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This city is like the perfect storm for crime. there's a lot of corruption and drunk tourists. there was so much crime in the paper and the news on a regular basis, i never paid attention to the murder of ray liuzza jr. until michael banks and gordon contacted me. >> with john thompson scheduled to be executed in less than a month, investigator lisa abalafia searched for answers. >> i was a nervous wreck because john was facing an execute date. may 20th. so i began with the carjacking case. first, i read the police report. in 1995, convicted of a carjacking. without that conviction, thompson w...

Reality they're going to be getting ready to kill me. >> and then john did a really remarkable thing. he said, my youngest son, john jr., is the first person in my family to graduate from high school on may 21st. will you please go to his graduation and make sure he's okay after i'm gone? and then he spent the next 20 minutes trying to make us feel better. it was not, how could you let this happen to me? it was about making us feel better for what we've done for him and making sure going to be okay. that's the kind of guy john thompson is. >> we were mostly silent on the way from angola to new...

Before, there was some risk that a jury would get it wrong again, no matter how strong the evidence was. much as we were convinced of john's innocence, we had to think about getting him out of jail as our first priority. >> mike and them was like, john, we are not talking about you as attorneys, but we are going to talk to you as a friend. we cannot control the minds of 12 people, we can only present them the facts. if 12 members come back and say you're guilty, could you handle that? is it fair on your mom, your children? one hand you could walk out the door. on the other hand you might stay ...

Was working and all the color had drained out of his face and he said the district attorney's office had pulled the deal. >> we thought john was walking out of jail the next day. this was five days before the trial was to start. and the d.a. said no deal. we go to trial. >> as it turned out the victim's family had learned of the plea deal and voiced their objections to the district attorney. >> michael and i go to the prison, and john, again, put on a very brave face. he said, you know, what i did want that plea, and it was going to hang over my head for the rest of my life. i didn't do this, ...

>> gordon and i normally represent big companies with litigation, trade secret litigation but this was my first case representing a criminal defendant. >> michael banks and gordon cooney were high powered corporate lawyers with interest in pro bono cases. >> the case itself did not suggest innocence. there was nothing we read that caused us to say, wow, this guy didn't do it. i was skeptical of his innocence, but i remember feeling a very strong sense from reading john's file that things that happened in john's trial were just fundamentally unfair. >> banks and cooney went to meet their new cl...