Xfinity sports sunday, lorenzo neal back for some more football. 49ers opening the season in arlington against the cowboys, where you rushed to get to your seats. Plenty of 49er fans screaming to get in there. Thats crazy, isnt it . Demarco murray carries. Skuta forces a fumble. 35 yards for the score. Great defensive play by skuta. No doubt. Did a great job stripping that ball. Murray you have to carry that ball all i wap. Heads up play, get the ball, let me take it the other way for six. 70, niners, just like that. 73, niners, after a dallas field goal. Kaepernick using his feet to keep the play alive. A beautiful throw to anquan boldin. A nice job by the senior receiver. And then first and ten. Kaepernick gets stripped and tripped and stays on his feet and finds vernon davis for the 29yard touchdown. What a job on keeping his feet. He gets tripped, he slips, he moves and hes still able to throw a laser down the line. Vernon says ill catch it once, no, three, four, times but ill take it in for six. Either way, he caught it. Interceptions, they plagued tony romo. The 49ers defense stepping up again. Three straight cowboy possessions. Three straight 49er interceptions. Eric reed got one, Patrick Willis got one, perrish cox got one, all picking off tony romo. What in the wild word of sports in i doing here in the home opener . Carlos hyde up the middle for a fouryard touchdown. You like this rookie. I like this rookie, carlos hyde. Hes tough, hes physical, he gets downhill, he runs with that pad level. Hes a good changeup. Backing up a guy whos pretty good. Frank gore chasing a milestone. Gore picks up four yards on the carry. Puts him over 10,000 yards for his career. 49ers give up a pair of second half touchdowns but they win 2817. So, the 49ers are now 40 under jim harbaugh. The first coach in 49er history to win his first four opening day contests. Pretty day at the office for kaepernick who finished with over 200 yards passing and two touchdowns. Mindy bock hit the road with the team and has more from at t stadium. The 49ers answered many questions that surrounded them in just the first half with six different starters from the Season Opener last year, the defense was just as dominant. Harassing cowboys in first five drives including interceptions from three different players. Kal kaepernick and starting offense, which hadnt scored a touchdown all preseason, needed only four passes for two touchdowns. Carlos hyde rushed for another in the second quarter. And the 49ers rolled from there. I think we did a terrific job. The first games always up and down, you know, because youre justed. Guys are nervous and anxious. Just trying to make plays. Its always up and down. But overall, i think we executed really well. This game is about when it comes to 49er players, thats where they excel. They have titanium in their spine. Defense played incredible, you know. Moving all over the place. A good game. I was excited. I felt i was watching the game as much as yall were. I think everyone was ready to get the season, ready to play, ready to put it together. At this point were 10 and thats what we wanted to be. Reporter the players are certainly happy about the win but already looking to clean things up. On offense the 49ers had penalties on three third downs. Costing them 51 yards. And the defense allowed running back Demarco Murray 118 yards on the ground. That is something theyd like to improve before their home opener sunday against the chicago bears. In arlington, texas, mindy bock. Good stuff, mindy. Our red zone report brought to you by your local toyota dealer. Toyota, lets go places. Frank gore went places, reaches the 10,000yard mark and hes in elite company. Jackson and Adrian Peterson have run for more yards. Heres a guy who knows something about running for yards, lorenzo neal, great fullback. How impressed were you with the 49ers backfield with gore and backup hyde . I like what they do. You know frank gore last year, every team you saw that offense start to struggle. He would get back in the game, still a little tired. Now you have a guy that came from ohio state, can move the chains. Hes physical. Hes almost 6 foot plus, 230 pounds. The guy gets downhill up. See what frank gore can do. Explosive, knows how to make people miss. Doesnt take the big shots. Frank gore, you know, is that unbeatable. Carlos hyde now in there, that really helps this running game. On the goal line you have another guy in there. Prolong the career of number 2 is, no question about it. Receivers not bad either. The big three of crabtree, boldin and davis making a major impact. Of course, boldins always there when its clutch. He had to be. Hes just targeted a lot. He catches it. 99 yards. Vernon davis, all he does is catch