nathaniel woods was surrendering when his cousin, carrie spencer opened fire on police, killing threeested along with spencer and charged as an accomplice. prosecutors argued that woods lured the officers in to be gunned down. spencer claims woods played no role in the shooting. >> your brother did not pull the trigger? >> he didn't have any gun on him, he didn't shoot anybody. what did you arrest him for? he ran like anybody else would. he ran for his life. and they charged him with the actual murders. >> did he have a sense the system would work for him? >> he thought the system would work because he didn't do anything wrong. he had no reason to believe he could be convicted of it, that he could be executed. >> the judge, do you remember what he said? >> yeah. and they sentenced him to death. >> reporter: in america, death seems to be on display. the killings of black americans pierce the country's consciousness. questions of race, policing, and criminal justice again taking center stage. tonight, there's a critical question about the state exercising its ultimate power, taking a li