West Memphis 3
Encyclopedia
The West Memphis Three are three men who were tried and convicted as teenagers in 1994 of the 1993 murders of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas
. Damien Echols was sentenced to death
, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. was sentenced to life imprisonment
plus two 20-year sentences, and Jason Baldwin was sentenced to life imprisonment
. During the trial, the prosecution asserted that the children were killed as part of a satanic ritual
. A number of documentaries have been based on the case, and celebrities and musicians have held fund raisers in the belief that they are innocent.
In July 2007, new forensic evidence was presented in the case and a status report jointly issued by the State and the Defense team stated, "Although most of the genetic material
recovered from the scene was attributable to the victims of the offenses, some of it cannot be attributed to either the victims or the defendants." On October 29, 2007, the defense filed a Second Amended Writ of Habeas Corpus, outlining the new evidence.
After a series of appeals regarding the DNA evidence, including an argument before the Arkansas Supreme Court
in 2010, the West Memphis Three reached a deal
with prosecutors. On August 19, 2011, they entered Alford plea
s, which allow them to assert their innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them. Judge David Laser accepted the pleas and sentenced the three to time served. They were released with ten-year suspended sentence
s, having served 18 years and 78 days in prison.
A more thorough police search for the children began around 8:00 a.m. on the morning of May 6, led by the Crittenden County Search and Rescue personnel. Searchers canvassed all of West Memphis, but focused primarily on Robin Hood Hills, where the boys were reported last seen. Despite a human chain making a shoulder-to-shoulder search of Robin Hood Hills, searchers found no sign of the missing boys.
Around 1:45 p.m., juvenile Parole Officer Steve Jones spotted a boy's black shoe floating in a muddy creek that led to a major drainage canal in Robin Hood Hills. A subsequent search of the ditch revealed the bodies of three boys. They were stripped naked and had been hogtie
d with their own shoelaces: their right ankles tied to their right wrists behind their backs, the same with their left arms and legs. Their clothing was found in the creek, some of it twisted around sticks that had been thrust into the muddy ditch bed. The clothing was mostly turned inside-out; two pairs of the boys' underwear were never recovered. Christopher Byers had lacerations to various parts of his body, and mutilation of his scrotum and penis.
The autopsies, by the forensic pathologist Frank J. Peretti, indicated that Byers died of "multiple injuries", while Moore and Branch died of "multiple injuries with drowning".
Police initially suspected the boys had been rape
d; however, later expert testimony disputed this finding despite trace amounts of sperm DNA found on a pair of pants recovered from the scene. Prosecution experts claim Byers' wounds were the results of a knife attack and that he had been purposely castrated
by the murderer; defense experts claim the injuries were more probably the result of post-mortem animal predation. Police believed the boys were assaulted and killed at the location where they were found; critics argued that the assault, at least, was unlikely to have occurred at the creek.
Byers was the only victim with drugs in his system; he was prescribed Ritalin(methylphenidate) in January 1993, as part of an attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
treatment. The initial autopsy report describes the drug as Carbamazepine
, and that dosage was found to be at sub-therapeutic level. John Mark Byers said that Christopher Byers may not have taken his prescription on May 5, 1993.
Stevie Edward Branch
Stevie Edward Branch was the son of Steven and Pamela Branch, who divorced when he was an infant. His mother was awarded custody and later married Terry Hobbs. Branch was eight-years-old, 4 ft. 2 tall, weighed 65 lbs, and had blonde hair. He was last seen in blue jeans, white t-shirt on a black and red bicycle. He was an honor student. He lived with his mother, Pamela Hobbs, his stepfather, Terry Hobbs, and a four-year-old stepsister, Amanda.
Christopher Byers
Christopher Byers was born to Melissa DeFir and Ricky Murray. His parents divorced when he was four years old; shortly after, his mother married John Mark Byers who adopted the boy. Byers was eight-years-old, 4 ft. tall, weighed 52 lbs, and had light brown hair. He was last seen in blue jeans, dark shoes, and white long sleeve shirt. He lived with his mother, Sharon Melissa Byers, his stepfather, John Mark Byers, and his stepbrother, Shawn Ryan Clark, aged 13. According to his mother, he was a typical eight-year-old. "He still believed in the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus".
Michael Moore
Michael Moore was the son of Todd and Dana Moore. He was eight-years-old, 4 ft. 2 tall, weighed 55 lbs, and had brown hair. He was last seen in blue pants, blue Boy Scouts of America shirt, orange and blue Boy Scout hat on a light green bicycle. Moore enjoyed wearing his scout uniform even when he was not at meetings. He was considered the leader of the three. He lived with his parents and his nine-year-old sister, Dawn.
Baldwin and Echols had been arrested for vandalism
and shoplifting
, respectively, and Misskelley had a reputation for his temper and for engaging in fistfights with other teenagers at school. Misskelley and Echols had dropped out of high school; however, Baldwin earned high grades and demonstrated a talent for drawing and sketching, and was encouraged by one of his teachers to study graphic design
in college. Echols and Baldwin were close friends, and bonded over their similar tastes in music and fiction, and over their shared distaste for the prevailing cultural climate of West Memphis, situated in the Bible Belt
. Baldwin and Echols were acquainted with Misskelley from school, but were not close friends with him.
Echols' family was poor, with frequent visits from social work
ers, and he rarely attended school. He had run off with an early girlfriend. The pair later broke into a trailer during a rain storm and were arrested, though only Echols was charged with burglary
. Police heard rumors that the young lovers had planned to have a child and sacrifice the infant; based on this story, they had Echols institutionalized for psychiatric evaluation. Echols denied allegations that he had chased a younger child with an ax, but did admit to attempting to remove a classmate's eyeball and while detained reportedly sucked blood from another boy's arm. He was diagnosed as depressed
and suicidal
, and was prescribed the antidepressant
imipramine
. Subsequent testing demonstrated poor mathematical skills, but also showed that Echols ranked above average in reading and verbal skills.
Echols spent several months in a mental institution in Arkansas, and afterward received "full disability" status from the Social Security Administration
. During Echols' trial, Dr. George W. Woods testified (for the defense) that Echols suffered from:
At his death penalty sentencing hearing, Echols' psychologist reported that months before the murders, Echols claimed that he obtained super powers by drinking human blood.
At the time of his arrest, Echols was working part-time with a roofing company and expecting a child with his new girlfriend, Domini Teer.
, four days after the bodies were discovered. Morgan was presumed to be at least casually familiar with all three murdered boys, having previously driven an ice cream truck route in their neighborhood.
Arrested in Oceanside on May 17, 1993, Morgan and Holland both took polygraph
exams administered by California police. Examiners reported that both men's charts indicated deception when they denied involvement in the murders. During subsequent questioning, Morgan claimed a long history of drug and alcohol use, along with blackouts and memory lapses. He furthermore claimed that he "might have" killed the victims but quickly recanted this part of his statement.
California police sent blood and urine samples from Morgan and Holland to the WMPD, but there is no indication WMPD investigated Morgan or Holland as suspects following their arrest in California. The relevance of Morgan's recanted statement would later be debated in trial, but was eventually barred from admission as evidence.
restaurant
about a mile from the crime scene (a direct route through the bayou where the children were found) in Robin Hood Hills reported seeing a black male "dazed and covered with blood and mud" inside the ladies' room of the restaurant. Defense attorneys later referred to this man as "Mr. Bojangles
." The man was bleeding from his arm and had brushed it against the walls of the restroom. The man had also defecated on himself and on the floor. The police were called, and Officer Regina Meeks responded (by inquiring at the drive through window
) about 45 minutes later. By then, the man had left and police did not enter the restroom on that date.
The following day when the victims' bodies were found, Bojangles' manager Marty King, thinking there was a possible connection between the bloody, disoriented man and the killings, called police twice to inform them of his suspicions. According to Regina Meeks' testimony during the Echols/Baldwin Trial, after the second telephone call, police gathered evidence from the restroom. Investigators wore their same shoes and clothes from the Robin Hood Hills crime scene into the Bojangles restaurant bathroom, conceivably contaminating that scene. Police detective Bryn Ridge later stated he lost the blood scrapings taken from the walls and tiles of the restroom. A hair identified as belonging to a black male was later recovered from a sheet which was used to wrap one of the victims.
examination, he denied any involvement. The polygraph examiner claimed that Echols' chart indicated deception. On 9 May, during a formal interview by Detective Bryn Ridge, Echols mentioned that one of the victims had wounds to the genitals, and this was felt to be incriminating knowledge.
