we came here to osseola, arkansas where he lives and works.sn't there when we arrived. we came to his office to find the office closed. we spoke to him on the phone, and he says that he is not going to be giving any interviews now unless the prosecutors in the case talk as well. and they're not talking. the judge says that he believes that there is a sir cuss-like atmosphere around this case and he's tired of being called the bad judge. >> we also reached out to the west memphis police department and the original detectives on the case, including chief investigator gary gitchell. they all declined to speak with us. in the meantime, jessie misskelley's father is hopeful about his son's future. >> jessie's truck that he used to drive is still under here? >> yep. >> does he know that you're keeping it for him? >> yeah. i'll probably be gone by the time he gets out. >> and like jessie's dad, damien is hopeful but somewhat fearful at the same time. >> because this time the world is watching. this time you've got people all over the world paying att

we'll take you live to arkansas for the latest on the west memphis three, next.it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts and extending $18 billion in credit last year. that's how we're helping set opportunity in motion. and not because silverado's the most dependable, longest-lasting full-size truck on the road or because heavy duty made motor trend's 2011 truck of the year. no, it was good because you told us so. consider this a thank-you. the chevy model year wrap up. get in on our greatest model year yet. right now, combine the all-star edition discount with other offers for a total value of $6,000. our greatest model year yet is wrapping up. >>> 44 minutes after the hour. they served nearly two decades in prison for crime they say they never committed. now the three men dubbed the west memphis three convicted of pruittly killing three young boys in west memphis, arkansas, walk away today free men. the court made a ruling ju

he joins us from jonesboro, arkansas.id, so these men had to plead guilty to crimes they say they didn't commit in order to go free. how does that work exactly and can they now later try to get that reversed? >> reporter: what they can do now is walk out of that courtroom and proclaim their innocence. in order to do that they had to admit to the state of arkansas, yes, you have evidence that if we go back to court, go back and try this again, you could possibly convict us with that information. they had to admit that. the prosecutors take that as a guilty plea. so they can say, we've got our killers. this is case closed. well, the defense can also go out and say, well, they would never let these guys go if the state really thought they were guilty. you could look at it in a way as sort of a win-win that really doesn't make either side fully happy. >> yeah. clearly not for the former defendants. they've been in jail now for 18 years. why is this happening now? why did it happened to? >> reporter: it's been very slow coming

he joins us from jonesboro, arkansas.lty to crimes they say they didn't commit in order to go free. how does that work exactly and can they now later try to get that reversed? >> reporter: what they can do now is walk out of that courtroom and proclaim their innocence. in order to do that they had to admit to the state of arkansas, yes, you have evidence that if we go back to court, go back and try this again, you could possibly convict us with that information. they had to admit that. the prosecutors take that as a guilty plea. so they can say, we've got our killers. this is case closed. well, the defense can also go out and say, well, they would never let these guys go if the state really thought they were guilty. you could look at it in a way as sort of a win-win that really doesn't make either side fully happy. >> yeah. clearly not for the former defendants. they've been in jail now for 18 years. why is this happening now? why did it happened to? >> reporter: it's been very slow coming. you've had a big groundswell of

it was before arkansas could handle dna testing. no physical evidence to link the teens to the crime. >> they were the unusual kids in town, dressed in black, they listened to heavy metal music. they were goths before goths were fashionable. and so they were easy targets. >> reporter: but one of the teenagers, jessie misskelley, borderly mentally disabled with a documented low i.q., confessed after four hours of police interrogation, implicating his friends. he would later recant, but the town was already convinced the three devil-worshipping kids were guilty. >> there seemed to be a whole scare in the community around a satanic panic. >> i hope you really believe in your masters of satan. he's not going to help you. to me, this place where i stand is like hell on earth. >> reporter: all three would go to prison. damien echols, called the ring leader, was sentenced to death row, held in solitary confinement for a decade. johnny depp became so convinced of echols' innocence he gave voice to his prison journal. >> i can't remember wha

we want to take you straight to jonesboro, arkansas. convictions of three men convicted of killing three young boys in 1993 have been tossed out. we have our david mattingly who was there. these three young men about to be free. give us the circumstances of what happened in court. >> reporter: fredricka, at this most moment the west memphis three are free men. they are processing the paperwork with the department. they will step out and be free. they were charged and convicted and sentenced for the murder of three boys. what happened was the defendant's here, the west memphis three, entered pleas of guilty, but to do so they were able to maintain their innocence and still walk out with time served. it's a complicated legal maneuver and has a name to it, and it's something they never tried in this district and the judge had a lot time to explain it, and in the eyes of the court, these three men are still guilty of the crime that they were charged with, but now they are free. the judge said it was in the best interest of everybody involve

