Felony conviction, and in many place, police are closing cases and marking them as solved without making an arrest. In tonights eye on america, Nikki Battiste tells us how a woman in austin, texas is fighting back against a system she says has failed her. You never lose hold of who you are. Reporter emily barchardts art illustrates how she says she was treated after she reported being raped by a stranger. Last year when she was 21, borchardt says she was returning to her austin, texas home when two men abducted her. The man behind me grabs my throat, and i go unconscious. Reporter she was brought to this motel where she says a third man raped her multiple times over 12 hours. According to borchardt, the man gave her cigarettes and whiskey, and demanded that she shower with him. Borchardt managed to escape, call police, and have a rape kit done. This man, who was on parole after serving 20 years for murder first claimed he did not know her, but when his dna came back as a match, he said the sex was consensual. Borchardts lawyers asked us to blur his face for her protection. He was never arrested. The police suggest why in this audio recording. Taking a shower with him, consuming whiskey in the shower with him together, it doesnt paint the best picture. The Police Act Like that was consensual when really i was trying to prevent another from being assaulted again. Reporter and you were probably afraid he might kill you. Yes. Reporter her case fell under what Law Enforcement calls an exceptional clearance. Thats when cases can be closed if the victim is uncooperative or a District Attorney declines to prosecute. It turns out more than 40 of closed rape cases were exceptionally cleared nationwide in 2017, giving the public the impression they have been solved. Exceptional clearance is not being use correctly. Reporter liz donegan led the Sex Crimes Unit at the Austin Police department for nearly a decade. Now retired, donegan tells cbs news that she refused pressure to change rape cases from suspended to exceptionally she was eventually transferred out of the Sex Crimes Unit. The publics perception about exceptional clearance is that the case has been closed, its been cleared. Weve held somebody accountable. Reporter which couldnt be further from the truth . Right. Reporter the decision not to prosecute borchardts case made by the office of margaret moore, the Travis CountyDistrict Attorney allowed Austin Police to exceptionally clear it. Are you ever deciding not to prosecute because you want to keep your record the best possible because youre worried you may not get a conviction . No. Weve taken cases to trial during my administration where weve gotten not guilties, but we believed in the case. The jury didnt. Reporter if what happened to emily happened to your daughter or granddaughter would you want the case to be prosecuted . I will not comment on emilys case. Reporter thats caus moore, along with austin Law Enforcement are defendants in a Class Action Lawsuit brought by borchardt and seven other women who say their Sexual Assaults have been mishandled while borchardts rapist walks free, she just wants to beheard. I much rather would have endured more physical violence and been believed than be doubted. Reporter an austin city spokesperson speaking on behalf of the Police Department tells cbs news the city is currently undergoing a Third Party Review of its training policies and resources. The department of Public Safety recently audited the Austin Police and, norah, it found that 30 Sexual Assault cases were improperly closed. I hope this will bring new attention to it. Nikki, thank you. And there is still much more ahead. A former trump education official quits and says he has a plan to wipe out hundreds of billions in Student Loan Debt. The Houston Astros fire an executive following his clubhouse outburst at female reporters. And a rare look at efforts to save Snow Leopards threatened by poachers and climate change. You dont let a cold ruin your day. You take dayquil severe liquicaps and crush it. Dayquil severe. The daytime, coughing, aching, stuffyhead, fever, sore throat, power through your day, medicine. Magnum ice cream double caramel. Now in ice cream tubs and bars. A top official in the federal Student Loan Program resigned today, calling the system fundamentally broken. He also wants hundreds of billions of existing debt forgiven. As Mark Strassmann reports, thats a costly request. Reporter Wayne Johnson thinks washington should follow his lead and quit the federal Student Loan Program. Washington needs to be out 100 of the student loan business. Reporter youre saying the system is fundamentally broken . Yes. And its also my opinion the definition of an insane system. Reporter johnson reported directly to education secretary betsy devos, and watched student debt keep ballooning with the cost of college. In all, 42 million americans currently have student debt. The average household owes almost 47,000. Taylor smith graduated from texas a m owing 53,000 in student loans. It just seems unconquerable, and that anxiety has just sat with me since. Reporter month by month, smith is paying it down. But 5. 