After a month had passed with little progress in the case police continued to focus their investigation upon Echols, interrogating him more frequently than any other person; however, they claimed he was not regarded as a direct suspect but a source of information.
On June 3 police interrogated Jessie Misskelley Jr. Misskelley, whose IQ was reported to be 72 (making him borderline intellectual functioning
), was questioned alone; his parents were not present during the interrogation. Misskelley's father gave permission for Misskelley to go with police, but did not explicitly give permission for his minor
son to be questioned or interrogated. Misskelley was questioned for roughly twelve hours; only two segments, totaling 46 minutes, were recorded. Misskelley quickly recanted his confession, citing intimidation, coercion, fatigue, and veiled threats from police.
Misskelley was a minor
when he was questioned, and though informed of his Miranda
rights, he later claimed he did not fully understand them. The Arkansas Supreme Court determined that Misskelley's confession was voluntary and that he did, in fact, understand the Miranda warning and its consequences. Misskelley specifically said he was "scared of the police" during his first confession. Portions of Misskelley's statements to the police were leaked to the press and reported on the front page of the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper before any of the trials began.
Shortly after Misskelley's original confession, police arrested Echols and his close friend Baldwin. Eight months after his original confession, on February 17, 1994, Misskelley made another statement to police with his lawyer Dan Stidham in the room continually advising Misskelley not to say anything. Misskelley ignored this advice continually and went on to detail how the boys were abused and murdered. Stidham, who was later elected to a municipal judgeship, has written a detailed critique of what he asserts are major police errors and misconceptions during their investigation.
On May 6, 1993 (the day the murder victims were found), Hutcheson took a polygraph
exam by Detective Don Bray at the Marion Police Department to determine if she had stolen money from her West Memphis employer. Hutcheson's young son, Aaron, was also present, and proved such a distraction that Bray was unable to administer the polygraph. Aaron, a playmate of the murdered boys, mentioned to Bray that the boys had been killed at "the playhouse." When the bodies proved to have been discovered near where Aaron indicated, Bray asked Aaron for further details, and Aaron claimed that he had witnessed the murders committed by Satanists who spoke Spanish
. Aaron's further statements were wildly inconsistent, and he was unable to identify Baldwin, Echols or Misskelley from photo line-ups, and there was no "playhouse" at the location Aaron indicated. A police officer leaked portions of Aaron's statements to the press contributing to the growing belief that the murders were part of a satanic rite.
On or about June 1, 1993, Hutcheson agreed to police suggestions to place hidden microphones in her home during an encounter with Echols. Misskelley agreed to introduce Hutcheson to Echols. During their conversation, Hutcheson reported that Echols made no incriminating statements. Police said the recording was "inaudible", but Hutcheson claimed the recording was audible. On June 2, 1993, Hutcheson told police that about two weeks after the murders were committed, she, Echols and Misskelley attended a Wicca
n meeting in Turrell, Arkansas
. Hutcheson claimed that, at the Wiccan meeting, a drunken Echols openly bragged about killing the three boys. Misskelley was first questioned on June 3, 1993, a day after Hutcheson's purported confession. Hutcheson was unable to recall the Wiccan meeting location, and did not name any other participants of the purported meeting. Hutcheson was never charged with theft. She claimed she implicated Echols and Misskelley to avoid facing criminal charges and to obtain a reward for the discovery of the murderers.
Misskelley's trial
During Misskelley's trial, Dr. Richard Ofshe
, an expert on false confessions and police coercion and Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley
, testified that the brief recording of Misskelley's interrogation was a "classic example" of police coercion
. Critics have also stated that Misskelley's "confessions" were in many respects inconsistent with themselves and the particulars of the crime scene and murder victims, including (for example) an "admission" that Misskelley "watched Damien rape one of the boys." Police had initially suspected that the victims has been raped because their anuses were dilated. However there was no forensic evidence indicating that the murdered boys had been raped and dilated anus
es are a normal post-mortem condition.
On February 5, 1994, Misskelley was convicted by a jury of one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder. The court sentenced him to life plus 40 years in prison. His conviction was appealed and affirmed by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
Echols and Baldwin's trial
Three weeks later Echols and Baldwin went on trial where the prosecution accused the three of committing a Satanic murder. The prosecution called Dale W. Griffis, a graduate of Columbia Pacific University
, as an expert in the occult to testify the murders were a Satanic ritual. On March 19, 1994 Echols and Baldwin were found guilty on three counts of murder. The court sentenced Echols to death and Baldwin to life in prison.
At trial, the defense team argued that news articles from the time could have been the source for Echols' knowledge about the genital mutilation, but the prosecution claimed that Echols' knowledge, which Echols said was limited to what was "on TV", was nonetheless too close to the actual facts, since there was no public knowledge of drowning or that one victim had been mutilated more than the others. Echols testified that Ridge's description of the conversation (which was not recorded) regarding those particular details was inaccurate (and indeed that some other claims by Ridge were "lies"). The author Leveritt argues that Echols' information may have come from police leaks, such as Detective Gitchell's comments to Mark Byers, that then circulated amongst the local public. On cross-examination of Echols the prosecution attempted to raise the topic of his past violent behaviours, but the defense team argued that that the behaviours were irrelevant or too remote in time.
. Misskelley's former attorney Dan Stidham cites multiple substantial police errors at the crime scene, characterizing it as "literally trampled, especially the creek bed." The bodies, he said, had been removed from the water before the coroner arrived to examine the scene and determine the state of rigor mortis
, allowing the bodies to decay on the creek bank, and to be exposed to sunlight and insects. The police did not telephone the coroner until almost two hours after the discovery of the floating shoe, resulting in a late appearance by the coroner. Officials failed to drain the creek in a timely manner and secure possible evidence in the water (the creek was sandbagged after the bodies were pulled from the water). Stidham calls the coroner's investigation "extremely substandard." There was a small amount of blood found at the scene that was never tested. According to HBO's documentaries Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
(1996) and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations
(2000), no blood was found at the crime scene, indicating that the location where the bodies were found was not necessarily the location in which the murders actually happened. After the initial investigation, the police failed to control disclosure of information and speculation about the crime scene.
According to Mara Leveritt, investigative journalist and author of Devil's Knot, "Police records were a mess. To call them disorderly would be putting it mildly." Leveritt speculated that the small local police force was overwhelmed by the crime, which was unlike any they had ever investigated. Police refused an unsolicited offer of aid and consultation from the violent crimes experts of the Arkansas State Police
, and critics suggested this was due to the WMPD being investigated by the Arkansas State Police for suspected theft from the Crittenden County drug task force. Leveritt further noted that some of the physical evidence was stored in paper sacks obtained from a supermarket (with the supermarket's name pre-printed on the bags) rather than in containers of known and controlled origin.
Leveritt also mistakenly presumed that the crime scene video was shot minutes after Detectives Mike Allen and Bryn Ridge recovered two of the bodies, when in fact the camera was not available for almost thirty minutes afterward.
When police speculated about the assailant, the juvenile probation officer assisting at the scene of the murders speculated that Echols was "capable" of committing the murders, stating "it looks like Damien Echols finally killed someone."
Brent Turvey, a Forensic Scientist and Criminal Profiler, stated in the film Paradise Lost 2 that human bite marks could have been left on at least one of the victims. However, these potential bite marks were first noticed in photographs years after the trials and were not inspected by a board-certified medical examiner until four years after the murders. The defense's expert testified that the mark in question was not an adult bite mark, while experts put on by the State concluded that there was no bite mark at all. The State's experts had examined the actual bodies for any marks and others conducted expert photo analysis of injuries. Upon further examination, it was concluded that if the marks were bite marks, they did not match the teeth of any of the three convicted.
