you are just faced with so many things at one time. take the second right turn. they re all simple things. simple every day things that people take for granted. but to somebody who s not lived out here for so long, it s a big deal to choose from a menu, to decide what to wear. to sleeping in a bed that s actually flat. but i tell you, you know what really the biggest thing is to me? i don t have to go through every waking minute saying, please get me out of here. reporter: taylor was released after a three-judge panel ruled he had been wrongly convicted of murdering a woman in 1993. wrongly convicted, in part, because the crime lab at the state bureau of investigation withheld evidence.
the reason why it kept me in prison so long is because the jury believed that that was the victim s blood on my truck. you know, the prosecutor argued that vehemently to the jury. the jury bought it. the jury convicted me. reporter: greg s legal team brought the new evidence before the judges. i m sitting there in the courtroom and the three-judge panel and listening to this testimony. you know, and still wondering, okay, well, how are they going to get it wrong now? reporter: in a dramatic moment, greg s lawyer asked the sbi agent responsible for the tests to clarify his bench notes. i can t say with scientific certainty that that was blood. reporter: but that conclusion was never presented at greg s original murder trial. so anyone reading your formal report would not have known that you had not scientifically confirmed that was blood? that s correct.
this process, you can go home today. just walk away, time served, go on home. i turned it down. i said no. i want a chance to prove to everybody that i m innocent. reporter: that surprised some people. yeah. and after i tried to eat that meal that night, in that jail cell, it surprised me, too. yeah. reporter: basically at that point you said, screw you, i m staying until you say i m not guilty. yeah. no. until i m innocent. reporter: innocent. i just had to believe that, you know, as long as i had a belief in the truth and pursued that truth, that things were going to work out the best for me. reporter: but as greg sat waiting for the panel s verdict, he still didn t know if the truth would set him free. man: (shouting) my new windows phone can go from my pocket to taking a picture in seconds.
police now tell cnn two arrests have been made in connection with the shooting. we ll update you at 10:00 p.m. eastern. three u.s. hikers accused of spying and trespassing went on trial today in iran. shane bower, josh fatale and sar sarah shourd. shourd was released. a cnn special, rogue justice, continues right now. see you at 10:00 p.m. let the record show everybody s here. reporter: it was a moment more than 17 years in the making. we are entering the following decision of the three-judge panel. reporter: greg taylor was about to learn if a panel of
and trying to organize all the testimony into files and organize statements by witness and things like that. reporter: chris mumma, director of the north carolina center on actual innocence, was one of taylor s attorneys preparing for the panel she made a stunning discovery. a file that had never made it to trial from the state bureau of investigation, or sbi s, crime lab. we had been there for a good part of the day going through everything and found the bench notes. reporter: what are bench notes? bench notes are the back-up notes that go with that final report that s issued by the lab. so it is all the actual test results and what the analyst is writing down as they re actually doing the testing before it goes into a nice type written report. reporter: the nice type written report stated there were chemical indications for the presence of blood on greg s truck. blood that jurors said was indisputable evidence of guilt. but lying in a box for the 17