they were called the west memphis three, convicted of murdering three cub scouts in west memphis, arkansas, in 1993 despite any physical evidence linking them to the crime. after years of fighting for freedom, they were released today in a very unusual plea deal. erin moriarty of "48 hours mystery" has been on this story for four years. >> my name is damien echols, i am 36 years old and released today from death row for a crime i did not commit. >> reporter: arkansas death row inmate damien echols got his life back today. as part of an unusual plea agreement, echoles and two other convicted men-- jason baldwin and jessie misskelley-- were released from prison. >> this has been going on for over 18 years and it's been an absolute living hell. >> reporter: 17 years ago, damien echols was sentenced to death. the other two were given life. jason baldwin. >> and we didn't tell nothing but the truth, that we were innocent, and they sent us to prison for the rest of our lives for it. >> reporter: known as the west memphis three, the men were teenagers in 1994 when they were convicted of killing t

we realize that's what arkansas was all about. it's a site in nature. how do we make nature and art merge as an experience. and that's what the project evolved to become. >> rose: tell me what you would like for us to see as we look at the images. >> this was a creek, stream, outside the city, covered all around in mature trees. i decided to build in the bottom at the valley, in the creek, dammed the creek to create two large ponds fed by crystal springs, which is there. and around those ponds a series of pavilions built with local woods-- arkansas pine-- built with concrete walls surrounding the ponds we created, and everywhere you're into galleryes, out, into nature, looking at the trees, surrounded by them. it's like a little oasis. >> rose: another project you're doingue have four projects coming to fruition within the year. >> next three months. >> rose: the kauffman center. >> performing arts center -- >> kansas city. >> kansas city. performing arts center with a concert hall and a theater for opera, ballet, and theater. so two halls, specialized

the governor of arkansas's name is bee bee, and also there was something put out of arkansas called "don't ask, don't tell" by a former governor, this was proposed bill clinton, and so could there be a connection? it could be, because we have said it's okay for people to commit these kind of acts to be recognized, you know, in our military for the first time in our history. there is a potential that there is something that actually happened in the land where 100,000 drum fish died and also where these birds just fell out of the air. >> those are some of the religious figures with whom rick perry did his stadium prayer event this past weekend. while many of their statements and views seem eyebrow raising for being associated with this supposedly mainstream presidential campaign, i think it's worth taking seriously where there are all these eyebrow raising statements with all these people associated with the rick perry event. these are not just one-off comments by these individual pastors where they had a moment where they said something that sounded strange, a lot of these pastors say

in arkansas, dawn and michael have moved into a trailer to save money. she works at a hotel, he delivers pizza, whatever it takes. still, not enough to feed the family. >> i hear my kids ask me, "mommy, what's for dinner?" and there are times where i sit there and just kind of pace around back and forth thinking to myself, "oh, my gosh, what is for dinner?" >> $5 for a box of crackers? >> reporter: and in philadelphia, 10-year-old jazeer. his mother is trying to finish her degree to get a better job. he knows when it's the end of the month when the food stamps have run out. what's the toughest time for you? >> when i eat and my mom doesn't. she sacrifices. >> reporter: before the recession, 26 million americans were on food stamps. now, more than 46 million, feeding 1 in 7 americans. you know there are others out there. >> all over the country. >> reporter: and when you grow up -- >> i would like to be a senator. >> reporter: this is where you walk to get food sometimes? >> yes. >> reporter: he tells us the rite aid. >> is that $2.49? >> yeah, but at the

and the recalled meat produced in an arkansas plant between february and july. turns out the federal government had traced a strand back to that arkansas plant as early as march. and they only contacted after the outbreak was confirmed. >> this confirmed we probably were the ones they were looking at. >> officials defend the process by saying in order to be sure before issuing the third largest meat recall in history. and the safeway brand involved was not sold in california. >> coming up criminals appear to be singling out elderly people of a certain ethnicity in one city z a victory against outsourcing. 100,000 call center jobs return to america. >> i'm sandhya patel. drizzly today, usually cool for summer but there are signs a pattern will be shifting to warmer. i'll be back with details coming up. >> and here is your chance to take a walk in the wild. and explore life of a man at the for front of the california green movement. >> closed captioning brought to you by mancini sleepworld. irks iran's ambassador to iraq say the two uc graduates will be released s

