they use it at us as data. and they than no i want to quote them out of which call kept michael. was going to head the death penalty. after intense questioning police officers extracted a confession from earl for the brutal rape and stabbing murder of a one thousand year old mother of three. at his trial experts testified that earle had an i.q. of only sixty nine and was extremely suggestible casting doubt on his confession. despite inconclusive evidence the jury found guilty and the judge sentenced him to death. he was taken to mecklenburg a supermax prison in virginia. he was scared to death he was tempted he didn't want to come out of so. he's mentally retarded he couldn't read

he couldn't write i walked in to the cell and canadian thing mangled dork honestly which was that was earl the whole time he was on the road he was. scared timid. odd as they were me my mom dating. a promise once or. a movie was an aide to see the mom would have me. two weeks before earl's date of the execution the guards came to transport him to the death house in richmond. a charity mob put him in a way say in handcuffs shackles and they walked him out. literally drug him out and everybody's banging on the door or that the cross of the guards. joe reached out to his caseworker meridians to see if anything could be done. i

called her in a panic and said i was. i don't know if this guy did or not but i don't think he did i'll bet this guy knows what's going on when early arrived at the death house he was handed over to jerry i receive earl from mecum ber and when he came in i gave him a good turn to the infirmary he was given a complete physical. at that time we only had. death by electrocution chair so he didn't have a choice you could her you know you had led to the one through to your home and then the deeper hole we got with the he said he was getting really from. then. and that big a mother will no longer want me to go i go again knowing oh no way. working day and night joe and marie secured

a rare stay of execution. marie was convinced that earl had been pressured into falsely confessing my work with mentally retarded defendants and i know that this was a what we would call a coerced confession whether it was course psychologically or. did you kill that woman no. but you told the police that you did. it yes why did you tell the police that you did it. i don't know you don't know now you understand then that you were being. accused of a murder. they didn't understand most. new d.n.a. tests proved earl was not the murderer he was moved off death row but he remained in prison virginia law at the time did not allow the introduction of new evidence.

gerry heard little about what happened to earl his focus was on preparing for the next execution. one year after the boston marathon bombing a memorial service brought everyone together for the first time. when we walked. down the road to the site. ron and i and christie stopped at each site and said a prayer. a week later karen and ron united with survivors at the two thousand and fourteen boston marathon. i they cheered their friend celeste in the symbolic run across the finish line. i am angry at what he did and when i see my friends and they struggle and i

see other survivors. i don't want my decision to be based on how angry i get in those instances. that fall judge will tool announced the trial would be held in boston. and we have two choices we can either let him stay alive and have his interaction and have his joys. or put him to die. and have that be the end of that. they don't get to see their little boy playing baseball anymore or reading him a story at night and in this young man is in jail and he's reading stories that he likes he's got books available to him that he enjoys or he meets with his sisters and gets to see pictures of their children growing up and i just don't

think it's fair that they have had their their joys taken away from them and he still is able to experience that. karen decided to attend the trial. i want to be there to see. justice. in philadelphia nearly four years after vicki instils daughter shannon was murdered the police got a lead. in two thousand and would there been a series of assaults started to employees in fort collins colorado they put out a report to police agencies all across the united states. so they sent the from shannon's case to fort collins. the

d.n.a. was a match. the suspect was married and employed at an air force base. about eight o'clock that night twenty third day of april. two thousand and two this fellow and his wife walked into the police station and by midnight that night they had a full confession for the dozen different cases. the men they arrested twenty nine year old troy graves philadelphia's elusive center city rapist. graves was accused of multiple counts of sexual assault and one count of murder in the death of shannon schieber. the prosecutor was district attorney lynn abraham. the prosecutor in the city of philadelphia who is known as a pretty deadly d.a. in other words she put more people on death row then any other prosecutor in pennsylvania and probably any large number around the country. graves was found

guilty and the district attorney wanted the death penalty but the she bers did not . it meant they would have to fight for the life of their daughter's killer we had said to each other and consulted with our very large families that what we do if they ever caught a ball we would stick to our principles and if someone was going to want to put to death we were going to argue for a life without the possibility of parole. the district attorney voiced her disagreement and outrage. the district attorney there became very very upset she became very public with her and with her opinion and she said i don't care what the she burst that the death penalty was the appropriate sentence for their daughter's murder. why would they not want. for vicki in sil the answer was clear. we just can't let this anger is natural human anger and pain overwhelm us and make us so vengeful and hateful