touchdowns. He caught two. Crabtree still is michael crabtree. In the preseason, the offense was not that effective. They were very effective today. Is that because theyre very good or is it because the dallas defense is terrible or some combo of them both . Lets go with the combo. I like the last answer. When you look at the Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Cowboys, i dont think theyll win six games this year. When you look at the dallas, theyre depleted on defense. Their offense, you know they have to score points. I dont think this Dallas Cowboys team is a good team. And i think San Francisco knows that. But they do have some weapons. And it was good to see Colin Kaepernick throw the ball downfield, hit anquan boldin. You know this guy is the ageless wonder. Physical, slapping dbs off him. You know the consistent play youre going to get out of that. Vernon davis can stretch the field as a tight end. Hes a mismatch for linebackers. Too strong for safeties. So, you do have those threeheaded monster in the passing game. That offensive line can hold us. Now frank gore playing as well as hes playing and carlos hyde, you have an offense that can score points. Defensively its always been the 49ers identity. They knew they wouldnt have smith, or bowman for a while and then lose three secondary players. Defense played pretty well, three interceptions, a strip, and murray. How do you assess the defense . Murray is a good defensive back. The way he runs the ball, hes physical, makes people miss. I thought the defense played big had they had to. Getting tony romo in tough positions, throwing intercept n interceptio interceptions, costly interceptions. We saw what the defense did. Willis able to get an interception. Justin smith, a timely sack that could have led to three points. Instead, the touchdown led to three points. You got to have a defense to be able to play and consistency. This defense, yeah, are they depleted . Yes. But vic fangio has done a good job getting them to hold the line. He can coach and justin smith can still play, 35 years old. Coming up, before the 49ers even hit the field today, rumors from inside the locker room. We separate fact from fixes. Well tackle that when we return. And in new jersey as well. The best of highlights and reaction coming your way. This is xfinity sports sunday. vo ours is a world of passengers. The redeyes. daughter im really tired. vo the transfers. Well, thats kid number three. vo the copilots. All sitting. Trusting. Waiting. For a safe arrival. Introducing the allnew subaru legacy. Designed to help the driver in you. Care for the passenger in them. The subaru legacy. Its not just a sedan. Its a subaru. Sports sunday. First quarter, 30, jets. Geno smith looking for eric decker and finding charles woodson. Jumping in front to pick it off. 17 years, this guy can still play. No question. Going against two veterans. I like it, decker against the ageless wonder, charles jumping in. Results in this play, finding streeter, 12 yards for the play. Carrs first touchdown pass, 73 after the p. A. T. Good play by carr. No question. Pitch and catch, takes it in for six. Second quarter now, its third and eight at the 46 for new york. And smith is going to roll out right. And gets eight for the first down. Smith, 38 yards rushing. So, they knew they needed to contain him. Later in the drive, jets at oakland 5. Smith with a shovel pass to johnson for the score. This almost didnt happen because of justin tuck. No question. A game of inches. Justin tuck, please make this happen. That was so close. You saw him grab his hand in disbelief. Right under his arm. Fourth quarter, jets up six. Chris ivory finds a hole and takes off for 71 yards. Thats for a touchdown. And jets are up by 12. So, now under two minutes to play. Rex ryan is very happy, in case you didnt know. To jones for the 30yard touchdown pass. What did you make of this one . Thats just a great pitch and quach. James jones does a phenomenal job keeping his eyes on the ball. A nice throw by the young carr. Extra point cut the lead to five. Janikowski failed on 17 straight onside kick attempts. Make that 18. Jets recover. Raiders dont recover. They lose 1914. So, the raiders come up short and jets won despite taking 11 penalties. Derek carr, 151 and two tds. Charles woodson joined Charles Green with an int in 17 consecutive seasons. For more, heres our own fallon smith on the road with the latest. Carr pressured. Sacked on the 2 yard line. Reporter rookie quarterback derek carr spent most of his nfl debut under duress. Growing pains for exactly what he is, a rookie. I think the game was too big for him. You know, i think overall i saw some positive signs, some things he did well. You know, i obviously saw