>> pelley: good evening. 18 years. a long time behind bars, a long time on death row, a long time in and out of solitary. a long time for something that you insist you didn't do. today flee men who were supposed to never walk free did just that. they were called the west memphis three, convicted of murdering three cub scouts in west memphis, arkansas, in 1993 despite any physical evidence linking them to the crime. after years of fighting for freedom, they were released today in a very unusual plea deal. erin moriarty of "48 hours mystery" has been on this story for four years. >> my name is damien echols, i am 36 years old and released today from death row for a crime i do not commit. >> reporter: arkansas death row inmate damien echols got his life back today as part of an unusual plea agreement, excoles and two other convicted men-- jason baldwin and jessie misskelley-- were released from prison. >> this has been going on for over 18 years and it's been an absolute living hell. >> reporter: 17 years ago, damien echols was sentenced to death. the other two were given life. jason baldwin. >> and we didn't tell nothing but the truth, that we were innocent. and they sent us to prison for the rest of our lives for it. >> reporter: known as the west memphis three, the men were teenagers in 1994 when they were convicted of killing three eight-year-old boys in the town of west memphis, arkansas. stevie branch, christopher byers and michael moore. investigators in this rural community believed that the teenagers killed the children as part of a satanic ritual. in recent years, though, d.n.a. evidence has been recovered at the scene-- none of it linking the accused to the crimes. their freedom comes at a high price. under the unusual agreement known as an alford plea, the three men who still say they are innocent had to plead guilty to murder. >> the only thing the state would do for us is to say "hey, we'll let you go only if you admit guilt." and that's not justice no matter how you look at it. >> reporter: while the father of one of the victims voiced his support for the three men... >> i'm glad that i ear free. >> reporter: ...another had to be removed to from the court after objecting to the deal. >> this was not justice. >> reporter: a deal that almost didn't happen. jason baldwin, who didn't initially want to make the plea, finally agreed to get damien echols off death row. >> i do not want to take the guilty plea. however they'd try to kill damien. >> reporter: it's a really sad story and a surprising development, scott. >> pelley: erin, why did the prosecutors go for this deal? >> reporter: well, the official state position is that these men are guilty but the prosecuting attorney admitted that these three men would have gotten new trials and they were likely to be acquitted during those trials. so this in some ways was a face-saving move for the state. >> pelley: thank you, erin. this story got us wondering about the growing role of d.n.a. in the judicial process. the first time d.n.a. was used to exonerate a convict was back in 1989. since then, it has happened 273 more times, saving the lives of 17 prisoners on death row. the other big story tonight, the angst of august continued on wall street. the dow dropped nearly 173 points today and have a look at this. since the market plunge began nearly a month ago, the dow is off 15%. we got some more bad news today on jobs. bank of america, the nation's largest lender, says it will lay off 3,500 employees now and may lay off a total of 10,000. as always, anthony mason has been tracking all of this for us. >> reporter: a beleaguered financial bee moth, bank of america may be too big to fail, but its stock price is faltering down 50% just since january. the bank is still reeling from the housing crisis. after buying subprime lending giant countrywide, it's saddled with a trillion dollars in mortgage debt. it's also been hit with billion-dollar lawsuits stemming from the mortgage meltdown. economist mark zandi. >> they are having more legacy problems in other major financial institutions. they're trying to work through a lot of the troubled mortgage loans and other problems in their mortgage business that many of the other banks just don't have. >> reporter: c.e.o. brian moynihan has had to handout more than 6,000 pink slips so far. he's sold off the bank's canadian credit card business and he's looking to cut billions more in expenses but analyst paul miller isn't satisfied. >> we don't have a liquidity problem at bank of america, what we have is a confidence problem in the management team. >> reporter: b. of a. is in no no danger of needing a bailout but losses and cutbacks at america's biggest bank and its biggest lender are another drag on an already anemic economy. >> banks are going to be quite reluctant to extend more credit, to make loans to business people and to consumers and, of course, credit is key to economic activity and without flee-flowing credit, the economy is going to have more difficulty to get going. >> reporter: already in year, the world's 50-largest banks have announced nearly 60,000 jobs cuts. scott, that's the fastest rate since 2008. >> pelley: anthony, does this mean american banks are in financial trouble again? >> reporter: no, scott, this is not 2008 all over again. one reason the banks are lending less is they've been forced to hold more capital, to have more cash on hand in case of a crisis. so we are not in anywhere near the kind of shape we were three years ago. >> pelley: the banks are healthier than 2008? >> reporter: much healthier. >> pelley: thank you, anthony. in libya, the rebels trying to overthrow dictator moammar qaddafi made a major breakthrough today when they retook the strategic town of zawiyah. the rebels celebrated with gunfire. it was back in march when the american and nato forces joined this fight. tonight it may be reaching a turning point. the rebels are now 30 miles from tripoli, the capital. earlier today, i asked alex crawford of sky news about the importance of zawiyah where she is tonight. >> well, zawiyah is incredibly symbolic and significant. it's symbolic because this is the town which is an absolute linchpin in terms of supply routes for the qaddafi regime which is based in tripoli just 30 miles down the road. secondly, it has a very significant oil refinery inside zawiyah. the rebels took control of that oil refinery two days ago. that meant that the rebels in zawiyah were able to control their own energy supply and cut it off to the qaddafi regime. >> pelley: what is next for the anti-qaddafi forces? >> well, their aim is to move on to the capital