, disallowed presentation of this information in his court. This ruling was in turn thrown out by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
The knife of John Mark Byers (1993)
John Mark Byers, the adoptive father of victim Christopher Byers, gave a knife to cameraman Doug Cooper, who was working with documentary makers Joe Berlinger
and Bruce Sinofsky while they were filming the first Paradise Lost
feature. The knife was a folding hunting knife
, manufactured by Kershaw
. According to the statements given by Berlinger and Sinofsky, Cooper informed them of his receipt of the knife on December 19, 1993. After the documentary crew returned to New York, Berlinger and Sinofsky reported to have discovered what appeared to be blood on the knife. HBO executives ordered them to return the knife to the West Memphis Police Department. The knife was not received at the West Memphis Police Department until January 8, 1994.
Byers initially claimed the knife had never been used. Blood was found on the knife and Byers then stated that he had used it only once, to cut deer meat. When told the blood matched both his and Chris' blood type, Byers said he had no idea how that blood might have gotten on the knife. During interrogation, West Memphis police suggested to Byers that he might have left the knife out accidentally, and Byers agreed with this. Byers later stated that he may have cut his thumb. Further testing on the knife produced inconclusive results, due in part to the rather small amount of blood, and because both John Mark Byers and Chris Byers had the same HLA
-DQα genotype.
John Mark Byers agreed to, and subsequently passed, a polygraph test during the filming of Paradise Lost 2: Revelations in regard to the murders, but the documentary indicated that Byers was under the influence of several psychoactive prescription medications that could have affected the test results. During the filming of the show, Byers also volunteered his false teeth when presented with the challenge he had bitten the boys' bodies, although at the time of the murders he had his original teeth, which he later had voluntarily extracted, and later claimed there was a medical reason for the procedure.
Possible teeth imprints
As documented in Paradise Lost 2, Echols, Misskelley and Baldwin submitted imprints of their teeth (after their imprisonment) that were compared to apparent bite-marks on Stevie Branch's forehead, initially overlooked in the original autopsy and trial. No matches were found. According to the film, Byers had his teeth removed in 1997—after the first trial. He has offered apparently contradictory reasons for their removal: in one instance claiming they were knocked out in a fight, in another saying the medication he was taking, Tegretol
, not known for this side effect, made them fall out, and in yet another claiming that he had long planned to have them removed so as to obtain dentures.
After an expert examined autopsy photos and noted what he thought might be the imprint of a belt buckle on Byers' corpse, the elder Byers revealed to the police that he had spanked his stepson shortly before the boy disappeared.
Vicki Hutcheson recants
In October 2003, Vicki Hutcheson, who played a part in the arrests of Misskelley, Echols and Baldwin, but did not testify at the trial, gave an interview to the Arkansas Times
in which she stated that every word she had given to the police was a fabrication. She further asserted that the police had insinuated if she did not cooperate with them they would take away her child. She noted that when she visited the police station they had photographs of Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley on the wall and were using them as dart
targets. She also claims that an audio tape the police claimed was "unintelligible" (and eventually lost) was perfectly clear and contained no incriminating statements.
DNA testing and new physical evidence (2007–2010)
In 2007, DNA collected from the crime scene was tested. None was found to match DNA from Echols, Baldwin, nor Misskelley. In addition, a hair "not inconsistent with" Terry Hobbs, stepfather to Stevie Branch, was found tied into the knots used to bind one of the victims. The prosecutors, while conceding that no DNA evidence ties the accused to the crime scene, said that, "The State stands behind its convictions of Echols and his codefendants."
On October 29, 2007 papers were filed in federal court by Damien Echols' defense lawyers seeking a retrial or his immediate release from prison. The filing cited DNA evidence linking Terry Hobbs (stepfather of one of the victims) to the crime scene, and new statements from Hobbs' now ex-wife. Also presented in the filing was new expert testimony that the alleged knife marks on the victims were the result of animal predation after the bodies had been dumped. This included the injuries to Byers' genitals.
On September 10, 2008 Circuit Court Judge David Burnett denied the request for a retrial, citing the DNA tests as inconclusive. That ruling was appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments in the case on September 30, 2010.
Foreman and jury misconduct (2008)
In July 2008, it was revealed that Kent Arnold, the jury foreman on the Echols/Baldwin trial, discussed the case with an attorney prior to the beginning of deliberations and advocated for the guilt of the West Memphis Three as a result of the inadmissible Jessie Misskelley statements. Legal experts have agreed that this issue has the strong potential to result in the reversal of the convictions of Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols.
In October 2008, Attorney (now Judge) Daniel Stidham, who represented Jessie Misskelley in 1994, testified at a postconviction relief hearing. Stidham testified under oath that, during the trial, Judge David Burnett approached the then-deliberating jury in the Misskelley matter at approximately 11:50 a.m. and advised them they would be breaking for lunch. When the foreman answered, "We may almost be done," Judge Burnett responded, "Well, you'll still have to return for sentencing." When the foreman asked, "What if we find him not guilty?" Judge Burnett closed the door without answering. Stidham testified that his failure to request a mistrial based on this exchange was ineffective assistance of counsel
and that Misskelley's conviction should therefore be vacated.
ordered a lower judge to consider whether newly-analyzed DNA evidence might exonerate the three. The justices also said a lower court must examine claims of misconduct by the jurors who sentenced Damien Echols to death and Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin to life in prison.
In early December 2010, Circuit Court Judge David Laser was selected to replace David Burnett, who was elected to the Arkansas State Senate, as judge in the appeal hearings.
deal, a rare legal mechanism in which "no contest
" pleas are entered but innocence is nevertheless maintained. An Alford plea concedes that prosecutors have sufficient evidence to secure a conviction but reserves the right to assert innocence. Stephen Braga, a prominent attorney with Ropes & Gray who took up Echols’s defense on a pro bono basis beginning in 2009, negotiated the plea agreement with prosecutors. Under the deal, Judge David Laser vacated the previous convictions, including the capital murder convictions for Echols and Baldwin, and ordered a new trial. Each man then entered an Alford plea to lesser charges of first and second degree murder while verbally stating their innocence. Judge Laser then sentenced them to time served
, a total of 18 years and 78 days, and they were given a Suspended Imposition of Sentence for 10 years. If they re-offend they can be sent back to prison for 21 years.
The Alford plea deal meant that the hearing ordered by the Arkansas Supreme Court in November 2010, scheduled for December 2011 before Judge Laser, became unnecessary. Factors cited by prosecutor Scott Ellington for agreeing to the plea deal included the fact that two of the victims' families have joined forces with the defense, the mother of a witness who testified about Echols's confession has questioned her daughter's truthfulness, and the State Crime Lab employee who collected fiber evidence at the Echols and Baldwin homes after their arrests has died. As part of the plea deal, they can not pursue civil litigation against any of the police officers or prosecutors involved in their case and they can not make money off their story.
The plea deal caused outrage in the supporters and people who believe in their guilt . Supporters petitioned the Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe to pardon Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley based on the DNA. Beebe denied the request but promised to reconsider once the DNA testing is complete and points to another suspect . Prosecutor Scott Ellington has recently said the Arkansas state crime laboratory will run tests on the DNA evidence once the defense's laboratory has completed theirs. This will include running the results through the FBI's Combined DNA Index System database and cross-checks with DNA from police on the crime scene and from lab employees. Ellington said that although he still considered the men guilty, the three would likely be acquitted if a new trial were held "given the prominent lawyers now representing them, the fact that evidence has decayed or disappeared over time and the death or change of heart of several witnesses." He said that if the DNA points to another suspect, he will fully exonerate them and pursue the other suspect. In a September 29, 2011, interview, Echols said that they can be fully exonerated if they find the real culprit and can be pardoned by the Governor of Arkansas. According to Governor Mike Beebe, they can not be pardoned unless they serve their full 10 year suspended sentence, and if the DNA is matched to another's, he will make arrangements to pardon them. However, he said that until then, he will believe they are guilty because they were found guilty by a jury.