worth area and oklahoma and arkansas. one of the towns in america you really need to send your prayers out to, wichita falls. they set a record yesterday for the most consecutive days they've ever seen of temperatures over 100 degrees. they reached the 43-day mark yesterday. here's the crazy part. had it not been for one day where they dropped down to a chilly 98 degrees, they would have reached the 63-day mark yesterday. that's just downright awful. >> you can't do anything. >> yesterday morning when he was -- when ed was out there, there were people running around behind you. they say they are there for their early morning walks. kudohs to those folks because i wouldn't be anywhere close to running in 99 degrees. >> or 79. >> as carol just pointed out, i wouldn't be out there at 79 or 59 either. >> actually, you should not be out. there have been deaths because of this. in georgia, two high school football players. >> that football practices in that kind of heat are an issue. >> philadelphia, the eagles, one of the play

scary to contemplate but a lot of the people that we've had a streets that are you know larry in arkansas or whatever it is taken to tea party rallies are going i'm fine saying that you know obama has moved towards socialism so i don't know if i'm convinced on that point but i want to ask you you talked about delivering the goods the deliver what would you do you tweet who do you. how do you replace capitalism who do you tax who do you you know what do you. but i think the first step in that direction is to say once upon a time in the one nine hundred forty s. fifty's and sixty's the united states felt it had to recover from a great depression and a horrible world war two and in those years we decided to do that by taxing corporations and taxing the rich and we did that the top income tax bracket ninety one percent for the richest americans in those years corporations paying more in the federal government than individuals do although now it's all been reversed the first thing we have to do is go back recognize we're in a national crisis again because capitalism didn't work again as it did

but at this point, the position of the state of arkansas is this case is closed. >> what a story. david mattingly, thank you very much. we mentioned your documentary. you can watch the documentary about these young men. tonight at 11:00 eastern time. it's called murder in west memphis. while the three men, the young men were in prison for the 18 years, several celebrities who believed in their innocence fought for their release, among them johnny depp, winona ryder, eddie vetter of pearl jam and dixie chicks. vetter and others were there. it became a cause celeb because of the hbo documentary called paradise lost. the award winning filmmakers will be joining me live in about 20 minutes. don't miss that conversation. they had to quickly change the end of their third and final documentary. we'll talk about that in a little bit. sfliefrnl >>> also straight ahead, take a look at this video. in case there was a doubt, what you're seeing there is a woman riding in the back of a pickup truck hanging on to a baby stroller. are you with me here? inside the stroller, a real live baby. the w

. >> former arkansas governor mike huckabee is going to join gospel singer and presidential candidate herman cain on stage at the iowa straw poll in ames this weekend. what? (laughter) >> jon: huckabee you double booked the ames iowa straw poll? for rick santorum will be there. his tent boasts rick santorum summer dance party which, by the way, is the lowest testing bet pilot ever. (laughter) (cheers and applause) >> jon: hi, everybody, who here likes to cha-cha. remember leave room for jesus. (laughter) of course, if summer dance parties are not your thing, perhaps you would like some of rick santorum's homemade peach jelly. they're handing out samples of their peach jelly. wow. rick santorum must really be trying to change the search results that come up when people google santorum and jelly. now rick-- (applause) rick, it's the ames straw poll. it's all about the tent. please tell me you've got something different that's going to bring people to your tent. >> how about mike huckabee, remember him the former governor of arkansas, will also going to perform at rick santorum's tent. (

. >>> there's been a dramatic development in the case of three arkansas men known as the west memphis three. two decades ago they were teenager convicted of killing three cub scouts in what police and prosecutors described as a satanic ritual. after their lawyers presented some new dna evidence, the three men were set free today. but there's a catch -- here's nbc's chris clackum. >> reporter: free for the first time in 18 years, the west memphis three met with the media just moments after their release. as defiant as ever over their not in. >> this of not justice. >> we can still try clear our names. >> reporter: damian eckels, jason baldwin, jesse miskelly jr., were all convicted of murdering and mutilating three 8-year-old cub scouts in west memphis, arkansas, in 1993. police called the killings part of a satanic ritual led pie eckels, who was put on death row. and meekly followed by baldwin and miskelly who received life sentences. >> i'm an outcast, i'm a freak. >> reporter: documentaries over the two decades since described the three not as murderers but as misfits. celebrities l

the recalled turkey was produced at an arkansas plant from february to the start of this month. production has been suspended until the company can determine the source of the outbreak. >>> here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. a hold-up at a check cashing store went horribly wrong for one central ohio robbery suspect. the masked gunman failed to get past bullet-proof plexiglass and using a bullet and brawn. he tried to hammer it down with a gun. after leaving with cuts to his hand, police spotted him near the scene and arrested him after they spotted blood on his clothing. >>> relief from the heat was hard to come by in louisville, kentucky. gallons of water shot towards the heavens creating a geyser that may have been a refreshing sight for motorists, but a headache for work crews. it is unclear what caused the crack in the line. >>> handcuffs did little to stop one burglary suspect from trying to make his getaway. dallas police put the handcuffed man in the back seat of a cruiser, but he somehow managed to get behind the wheel. his escape pla