some mistakes. But its a great opportunity for him to learn. Its a great opportunity for him to grow. You have to take away the positives, man. Take away the pots. I could see the pressures, could see the coverages. You know, i was able to see those thing. Now just got to get on film and do a better job of handling that and make sure to pick them up. You know, you can put all that on me. I got to fix those things. Reporter oaklands offense struggled to get past midfield for most of the game, leaving its defense to get worn down with the nearly tenminute differential in time of possession. We have to make plays for him like that. Hes a young quarterback. So, weve got to step up and make great plays for him. Get him confident, you know what i mean, it help our offense move the ball. We have a lot of guys that can help him and develop him. It is up to us to help derek out. And we will. It happened. Thats game one, you know, of 16game season. I mean, ill be damned if were going to quit now. Reporter while jones told me, hey, this is just one game, after this week there will be 15 other teams also 01. We just have to stay the course. Whatever goals we set before the season began, are still in front of us. In new jersey, fallon smith for xfinity sports sunday. Thanks very much. What did you think of derek carr . I thought he played well. For his first game, playing against a tough defense. A defense that gets after you. You know what rex ryan does. He does it to peyton manning, tom brady. He threw zero interceptions. The offensive line didnt help him out. You saw him miss protection, getting blocks down for the defensive line. You cant do that in the nfl. Especially throwing a rookie in there. But he showed composure. You saw the blitzes. Saw everything. Was able to recognize defenses. Still able to throw the ball downfield when he was called upon. They just got to do a better job of sewing up that defense that offensive line and protect carr and theyll be fine. He was 3 of 12, raiders on third down. That needs to get better. Raiders were excited about their running back headed into this season. With good reason. But little result after week one. Maurice jonesdrew carried the ball nine times, gained 11 yards. Darren mcfadden with four carries for 15 yards. Were you surprised, lorenzo, raiders couldnt get more done on the ground . Very disappointed in the offensive line. Very disappointed in the running backs. Two running backs, you saw the way the inconsistency at running back position. But it starts up front. No place to run. Jones drew getting hit in the back. Tomahawk. Right now they have to fix some things. If they want to be successful, especially with a young quarterback, youve got to establish the running game. Run, run, run. Maybe throw a couple passes. And then rub some more. Coming up next our 49ers inside matt joins us talking about injured 49er starters. There are a lot of them, all in the secondary. And rumors with jim harbaugh in the locker room. Thats coming up next. Were talking 49ers right now. The story all week was about defensive lineman ray mcdonald, arrested last sunday on suspicion of domestic violence. He played with three total tackles. After the game, willis was asked if he thought mcdonald was distracted during the game. Heres patrick. I didnt have any you know, when its time to play football, i can count on him. Just as we did today. Just as we will just as we will and i will continue to believe in him and see him through. And for more, we welcome in our 49ers inside matt. No one knows this team as well as matt. The secondary is banged up. Can you give me an update on three guys that went down this afternoon. Reporter yeah. Chris and jamie ward both went down with concussions. Jimmie ward very late in the game. What the 49ers have to do is go through the protocol on concussions the nfl set guidelines for. Before they can return to practice, late in the week they have to pass a physical test where they get some some physical contact. Then if they pass that symptomfree, they can play in the game sunday night against the chicago bears. As far as Jermaine Brock with a turf toe injury. May not sound bad but it is. Is he able to return late in the game but sometimes those stiffen up the next day. 49ers open up the game with four cornerbacks on game day roster, cox and johnson had to play a lot of football, so the 49ers head into football very thin at the cornerback position. Now, there were reports before this game even started, matt, that jim harbaugh was losing the locker room. They were made on national television. Coach harbaugh addressed that after the game. What did he say . Reporter well, he made two major points. One of which was that he has an open door policy. So if any player