4 million student borrowers are in default. Johnson has a plan to wipe away much of student debt. 50,000 of your federal Student Loan Debt will be extinguished. Reporter is your plan incomebased . No. Anybody everybody will get the 50,000. We are beset with a problem thats been ten years in the making. Reporter to pay for it, johnson would hike corporate taxes by 1 . Hes about to run in georgia as a republican for the u. S. Senate. Student debtors like taylor smith will be watching. Mark strassmann, clbs news, macon, georgia. Coming up, a jeep runs a red light, straight towards a couple pushing a baby stroller. The question, is everyone okay. Ok ill admit. I didnt keep my place as clean as i would like cuz im way too busy. Whos got the time to chase around down dirt, dust and hair . So now, i use heavy duty swiffer sweeper and dusters. For hardtoreach places, duster makes it easy to clean. It captures dust in one swipe. Ha gotcha and sweeper heavy duty cloths lock away twice as much dirt and dust. It gets stuff deep in the grooves other tools can miss. Yknow what . My place. Is a lot cleaner now. Stop cleaning. Start swiffering. Seeing what people left behind in the attic. Well, saving on Homeowners Insurance with geicos help was pretty fun too. Ahhhh, its a tiny dancer. They left a ton of stuff up here. Welp, enjoy your house. Nope. No thank you. Geico could help you save on homeowners and renters insurance. Fthe prilosec otc twoweekymore. Challenge geico could help you save on homeowners is helping people love what they love again. Just one pill a day. 24 hours. Zero heartburn. Because life starts when heartburn stops. Take the challenge at prilosecotc dot com. Now to this story right in the middle of their world series matchup, the Houston Astros today fired their assistant manager. This comes after the astros defeated the yankees last weekend and Brandon Taubman taunted a group of female journalists, yelling he was glad the team had signed pitcher roberto osuna. The astros acquired the pitcher last year while he was serving a 75game suspension for domestic violence. Now to a terrifying close call. Police in phoenix released this video showing a jeep running a red light, speeding towards a couple crossing the road with their 1yearold son in a stroller. The jeep was hit by another car that had the right of way. The driver of the second car was hurt, but everyone else escaped without injury. A new poll finds your coworkers may be making you sick. 90 of employees admitted coming to work even if theyre not feeling well. Onethird say they always go to work with cold or flu symptoms. Most say theyve simply got too much work to call in sick. Coming up next, they used to set traps to kill Snow Leopards. Now theyre planting cameras to save them. This porti is were going to end tonight in the mountains of siberia, where the elusive snow leopard prowls. Only about 4,000 remain in the wild. Theyre threatened by poachers an climate change. In tonights eye on earth, Elizabeth Palmer shows us how these magnificent cats are being saved. Reporter our long journey into leopard country in the foothills of russias altai mountains ended at last with a scramble above the tree line. Our guide was park biologist and researcher alexei kuzhlekov, who is working with the World Wildlife fund to bring the leopards back by shooting them with motionactivated cameras. Sergei keberykov is a former poacher. He shows me the kind of simple wire trap that killed so many animals, but sergei has switched sides. He, along with other former hunters, now gets a salary from the World Wildlife fund to monitor the cameras, with spectacular results. Here, for example, are several babies hunting with their mother at night. Back at Sailugemsky National Park headquarters, alexei showed us his favorite images. It looks like its peering around the corner. Each imagine has a unique pattern of spots, and alexei knows them all. This one preparing to bite the camera is turai. There is very good news from this program. In just five years, the number of altai Snow Leopards has just about doubled to 45. Looks like alexei is going to need a few more names and probably a few new cameras. Elizabeth palmer, cbs news, altai, siberia. And thats the overnight news for this friday. For some of you, the news continues. For others, check back with us a little later for the morning news and cbs this morning. From the Broadcast Center in new york city, im norah odonnell. Announcer this is the cbs overnight news. Welcome to the overnight news. Im meg oliver. Parts of northern californias wine country are ablaze ts morning. Santa ana winds are fueling a firestorm burning through the bonedry countryside in sonoma county, north of san francisco. The entire town of geyserville has been evacuated, and power was cut off to thousands as the local Electric Company fears downed power lines could spark more flames. Jonathan vigliotti is on the fire line. Reporter within minutes, these hillsides exploded overnight. The inferno could be seen for miles as flames raced across tinderdry grass and brush. Driven by 60mileperhour winds, the fire burned the length of a football field every three seconds, sparking fire tornadoes and torching several homes. Farm animals were trapped and firefighters overwhelmed. You can see how the high winds are really whipping up these flames. The embers are flying at times. Its actually been quite terrifying. At one point the erratic flames surrounded First Responders and news crews. Our only option, to drive through the blaze. We have to ask for their help. Reporter we were guided through the thick smoke, and it became clear everyone needed to get out fast. Wow. It was outpacing us, and we couldnt really keep ahead of it. Its always these fall months. They are the most damaging, the most destructive. Reporter here in californias wine country, crews