about coming from another state. let's remember, scott brown is running for senate in new hampshire. just a few years after losing a senate seat in massachusetts. but even before brown formally announced his campaign, we knew this was going to be a bad idea. >> what i've heard from the republicans up here is they are thankful i've been around for a year helping them raise money. helping them raise awareness as to the issues that are affecting people not only here in new

hampshire -- >> new hampshire. then he gave an interview and said, quote, do i have the best credentials? probably not. because you know, whatever, but i have a long and strong ties to this state. he used to be a senator from massachusetts. but you know, whatever, people should come from other states and you know, whatever, vote for him. does scott brown think we wouldn't notice he's in a state of confusion? nice try. but we gotcha. and startup ny companies will be investing hundreds of millions of dollars in jobs and infrastructure. thanks to startup ny, businesses can operate tax free for 10 years. no property tax. no business tax. and no sales tax. which means more growth for your business, and more jobs. it's not just business as usual. see how new york can help your business grow, at startup.ny.gov

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the lane closings. but they were ordered not to reopen them by their superior. a police lieutenant who grew up in governor christie's hometown, lieutenant thomas chip michaels, the details came from accounts provided by an attorney representing 11 officers. they depict the role played by lieutenant michaels, as well as the bridge official who ordered the lane closings, david wildstein. starting on the first day of the closings when one of the officers says he quote observed lieutenant michaels driving david wildstein into fort lee. another officer said he got the lane closing order from michaels that day. quote, lieutenant michaels informed him of the new traffic pattern and instructed him not to move the cones. the closings caused massive traffic right away. one officer described it as horrible. another called it horrific.

but when one 12-year police veteran complained on his radio, he said he was told to quote, shut up, and there could be no further discussion of the lane closures offer the air. the documents also reveal that during the closings, a rumor kept circulating, one 20-year police veteran says he heard it from fort lee police chief keith bend el. quote he recalls that chief bendul attributed the lane closings to a disagreement between governor christie and elaine sock let. joining me now, assembly man john wiss in ski, co-chair of the committee investigating the bridge scandal. thank you for being here. >> thank you.

>> these documents appear to show high-ranking bridge officials were aware of the kay onts bridge as it was unfolding p. what do you make of this? >> very troubling. police officers are supposed to be there to provide safety, pro vekt lives, direct traffic. yet when they notice that this was a disaster in the making, they were told to shut up, not do their job. somebody ordered them to do that. somebody told these police officers that they shouldn't do their job, and one of the thing we need to find out is why that happened. >> you know, one officer who had been with the port authority since 2000, he says, quote, during the closings, he heard, and i'm quoting with, talk in the port authority police department break room. that the closures were part after dispute between governor chris christie and fort lee mayor mark sokolich. so the lane closings were part

after political fight and the fort lee mayor. >> and we heard press accounts way before this that police officers were asked by motorists why this happened and motorists were told it was a disagreement between the mayor and governor and you need to talk to the mayor. that confirms what was said before. >> another 20-year veteran says when he saw the lane closings, i'm quoting him, he noticed the cones were physically touching each other and immediately realized the lane reduction would create a nightmare. i mean, can it be any doubt that this was done by someone who was motivated to intentionally wreak havoc? >> this was done by people who had ill will. we heard testimony in front of the transportation committee saying this was a disaster in the making and they were told they today go ahead and do this, and they feared for their jobs. now we see a police officer told to shut up when he saw the same problem. >> you co-chaired a committee.

do you intend to talk to any of these officers, or would you like to in. >> this is the beginning phase. we wanted to find out what these officers knew. i'm not sure how this got out. this is part of our work product. but we will continue to oo see this. it put lives in danger and we need to make sure it can't happen again. >> do you believe the u.s. attorney is also looking into this and will run up against your investigation. >> certainly the u.s. attorney's office haven't told us exactly what they are looking at but they are doing a thorough job and my understanding is this many of the same people that either we have talked to or want to talk to are people that they are interested in as well. >> all right. well, this is certainly adding to a very troubling story. what's your next step before we go? >> our next step is to talk to as many people as we can, to see if these facts bear up under scrutiny. we've had testimony already that does not match these stories that we're hearing today. and so we have a lot of people telling different versions of

stories. we need to make sure we get the truth. >> assemblyman john whizes in can i, thank you. >> coming up, officials say he committed suicide. the family is demanding a federal investigation. also in a shocking supreme court justice said about this man. walking free today after 30 years on death row for a crime he didn't commit. ♪ [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪ she can print amazing things, right from her computer. [ whirring ] [ train whistle blows ] she makes trains that are friends with trees. ♪ my mom works at ge. ♪

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we turn now to a disturbing story out of louisiana. a young man who mysteriously died of a gunshot wound while he was handcuffed in a police car. on march 2nd at around 9:30 at night, 22-year-old victor white iii and friend were at a convenient store in louisiana. white and his friend left the store and were soon approached by police officer car looking for two people who were allegedly involved in a fight at that same convenient store. they were stopped and patted down. police say they found a substance they suspected to be marijuana in mr. white's pants pocket. and a small amount of suspected cocaine on him as well. but there are so many questions about what happened next.

reports say white was taken into custody, handcuffed, behind his back. and transported to the iberia parish office. but is somehow, he produced a handgun, and fired one shot to the front of himself. handcuffed and he shoots himself in the back in last week, almost six months after white died, the iberish parish coroner released their report on the death saying white shot himself in the chest, not in the back, as police previously reported. and ruled victor white's death a suicide. his family is demanding answers. >> my son had too much going on in his life, at that time, to take his life.