has a beef with anything thats going on under his direction with the 49ers, they can come in and stalk to him. The other thing is he pointed to basically the Playing Field and said that these guys would go to hell and back for us. Im assuming he meant the Coaching Staff as well as the team. So, really i think a lot of teams out there would like to have the kind of dysfunction in the locker room the 49ers apparently have, because the 49ers play very hard. One of the veterans i went to, hes a leader s justin smith. Justin pretty much tells it like it is. I asked him about the locker room, how is it . There are a few reports about this. Justin said, hey, thats news to me. Yeah. Also worth noting anquan boldin, another respected leader, said there was absolutely no truth to that rumor. Thank you. Great stuff. Our 49ers insider from dallas. Coming up next, the bears try to spoil the regular season debut of levi stadium. Big injury news that will affect the raiders next game. Well break it down next. vo ours is a world of passengers. The redeyes. daughter im really tired. vo the transfers. Well, thats kid number three. vo the copilots. All sitting. Trusting. Waiting. For a safe arrival. Introducing the allnew subaru legacy. Designed to help the driver in you. Care for the passenger in them. The subaru legacy. Its not just a sedan. Its a subaru. Jenny jenny carlos alex carlos good morning burrito team we set out to make a bigger, tastier breakfast burrito and i think we nailed it. Introducing bigger, better breakfast burritos. The grande sausage, packed with hash browns, sausage, and creamy sriracha sauce and the meat lovers, stuffed with ham, bacon and sausage, both wrapped in a warm guerrero tortilla. Burritos so big, they make everything look smaller. Its a place youve been before, but its not on any map. So go out there, lose yourself, and find the truth. Were all born wild. Lets keep it that way. The 2014 4runner. Toyota. Lets go places. Bears at bills. Bears come to levi next week. This went to overtime. Fred jackson goes over the left side. Hes not going to be denied. The two. And carpenter with the field goal. The bills are winners, 2320. The old man, freddie j. Still getting it done. J. J. Watt and company come to oakland next week. Second quarter, fitzpatrick drops back, finds hopkins. Breaks free. Takes it 76 yards for the touchdown. Not that fast. We sped it up. You got the idea. You got in the end zone. Houston won 176. Clowney injur meniscus, left in the second quarter. Opening scores, denver over indianapolis. St. Louis got cloeshed by minnesota. Tennessee beats kansas city in kansas city. And atlanta outlasts new orleans. You were going to talk about Jadeveon Clowney who will not play for a while and that affects them because texans play dallas. Yes. Clown y undoubtedly the best defensive lineman in nfl. Now you have to double team two of these guys. Now someone else has has to make plays. You can turn your attention back to watt because he does so many things for this team. Losing clowney is going to be big. The texans played pretty well. Played well against rg3 and the redskins. We look at this game and say, now theyre coming into oakland. This is going to be a nice game. Hopefully the raiders can bounce back because clowney is not here and they got to establish the run if they can save carr. Its a horrible break for houston. A great break for the raiders offensive line, which struggled and they need to worry how to protect carr. No question. The regular season debut at levis stadium will be bears coming on sunday night football. The nbc sunday night game of the week. The bears loss. They looked okay today. How do you see that matchup . I like our defensive coordinator, you know what f fangino. Cutler is strong,ability to throw it down the field, throws a lot of interceptions. San francisco 49ers have to bring their a game on defense and make cutler beat thm. I know everyone says one game at a time. Any given sunday. But its the home opener. Its on sunday night football, national tv. Is this, real quickly, another game or no . No, this is not just another game. Trust me, 49ers want to make a statement. Colin kaepernick wants this stage. This defense wants this stage. They wanted to tame the bears. All of football will be wafing to get to see the 49ers on national tv and the brand new stadium, levis stadium. Great job. Youre the man. Lo neal, thanks for watching xfinity sports sunday. We now join dateline in progress. Enjoy. Returning to our story, an apparent case of mistaken identity has put brothers tommy and ray highers in prison for more than two decades. Now, a random Facebook Post has triggered a memory and mobilized a team to fight for the brothers freedom. Here again is keith