because it would just over time destroy us and we know that. vicki and still received piles of hate mail accusing them of not loving their daughter. you know if you can't stand by your principles when it's difficult they're not your principles. several years past before jerry learned that washington was not guilty. it had to be like fifteen or twenty executions at that girl was released from death row that i found out that he was he was innocent as it were out as best as a close call and you know he came within days and i would execute him as a person. our criminal justice system supposed to be the best in the world. make those mistakes and yet when you see

a person like they're awash in. something happening. in the aftermath of the oklahoma city bombing in one thousand nine hundred five congress passed legislation to escalate death sentences the result was a dramatic increase in executions by one thousand nine hundred nine jerry was putting to death more than one person a month. and a death certificate reads. death by almost die. you know don't make sense i don't want to be consider that person committed. but that's what every. six to two executions and the only kilobit that was myself and i refused to look into the mirror. he nearly took the life of her washington

and couldn't help but wonder if there were others. research now shows that for every nine executions there is one inmate found innocent and exonerated. one out of ten who might have been mistakenly put to death. in a world of big partisan movie plot for years and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that mainstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door on the shouting past each other it's taught for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now for watching closely watching the.

what holds us in studio three. a put themselves on the lawn and they get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be present or injured or somehow want to be rescued. that's a right to be pressed that's what the four last three in the morning can't be good that i'm interested always in the waters of our. guests it. the ng and. right were all set to start in five yes this year has a signal. to. the song to talk about. just minutes right after the mars explorers one knew it would have their. born a record. player seek help.

with the. doubt a listener. welcome to sophie and tell i'm selfish eric not said today without lots to talk about in our program and our gas to. the uk that. nearly two years after the bombing the trial was about to begin. karen left her home in new hampshire early to arrive for the opening statements. it was the first time she had scenes are naiads since the arraignment. inside the courtroom karin and the other survivors were seated just twenty feet away he refused to look at them. the defense team would make the case that so cars are

najaf was unduly influenced by his older brother. the prosecutors would argue that he was fully responsible for his actions. many victims shared their experiences including the father of eight year old martin who described having to choose between comforting his dying son and saving his daughter. over the next four weeks karen and other survivors relive the horror of the bombing. they reached out to each other for support. coming to court it was amazing how quickly and how close we all got it with where like a family. but her husband ron stayed away. since the bombing ron has changed and it's a hard thing to watch the man that you. struggle so desperately and be so

angry he's just not the same as he was before federal jury convicted to heart and i have all thirty counts he was facing for the boston marathon bombing just eleven hours the jury found our native guilty of all charges now they would decide if he should be put to death. the survivors were divided. karen's friend celeste was for a death sentence. the richards not wanting to go through years of appeals but decided against it. it's a long tough process to really examine. why you feel what you feel. you really have to look at yourself. pretty hard to decide. as soon as vicki and sil learned the identity of the man who raped and murdered their daughter vicki wanted to know more. i want it i want to know why i want to

stand what he did why was this going forward like that what was going on where was his background with that you have to talk to his mother i wanted to understand who he was vicki located troy graves mother and gave her a call we're on the phone together for many many hours in tears just tear sobbing with each other i said but just to understand what you are going there i want to share with what i'm going through and maybe we can help each other . and learn from each other and just come to some kind of peace with all this because god you must be going through a terrible time to wash yourself you know and she says oh this is she or i. agree of some other blamed herself for her son's actions and i said i don't think of what when he said she said it got more and more violent. and my kids would

come to me and it say please money lets go of this is a bad danny's best i was telling them i can't i don't have a job i don't have you know education i can't support you oh my god how can i be angry. vickie began meeting with inmates on death row. she discovered a system of victims on all sides we could just hear she and say mom and dad now that you know about the system the terrible flaws in the bias the racial the geographic bias of caught cos issues they don't get their lawyers just all that i can or not you know what you can do upon. they began advocating across the country and quickly found that many people thought all victims wanted the death penalty. they say that the reason we have to keep the death penalty here is because that's what murder victim's families want that's going to give them peace that's going to give them justice and we come in and say. not quite and then for this

