john thompson spent 14 years on death row, and after his verdict was set aside he was then facing life in prison. he was fighting for a retrial that took place four years later. he was exonerated by a jury in less than 30 minutes that found him not guilty when he got his retrial, and it was largely the result of the police department not turning over what would have been -- evidence in his first trial. the united states supreme court reversed the verdict of the jury in this decision. he has found an organization called resurrection after exoneration to help other people seek justice in their respective cases. to his left -- this is the executive director of california death penalty focus, where she works to abolish the death penalty. she did preside as the warden over several executions. natasha is the death penalty policy director for the american civil liberties union of northern california. she previously worked as a deputy public defender in alameda county, and was a staff attorney with the california task force on criminal instructions. she is also working on the effort to abolish

do something." [ laughs ] my name is john thompson and i am definitely comfortable in my own skin. 10eficit and memphis came back but now louisville cardinals up by 8. each team with a timeout remaining. the possession arrow favors memphis. first meeting between these to since 2005. the cardinals trying to win their eighteen negligent a row at home. -- 18th in a row at home. memphis trying to stave off a 5 and 4 start. another strip. chris smith and a foul called. >> clark: a lot of active hands. the reason louisville is on top. they forced turnovers but have been able to convirginia tech it into baskets. active hands after you have moved your feet to be in a position defensively >> verne: jackson at the line for memphis. 6 of 7 at the free throw line to the ballgame. for louisville siva replaces chris smith. that puts the plug at 8 unanswered. an 8-0 run. the margin is now 6. >> [crowd noise]. >> verne: a pick and roll. what a spin by siva into the corner. pump fake. jumper. no. buckles. >> clark: he made big time plays here. in his limited playing time particularly in the 2nd half.

even john thompson iii found the georgetown hoyas record surprising. they did work on the cardinals. thatthe beauty, drains the 3. he finished tonight with 20 points, 4-4 from long distance. thompson always reliable, in traffic. georgetown up 48-47. porter, coming off the bench 14 points georgetown opens up the east play in big fashion. >>> maryland beat albany tonight, 83-72. george washington lost to the university of alabama- birmingham, 56-49. >>> something we are not used to, the washington capitals looking lackluster and falling and the standings. the capitals are 5-12 under dale hunter coming into tonight failing to really play well in games. that change tonight in new york. forced the turnover, he shoots, and he puts it away, 1-0 caps. in the second, another turnover. he finds alexander semin just watch this. backhanded goal, nothing. here. alexander semin, two goals on the night, the capitals win, 4- 1. >>> flip saunders and the wizards and atlanta, looking for their first win of the season. look at this sick hang 10 at layout, and traffic. at

here's john thompson iii. >> i've seen the progression from terrified to confident.ducation. that comes with truly understanding what he is going through, and what he has to go through. obviously jeff is a part of who we are. and, you know, he's -- i guess he's as upbeat as anyone can be as it relates to what's going on with him. and we -- our prayers are with him. we anticipate everything will be okay. >> certainly wish jeff green a speedy recovery. >>> 16th ranked hoyas hosting hinkle university. ranked sixth in the nation in scoring. the transfer from vanderbilt, had 16 points. eagles trailed at the break. second half, henry sends a great pass to starks. he finished with a career high 18 points. a couple of possessions later, the 6'10" center distributing once again. luke underneath. sims had six assists in the game. later, lubbock returns the favor. throws it up to his buddy sims on the alley-oop. this is pretty. sims went for 17 points. georgetown defeats american 81-55. the hoyas have now won seven in a roy, improving to 9-1. >>> elsewhere, virginia tech hostin

. >> i will go to john thompson. we were talking about how often, you have public opinion polls on the death penalty but the last -- the wrong question is asked, do you support the death penalty or something like that. can you elaborate on this? >> this is a tricky question that we have been tricked into believing, so that people say, do you support the death penalty. this is a trick question. you will not put yourself in that position of being placed under arrest based on these reports. we ask you if you support this and eliminates you automatically. if you ask that same question in a different way, meaning the use of what the state killing you,

