New Eyes On Alabama Death Row Case After Integrity Review Raises Questions

Toforest Johnson was 25 years old when he was sentenced to death in 1998 for the killing of a sheriff's deputy outside Birmingham, Ala. His oldest daughter, Shanaye Poole, now 29, remembers being in the courtroom.

"I just wanted to talk to him. He looked so handsome. He had a suit on. And of course, I didn't really know what was going on. I may have been 4 or 5 years old at the time," she says. "I saw him walk away, and that was the last day of his freedom."

Ever since, Johnson has maintained his innocence, and his family has worked to overturn what they see as a wrongful conviction. Now they have help in their fight. A new district attorney in Jefferson County, Ala., looked back and determined Johnson deserves a new trial.

And other prominent legal voices — including former prosecutors — are getting behind the push to reexamine the