morrison. Private eye Julianne Cuneo and the others who joined her efforts for the highers brothers believe the newly discovered witness John Hielscher was telling the truth. Now, if they could only find those four High School Friends hielscher claimed were with him. Were with him the night when he and they took a trip to buy marijuana from a Neighborhood Drug dealer known as old man bob back in 1987. A trip that ended in gunfire. First, bad news. Julianne discovered the driver of the car died. But his family confirmed he drove a white plymouth horizon. The same type of car an eyewitness had seen fleeing the scene. That was important, to be able to make that connection . Right. Because the linchpin is that these guys were in a white omni, omni horizon. Theyre the same car basically. Then one by one, they did find them. The kids now 40something, who had been in the car, heard the very same things John Hielscher told them. This man, john korver was riding in the front passenger seat and he confirmed the story. You can just see it dawn on his face that two guys have been sitting in jail for nearly 25 years. The woman who was a High School Senior was dating one of the men in the car confirmed she saw it too. Though getting her to talk was no easy task. But none was more reluctant than that young man who walked up the drive to the back door with John Hielscher and fled down again in terror when a shot was fired. Why wouldnt he talk about it . Pretty much all of our witnesses grew up in fairly wealthy, well to do families and it seemed to be an embarrassment that they had gone into east detroit to buy marijuana. For months, he would only communicate through his sister, an attorney. He refused to tell the investigators what he knew, seemed to go to Great Lengths to avoid the call. He wanted no part of it. Which i really cant understand. Its not often that you get to be a hero. Finally, what could the lawyers do . They subpoenaed him. It had to be done. We had two innocent men in prison. There was no choice. Finally, they all wound up right here, detroits Frank Murphy Hall of justice, spring 2012. The lawyers appointed to represent the long imprisoned brothers, tommy and ray highers hoped to avoid this. They had allowed them to think the wayne county d. A. s office might see the new evidence, see that a mistake was made and rectify it. But we had a Prosecutors Office that was very uncooperative in the face of overwhelming evidence of innocence. Did that surprise you . No. Its an amazing ability to blind yourself to everything except what you want to look at. All rise. Of course, that was a Defense Attorneys point of view. And so here they were in court to fight it out. Just getting this hearing took a year of their efforts and persuading all those witnesses to testify about a moment in time so long ago was no less difficult. Knowing that, tommy and rays family became a sort of cheering section in court. We filled up the room and we wanted to show everybody that we were there to back them up and we just wanted to be there for them. All crowded the courtroom of judge lawrence talon who would decide if the new evidence merited a new trial. Finally, tommy and ray highers filed into court. The brothers who from day one insisted they were innocent, whose family never stopped believing in them. Survivors of a quarter century in prison. It was pins and needles. I mean, it was our life. If he didnt believe what he was hearing, we were going right back to the state pen. There was never no more relief. This was it . That was it for sure. Good morning your honor. Valerie when i got to hearing, it was allout warfare. You may call your first witness. The defense began laying out the strange tale from the start with mary evans and her 2009 Facebook Post. Why have you come forward in this case . On the streets, i always heard that highers didnt do it. Next the d. C. Lawyer who just happened to answer that post of marys. Would you please state your name for the record. Kevin zieleniewski. He had awakened screaming obscenities that morning. Just a crazy bad dream where there were demons trying to prevent me and John Hielscher from testifying in these hearings. I dont usually wake up in the middle of the night screaming obscenities. On the stand, kevin retold the story that john, the old roommate, told him way back in 1993. He made a comment to the effect that wow, you wouldnt believe what happened that night. So said kevin, he felt a duty to step in. Why are you here today . Two innocent people are in prison for life. I learned information that could help set them free. And i felt compelled to bring that information forward. Then one by one, the witnesses. The now 40somethings who told the court about that night outside old man