this isn't their way if you lose chop or you die. hard and. so you have to you have to learn to live with this hole in your heart. either we can continue to do well on it and john of well up the misery and sustain that misery. that we incurred because of what was going on or are we can we can try and force things to change the extent we can they countered their grief by sharing their story and providing testimony that would influence death penalty legislation. losing a loved one to murder is a tragedy on imaginable proportions this all happened her testimony helped maryland become the eighteenth state to repeal capital punishment i've told my daughter story now twenty two different states and i have seen the tremendous effect of this

whole system on murder victims' family members. in an ongoing tribute to the memory of their daughter vicki and still continue their efforts to end the death penalty. in boston nearly three weeks had passed since our nails was found guilty but the federal jury had yet to make a decision about whether he should be put to death. karen went to the courthouse nearly every day. over the course of the trial she had become one of the main spokespersons in media contacts for the survivors. but for now there was nothing to do but wait. you mean suddenly a text from a clerk inside alerted her that the jury was close to a decision. they're going to be coming out of it starting any time now i would

prefer it be you know in the death penalty just because i think that's a fair thing the right thing. is awful if that is. i think it's that the just thing that's what i'm hoping. and we are coming on the air because the jury deciding the fate of boston marathon bombers are hard and i have has reached a verdict. they have sentenced him to death. news of the verdict traveled fast thank you know that there is still a long road ahead but right now it feels like we can take a breath and thank you. actually breathe again you know without even realizing it holding his breath and once the bird came and like now we can start here no point. with son lives fate sealed karin began the long drive home. i don't think it

evens the score i don't think that it teaches anybody anything. i don't believe that it's going to be a deterrent to the next young man who has anger but i just think that's nothing no other choice in my mind that is fair. after seventeen years and sixty two executions jerry's time as executioner came to an abrupt end. in the midst of preparing for another execution he was subpoenaed by a grand jury and accused of money laundering gerry claimed he was innocent but the court found him guilty.

the sunday after his sentencing gerry's long held secret about his role as executioner became public. they printed in a paper they say the man to carry out execution orders for the state of virginia was found guilty once i was out i mean i'm expose so i gotta come for what i got them all why is this in the truth about this fair. why don't you know all because i didn't know you and i want you to have to go through what happened go to. jerry served his time he learned that earl washington received a full pardon and after seventeen years was finally released from prison about four percent of the guys that have executed and they stuck out that they were innocent so in napa earl's case you know placed doubt here to find out that innocent people were there on death row. after serving his time jerry worked hard to rebuild his life.

he began speaking out against the death penalty one of the few executioners to do so we need to do that we need to change and i didn't enjoy killing people so what can we do to prevent these things from happening. jerry thought often about washington if i ever get to see him i want to say oh you know i'm sorry but i'm glad that things didn't go away and there was plan to go and i'm glad to see you on a side because i can apologize to you at that take your life you know after i pad biden that's it. i'm glad i didn't get a chance to hit so i apologize to the name thank in a way i thought she was guilty. jerry decided to visit europe to talk with him face to face.

though it had been many years jerry and earl swapped stories and quickly we discovered a shared custody that's all you know one day i was mad and i was in a fog. i want to ritual follow swing through ok that's what it looked each year you know i won the world we're going to you know went through your mind not doing it he was innocent oh mama get it all warm and she bought it raise your blood get me through which are just. this is a good thing that i didn't give it you know because. whether he didn't do anything wrong. you know also isn't something that i would have to face. but to

see him crossing that bridge and to meet him and others just to get. him that. you don't know because you're my shoe. live.

right here all said starting five guys just you know has a signal live. he's not going to talk about let's just leave right after the arse explorers want to move the foot of their feet. buda rocker. to say what i feel. about it let's. welcome to sophie and co i'm so sorry shevardnadze said today we're got lots to talk about in our program and our gas who've been locked out of. whether they did as he should would you go to one of the people so he'll be in luck

because on the bus or. just me what i mean are well me and nothing. but the fantasy of. homos was a. dumb move to move to. the school i'm. only in the studio running into these images instead of a watch musical rug from

a christmas. winter with a mint oh is that. no he moved. here michel i. mean i. could. only mean.

the world cup we can see is england face palomar in a group g. clash in nizhny novgorod with fans they're counting the minutes to kick off. this is g.p.s. challenge. six similar. to . germany manages to save face and restore confidence of a place in the next round beating sweden two one on saturday. i must . add another story from the week the u.s. withdraws from the u.n. human.