In 2010, district Judge Brian S. Miller ordered Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of victim Stevie Branch, to pay $17,590 to Dixie Chicks
singer Natalie Maines
for legal costs stemming from a defamation lawsuit he filed against the band. Miller dismissed a suit Hobbs filed over Maines's remarks at a 2007 Little Rock rally implying he was involved in killing his stepson. The judge said Hobbs had voluntarily injected himself into a public controversy over whether three teenagers convicted of killing the three 8-year-old boys had been wrongfully condemned.
John E. Douglas
, a former longtime FBI agent who has interviewed the country's most prolific serial killers during his years with the FBI and works as a profiler to help police in their searches for violent criminals, said the slayings of the three West Memphis boys weren't the work of three unsophisticated teenage killers, but that of a single person who set out to taunt and "punish" the victims. Douglas was formerly FBI Unit Chief of the Investigative Support Unit of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime
for 25 years. Douglas stated in his report for Echols' legal team that there was no evidence for Satanic ritual involvement in the killings and agreed with the post-mortem animal predation explanation for the alleged knife injuries. Douglas believed that the perpetrator had a violent history and was familiar with the victims and geography. He stated that the victims had died from a combination of blunt force trauma wounds and drowning in a personal cause driven crime.
, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations
, and the upcoming Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
, directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
have documented this case and were strongly critical of the verdict. The movie marked the first time Metallica
allowed their music to be used in a movie, which drew attention to the case.
There have been a number of books, including Blood of Innocents by Guy Reel, The Last Pentacle of the Sun: Writings in Support of the West Memphis Three, edited by Brett Alexander Savory & M. W. Anderson, featuring dark fiction and non-fiction by well-known speculative fiction writers, and Devil's Knot by Mara Leveritt, which also argue that the suspects were wrongly convicted. In 2005, Damien Echols completed his memoir, Almost Home, Vol 1, offering his perspective of the case. A forthcoming book by Greg Day in defense of John Mark Byers has not yet been released.
In 2002, Henry Rollins
worked with other vocalists from various well-known rock, hip hop, punk and metal groups and members of Black Flag
and the Rollins Band
on the compilation album Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three
. All money raised from sales of the album are donated to the legal funds of the West Memphis Three. Metalcore band Zao's 2002 album Parade of Chaos included a track inspired by the case named "Free The Three". On April 28, 2011, the band Disturbed released a song entitled "3" as a download on their website. The song is about the West Memphis Three, with 100% of the proceeds going to their benefit foundation for their release.
A website by Martin David Hill, containing approximately 160,000 words and intending to be a "thorough investigation", collates and discusses many details surrounding the murders and investigation, including some anecdotal information.
Investigative journalist Aphrodite Jones
undertook an exploration of the case on her Discovery Network
show True Crime With Aphrodite Jones following the DNA discoveries. The episode premiered May 5, 2011, with extensive background information included on the show's page at the Investigation Discovery site. In August 2011, White Light Productions announced that the West Memphis Three will be featured on their new program, Wrongfully Convicted.
In January, 2010, the CBS television news journal 48 Hours aired "The Memphis 3", an in depth coverage of the history of the case including interviews with Echols and supporters. On September 17, 2011, 48 Hours reaired the episode with the update of their release and interviews from Echols and his wife, and Baldwin. Piers Morgan Tonight aired an episode on September 29, 2011, about them discussing their plans for the future and continued investigations on the case.
and two counts of second-degree murder. The court sentenced him to life plus 40 years in prison. His conviction was appeal
ed and affirmed by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
On August 19, 2011, Misskelley, along with Baldwin and Echols, entered an Alford plea
. Judge David Laser then sentenced them to 18 years and 78 days, the amount of time they had served, and also levied a suspended sentence of 10 years. All three were released from prison that same day. Since his release, he has gotten engaged to his high school girlfriend and enrolled in a community college to become an auto mechanic.
on August 19, 2011. Baldwin pled guilty to three counts of first degree murder while still asserting his actual innocence. The judge then sentenced the three men to 18 years and 78 days, the amount of time they had served, and also levied a suspended sentence of 10 years. Baldwin was initially resistant to this deal, insisting as a matter of principle that he would not plead guilty to something he did not do. But, he said, his refusing the deal would have meant Echols stayed on death row. "This was not justice," he said of the deal. "However, they’re trying to kill Damien." Since his release, he has moved to Seattle to live with friends and is in a relationship with a woman who befriended him while he was in prison. He has stated that he plans on enrolling in college and teaching law. Baldwin stated in an interview with Piers Morgan
that he now works for a construction company and he is learning how to drive.
Supermax. On August 19, 2011, Echols, along with the two others collectively known at the West Memphis Three, were released from prison after their attorneys and the judge handling the upcoming retrial agreed to a deal. Under the terms of the Alford guilty plea, Echols and his co-defendants accepted the sufficiency of evidence supporting the three counts of first degree murder while maintaining their innocence. DNA evidence failed to connect Echols or his co-defendants to the crime.
The mental stability of Damien Echols during the years immediately prior to the murders and also during his trial was the focus of his appellate legal team in their appeal attempts. In his efforts to win a new trial, Echols, 27 at the time of the appeal, claimed he was incompetent to stand trial because of a history of mental illness. The record on appeal spells out a long history of Echols's mental heath problems, including a May 5, 1992, Arkansas Department of Youth Services referral for possible mental illness, a year to the day before the murders. Hospital records for his treatment in Little Rock 11 months before the killings show a history of self-mutilation, and assertions to hospital staff that he gained power by drinking blood, that he had inside him the spirit of a woman who had killed her husband and that he was having hallucinations. He also told mental health workers that he was "going to influence the world." The appellate legal team argued that Echols didn't waive his assertion that he wasn't mentally competent before his 1994 trial because he wasn't competent to waive it. To assist in the appeals process, Echols’ appellate legal team retained a Berkeley, Calif.-based forensic psychiatrist, Dr. George Woods; see George Woods Affidavit, to make their case.
Echols' lawyers claimed that his condition worsened during the trial, when he developed a "psychotic euphoria that caused him to believe he would evolve into a superior entity, " and eventually be transported to a different world. His psychosis dominated his perceptions of everything going on in court, Woods wrote. Echols' mental state while in prison awaiting trial, was also called into question by his appellate team. While in prison Damien wrote letters to Gloria Shettles, an investigator for his defense team. Echols sought to overturn his conviction based on trial error including juror misconduct, as well as with the results of a DNA Status Report filed on July 17, 2007, which concluded "none of the genetic material
recovered at the scene of the crimes was attributable to Mr. Echols, Echols' co-defendant, Jason Baldwin, or defendant Jessie Misskelley ... [a]lthough most of the genetic material recovered from the scene was attributable to the victims of the offenses, some of it cannot be attributed to either the victims or the defendants." Advanced DNA and other scientific evidence — combined with additional evidence from several different witnesses and experts — released in October 2007 has thrown the original ruling into question. A hearing on his petition for a writ of habeas corpus
is pending in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
In 1999, he married while he was in prison. Until August 2011, he was incarcerated in the Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC) Varner Unit Supermax
. Echols, ADC# 000931, entered the system on March 19, 1994. On August 19, 2011, Echols, along with Baldwin and Misskelley, entered an Alford plea
. The judge then sentenced them to 18 years and 78 days, the amount of time they had served, and also levied a suspended sentence of 10 years. Echols sentence was reduced to three counts of first degree murder. Lawyers representing the West Memphis Three reached the plea deal that allowed the men to walk free. They were transferred to the hearing with their possessions. The plea deal did not technically result in a full exoneration; some of the convictions would stand, though the men would not admit guilt. The counsel representing the men said they would continue to pursue full exoneration.
Echols co-wrote the lyrics to the song "Army Reserve", on Pearl Jam
's self-titled album
. Punk
musician Michale Graves
, formerly of The Misfits has been writing music to coincide with Echols' poetry. Echols and Graves worked together on an album, illusions, released October 2007. Echols has published his memoirs, Almost Home: My Life Story Vol. 1. His poetry has appeared in the Porcupine Literary Arts magazine (Volume 8, Issue 2), and he has written non-fiction
for the Arkansas Literary Forum. Since his release, he has moved to New York with his wife and has no intentions of returning to Arkansas. In a interview with Piers Morgan
, he stated that he would like to have a career in writing and visual arts
.