bobs house where they had gone to buy marijuana for their Graduation Party and that it was their friends, not the highers brothers who came running down the driveway. How did they look when they got in the car . Terrified. Why are you coming forward . Two minutes is too long in prison let alone 20some years. Even the reluctant witness, the one they had to subpoena to get to court confirmed all of it. As did the man who threw the Graduation Party that night. He was very forthcoming and said, sure i remember that day. They pulled up, they were a wreck and they told me what happened. And you just dont forget Something Like that. Finally, the man whose comments to his roommate nearly two decades earlier kept the old story alive. Defense calls John Hielscher. What was it like the process of testifying at this hearing . Ive been to combat, ive jumped out of planes and that was the toughest thing i had to do. John hielscher, who was horrified he never found out for certain that old man bob was murdered told the story he had never before publicly discussed. Complete with what he heard and saw after walking up to old man bobs back door. I heard commotion coming from the alley behind bobs house. I saw four africanamerican males hopping over the chainlink fence from the alley and they were running towards the house. Okay. Then what happened next . I saw a larger africanamerican male with what appeared to be a shotgun and then i saw another africanamerican male with a handgun, told us to get the [ bleep ] out of there. What did you do then . I proceeded to turn around and run as fast as i could. Did you hear anything . As i was turning to run, i did hear a gunshot. Were you scared . Im still scared. Have you ever been afraid like that after that . When i was in combat. Are you telling the truth . Yes, maam. And why are you you here . Because theres two innocent people that objection. But then it was the prosecutions turn and wayne county assistant d. A. Made it perfectly clear she didnt believe all those new witnesses coming forward to tell the story or what they said in their sworn statements, which she picked apart word by word. No, maam. Thats not correct. Oh, its not correct. So your affidavit is wrong . The assistant d. A. Went methodically through the testimony of each witness and suggested, sometimes gently, sometimes not, that they were all lying, had concocted the whole story to help free tommy and ray highers. Arent they friends with you on facebook . My understanding is that no, no, listen to me question. Arent they friend with you on facebook . Yes or no . Well, i would say no judge but said tommy and rays attorneys it was the assistant d. A. Who concocted a story. The prosecution had nothing to contradict our theory, absolutely nothing. When you have nothing, you concoct something. And so what they concocted was a grand conspiracy theory. Did that surprise you . It did. To have people who are unconnected to the defendants to come together in this huge conspiracy to cook this up doesnt make sense. But in the end, it was up to the judge to decide if the new evidence was cooked up, as the prosecutor claimed, or compelling enough to give the highers brothers their first shot at freedom in 25 years. Coming up thinking oh, my god, were losing, oh, my god were winning, oh, my god were losing. The judge rules. Will the highers brothers get a Second Chance . Well fight and face whatever has to come. When dateline continues. Being the new kid on the block can be intimidating. Take your kids on a walk through the online neighborhood. Show them sites you feel are acceptable. Teach them how to deal with cyber bullies and encourage them to navigate safely. The more you know. By the summer of 2012, tommy and ray highers had been fight to go clear their names for 25 years. And now judge lawrence talon had heard all the new evidence. This was the moment. This is the courts decision on the defendants motion for relief from judgment. With all the history, the legalese, the new evidence, the witnesses. The prosecutors were meticulous in pointing out inconsistency and differences in testimony. It took the judge two full hours to explain the basis for his decision. The reasons, he said, he had no choice but to rule a particular way. Oh, my nerves were like shaken. As tommy and ray, their courtroom full of family and friends and attorneys agonized, some felt almost ill. Just sitting through the ruling almost killed me. Im thinking oh, my god were losing. Oh, my god were winning, oh, my god were losing. Until the judge finally said the words. This evidence meets all the requirements for this court to grant the requested relief by the defense. [ applause ] all right. A weight just fell off my shoulders. It was just finally, thank