Good evening. Thank you for joining us. Young love and a decadesold murder mystery. Locking a rocking a Small Community in oregon. Now sitting down for the first interview ever since the conviction was overturned. Why he maintains his innocence to this day. I just figured the truth will come out. Im an innocent man and innocent people dont go to jail. They said its for the murder of leah freeman. Did you do it . No, i didnt do it. They have nothing else to go on, and im the boyfriend. This afternoon, the body of a teenaged female, tentatively identified as leah freeman was discovered. Hoev dwho ever did this need pay. Whats he hiding . I had medley yet leah when i walking through the gym. She was a freshman, i was a senior. Leah was always a sparkle. He was always in love. The girls liked him. He was definitely a flirt. He was kind of into every girl. But he did seem like he really cared about her. He seemed like an okay kind of guy, but still, the age difference was there. And then i found out that they were being sexually active. And that was disturbing. Ill never forget that date. It started out like any other normal day. I hadnt seen her for a while. We were still really good friends, but we just didnt hang out as much because she was with nick a lot. She was at sherrys, and she wanted to go jogging and asked sherry to go with her. Sherry asked her mom, and her mom said no. Because every time you do, nick comes and picks leah up and you end up walking home alone. So leah heard that, and i guess she got mad and started to walk off. She was headed toward the high school, spotted by numerous witnesses along the way. The next witness says that around 9 30 p. M. She sees leah standing outside a pay phone. And there are two men arguing nearby. Next time you see leah, shes standing outside the gas station. And thats the last time that anyone sees leah. Several minutes later, a witness hears a highpitched scream. It was 9 00. I went to go to sherrys to go get leah, asked her where leah was. Shes probably walking home, im sure if you drive to her house youll find her. Nick gets back into his car and starts driving through the town looking for leah. He did call the house shortly after 10 00 that night. And he said is leah there . And i said, leah, no, isnt she with you . And he goes, well, its all right, dont worry, im going to go find her and ill bring her home. I mean, id even talked to police twice that night. And my headlight was out, and i got pulled over for it both times. Told them that i was looking for my girlfriend. I decided to go by leahs house one more time. And i saw a glare on her window. Thought it was her tv. Back then, it was 2000. Its not like she could send me a text. She couldnt call me on a cell phone. I thought she was home. And i went home after that. And i looked in her room, and her bed was empty. Leahs mom calls at like 7 30 or 8 00 in the morning the next day. I said, wheres leah . Shes not here. He goes, she didnt come home last night . And i said, no, where is she and he goes, i dont know. I went i as quick as i could. I talked to cory. We went down to the Police Department and filed a missing persons report. The police basically told us that leah was probably a run away. I knew something was wrong. This girl had no reason to run away. I dont remember what date it was. The Police Called me, they wanted to talk to me. So of course im going to go in and im going to help them. Todays june 30th. It is 1348 hours. How would you character chart her personal life . Shes giggly and a good person. I started to have my concerns when it kind of started, i guess trying to twist my words. The night that leah disappeared, its about 11 40. The mechanic worked the swing shift. Hes driving home, and he saw a shoe lying in the road. That person came forward with the shoe. We showed it to leahs sister. She said i think thats her shoe. Then, on the 4th of july, her other shoe is discovered. And its got blood on it. The distance from where the left shoe was found on hudson ridge back to the town of coquille is about a 10mile stretch. When we found that shoe with the blood on it, we thought this is not going to end well. The body of a female, tentatively identified as leah freeman was discovered. The body was in bad, bad condition. It was august 3rd. Id gone out to laverne park, and all of a sudden a coquille city cop pulled in. And i said cory, i i need to take you home. I said, they found her. I remember the exact moment. And i broke down. I just remember that specific moment in time. Thats the saddest moment that ive ever gone through. 