and try and take tripoli. one one of the rebel commanders in charge of the western region said they have a deadline to try and finish this off by the end of ramadan and the beginning of eade which is only less than two weeks away. >> reporter: you've been covering this from very nearly the beginning of this war and i wonder, do you sense this is a turning snint >> very much a turning point. a real turning point. and what a tremendous difference since the last time i was in zawiyah, which was in march. in those five months they have received training from the international community, they have received incredible amounts of extra ammunition. they've received more military and arm voy that they can fight this battle. and that was how they managed to retake their town. now they can move on to tripoli. that is their aim and they do so with a renewed confidence and renewed optimism. this is the strongest position they've been in since the start of the uprising in february, there's no doubt. >> pelley: alex crawford, correspondent with britain's sky t.v. thank you very much. another isolated dictator-- syria's bashar al-assad-- said this week that he had stopped military strikes against his opponents but today protestors once again filled the streets and human rights groups claim that government soldiers killed at least 20. you'll remember that yesterday president obama said that assad must go. the taliban are not going anywhere and they made their presence known in afghanistan's capital overnight. suicide bombers attacked a british cultural center on the anniversary of afghanistan's independence from britain. ten people were killed, including a soldier from new zealand. mandy clark is in kabul. >> reporter: at 5:30, first light in kabul, two car bombs exploded in quick succession. one destroyed the compound fence allowing attackers with explosive laden suicide vests, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades to storm the building. for the next nine and a half hours, afghan security forces battled it out with militants as the casualties mounted. one bomber blew himself up and witnesses saw the police fire rockets and small arms at the insurgents. were you scared? >> ( translated ): no, it happens often. >> reporter: just seven weeks ago, the intercontinental hotel-- long considered one of kabul's most secure-- came under another highly coordinated taliban attack. that ended after a five-hour siege, but only after a nato helicopter opened fire on insurgents. weeks later, afghan forces took over responsibility for security in kabul from nato troops. it was a real battle for the afghan security forces to take out insurgents in this relatively contained attack, raising doubts about their ability to secure the capital in a more widespread assault. mandy clark, cbs news, kabul. >> pelley: and next door in pakistan there was a suicide bombing at a crowded mosque during friday prayers in the middle of ramadan. at least 48 people were killed, more than 80 others were hurt when the bombers struck in a tribal region near the afghan border. the area is a base for islamic militants but no one has claimed responsibility for today's attack. a lot of the illegal immigrants are about to get a new chance at the american dream. the texas drought has some businesses struggling to stay afloat. and a wall of dust a thousand feet high rolls through phoenix when the "cbs evening news" continues. impressive resume. i see you're flatulent in three languages. graduated top of your gas. 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[ screeching ] the s.u.v. is back. right now, get $2,000 cash allowance or 0% apr financing on the 2011 dodge durango. >> pelley: this is the summer of monster dust storms for phoenix, arizona. time-lapse footage shows the one thousand foot high wall of grit that rolled into the city yesterday. look at that. it was the third dust storm for phoenix in six weeks and, like the others, this one caused delays at the airport and knocked out power to thousands of people. the drought in texas is reaching historic proportions. the record drought has cost state formers more than $5 billion in lost crops and livestock and bigad shaban tells us that houston is tapping into its energy water supply-- even at the risk of sinking local businesses. >> reporter: lamar and kelly anderson's livelihood depends on lake conroe. >> we're just running around. >> in the middle of the lake. >> reporter: the worst drought in texas history is drying up the 19-mile lake and the andersons' marina business. >> i have two small children that are nine and 11 and we've got to take care of our kids and what the future holds is so unknown that it's just very scary. >> reporter: water levels are dropping here at the rate of two feet a month-- not just because of the sun. 60 miles away, a thirsty houston has started sipping lake con roe's water. >> 100 million gallons of water pull out through the spillway everyday destined for the taps of houston. that's enough to supply the daily water needs for 7 50,000 people. lake houston is a main source of water for the area's six million people. the reservoir usually looks like this. but now the water level is critically low. >> this is really a problem. >> reporter: deborah white has walked the shores of lake houston for more than 30 years. she can now a go a half mile into the lake without getting wet. >> we've never really been without water. so we look at water is abundant. now we don't have it so people are a bit confused. >> reporter: lake conroe was built to supply houston during the water shortage. this is the first time in 23 years it's been tapped. houston's mayor annise parker makes no apologies. >> it is what it is there. may be recreational impacts but we have to provide necessary water to our population. >> it seems unfair. it seems like an injustice to me. i wish we had the water. we need the water, too. everyone needs the water. it's a drought. >> reporter: a drought that's likely to last through next year. the andersons' business may not last that long. the marina's boat ramp will be dry by september. bigad shaban, cbs news, conroe, texas. >> pelley: in rock ford, iowa, today, a funeral was held for one of the third americans killed when their helicopter was shot down in afghanistan two weeks ago. about 1,500 people were at the service for the man friends called j.t. his dog hawkeye lay beside him one last time. a man who has nothing finds out that what he needs more than anything is to help people just like him. his story is next in steve hartman's "assignment america." 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