you. Thank you. Everybody was hugging. It was a joyous scene. You would think, looking at this, that tommy and ray highers had just been declared innocent of the murder of old man bob. But that is not what happened. Not even two weeks later when the judge decided to release the brothers on bond to await trial. [ applause ] and tommy and Raymond Highers walked out of jail for the first time in more than 25 years. It certainly felt like victory, looked like victory. It was like someone had hit a grand slam at the ballpark. Oh, my god. Oh, man. Heres my wonderful attorney. Ill tell you now. Hey, she is the bomb. But tommy and ray highers were merely men on bail awaiting trial for murder. A trial the prosecution gave every indication it was especially determined to win. And thus send these two men right back where they came from, state prison. Whats it like to be sitting here talking about whats happened to you . You cant even put it into words, the feeling that goes through you. Which gave us a chance to talk to them as they prepared for their biggest fight yet for exoneration and they hoped, permanent freedom. Well fight and well face whatever has to come. Here they told us their version of what happened the night old man bob was killed. We got involved in things we shouldnt have been, buying drugs. That was the main thing. And that night, june 26, 1987, the brothers did, indeed, go over to bobs house they said. Saw the police were there and assumed we figured he was being raided. Thats exactly what we thought. He was being raided. Never even stopped. There was so much police out there that we just kept going. It never occurred to us that he was murdered. Right. A week later, they were under arrest. Walked in there and never walked out. They were 21 and 22 when they went in. But now they said they are not the same men as they were then and that that is a good thing. Im not ashamed of being in prison because prison made thats who i am today. Prison made this man. My morals, my integrity. I mean, in a way a positive experience and yet one you wouldnt wish on your worst enemy . Right, exactly. You still hold on to the light and you push forward every day. Whats on the agenda today, guys . After their release, they moved in with their aunt jan and wore electronic tethers to monitor their whereabouts, mandated by the court. They were like rip van winkles awakened to the real world. Learning to use cell phones, getting their drivers licenses. Waiting to get that all my life. First one ive ever had. And getting up in the morning and going to work. Ray at an industrial heating and cooling company. Tommy head of maintenance at an apartment complex. At the very same time, the wayne county Prosecutors Office was preparing its case against them to put them back into prison for life. Preparing it as we sat here talking. Though, as the brothers told us here, the d. A. Has put an offer on the table, they can keep their freedom if they agree to one condition. What plea are they offering . For us to plead guilty and we get time served. Would you . No. We stood on our innocence and we screamed it from the top of our lungs for 25 years. For the people that got behind us and believed in us, for us to do that would just be like a slap in their face and then it would just tear my integrity right out of my body. So were innocent. Nothing is going to change that. There will be people in the audience who will still believe you did it. Sure. I mean, you cant convince everybody. Youre kind of used to that now. Sure. All we want to do is convince 12. Those 12 would be the jurors sitting in judgment at their upcoming retrial for murder. Tommy and ray highers were going back to court to see if free men they would remain. Coming up a courtroom game of chicken. Who blinked first . It was really disingenuous. Its such a polite word. What does it really mean . Its such a polite word. What does it really mean . It means th safeway understands you got to make every dollar count these days. Thats why they have lots of ways for you to save. Real big club card deals, the safeway app and gas rewards. School is in and so are the savings. Pretty lady green grapes are just 1. 99 a pound. Kids love kraft mac cheese. Youll love that its 79¢ a box. And grab capri sun for just 1. 