15yearold leah freeman vanished off the streets of coquille five weeks ago. Her death is being treated as a homicide, but investigators are saying little else. I that i everybody was quick to point fingers at nick, because hes the most likely person being her boyfriend. Police just arent able to make any kind of a case stick. As time went by, it slowly became a cold case. Fast forward eight years. A new sheriff comes into town, and he wants to look into the case. We looked at every person that was identified as a possible suspect in this case. And then we went forward. No matter which way we went, at the end of the day, it came back to nick. Were going to stop by mr. Mcgulfens residence and see if hes around. Weve interviewed over 100, almost 200 people in the last six months. With all these witnesses coming forward, police say theyre getting information that appears to contradict what nick has said all along, that he had not seen leah after he dropped her off at her girlfriends house around7 00. I basically drove everywhere for that four hours looking for her, and i didnt see her once. We have several witnesses that actually place nick with leah after 9 00. If hes claiming he wasnt with her that night after 9 00, but we can show he was with her, whats he hiding . With the tenth anniversary of leah freemans disappearance and death days away, Authorities Say theyre closer than ever to bringing justice to this case. They decided to take it to the grand jury. They called over 110 witnesses. And, after presenting all this evidence, they came back and said, we think nick did it, we think he had to be charged. It was a normal day at work, and i will forgot and recipe at my house. So i ran home real quick. Noticed i was being followed. When i pulled up to my mailbox, cars everywhere. Separate your feet. What do you think this is all about . Obviously, they said its for the murder of leah freeman. Did you do it . No, i didnt do it. Love of my life, man. Why do you think they did it . Because they have nothing else to go on, and im the boyfriend. When i got arrested, it felt like a nightmare i was trying to wake up from, but i never woke up. When we come back, nicks nightmare comes alive in court. And what if anything did the defendant tell you . That i strangled that bitch. And ill strangle you too. James lower their blood sugar. A majority of adults who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. Heres your a1c. Oh my a1c is under 7 announcer and you may lose weight. Adults who took ozempic® lost on average up to 12 pounds. I lost almost 12 pounds oh announcer for those also with known heart disease, ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. It lowers the risk. Oh and i only have to take it once a week. Oh oh, oh, oh, ozempic® announcer ozempic® is not for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not share needles or pens. Dont reuse needles. Do not take ozempic® if you have a personal or Family History of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to ozempic®. 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So hurry in and lets lobsterfest. Or get it to go at red lobster dot com so hurry in tomtrump on the economy. Ald his people over profits plan makes a living wage a right. Creates thousands of good paying green jobs in california. And provides a 10 tax cut for everyone making under 250,000. Toms plan also makes health care a right, by adding a public option to obamacare. Protects union negotiated pls. And ensures californians can make their own health care choices. Im tom steyer and i approve this message. On july 7, 2011, 11 years after leah was killed, a murder trial is finally under way. Nick says he last saw leah when he dropped her off at her best friends house. In court, prosecutors call witness after witness, trying to convict Nick Mcguffin of murder and manslaughter charges for the killing of leah freeman. Timing was important, because it put a hole in nicks story is what it did. I argued what happened was they got into an argument. It got physical. And it went bad from there. The states case against nick is that he was very, very upset that leah was going to break up with him. Tries to get her into his car. She loses a shoe. She screams. And, in an effort to keep her quiet or in anger, he strangled her. Then a witness for the prosecution claims neck confessed to the murder. Mr. Breakfill was there a a conversation with the defendant . Several. And what did he tell you . That i strangled that and ill strangle you, too. He was never one of my friends. He had dated my mother a little bit. I know i never said anything like that. The biggest problem for breakfill in his testimony is the eightyear gap between the time he says it happened and the time he tells the authorities. If he made that statement, you werent you curious enough to Start Talking to people about who it was he would have killed . No, sir. You didnt care who he killed . I just tried to stay as far away from the situation as i could. There was no dna evidence tying him to leah. There was no evidence in his car. There was just nothing physically to show that he in fact did this, and there wasnt any reason for him to do it. But, if convicted of murder, nick could face life behind bars. I remember looking down in my mind, i was probably asking god for help. I was praying for the right answer. As to count one, murder, do you find the defendant not guilty. The answer to his prayers, a not guilty verdict on the main charge of murder. As to the lesserincluded offense of manslaughter in the first degree, we find the defendant guilty. I think i nearly jumped out of my seat. It was almost like a lightning bolt hit me. In this case theres more incentive for a prosecutor to request a manslaughter charge. And its because oregon