continue to battle the fire with ten air tankers and multiple ground crews. But for some, its too late. The hose water, put it on. Reporter so you started spraying with water. Carlos gonzalez and his coworkers tried to fight off the flames at their vineyards in the town of geyserville. The grapes survived. Their homes did not. This four house. Reporter four homes in total . Yeah. Reporter it all went up in flames. Washington, President Trumps supporters in congress opened a new attack on the impeachment inquiry, which continues to pick up steam. Democrats say the private depositions will be over within weeks followed by public hearings and the first impeachment votes before thanksgiving. Nancy cordes has the latest. There is a right way to do and a wrong way to do it, and this is a dangerous way to do it. Reporter senate republicans, led by Lindsey Graham entered the impeachment fight today with a resolution accusing House Democrats of denying President Trump basic fairness and due process. Graham had come straight from a soulbaring lunch with President Trump. He felt like from the time hes become president , hes been hounded about things he didnt do. Reporter mr. Trump has been urging his party to step it up all week, calling his gop the republicans have to get tougher and fight. Reporter House Republicans complied yesterday, storming into an impeachment deposition. Theyre trying to impeach a president in secret. Reporter republicans havent always opposed closed hearings. This was former oversight chair trey gowdy last year. Our private hearing was much more constructive than the public hearing. I mean, public hearings are a circus. Reporter democrats say these early interviews, nine so far, have to take place in private. We dont want people working together to manufacture alibis or to align their testimony. Reporter but graham argues the venue isnt the only problem. His resolution calls on the democratled house to give the minority equal authority to issue subpoenas and give the president s counsel access to the evidence, as president clinton got during his impeent process. Now our investigation into Law Enforcements handling of rape cases. Nationally, fewer than 1 of reported cases result in a felony conviction. In many place, police and prosecutors are now using the term exceptional clearance to close rape cases, marking them as solved, even when there is enough evidence to make an arrest. In tonights eye on america, Nikki Battiste shows us how women in austin, texas, are fighting back against a system they say has failed them. You never lose hold of who you are. Reporter emily barchardts art illustrates how she says she was treated after she reported being raped by a stranger. Last year when she was 21, borchardt says she was returning to her austin, texas home when two men abducted her. The man behind me grabs my throat, and i go unconscious. Reporter she was brought to this motel where she says a third man raped her multiple times over 12 hours. According to borchardt, the man gave her cigarettes and whiskey, and demanded that she shower with him. Borchardt managed to escape, call police, and have a rape kit done. This man, who was on parole after serving 20 years for murder first claimed he did not know her, but when his dna came back as a match, he said the sex was consensual. Borchardts lawyers asked us to protection. He was never arrested. The police suggest why in this audio recording. Taking a shower with him, consuming whiskey in the shower with him together, it doesnt paint the best picture. The Police Act Like that was consensual when really i was trying to prevent another from being assaulted again. Reporter and you were probably afraid he might kill you. Yes. Reporter her case fell under what Law Enforcement calls an exceptional clearance. Thats when cases can be closed if the victim is uncooperative or a District Attorney declines to prosecute. It turns out more than 40 of closed rape cases were exceptionally cleared nationwide in 2017, giving the public the impression they have been solved. Exceptional clearance is not being use correctly. Reporter liz donegan led the Sex Crimes Unit at the Austin Police department for nearly a decade. Now retired, donegan tells cbs news that she refused pressure to change rape cases from suspended to exceptionally cleared. She was eventually transferred out of the Sex Crimes Unit. The publics perception about exceptional clearance is that the case has been closed, its been cleared. Weve held somebody accountable. Reporter which couldnt be further from the truth . Right. Reporter the decision not to prosecute borchardts case made by the office of margaret moore, the Travis CountyDistrict Attorney allowed Austin Police to exceptionally clear it. Are you ever deciding not to prosecute because you want to keep your record the best possibleecse youre worried you may not get a conviction . No. Weve taken cases to trial during my administration where weve gotten not guilties, but we believed in the case. The jury didnt. Reporter if what happened to emily happened to your daughter or granddaughter would you want the case to be prosecuted . I will not comment on emilys case. Reporter thats because moore, along with austin Law Enforcement are defendants in a Class Action Lawsuit brought by borchardt and seven other women who say their Sexual Assaults have been mishandled while i much rather would have endured more physical violence and been believed than be doubted. An austin city spokesperson tell cbs n