In 1976 and 1977, three key prosecution witnesses recanted their testimony. In 1977 "60 Minutes" aired a special about the case, suggesting that the evidence against the Wilmington Ten was fabricated. In 1978, the "New York Times" reporter Wayne King published an investigatory article; based on testimony of a witness whose anonymity he protected, he said that perhaps the prosecution had framed a guilty man, as his source said that he had committed the crimes at the behest of Chavis. In 1978 Governor Jim Hunt reduced the sentences of the Ten.