has this quirky law. Because for murder you need a unanimous verdict. And in oregon for man slaughter, you can have two holdouts. We found out it was ten in favor of guilt and two in favor of acquittal. If this happened in any other state today, with two jurors unwilling to convict, it would end up in a hung jury. Nick was sentenced to ten years. Behind bars for a crime he says he did not commit. Little did Nick Mcguffin know that a Guardian Angel was about to come to the rescue. Theres several other organizations that deal with Wrongful Convictions. Wreath wrote to every one of them. That was probably 2015. And thats when the oregon Innocence Project finally took his case. Ly i had a really strong sense that nick was innocent because of the evidence i was looking at. It didnt make sense to me. Theres no blood, no hairs, no fiber, no dna connecting this crime to nick. Police told 2020 in 2010 that the shoe that had the blood on it was found right in town on north elm street. Her shoe was found by the road here with blood on it. That night. That night. That shoe that was found on north elm street had no blood on it, and, instead, there was a shoe that was found ten miles away out in the woods that had bloodstains on it. There were over 20 witnesses who saw nick driving around that night looking for leah. He doesnt have time to commit this crime when you actually well, we had one eyewitness that put him and her together near the metro police. Around 9 00. We know that cant be true, because we have documentation of another witness who sees leah walk by the atm, and the Police Officers go out to that atm and pull those records and confirm that that is 9 04 00 p. M. They create an entire theory to convict a man based on evidence thats just wrong. Then, a shocking discovery. Bolstering nicks claim of innocence. We were surprised when we looked at the raw data from the original dna testing back in 2000. There was actually dna from an unidentified male found on both of leahs shoes many h, her rig and her left shoe. That was a huge moment for our case. Back in 2000, that was the infancy of our dna testing. The analysts at the time chose not to actually call out that potential male dna, because she couldnt decide what it was, because it was at a very, very low level. If the jury in 2011 knew that there was dna of an unidentified male on the victims bloodstained shoe, the jury would have acquitted. Theres no doubt in my mind. Mcguffins new attorney made the argument that under the law, they were required to turn over this evidence from the lab. And they didnt. And that failure should lead at least to a new trial. Its our top story in oregon. A judge ruled that state police did not reveal dna evidence that would have exonerated him. After more than eight years, a judge overturns Nick Mcguffins conviction. Just because the judge throws out the conviction does not mean that Nick Mcguffin is going to be a free man. Judge sullivan sends that case right back to the das office to make a decision. New trial or not . We made the decision of, no, dont go forward. Whoo it was wonderful seeing him, knowing he was free. When you do this Wrongful Conviction work, you live for the moment you get to walk an innocent client out of prison, and we got that moment with nick after it 20 years of fighting to prove his innocence. 20 years later and still no one else has been arrested for leah freemans death. I want justice. I want for whoever killed her to pay for it. Because theyve been walkin free for years, and its just wrong. Stay with us. I have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Now, theres skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90 clearer skin at 4 months after just 2 doses. Skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. Before treatment your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. 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Officially hitting the us. Virus man the markets are plunging for a second straight day. Vo Health Experts warn the us is underprepared. Managing a crisis is what Mike Bloomberg does. In the aftermath of 911, he steadied and rebuilt americas largest city. Oversaw Emergency Response to natural disasters. Upgraded hospital preparedness to manage health crises. And hes funding Cutting Edge Research to contain epidemics. Tested. Ready. Mike im Mike Bloomberg and i approve this message. A former army medic, made of the we maflexibility to handle members like kate. Whatever monday has in store and tackle four things at once. So when her car got hit, she didnt worry. She simply filed a claim on her usaa app and said. I got this. Usaa insurance is made the way kate needs it easy. She can even pick her payment plan so its easy on her budget and her life. Usaa. What youre made of, were made for. Usaa Nick Mcguffin served nine years for a crime he says he did not commit. Then he moved back to his hometown. Trying to get my life back. I had an idea of what it was going to be like. And i, i was wrong. Its not, its not easy. Its actually really hard. Im an innocent man. I remain an innocent thats nightline for this evening. Thanks for the company, america, goodnight, have a great weekend