88. Theres more savings to love. At safeway. Ingredients for life. The hall of justice was waiting again for tommy and ray highers. The very place they were sent away in the first place. I hate going into the courtroom, i hate going to the courthouse, i hate parking in the parking lot to get to the courthouse. You know what i mean . Its like i just but its something that we got to deal with. Its going to be headon. As we talked, two weeks before the scheduled start of their trial, the wayne county Prosecutors Office was forging ahead, once again charging the brothers with the murder of robert karey, old man bob. How nervous are you about this . Of course, youre going to be nervous. Your lives are in other peoples hands still. For the past several months, tommy and rays Defense Attorneys had been attending pretrial hearings, sending motions back and forth as lawyers do, all the while hoping the d. A. Would come to see it their way and simply drop the charges. I was confident it was a game of chicken. With each legal step in the march towards trial, they were disappointed. The d. A. Had seemed perfectly clear was very serious. All rise. Then just a few days after our interview with the brothers, september 2013, everyone assembled in the courtroom. Assistant d. A. Reynolds had something to say. Your honor, at this time based on consultation with prosecutor worthy, based on communications with the decedents family, based on recognition of what 26 years can do to the trial nlt of the case, we would move to dismiss the case against the defendants at this point in time. And that was it. Case dismissed. No new trial. Its not often that you get to give somebody their life back. Thats what we did, we gave them their lives back. It was incredible. It was incredible. But before they all left the courtroom, the prosecutor pointedly reserved the right to refile murder charges if new evidence ever surfaces. Are you going to allow this to hang over your head for the rest of their lives . Absolutely not. We havent done that in the last year. We moved on. Weve moved on in life. Were going to continue to do that. The wayne county prosecutor, kym worthy who declined a request for an interview, took a parting shot at the brothers. Issued a statement saying, just as we did 26 years ago, we firmly believe in the evidence in this case. We have worked diligently to bring this case to trial. With the passage of time, it is an unfortunate reality that this case cannot be put back together and we must dismiss it. Sadly, in this case justice was not done. Really . Said the people who freed tommy and ray. It was really disingenuous. It was not right. Disingenuous is such a polite word. What does it really mean . It means they were saving face. It puts a stain on them that they dont deserve. They have the stain of 25 years in prison for a crime they didnt commit. Then you have the Prosecutors Office saying yeah, right. Kind of like we still think theyre guilty. What did tommy and ray highers get for their 25 years in prison . For all the agony they had been through, damage to their reputations, the loss of a chance to have a normal life for all those years, what do they get in return . They get nothing. Michigan doesnt have a Wrongful Conviction compensation statute. They walk out of prison with absolutely nothing. Nothing except, of course, everything. Including the chance to celebrate with the people who helped free them. Mary whose Facebook Post started it all. Could you ever imagine you would actually cause such a thing . No. No, not in a million years. Its hard to get my head around it. Its just awesome feeling. Sure. Kevin, who still shies away from taking credit. I happen to be a lawyer. It doesnt seem that extraordinary to me. And john held shire who can finally put the past where it belongs, behind him. Like i told them, i wish i could have done something earlier, you wouldnt have had to sit there so many years. Tommy looked at me, gave a me hug and he said, its the way it was supposed to happen. It had to happen like this. Yeah. They dont seem bitter at all. Not when i met them. Just glad theyre home and theyre out and theyre free. Free men who know none of it would have happened without family, friends, that dream team of lawyers an investigator and, of course, facebook. What would you like to say to those people who helped you along the way . Thank you you from the bottom of our hearts for believing, understanding and taking the time that most people dont do. Its like a dream come true for us because its what weve always been hoping for. Somebody to help us. Thats why we want to live and move forward. Its gone, its the past. Move on to better days. Thats all for this edition of right now at 11 00, autistic boy is safe and sound tonight. He disappeared from his home yesterday morning. Its been almost four years since this explosion and fire that destroyed an entire san bruno neighborhood. Hear from city leaders who say they are still recovering. A shocking attack in the hills of silicon valley. Mountain lion goes after a 6yearold boy in the middle of the day. Live with why trappers say this wild animal is posing a serious threat. Were following a developing story. Parents fight off a