West Memphis, Arkansas
West Memphis is the largest city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 27,666 at the 2000 census, with an estimated population of 28,181 in 2005, and 31,329 in 2011 ranking it as the state's 11th largest city, behind Hot Springs...
. Damien Echols was sentenced to death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. was sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
plus two 20-year sentences, and Jason Baldwin was sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
. During the trial, the prosecution asserted that the children were killed as part of a satanic ritual
Satanic ritual abuse
Satanic ritual abuse refers to the abuse of a person or animal in a ritual setting or manner...
. A number of documentaries have been based on the case, and celebrities and musicians have held fund raisers in the belief that they are innocent.
In July 2007, new forensic evidence was presented in the case and a status report jointly issued by the State and the Defense team stated, "Although most of the genetic material
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
recovered from the scene was attributable to the victims of the offenses, some of it cannot be attributed to either the victims or the defendants." On October 29, 2007, the defense filed a Second Amended Writ of Habeas Corpus, outlining the new evidence.
After a series of appeals regarding the DNA evidence, including an argument before the Arkansas Supreme Court
Arkansas Supreme Court
The Arkansas Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Arkansas. Since 1925, it has consisted of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices, and at times Special Justices are called upon in the absence of a regular justice...
in 2010, the West Memphis Three reached a deal
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
with prosecutors. On August 19, 2011, they entered Alford plea
Alford plea
An Alford plea in United States law is a guilty plea in criminal court, where the defendant does not admit the act and asserts innocence...
s, which allow them to assert their innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them. Judge David Laser accepted the pleas and sentenced the three to time served. They were released with ten-year suspended sentence
Suspended sentence
A suspended sentence is a legal term for a judge's delaying of a defendant's serving of a sentence after they have been found guilty, in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation...
s, having served 18 years and 78 days in prison.
The crime
Three eight-year-old boys—Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers—were reported missing on May 5, 1993. The first report to the police was made by Byers' adoptive father, John Mark Byers, around 7:00 p.m. The boys were last seen together by a neighbor, who reported having been called by Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of Stevie Branch, around 6:00 p.m. Hobbs later denied seeing the boys at all on May 5. Initial police searches made that night were limited. Friends and neighbors also conducted a search that night, which included a cursory visit to the location where the bodies were later found.A more thorough police search for the children began around 8:00 a.m. on the morning of May 6, led by the Crittenden County Search and Rescue personnel. Searchers canvassed all of West Memphis, but focused primarily on Robin Hood Hills, where the boys were reported last seen. Despite a human chain making a shoulder-to-shoulder search of Robin Hood Hills, searchers found no sign of the missing boys.
Around 1:45 p.m., juvenile Parole Officer Steve Jones spotted a boy's black shoe floating in a muddy creek that led to a major drainage canal in Robin Hood Hills. A subsequent search of the ditch revealed the bodies of three boys. They were stripped naked and had been hogtie
Hogtie
The hogtie is a method of tying the limbs together, rendering the subject immobile and helpless. Originally, it was applied to pigs and other young four-legged animals.- Details :...
d with their own shoelaces: their right ankles tied to their right wrists behind their backs, the same with their left arms and legs. Their clothing was found in the creek, some of it twisted around sticks that had been thrust into the muddy ditch bed. The clothing was mostly turned inside-out; two pairs of the boys' underwear were never recovered. Christopher Byers had lacerations to various parts of his body, and mutilation of his scrotum and penis.
The autopsies, by the forensic pathologist Frank J. Peretti, indicated that Byers died of "multiple injuries", while Moore and Branch died of "multiple injuries with drowning".
Police initially suspected the boys had been rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
d; however, later expert testimony disputed this finding despite trace amounts of sperm DNA found on a pair of pants recovered from the scene. Prosecution experts claim Byers' wounds were the results of a knife attack and that he had been purposely castrated
Castration
Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses the functions of the testicles or a female loses the functions of the ovaries.-Humans:...
by the murderer; defense experts claim the injuries were more probably the result of post-mortem animal predation. Police believed the boys were assaulted and killed at the location where they were found; critics argued that the assault, at least, was unlikely to have occurred at the creek.
Byers was the only victim with drugs in his system; he was prescribed Ritalin(methylphenidate) in January 1993, as part of an attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a developmental disorder. It is primarily characterized by "the co-existence of attentional problems and hyperactivity, with each behavior occurring infrequently alone" and symptoms starting before seven years of age.ADHD is the most commonly studied and...
treatment. The initial autopsy report describes the drug as Carbamazepine
Carbamazepine
Carbamazepine is an anticonvulsant and mood-stabilizing drug used primarily in the treatment of epilepsy and bipolar disorder, as well as trigeminal neuralgia...
, and that dosage was found to be at sub-therapeutic level. John Mark Byers said that Christopher Byers may not have taken his prescription on May 5, 1993.
Victims
The three victims, Stevie Edward Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore, were in the second grade at Weaver Elementary School; each had achieved the rank of "Wolf" in the local Cub Scout pack; and they were best friends.Stevie Edward Branch
Stevie Edward Branch was the son of Steven and Pamela Branch, who divorced when he was an infant. His mother was awarded custody and later married Terry Hobbs. Branch was eight-years-old, 4 ft. 2 tall, weighed 65 lbs, and had blonde hair. He was last seen in blue jeans, white t-shirt on a black and red bicycle. He was an honor student. He lived with his mother, Pamela Hobbs, his stepfather, Terry Hobbs, and a four-year-old stepsister, Amanda.
Christopher Byers
Christopher Byers was born to Melissa DeFir and Ricky Murray. His parents divorced when he was four years old; shortly after, his mother married John Mark Byers who adopted the boy. Byers was eight-years-old, 4 ft. tall, weighed 52 lbs, and had light brown hair. He was last seen in blue jeans, dark shoes, and white long sleeve shirt. He lived with his mother, Sharon Melissa Byers, his stepfather, John Mark Byers, and his stepbrother, Shawn Ryan Clark, aged 13. According to his mother, he was a typical eight-year-old. "He still believed in the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus".
Michael Moore
Michael Moore was the son of Todd and Dana Moore. He was eight-years-old, 4 ft. 2 tall, weighed 55 lbs, and had brown hair. He was last seen in blue pants, blue Boy Scouts of America shirt, orange and blue Boy Scout hat on a light green bicycle. Moore enjoyed wearing his scout uniform even when he was not at meetings. He was considered the leader of the three. He lived with his parents and his nine-year-old sister, Dawn.
Baldwin, Echols, and Misskelley
At the time of their arrests, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. was 17 years old, Jason Baldwin was 16 years old, and Damien Echols was 18 years old.Baldwin and Echols had been arrested for vandalism
Vandalism
Vandalism is the behaviour attributed originally to the Vandals, by the Romans, in respect of culture: ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable...
and shoplifting
Shoplifting
Shoplifting is theft of goods from a retail establishment. It is one of the most common property crimes dealt with by police and courts....
, respectively, and Misskelley had a reputation for his temper and for engaging in fistfights with other teenagers at school. Misskelley and Echols had dropped out of high school; however, Baldwin earned high grades and demonstrated a talent for drawing and sketching, and was encouraged by one of his teachers to study graphic design
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
in college. Echols and Baldwin were close friends, and bonded over their similar tastes in music and fiction, and over their shared distaste for the prevailing cultural climate of West Memphis, situated in the Bible Belt
Bible Belt
Bible Belt is an informal term for a region in the southeastern and south-central United States in which socially conservative evangelical Protestantism is a significant part of the culture and Christian church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's average.The...
. Baldwin and Echols were acquainted with Misskelley from school, but were not close friends with him.
Echols' family was poor, with frequent visits from social work
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...
ers, and he rarely attended school. He had run off with an early girlfriend. The pair later broke into a trailer during a rain storm and were arrested, though only Echols was charged with burglary
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
. Police heard rumors that the young lovers had planned to have a child and sacrifice the infant; based on this story, they had Echols institutionalized for psychiatric evaluation. Echols denied allegations that he had chased a younger child with an ax, but did admit to attempting to remove a classmate's eyeball and while detained reportedly sucked blood from another boy's arm. He was diagnosed as depressed
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
and suicidal
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, and was prescribed the antidepressant
Antidepressant
An antidepressant is a psychiatric medication used to alleviate mood disorders, such as major depression and dysthymia and anxiety disorders such as social anxiety disorder. According to Gelder, Mayou &*Geddes people with a depressive illness will experience a therapeutic effect to their mood;...
imipramine
Imipramine
Imipramine , also known as melipramine, is an antidepressant medication, a tricyclic antidepressant of the dibenzazepine group...
