and quinlan vacated the death sentence but he refused to vacate guilt. >> judge quinlan refused to grant a new trial. we were devastated. yes, it was wonderful to have john thompson spared from execution but we were still looking at a man in his 30s who is going to be facing the rest of his life in jail. >> so you're going to take the death penalty back and give me a life sentence. i was scared to death even more so now. you're telling me, i will never go home again. that didn't give me no relief. none whatsoever. i was doomed. >> michael and gordon appealed the judge's decision. they knew this would be thompson's last chance for a new trial. >> john was going to go free or spend the rest of his life in prison. our arguments were twofold. first that car conviction had been used to keep john from being able to testify in his own defense in the murder case. and secondly we argued that all the evidence we had amassed had shown that john thompson was innocent of the liuzza murder. >> michael and gordon filed their appeal in february of 2002. five months later, they received the decision. >>

joining us now is joe quinlan, chief market strategy at u.s.nk of america private management. and our guest host is patricia patterson. take down the ticker. there it is. >> there, there. i got the gator. >> it matches the screen no less, too. >> perfect. aesthetics are important. >> undergrad, university of florida. >> yes. >> you think they'll do it? >> of course. >> really? >> of course. >> she's wearing alligator shoes. >> yes. >> no, you're not. horrible. let me start with you, joe. everyone now comes in and says it's not going to be like last year. it's going to be a choppy, volatile trading, very difficult to make any headway but all they're doing is parodying what happened in the last quarter. >> i think, joe, it will be decent, all things considered. if europe is growing, i just got back there. we're surprised by the optimism. i think china will settle down in 6%, 7% growth. the global leader is the u.s., the confidence among businesses and consumers. we can tack on 7%, 8%, 10% here from year-end. >> and add dividends in and you might