without any treatment there intermarriage no markers knowing that these industries out of polluting your dissenting ignored one and most of them live even else and maybe lost the most of them like things we lost even this. during his years serving his region is chief executioner jerry was here in the swear they were innocent. when you hear a person going to his death be sticking out that he was innocent to the last serene's going to his body he's taken out that he was innocent on his last words as

last. give me something to think about as the executioner and it place some doubt there there was one young man in particular washington jr. he was trying to tell society back then that he was innocent to get no one really paid no attention. in one nine hundred eighty three earl was arrested in cole pepper virginia and brought in for questioning he thought it was for a burglary he had committed. a question by different. data. and they know of one quote. which call couple. was going to dump and. after intense questioning police officers extracted a confession. for merle for the brutal rape and stabbing murder of

a nineteen 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 for me my mom dating. a promise when serie.

a movie was a made to see the mom would have needed. two weeks before earl's date of execution the guards came to transport him to the death house in richmond. a charity mob put him in a way saying hank i shackles and they walk him out. literally drug him out and me everybody's banging on the door here that the cost of the guards. joe reached out to his caseworker marie deans to see if anything could be done. i called mary in a panic as i was. out all of this god did or not but i don't think he did i'll bet this god knows what's going on when early arrived at the death house he was handed over to jerry. i receive error from mecum bear and when he came in i gave him

a good turn into 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 how do you know how you had led to the one through to your home and the deeper hole we got with. he said he would get a new rating from. a mother will not allow a woman to go out go on you know laying on away. working day and night joe in memory secured a rare stay of execution marie was convinced that earl had been pressured into falsely confessing my work with mentally retarded defendants made me know that this was a what we would call a coerced confession whether it was course psychologically or when someone else did you kill that woman no. but you told the police that you did.

yes why did you tell the police that you did it. oh no no no no 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 and the morial 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 carolyn ron united with survivors at the two thousand and fourteen boston marathon. 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 salt started to your place in fort collins colorado they put out a report to police agencies all across the united states. so they sent the from sharon'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 man they arrested was 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 purty 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 him 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 and she became very public with her and with her opinion and she said i don't care what the schieber said the death penalty was the appropriate sentence for their daughter's murder. why were they not one. for vicki instilled the answer was clear. we just can't let this anger this natural human anger and pain overwhelm us and make us so then full and hateful because it would just over time destroy us and we know that. vicki and still received piles of hate mail the qs ing them of not loving their daughter. you know if you can't stand by your principles when it's difficult

they're not your principal. several years past before jerry learned that earl washington was not guilty. it had to be like fifteen to twenty executions at that girl who was released from death row and i found out that he was he was innocent as it were out as that's as close calling 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. i don't think we make those mistakes and yet when you see a person like earl washington. something happened here. 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 per month. the death certificate reads. death by almost. you know don't make sense i don't want to be consider that person deaths committed almost i but that's what every. six to two executions and only kilobit accuracy was myself and i refused to look into the mirror. she 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.

what holds its institutions to. put themselves on the line to get acceptable reject . so when you want to be president injured. or someone want to. have to do right to be first this is what the forty three of them or can't be good for. interested falls in the waters of our. there should. be a there is a saying. i think there could be chief justice and then through and through all the countries but ideas room their right to go to

a sculpture he said if we give them everything slipped into fast. in this country. this is what we don't understand how we are poor in such a country. that is until the ones at the same time. noticing how the government of . the soon to run up a little similar symbol to the jolly good one the one legged by the us if you feel if the minutes of phone were not that god can we believe again with the phone about a couple with a plane. would come to the place story if you have to see. a day in the best the. would do. in the.

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 or niam since the arraignment. inside the courtroom karen and the other survivors were seated just twenty feet away he refused to look at them. the defense team would make the case that zero cars are nighest was unduly influenced by his older brother. the prosecutors would argue that he was fully responsible for his actions. many victims share 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 was 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 the federal jury convicted the hearts are naive and 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. karin'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 learn 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 to talk to his mother i wanted to understand who he was vicki located troy graves mother and gave her a call were you were on the phone together for many many hours in tears just tear a sobbing with each other i said but just to understand what you were 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 your son and you know and she says oh this is schieber i. grieve 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 in our household and my kids would come to me and it's say please money lets go of this is a bad danny's bet i was telling them i can't i don't have a job i don't have you know an 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 the bias the racial the geographic bias of cost cost issues their lawyers just all that i can go on 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 victims' 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 we've been through this this isn't the way. you loose chopper you guys. are in. 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 to 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 to 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 nail 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 ellen starting any time now i would it be you know and the death penalty just because i think that's a fair thing the right. as awful if that is. i think it's 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 you can hold your breath. once and heard king and it's like now we can start here no point. with son lives fate sealed karen begin 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 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 the paper they say the men that carry out execution orders for this database ginia was found guilty once i was out i mean i'm exposed so i gotta come forward i got them all why is this in the truth about this here. why me know all because i didn't see you i don't want you to have to go through what happened go through. well 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 earle'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 i'm glad that things didn't go to way it was planned 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 had biden that's it. i'm glad i didn't get a chance to hit so i apologize to the name thanking the way i thought she was guilty. jerry decided to visit her 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 eighty five. i went to ritual for i was wearing st ok that's what it looked each year you know i

won the woodwork don't you know went through your mind not doing it he was innocent oh moema he did the whole war here she aborted raise your blood get me through. just. this is a good thing that i didn't give it you know because i'll bring it to wed meet it into anything long. gone also isn't something that i would have to face. but to see him crossing that bridge into meet him and how that is that if you have . him that. you don't know because you're not much use.

this finding could be in this hour the need. for our eyes how the powder but i again garden down which island. gases start. a nuclear to employ is going to go for it. doesn't which i think your father thirty of us had almost a month ago cdma look to figure that the company with the law has a funny but it was huge i loved. well you. get out of four hundred ten days and write down the bank call for the right gunga bayswater chemical lies and as our

business is going to go he would get out in the treatment their international market know that these industries out of polluting your dissenting ignore the money that type and mother none of even else and ladies all of them other than like things we lost even this. month get on them but mother see them.

come see. some schooling too but people also give full roughly comes in for just twelve euros fifty per months. thank. god mass rioting sweeps across france in a fourth weekend of so-called yellow vest protests as thousands of police officers back.