. Subsequent testing demonstrated poor mathematical skills, but also showed that Echols ranked above average in reading and verbal skills.
Echols spent several months in a mental institution in Arkansas, and afterward received "full disability" status from the Social Security Administration
Social Security Administration
The United States Social Security Administration is an independent agency of the United States federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors' benefits...
. During Echols' trial, Dr. George W. Woods testified (for the defense) that Echols suffered from:
"... serious mental illnessMental illnessA mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
characterized by grandiose and persecutory delusions, auditory and visual hallucinationHallucinationA hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...
s, disordered thought processes, substantial lack of insight, and chronic, incapacitating mood swings."
At his death penalty sentencing hearing, Echols' psychologist reported that months before the murders, Echols claimed that he obtained super powers by drinking human blood.
At the time of his arrest, Echols was working part-time with a roofing company and expecting a child with his new girlfriend, Domini Teer.
Chris Morgan and Brian Holland
Early in the investigation, the WMPD briefly regarded two West Memphis teenagers as suspects. Chris Morgan and Brian Holland, both with drug offense histories, had abruptly departed for Oceanside, CaliforniaOceanside, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Oceanside had a population of 167,086. The population density was 3,961.8 people per square mile...
, four days after the bodies were discovered. Morgan was presumed to be at least casually familiar with all three murdered boys, having previously driven an ice cream truck route in their neighborhood.
Arrested in Oceanside on May 17, 1993, Morgan and Holland both took polygraph
Polygraph
A polygraph measures and records several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions...
exams administered by California police. Examiners reported that both men's charts indicated deception when they denied involvement in the murders. During subsequent questioning, Morgan claimed a long history of drug and alcohol use, along with blackouts and memory lapses. He furthermore claimed that he "might have" killed the victims but quickly recanted this part of his statement.
California police sent blood and urine samples from Morgan and Holland to the WMPD, but there is no indication WMPD investigated Morgan or Holland as suspects following their arrest in California. The relevance of Morgan's recanted statement would later be debated in trial, but was eventually barred from admission as evidence.
"Mr. Bojangles"
The sighting of a black male as a possible alternate suspect was implied during the beginning of the trial, at which time the possibility of conviction of the initial suspects seemed slim. According to local West Memphis police officers, on the evening of May 5, 1993, at 8:42 p.m., workers in the Bojangles'Bojangles'
Bojangles' Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits is a regional chain of fast food restaurants based in Charlotte, North Carolina, specializing in spicy, "Cajun" fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits...
restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
about a mile from the crime scene (a direct route through the bayou where the children were found) in Robin Hood Hills reported seeing a black male "dazed and covered with blood and mud" inside the ladies' room of the restaurant. Defense attorneys later referred to this man as "Mr. Bojangles
Mr. Bojangles (song)
Mr. Bojangles is the title of a song originally written and recorded by American country music artist Jerry Jeff Walker for his 1968 album of the same title...
." The man was bleeding from his arm and had brushed it against the walls of the restroom. The man had also defecated on himself and on the floor. The police were called, and Officer Regina Meeks responded (by inquiring at the drive through window
Drive-through
A drive-through, or drive-thru, is a type of service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products without leaving their cars. The format was first pioneered in the United States in the 1930s but has since spread to other countries. The first recorded use of a bank using a drive...
) about 45 minutes later. By then, the man had left and police did not enter the restroom on that date.
The following day when the victims' bodies were found, Bojangles' manager Marty King, thinking there was a possible connection between the bloody, disoriented man and the killings, called police twice to inform them of his suspicions. According to Regina Meeks' testimony during the Echols/Baldwin Trial, after the second telephone call, police gathered evidence from the restroom. Investigators wore their same shoes and clothes from the Robin Hood Hills crime scene into the Bojangles restaurant bathroom, conceivably contaminating that scene. Police detective Bryn Ridge later stated he lost the blood scrapings taken from the walls and tiles of the restroom. A hair identified as belonging to a black male was later recovered from a sheet which was used to wrap one of the victims.
Evidence and interviews
Police officers James Sudbury and Steve Jones felt that the crime had "cult" overtones, and that Damien Echols might be a suspect because he had an interest in occultism, and Jones felt him capable of murdering children. They interviewed Echols on 7 May, two days after the bodies were discovered. During a polygraphPolygraph
A polygraph measures and records several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions...
examination, he denied any involvement. The polygraph examiner claimed that Echols' chart indicated deception. On 9 May, during a formal interview by Detective Bryn Ridge, Echols mentioned that one of the victims had wounds to the genitals, and this was felt to be incriminating knowledge.
After a month had passed with little progress in the case police continued to focus their investigation upon Echols, interrogating him more frequently than any other person; however, they claimed he was not regarded as a direct suspect but a source of information.
On June 3 police interrogated Jessie Misskelley Jr. Misskelley, whose IQ was reported to be 72 (making him borderline intellectual functioning
Borderline intellectual functioning
Borderline intellectual functioning is a categorization of intelligence wherein a person has below average cognitive ability , but the deficit is not as severe as mental retardation...
), was questioned alone; his parents were not present during the interrogation. Misskelley's father gave permission for Misskelley to go with police, but did not explicitly give permission for his minor
Minor (law)
In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18...
son to be questioned or interrogated. Misskelley was questioned for roughly twelve hours; only two segments, totaling 46 minutes, were recorded. Misskelley quickly recanted his confession, citing intimidation, coercion, fatigue, and veiled threats from police.
Misskelley was a minor
Minor (law)
In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18...
when he was questioned, and though informed of his Miranda
Miranda warning
The Miranda warning is a warning given by police in the United States to criminal suspects in police custody before they are interrogated to preserve the admissibility of their statements against them in criminal proceedings. In Miranda v...
rights, he later claimed he did not fully understand them. The Arkansas Supreme Court determined that Misskelley's confession was voluntary and that he did, in fact, understand the Miranda warning and its consequences. Misskelley specifically said he was "scared of the police" during his first confession. Portions of Misskelley's statements to the police were leaked to the press and reported on the front page of the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper before any of the trials began.
Shortly after Misskelley's original confession, police arrested Echols and his close friend Baldwin. Eight months after his original confession, on February 17, 1994, Misskelley made another statement to police with his lawyer Dan Stidham in the room continually advising Misskelley not to say anything. Misskelley ignored this advice continually and went on to detail how the boys were abused and murdered. Stidham, who was later elected to a municipal judgeship, has written a detailed critique of what he asserts are major police errors and misconceptions during their investigation.
Vicki Hutcheson
Vicki Hutcheson, a new resident of West Memphis, would play an important role in the investigation, though she would later recant her testimony, stating her statements were fabricated due in part to coercion from police.On May 6, 1993 (the day the murder victims were found), Hutcheson took a polygraph
Polygraph
A polygraph measures and records several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions...
exam by Detective Don Bray at the Marion Police Department to determine if she had stolen money from her West Memphis employer. Hutcheson's young son, Aaron, was also present, and proved such a distraction that Bray was unable to administer the polygraph. Aaron, a playmate of the murdered boys, mentioned to Bray that the boys had been killed at "the playhouse." When the bodies proved to have been discovered near where Aaron indicated, Bray asked Aaron for further details, and Aaron claimed that he had witnessed the murders committed by Satanists who spoke Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. Aaron's further statements were wildly inconsistent, and he was unable to identify Baldwin, Echols or Misskelley from photo line-ups, and there was no "playhouse" at the location Aaron indicated. A police officer leaked portions of Aaron's statements to the press contributing to the growing belief that the murders were part of a satanic rite.