. >> i will go to john thompson. we were talking about how often, you have public opinion polls on the death penalty but the last -- the wrong question is asked, do you support the death penalty or something like that. can you elaborate on this? >> this is a tricky question that we have been tricked into believing, so that

john thompson iii. hosting howard. first half, already up 13-0. nate looks, finds freshman otto porter. you can count that. in the second half, though, buyson fighting back. down 4. fraser pulls up to the foul line. we have got a two-point game. down by four, the bison. one of the 20 turnovers. porter finishes with the flush. hoya's up 6. under three to play, georgia up 9. hoya's on the break. he jams it home. porter finishes with a team high 13 points. georgetown wins its six in a row with the hoyas down the bison 62-48. >>> let's go to the nhl, while hats showered on the ice at the verizon center last night, capitals defenseman dennis wideman, he knew he didn't really deserve it. the league confirmed that feeling by crediting the caps' fourth and final goal of the night to brooks light. it was a big night regardless for dennis wideman. useless celebration. capitals taking on the maple leafs. deflects to wideman who scores. caps up 1-0. in the second period, caps on another power play. this is beautiful. wideman just rips it into the back of the

even john thompson the third says he found the 10-1 record surprising. consider arrest shocked. they went to louisville and did work on the cartels. the second half, get a look. he drains the three. a beauty. he finished with 20 points. checkout thompson in traffic and he makes the layup. 48-47. the man and then night, coming off the bench. georgetown opens out winning 71- 68. that is a look at your morning sports. have a great day. >> it is chilly outside, 31 a. the news continues at 5:30. >> still ahead d.c. police want answers from local leaders. what it has to do with the movement that is entering its fourth month. >>> one dead and 11 injured. details next. >>> a cold start to our thursday morning. 25 at dulles airport. >> "live and in hd, this is "good morning washington," on your side. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >>> breaking news to tell you about, two women were killed and a car crash. it is thursday, december 29. >> we will get to that in a second but first-aid look at the traffic and weather picture. adam caskey is here to start us

head coach john thompson iii. he admits to be surprised at how quickly the hoyas have meshed.hey are ranked 12th in the country. a dominating win at verizon center last thursday. tonight, georgetown starts big east play against fourth ranked louisville. they know exactly what they need to do this year to get the job done. >> it's a big east game. you know, i think a lot of the teams in the big east could be ranked in the top ten. we are not thinking about rankings at all. you know, trying to stop what we're doing. >> a team. we are ready for the challenge. we had a great, you know, a great first half of the season. now it's time to take on the big dog. they are undefeated. we have a lot on our backs. it's back to the underdog, again. >> i don't think i would have thought we would be. once you start to go through it, i'm not surprised with each and every game and how the team has grown and progressed. i would be lying if i started here. i thought we would be sitting where we are now. >> it's hard to tell with him as you know. he's excited about this team. >> how could he not be

and then to have the legendary coach john thompson and his son and house, james summers is a protÉge ot a whole lot to tell you about coach summers. god bless you, and it's good to see. now, i want to come in light of the spot that i'm in, basically recognize that so many of you could do a much better job than me, so i want to go ahead and just come in light of the home training, i would share with what i call a thank you note to reverend jesse jackson. i want to phrase this as a thank you message. my mother taught me the best thing to do when somebody does for your what you don't deserve, and you know you could not have done it yourself, is to have the sense to write a thank you note. so what i have done, reverend jackson, is basically downloaded on my mental computer all that i've been able to catalyze that you've done for me, and so many, and right now i would like to orator click print a copy of this thank you message from me to you from my generation to you. because we are, because of what you have done. the reverend jesse louis jackson, thank you. i'm writing to say thank you be

