mitch rutledge was on death row before his sentence was overturned. >> came in 1981.e to death row. i did approximately a little over a year on death row. came off 1989. reversal from the alabama supreme court find the d.a. said there's no such thing as life without parole and gave me a new sentencing hearing. the jury recommended life without parole. the jurors went along with it. i'm guilty. there was a man, he was shot and robbed. >> by? >> by me. >> on december 23rd, 1980, rutledge and two friends carjacked a van from a 28-year-old man. after robbing him, rutledge then shot the man five times, killing him instantly. the victim's wallet contained $20. when rutledge arrived on death row at 22, the threat of execution pushed him to the edge. >> life on death row, to me, was a very traumatic experience. i stayed in the cell 23 hours a day. i felt lost, confused, devastated. and knowing that you're going to die, that they sent you there to die, it have an even more vicious effect on your mentality and that death was definitely next. i went through a mental stage where

. >> since coming off death row, mitch rutledge has taught himself to read and write and earned his gedr myself a poet. but i wrote this because at this particular time, it was a friend of mine being executed, and i was deeply wounded by that. and i was deeply touched. "tonight, death has been called forward once again from the life it resides in to carry out the wishes of the state of alabama in the execution of another death row inmate. death all smiles tonight. it didn't have to hunt man down. it didn't have to catch man by surprise from his fatal gunshot, a stab, while he lay in a deep sleep. no, tonight death is the hero. a feast is being held in his honor. everything we all feel is being worshipped tonight. the evil is the evil man do." >> everybody inside. everybody inside. >> jeremiah jackson called death row home for ten years, but he's just caught a major break. >> the day the lieutenant came to my door, he told me, jackson, call your lawyer. i just said a little prayer and i called my lawyer. he said, yeah, you is. he said, congratulations. my i.q. was in the range of 69 to 7