texas, oklahoma and arkansas come together. more 90s over the southeast. and in washington, d.c. oppressive humidity. only cool spots will be extreme pacific northwest and this area where fargo and great falls are. and looking for cool weather? that is the place to go. or come back here to the bay area, high temperatures state wide tomorrow, 92 in chico. 90 in sacramento. 107 down in palm springs. and 70 at big sur. 73 in san diego z here in the bay area, this is how things will shape up. clouds advancing inland. low clouds overnight pulling back tomorrow. clouds lingering tomorrow with highs only into upper 50s near the coast. half moon bay a high of 58. mild inland and low 80s in concord and mid-80s in antioch and up into the north bay, napa, 74. and 73 at san rafael. and finding mid to upper 80s in clear lake z down near monterey bay, highs near the bay only into 60s and inland highs just breaking 80 degree mark. and 82 in morgan hill. cool weather going to last, may not warm up again for a few days. >> thank you. >> slower is safer. that age-old adage being put into affect ne

the meat was processed at the cargill arkansas plant.tigators found a link between cargill product and the illness. 36 million pounds is being pulled. one of the biggest recall in u.s. history. here is what you need to look for. turkey was sold under a number of brands including safeway. cargill honeysuckle white. fit and active. riverside and growinger. sold at safeway, winco, kroger, food for less and food company store. it includes the code: "est. p-963." you can find it on the label. the federal government says you can safely eat contaminated turkey if you cook it thoroughly. they recommend ten minutes. get it to 160 degrees. if you have question or concerns just throw it away. you want to be safe rather than sorry. the other top story in marin county. abc7's terry mcsweeney is there. it looks cold out there. >> it is cold but a warm story. at the marine mammal center. today they will release the 10,000th patient, the 10,000th sea lion. this is jim, the spokesperson for the marin mammal center. the mammals are suffering from a bacter

our david mattingly is live in jonesboro, arkansas. sentenced to death for his role in this crime. what did he say? >> reporter: one of the things he said that really stuck with me over the month since that interview on death row was that in the last 18 or 19 years, he has not been able to look up and see the stars. it was a comment that he made to drive home the point of all of the things that have been denied to him and the other two jessie miskelley jr. and jason baldwin the last years. they spent their entire adult lives behind bars after being found guilty of the murder of those three young boys in west memphis. there have been so many critics of this case. a great deal of attention. steady beating of the drum of protests about their incarceration in this case. as the years have gone by, the evidence has been attacked and seems to not have been able to hold up under secrete knee and now we have new dunn testing come back in the last few months not placing them at all at the crime scene. so what has happened in the last day or so,

of the west memphis three in prison nearly 20 years for the murders of three 8-year-old boys in arkansas. it's a controversial case and all three men have said they are innocent. now we are told some of them could be freed later today. after making a deal with prosecutors. erin moriarty has been following this case and we will talk about that coming up. >>> a live look at the numbers. on thursday the dow jones industrials finished below 11,000 as worried traders rushed to find safe havens for their money. rebecca jarvis is at the new york stock exchange this morning. >> reporter: things opened lower by more than a hundred points. the stock market has cut some of the losses in the united states and things in the united states, as far as stocks are concerned, are looking better than their counterparts in europe and asia and overnight traded significantly lower. >> what is this volatility about? is it just that people are scared to see what is happening overseas or is there more to it? >> reporter: first of all, you have fear in the market. an emotion of confidence taking place and actually

over and when that came to an end they moved on to the fayetteville and haynesville and the reason arkansas and those are now showing weaknesses among the weaknesses are that the geographical area of these shale gas plays. tends to retrack to a tiny fraction of what they originally thought to these things they call sweet spots so now they're up in new york and pennsylvania. and there's a moratorium in new york which there's a lot of agitation to lift it there's a lot of fear about that the fracking process where you shoot all this water down into the rock to fracture it and liberate the gas from the tight rock so that hasn't been settled but i think the bottom line is we're going to discover that the shale gas. industry is not a manufacturing industry it's basically it's a real estate play it's a way of obtaining leases. and then selling him off for five times the amount of money you paid him for ultimately we would have to throw him and immense amount of money and steal that is capital in steel at this process to keep it going at anything like the rate that people wish for and so the hundr