THE DIFFERENCE A MILLION MAKES

Though Federico Martinez Macias spent almost 10 years on death row in Texas, the case against him was never strong. He was charged with a double murder arising from a 1983 El Paso burglary. The prime witness was himself a suspect, who was allowed to plead to a lesser charge for testifying against Macias. This man first told a grand jury that he had waited in a car while Macias committed the crime. But when confronted with evidence to the contrary -- including a failed polygraph test -- he subsequently admitted that he had gone into the victims' home and tied...