here to prognosticate are rick mays, lauren thompson of the lexington institute, john barry, formerly of newsweek after 26 laudable years and tom bowman national pentagon's radio reporter. ;v program. >> glad to be hee. >> -- glad to be here. >> tom, u.s. forces will have withdrawn from the end of the year from iraq, there will be troops based as a regional premise. how will it evolve if iraq comes off the rail? >> it's unlikely you'll see u.s. forces going back into iraq. they may go back as trainers, if prime minister nouri al- maliki and president obama can work out some sort of a deal next year. but at this point there will be some troops working out of the embassy with diplomatic training, operations. even if things start to fall apart there and that's a big if, i don't think you'll see american troops go back into iraq. there's just no appetite for it anymore. >> back when iraq was part of the empire, it was not one province, it was three and that's because it had three major ethnic groups or factions scattered across its territory. >> and putting them together was the best idea

> four years ago mitt romney had to run against three establishment candidates, fred thompson, rudy giuliani and john mccain. >> and huckabee. >> huckabee was the evangelical to consolidate, a mirror image. they can't consolidate because all of them have had moments and all have sacrificed for months to run for president, rick per' little bit less than the others. don't want to give up and don't particularly like each other and they all think that they can be the one to emerge from kind of a romney dilemma, a prisoner's dilemma. got together they can do what they want individually but fighting each oh, romney now, mirror image, only establishment candidate against not the three you named, but gingrich and to some extent ron paul. >> right. >> also have the same kind of backing. >> at that 8 a 01 steakhouse and the lobsters in the lobster tank that got through the night, the one that are still there. >> the 1% lobsters. >> don't let any lobster get out of the tank. see one getting out pull it back in. no evangelical wants the other evangelical to win. for example, rick santorum, charismatic, starting

on november 30th, 2007, rudy giuliani was leading the republic pac, fred thompson second, john mccain third and mitt romney fourth. obviously john mccain scored the nomination. here are the latest polls. in a rasmussen poll today gingrich beats barack obama. 49% to 43%. legitimate contender for the republic nomination. that means mr. romney will have to go after newt gingrich as did he on "special report" when he called the speaker a career politician. >> i think to get president obama out of office you have to bring something to the race than what he brings. he is a lifelong politician. you have to have the credibility of understanding how the economy works, and i do. that's one reason i'm in this race. >> bill: it is clear governor romney is running as america's ceo as a washington outsider who will clean up the federal mess. but romney still has to deal with conservative republicans, some of whom are suspicious of him. so last night bret baier went back to romney care. >> do you believe that that was the right thing for massachusetts. do you think mandating people to buy insurance

john mccain was right at that level. fred thompson, giuliani myself were all battling. no one got up to 40%, 50%. we have seven or eight very qualified people who are running for president and any one of which would do better than president obama. >> rose: and any one of which you could support. >> any one i could support. >> rose: you could suppo speaker gingrich. >> each would do better thanhe current president. so... and each of them gets a certain share of people who thinks they're the best person. what will happen? we'll narrow down to two and three and then we'll get behind one and that person will end up with the support of the republican party. just like in prior years. i don't recall a setting where one person is at 50% or 60%. that doesn't happen... >> rose: so you don't think you have anything to prove to the primary voters about your ae then thysty or your ability to connect. >> my great experience is having been a governor people can take a look at what i've done as governor, having writt a book they can see what i believe in my heart and then i ran before.

