When the only way to go free is to plead guilty

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the real murderer is laughing their socks off. can you imagine doing something so terrible, and 2 other people take the blame! and it all started over a 1000 dollar reward

Am I supposed to feel sorry for Thompson? Because I do not.
Feel bad for Owens, though.

So two innocent people went to jail for more than two decades because one was a greedy liar.

Owens better get MILLIONS not a couple hundred thousand.

It is alarming, how the police just believes some random idiot and his incoherent story to imprison an innocent man..

Screw Thompson. He got himself in the situation by criminally misleading the original investigators and implicating an innocent man for murder in order to get $1000... anyone who says he's over-punished for "a simple lie" and/or "we all lie" is extremely misguided. Think about this, if you spent two decades in prison for someone's "simple lie" would you feel they should be given any leeway?

Happy he is apologetic towards Owens, but what about the family of the victim? He basically robbed them of justice over $1k.

Alford-plea should be unconstitutional. You can’t on one hand be able to plea the fifth but on the other hand force someone to say something they didn’t do to for the prosecutor to get an easier trial.

The most expensive $1,000 ever.

SO basically, an Alfred Plea is a manipulation of the system by which the State gets to save face and technically keep a win on the books by telling a wrongfully convicted man that we will free you right now if you plead guilty and give us a win on the books, else face years more in jail while your trail happens, and the crime in question remains unsolved in reality. That seems to be like textbook case of corrupting a system by designing loopholes that hides the State's mistakes and allows crimes to go unsolved.
As for Thompson, He lies about finding the murder knife to earn a quick $1000, then gets into the thick of it by changing his story many times, gets convicted for the murder instead of just perjury and falsifying evidence AND then takes the plea bargain that would label him a felon even though he is innocent of the murder. Ain't got the brightest bulb on his shoulders, does he?

Who's more to blame - a lower-class gasoline attendant who tried to make a quick $1000 and settle a score, or PROFESSIONAL investigators and prosecutors who knew his story was implausible and inconsistent and therefore made him a prime suspect? And then somehow convicted two men who were never at the scene of the crime?
And James Owens should be getting something like $20 million, not $100k. He needs a good lawyer on his team right now, if he doesn't already have one working overtime to get him paid (and get the lawyer paid).

Imagine spending half of your life in jail because your greedy friend framed you for a just $1000 🤦‍♂️

Goes to show that the state doesn’t really care about solving the crime and catching the ACTUAL perpetrator. They just want the record to show someone was officially found guilty.

Kept thinking owens was james franco

I don't feel bad for that guy. A permanent felony might be a little much, but he lied in court that led to a man (and himself) spending 20+ years in prison.

He's annoyed they never caught the real murderer, when in reality his lie is probably the biggest reason they never did. I do feel really sorry for Owens, but the other guy went to jail while trying to incriminate his totally innocent friend and make a quick buck. While also letting a real murderer get away. Don't get me wrong the police should have done a better job, but that doesn't absolve him.

Why did it take 16 months for Owen to get a day in court? Evidence used to convict him (if I followed this correctly) was found to be invalid, shouldn't that be enough to free him automatically?

This guy, who planted the knife deserved every Year he sat behind bars. Not only did he destroy the live of an innocent man, but also allowed the real murderer to get away, due to the police not making further investigations.