On or about June 1, 1993, Hutcheson agreed to police suggestions to place hidden microphones in her home during an encounter with Echols. Misskelley agreed to introduce Hutcheson to Echols. During their conversation, Hutcheson reported that Echols made no incriminating statements. Police said the recording was "inaudible", but Hutcheson claimed the recording was audible. On June 2, 1993, Hutcheson told police that about two weeks after the murders were committed, she, Echols and Misskelley attended a Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
n meeting in Turrell, Arkansas
Turrell, Arkansas
Turrell is a city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 957 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Turrell's area of location is positioned primarily next to the item of liquid substance at the map coordinate ....
. Hutcheson claimed that, at the Wiccan meeting, a drunken Echols openly bragged about killing the three boys. Misskelley was first questioned on June 3, 1993, a day after Hutcheson's purported confession. Hutcheson was unable to recall the Wiccan meeting location, and did not name any other participants of the purported meeting. Hutcheson was never charged with theft. She claimed she implicated Echols and Misskelley to avoid facing criminal charges and to obtain a reward for the discovery of the murderers.
Trials
Misskelley was tried separately, and Echols and Baldwin were tried together in 1994. Under the "Bruton rule", Misskelley's confession could not be admitted against his co-defendants and thus he was tried separately. They all pleaded not guilty.Misskelley's trial
During Misskelley's trial, Dr. Richard Ofshe
Richard Ofshe
Richard Ofshe is a Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the advisory board of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation advocacy organization, and is known for his expert testimony relating to coercion in small groups, confessions, and...
, an expert on false confessions and police coercion and Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, testified that the brief recording of Misskelley's interrogation was a "classic example" of police coercion
Coercion
Coercion is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner by use of threats or intimidation or some other form of pressure or force. In law, coercion is codified as the duress crime. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in the desired way...
. Critics have also stated that Misskelley's "confessions" were in many respects inconsistent with themselves and the particulars of the crime scene and murder victims, including (for example) an "admission" that Misskelley "watched Damien rape one of the boys." Police had initially suspected that the victims has been raped because their anuses were dilated. However there was no forensic evidence indicating that the murdered boys had been raped and dilated anus
Anus
The anus is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, unwanted semi-solid matter produced during digestion, which, depending on the type of animal, may be one or more of: matter which the animal cannot digest,...
es are a normal post-mortem condition.
On February 5, 1994, Misskelley was convicted by a jury of one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder. The court sentenced him to life plus 40 years in prison. His conviction was appealed and affirmed by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
Echols and Baldwin's trial
Three weeks later Echols and Baldwin went on trial where the prosecution accused the three of committing a Satanic murder. The prosecution called Dale W. Griffis, a graduate of Columbia Pacific University
Columbia Pacific University
Columbia Pacific University was an unaccredited nontraditional distance learning school in California. It was founded in 1978 by Richard Crews, a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, and Lester Carr, a former president of Lewis University, and operated with state approval...
, as an expert in the occult to testify the murders were a Satanic ritual. On March 19, 1994 Echols and Baldwin were found guilty on three counts of murder. The court sentenced Echols to death and Baldwin to life in prison.
At trial, the defense team argued that news articles from the time could have been the source for Echols' knowledge about the genital mutilation, but the prosecution claimed that Echols' knowledge, which Echols said was limited to what was "on TV", was nonetheless too close to the actual facts, since there was no public knowledge of drowning or that one victim had been mutilated more than the others. Echols testified that Ridge's description of the conversation (which was not recorded) regarding those particular details was inaccurate (and indeed that some other claims by Ridge were "lies"). The author Leveritt argues that Echols' information may have come from police leaks, such as Detective Gitchell's comments to Mark Byers, that then circulated amongst the local public. On cross-examination of Echols the prosecution attempted to raise the topic of his past violent behaviours, but the defense team argued that that the behaviours were irrelevant or too remote in time.
Investigative criticism
There has been widespread criticism of how the police handled the crime sceneCrime scene
A crime scene is a location where an illegal act took place, and comprises the area from which most of the physical evidence is retrieved by trained law enforcement personnel, crime scene investigators or in rare circumstances, forensic scientists....
. Misskelley's former attorney Dan Stidham cites multiple substantial police errors at the crime scene, characterizing it as "literally trampled, especially the creek bed." The bodies, he said, had been removed from the water before the coroner arrived to examine the scene and determine the state of rigor mortis
Rigor mortis
Rigor mortis is one of the recognizable signs of death that is caused by a chemical change in the muscles after death, causing the limbs of the corpse to become stiff and difficult to move or manipulate...
, allowing the bodies to decay on the creek bank, and to be exposed to sunlight and insects. The police did not telephone the coroner until almost two hours after the discovery of the floating shoe, resulting in a late appearance by the coroner. Officials failed to drain the creek in a timely manner and secure possible evidence in the water (the creek was sandbagged after the bodies were pulled from the water). Stidham calls the coroner's investigation "extremely substandard." There was a small amount of blood found at the scene that was never tested. According to HBO's documentaries Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills is a 1996 documentary film directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky about the trials of three teenage boys who came to be known as the West Memphis 3 in West Memphis, Arkansas. They were accused of the murder and sexual mutilation of three...
(1996) and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations
Paradise Lost 2: Revelations
Paradise Lost 2: Revelations is the 2000 sequel to the documentary film Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, about the trial and conviction of three teenagers known as the West Memphis 3 accused of murdering three young boys in a Satanic ritual abuse.-Description:In Paradise Lost...
(2000), no blood was found at the crime scene, indicating that the location where the bodies were found was not necessarily the location in which the murders actually happened. After the initial investigation, the police failed to control disclosure of information and speculation about the crime scene.
According to Mara Leveritt, investigative journalist and author of Devil's Knot, "Police records were a mess. To call them disorderly would be putting it mildly." Leveritt speculated that the small local police force was overwhelmed by the crime, which was unlike any they had ever investigated. Police refused an unsolicited offer of aid and consultation from the violent crimes experts of the Arkansas State Police
Arkansas State Police
The Arkansas State Police is the state police agency for Arkansas, which has jurisdiction anywhere in the state. It was created to protect the lives, property and constitutional rights of people in Arkansas...
, and critics suggested this was due to the WMPD being investigated by the Arkansas State Police for suspected theft from the Crittenden County drug task force. Leveritt further noted that some of the physical evidence was stored in paper sacks obtained from a supermarket (with the supermarket's name pre-printed on the bags) rather than in containers of known and controlled origin.
Leveritt also mistakenly presumed that the crime scene video was shot minutes after Detectives Mike Allen and Bryn Ridge recovered two of the bodies, when in fact the camera was not available for almost thirty minutes afterward.
When police speculated about the assailant, the juvenile probation officer assisting at the scene of the murders speculated that Echols was "capable" of committing the murders, stating "it looks like Damien Echols finally killed someone."
Brent Turvey, a Forensic Scientist and Criminal Profiler, stated in the film Paradise Lost 2 that human bite marks could have been left on at least one of the victims. However, these potential bite marks were first noticed in photographs years after the trials and were not inspected by a board-certified medical examiner until four years after the murders. The defense's expert testified that the mark in question was not an adult bite mark, while experts put on by the State concluded that there was no bite mark at all. The State's experts had examined the actual bodies for any marks and others conducted expert photo analysis of injuries. Upon further examination, it was concluded that if the marks were bite marks, they did not match the teeth of any of the three convicted.
Appeals and new evidence
In May 1994, the three appealed their convictions. The convictions were upheld on direct appeal. In 2007, Echols petitioned for a retrial based on a statute permitting post-conviction testing of DNA evidence due to technological advances made since 1994 which might provide exoneration for the wrongfully convicted. However, the original trial judge, Judge David BurnettDavid Burnett (politician)
David Burnett is a State senator in the U.S. state of Arkansas representing Senate District 15, which comprises Mississippi and Poinsett counties. He was elected to the Senate in 2010. Before entering the Senate, Burnett was a judge...