. >> fourth or fifth and fred thompson was second and john mccain was third. mitt romney was fourth and i was a distant fifth. >> bill: the difference is there have been debates. >> there had been 10 debates before at this point in time. >> bill: when you were running? >> yeah. >> bill: iowa comes up the third and then you have got christmas and new years and hanukkah in between. i think it's going to come down to gingrich and romney. >> it could. here is the one thing that has not yet happened. nobody has been able to create a sense of coalesce sense in iowa. so, you could have. >> bill: that vote is fluid. >> right i won that by 9 points. there has no candidate that has brought everyone together. if someone doesn't do that there is a chance that either ron paul or mitt romney can win iowa and the rest of the more traditional and more conservative vote in iowa is going to splinter four or five ways. >> bill: it has to be for santorum and balkman they have to show very well. >> rick san forum can be the surprise candidate in iowa. he spent so much time there.

last time around, let's see, we had john mccain, myself, fred thompson, rudy giuliani, mike huckabee. we were all bouncing around between 10% and 20%. i consider high teens and low 20s to be pretty good news. in the final analysis, i have to get 35% of the delegates in the first few, then 45%, then 50, which gets me the nomination. >> you have not spent as much time in this state as the and the candidates. why is that? >> we track the number of days for all the candidates. there are some, like rick santorum, who focus entirely on iowa. they will spend a lot of time here. newt gingrich and he are the ones that have had more days the have here. i am also campaigning in new hampshire, south carolina, florida, and nevada. i want to do well in the early primary states, but i also want to get the delegates to win the nomination. this is not try to surprise people by doing better than expected in a few states, i want to do well in all the states. this is about getting the nomination. for me, that meant -- that means spending time in various states. we have spent a lot of time raising money.

four years ago, four establishment candidates, romney, rudy giuliani, john mccain, fred thompson, thoses are all regular caucus attendees. not new people. romney has a virtual monopoly on that group right now. and those establishment voters coupled with as you suggested holding his own with the tea party, makes him formidable. no one is going after him. they're going after santorum, going after ron paul, going after gingrich. there's very little negative tv, negative campaign rhetoric going after romney. i think they all assume if they can emerge as the alternative to romney, that gives them a chance. they may -- >> i think we lost haleprin there. we'll go back to him in a second there, jonathan. >> i was going to ask mark haleprin whether he thought mitt romney was perhaps being overconfident. he's changed his whole schedule. remember, he wasn't going to spend a whole lot of time in iowa. now he's on a bus tour, going to spend new year's eve in iowa. he's going to be there in the state on caucus night. he's going to be the next day doing media interviews. this is -- it could be a trick

thompson. >> eric: fast freddie. it's up there. john mccain, shawn commir mike . this is a national poll.k at new hampshire. do we have the new hampshire poll? my ear piece tell out again. all right. romney got a lead over -- i could read that. 34% to 24%. romney had a lead of 20 points in new hampshire. just the talk of gingrich bring his numbers down. if and only if gingrich wins in iowa, i will guarantee you this is a close race in new hampshire. a race that the romney people set up to be not only a must win but we are going to win big. they are not going to win it big. >> kimberly: i agree. look at numbers now. they are consistent for newt and not in the right direction of romney. >> bob: quickly, in south carolina, gingrich is ahead in south carolina. romney's big problem is after you leave new hampshire, you have to go south and spend a lot of time in the south. gingrich will do well there. now i tease. okay. it's responsible -- oh, is it? is it responsible to extend tax cuts without paying for it? of course it is. we'll talk about it. we know a place where tossing and turning have

no, john mccain was at that level, fred thompson, rudy giuliani and myself were all battling; there was no one that got up to 40% or 50%. we have right now seven or eight very qualified people who are running for president, any one of which would do better than president obama. that notion tt some people are doing too well is not a notion that is an american notion. america has always welcomed and heralded success. did thomas edison make too much? did henry ford make too much? did steve jobs make too much? does bill gates make too much? no, these people who did not make the nation poorer by them ving done well. they made the nation richer. they made the middle-class better off. the course... if your course in life is to say "how do i keep those top people are from doing so well?" you'll find a nation that's poor. the right course is to say "how can i get more people to do well? how can i encourage more risk takers?" that's the answer. >> rose: we end th appreciation of vaclav havel, former president of check reap, dissident playwright who died yesterday at his vacation home in the north