and we're devastated. because my kids, he has other siblings, no answers on how he died. he has a 1-year-old daughter, that at some point, will say, paw paw, what happened to my dad. >> how can a man who was patted down by police and handcuffed manage to shoot himself in the chest? joining me now is jonathan capehart of washington post. he is writing about victor white's unbelievable houdini handcuff suicide. jonathan wab thank you for being here this evening. >> thanks, rev. >> you think this story is unbelievable, why? >> you laid it out there, rev, in your introduction. first, the police say -- the police report says that a handcuffed victor white, with his arms behind his back, somehow produced a gun that they

didn't find over two separate searches, shot himself in the back with it, and then six months later -- and that by itself, rev, is already unbelievable. but then the coroner's report comes out six months later and says oh, no, he committed suicide but still while handcuffed produced a gun that hadn't been found in two searches but shot himself in the chest. the first -- >> while handcuffed. >> while handcuffed. the second explanation doesn't make any sense. that's why i think it's important that family is calling on the federal government, the justice department, to do an independent investigation of this case. now i've heard last cases been involved, but they found marijuana and maybe a small amount of cocaine but couldn't find a gun. >> right? right. and they found the marijuana in the first search, found cocaine in the second search. but still, what comes out in

this story, and especially the story written by nbcnews.com, that victor white and a friend of his were in that convenient store. they were inside the convenient store. there are other witnesses that say they were inside the convenient store and did not leave the convenient store until the two people allegedly fighting outside that store had left. only then did victor white and his friend leave the convenient store and that's when cops stopped them and again, according to nbc news reporting, they told the cops, hey, if we go back to the convenient store we can look at the tape and we can talk to the other people who were there so you can find the two people who were involved in the fight. >> i want show to you how victor white's father says he learned about what happened to his son. listen to this. >> go back home to alexandria. i got call friend, family members, neighbors, telling me to go on the -- on facebook and

look up on the louisiana state police website. and it say, man, they got a story about your son. he produced a handgun, when the officer went to go for assistance, he produced a handgun and shot himself in the back. and believe me, i was angered and outraged. because they didn't tell me anything. but everybody, everybody all over the place knew what they were saying happened to my son. that she shot himself in the back. >> so they refuse to tell him anything after he spent hours at the station, trying to find out what happened to his son. they post startry on facebook. that's unbelievable, jonathan. >> it is unbelievable and also incredibly disrespectful. here is a parent trying to find out what happened to their child and yet the authorities there refuse to tell them. and also, imagine -- in the indignity of it all, that you've

gone down there, trying to find out answers. you don't get any. you travel all the way back home to find out from friends and family who are calling you to tell you, hey, did you see what the police department put out on its face book page. i mean, just on a human level, that should not have happened. there should be more responsible there. >> let me continue with what sounds ridiculous. the coroner alleges that it is possible that white could have shot himself. white, who was handcuffed with his hand behind him in a police car could have manipulated a handgun to the point of entry which appears to be between his right breast and right armpit based on the autopsy and subsequent prepared statement. i mean, that's what the other side says, jonathan. your response? >> yeah. well, my response is, you know, i have to repeat the words of attorney benjamin crump who is

representing victor white's parent, calling this a houdini handcuff suicide. and how this is the -- at least the third one that he we know about over the last couple of years with how miraculously someone handcuffed behind their back can somehow manipulate a gun to the point where they can shoot themselves anywhere on their body. but for victor white, to manipulate a gun and shoot himself in the back to the coroner's report saying he was able to manipulate the gun and shoot himself in the chest while handcuffed behind his back. it is remarkable, unbelievable, outrageous. >> i have said on my radio show, and i'll say it here and say it at the baptist convention, this warrants a real serious impartial investigation. jonathan capehart, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you very much, rev. coming up, two men set free after 30 years in prison for a crime they didn't commit.

you need to hear what justice scalia said about these men. and the death penalty. and on a much lighter note, everybody's favorite little leaguer, mo'ne davis, was at dodger stadium last night, throwing a perfect strike. that's next. ♪ eenie. meenie. miney. go. more adventures await in the seven-passenger lexus gx. see your lexus dealer.

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a rough experience and sometimes i felt like giving up an stuff and i said no, i can't do that because live moves on. i knew one day i was going to be blessed to get out of prison. i just didn't know when that time was going to be. >> mccollum was on death row. brown was serving a life sentence but yesterday a judge declared them both innocent of a 1983 rape and murder of a child. dna evidence implicated another man in the crime. this man had been overlooked by

police even though he lived just a block from the crime scene. and even though he admitted to committing a similar rape and murder around the same time. lawyers say both men are mentally challenged. they were just teenagers when they were arrested. after five hours of questioning, with no lawyer present, mccollum confessed to the crime. his brother soon followed. supporters of the death penalty used both men as example of why we need capital punishment. 20 years ago supreme court justice scalia said mccolumn deserved to die. he wrote, how enviable a quiet death by mccollum and other men. we cannot continue to have a

sentence that would take people's lives. and find out late are we were wrong. we cannot give life back after we take it. and the system is too flawed to take that chance. today is another example of why. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. when is enough, enough? let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. tonight we ask the brutal question, can president obama live with americans being beheaded every two weeks from now until january 20, 2017? this is precisely what the islamic state is threatening. the only question is how the president can top them from doing it. also on "hardball" tonight some republican can't dates trying to win back women