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Weren't in charge of their case when a man's life was on the line. >> visibly upset, overturned the carjacking conviction and ordered a stay of execution and connick to turn over every file on record to michael and gordon. >> that was the first time we really got a full look into the district attorney's files in the murder case against john thompson. and it was a moment that gordon and i looked at each other and said, he's really innocent. he did not kill ray liuzza. he was not there. we knew who the murderer was. we knew how it happened. for the very first time. they lived. ♪ they lived. â™...

Skip to the end. >> the last line read, conviction and sentence reversed. >> i called gordon into my office. i couldn't get the words out. >> i remember it was july 17th, 4:30 in the afternoon, i -- i was tongue tied i said, i couldn't -- he said, new trial? i said yes. we hugged, we were ecstatic. >> as michael and gordon began preparing for the retrial, they got an unsolicited offer from the d.a.'s office, harry connick senior had retired and the new d.a. ran for office on an anti-corruption campaign. now, he wanted to make a deal. >> the district attorney's office was not eager to go and tr...

Handled thousands of cases with hard lined tactics. >> harry connick in death penalty cases, i don't think would have offered a deal bauds he was aggressive and wanted to lock them all forever. >> connick's lead prosecutor was jim williams. jim took great pride in his numerous death penalty convictions. he even kept a miniature electric chair on his desk. >> jim was regarded ads one of the most aggressive in the prosecutor's office. sliding up behind defendants in the courtroom and buzzing in their ears to mimic the buzz of electricity. >> thompson's carjacking trial lasted only two days. the ...

$14 million award. >> five justices of the supreme court believed the new orleans district attorney's office could not be liable because there was not a prior pattern of similar misconduct. >> the majority opinion written by justice clarence thomas found that even though connick's office withheld evidence in the thompson case, that was not enough to prove a pattern. and yet a study done in 2008 reported that during harry connick sr.'s tenure in one out of every four cases where the death penalty was imposed, evidence was withheld. >> that was crazy. if that is not a pattern, i don't know what ...

Around and met him and they had a fight. jay is pressed with his back against the driver's side door and manages to kick the carjacker out of his face and the carjacker obviously injured. drops the gun and gets away. that crime remained unsolved until pictures of thompson appeared in the paper of ray liuzza. >> when thompson's picture appeared, all three children identified john thompson as their attacker. thompson went on trial for the carjacking first because prosecutors knew a conviction would make him more likely to receive the death penalty for the liuzza murder. this wasn't keeping with ...