, disallowed presentation of this information in his court. This ruling was in turn thrown out by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
The knife of John Mark Byers (1993)
John Mark Byers, the adoptive father of victim Christopher Byers, gave a knife to cameraman Doug Cooper, who was working with documentary makers Joe Berlinger
Joe Berlinger
Joseph "Joe" Berlinger is an American documentary film-maker who, in collaboration with Bruce Sinofsky, has created such films as Paradise Lost about the West Memphis 3, Brother's Keeper, Some Kind of Monster, and Crude....
and Bruce Sinofsky while they were filming the first Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills is a 1996 documentary film directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky about the trials of three teenage boys who came to be known as the West Memphis 3 in West Memphis, Arkansas. They were accused of the murder and sexual mutilation of three...
feature. The knife was a folding hunting knife
Hunting knife
A hunting knife is a knife used during hunting for preparing the game to be used as food: skinning the animal and cutting up the meat. It is different from the Hunting dagger which was traditionally used to kill wild game....
, manufactured by Kershaw
Kershaw Knives
Kershaw Knives is a multinational corporation that designs and manufactures a range of knives, including kitchen cutlery, pocket knives, and outdoor knives...
. According to the statements given by Berlinger and Sinofsky, Cooper informed them of his receipt of the knife on December 19, 1993. After the documentary crew returned to New York, Berlinger and Sinofsky reported to have discovered what appeared to be blood on the knife. HBO executives ordered them to return the knife to the West Memphis Police Department. The knife was not received at the West Memphis Police Department until January 8, 1994.
Byers initially claimed the knife had never been used. Blood was found on the knife and Byers then stated that he had used it only once, to cut deer meat. When told the blood matched both his and Chris' blood type, Byers said he had no idea how that blood might have gotten on the knife. During interrogation, West Memphis police suggested to Byers that he might have left the knife out accidentally, and Byers agreed with this. Byers later stated that he may have cut his thumb. Further testing on the knife produced inconclusive results, due in part to the rather small amount of blood, and because both John Mark Byers and Chris Byers had the same HLA
Human leukocyte antigen
The human leukocyte antigen system is the name of the major histocompatibility complex in humans. The super locus contains a large number of genes related to immune system function in humans. This group of genes resides on chromosome 6, and encodes cell-surface antigen-presenting proteins and...
-DQα genotype.
John Mark Byers agreed to, and subsequently passed, a polygraph test during the filming of Paradise Lost 2: Revelations in regard to the murders, but the documentary indicated that Byers was under the influence of several psychoactive prescription medications that could have affected the test results. During the filming of the show, Byers also volunteered his false teeth when presented with the challenge he had bitten the boys' bodies, although at the time of the murders he had his original teeth, which he later had voluntarily extracted, and later claimed there was a medical reason for the procedure.
Possible teeth imprints
As documented in Paradise Lost 2, Echols, Misskelley and Baldwin submitted imprints of their teeth (after their imprisonment) that were compared to apparent bite-marks on Stevie Branch's forehead, initially overlooked in the original autopsy and trial. No matches were found. According to the film, Byers had his teeth removed in 1997—after the first trial. He has offered apparently contradictory reasons for their removal: in one instance claiming they were knocked out in a fight, in another saying the medication he was taking, Tegretol
Carbamazepine
Carbamazepine is an anticonvulsant and mood-stabilizing drug used primarily in the treatment of epilepsy and bipolar disorder, as well as trigeminal neuralgia...
, not known for this side effect, made them fall out, and in yet another claiming that he had long planned to have them removed so as to obtain dentures.
After an expert examined autopsy photos and noted what he thought might be the imprint of a belt buckle on Byers' corpse, the elder Byers revealed to the police that he had spanked his stepson shortly before the boy disappeared.
Vicki Hutcheson recants
In October 2003, Vicki Hutcheson, who played a part in the arrests of Misskelley, Echols and Baldwin, but did not testify at the trial, gave an interview to the Arkansas Times
Arkansas Times
Arkansas Times, a weekly alternative newspaper based in Little Rock, Arkansas, is a publication that has circulated for more than 35 years, originally as a magazine. Its current format stems from reaction to the Arkansas Democrat buyout of assets from Gannett's closure of the Arkansas Gazette in...
in which she stated that every word she had given to the police was a fabrication. She further asserted that the police had insinuated if she did not cooperate with them they would take away her child. She noted that when she visited the police station they had photographs of Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley on the wall and were using them as dart
Darts
Darts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...
targets. She also claims that an audio tape the police claimed was "unintelligible" (and eventually lost) was perfectly clear and contained no incriminating statements.
DNA testing and new physical evidence (2007–2010)
In 2007, DNA collected from the crime scene was tested. None was found to match DNA from Echols, Baldwin, nor Misskelley. In addition, a hair "not inconsistent with" Terry Hobbs, stepfather to Stevie Branch, was found tied into the knots used to bind one of the victims. The prosecutors, while conceding that no DNA evidence ties the accused to the crime scene, said that, "The State stands behind its convictions of Echols and his codefendants."
On October 29, 2007 papers were filed in federal court by Damien Echols' defense lawyers seeking a retrial or his immediate release from prison. The filing cited DNA evidence linking Terry Hobbs (stepfather of one of the victims) to the crime scene, and new statements from Hobbs' now ex-wife. Also presented in the filing was new expert testimony that the alleged knife marks on the victims were the result of animal predation after the bodies had been dumped. This included the injuries to Byers' genitals.
On September 10, 2008 Circuit Court Judge David Burnett denied the request for a retrial, citing the DNA tests as inconclusive. That ruling was appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments in the case on September 30, 2010.
Foreman and jury misconduct (2008)
In July 2008, it was revealed that Kent Arnold, the jury foreman on the Echols/Baldwin trial, discussed the case with an attorney prior to the beginning of deliberations and advocated for the guilt of the West Memphis Three as a result of the inadmissible Jessie Misskelley statements. Legal experts have agreed that this issue has the strong potential to result in the reversal of the convictions of Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols.
In October 2008, Attorney (now Judge) Daniel Stidham, who represented Jessie Misskelley in 1994, testified at a postconviction relief hearing. Stidham testified under oath that, during the trial, Judge David Burnett approached the then-deliberating jury in the Misskelley matter at approximately 11:50 a.m. and advised them they would be breaking for lunch. When the foreman answered, "We may almost be done," Judge Burnett responded, "Well, you'll still have to return for sentencing." When the foreman asked, "What if we find him not guilty?" Judge Burnett closed the door without answering. Stidham testified that his failure to request a mistrial based on this exchange was ineffective assistance of counsel
Ineffective assistance of counsel
Ineffective assistance of counsel is an issue raised in legal malpractice suits and in appeals in criminal cases where a criminal defendant asserts that their criminal conviction occurred because their attorney failed to properly defend the case...
and that Misskelley's conviction should therefore be vacated.
Arkansas Supreme Court ruling
On November 4, 2010 the Arkansas Supreme CourtArkansas Supreme Court
The Arkansas Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Arkansas. Since 1925, it has consisted of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices, and at times Special Justices are called upon in the absence of a regular justice...
ordered a lower judge to consider whether newly-analyzed DNA evidence might exonerate the three. The justices also said a lower court must examine claims of misconduct by the jurors who sentenced Damien Echols to death and Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin to life in prison.
In early December 2010, Circuit Court Judge David Laser was selected to replace David Burnett, who was elected to the Arkansas State Senate, as judge in the appeal hearings.
Plea deal and release
After weeks of negotiations on August 19, 2011, Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley were released from prison as part of an Alford pleaAlford plea
An Alford plea in United States law is a guilty plea in criminal court, where the defendant does not admit the act and asserts innocence...
deal, a rare legal mechanism in which "no contest
Nolo contendere
is a legal term that comes from the Latin for "I do not wish to contend." It is also referred to as a plea of no contest.In criminal trials, and in some common law jurisdictions, it is a plea where the defendant neither admits nor disputes a charge, serving as an alternative to a pleading of...
" pleas are entered but innocence is nevertheless maintained. An Alford plea concedes that prosecutors have sufficient evidence to secure a conviction but reserves the right to assert innocence. Stephen Braga, a prominent attorney with Ropes & Gray who took up Echols’s defense on a pro bono basis beginning in 2009, negotiated the plea agreement with prosecutors. Under the deal, Judge David Laser vacated the previous convictions, including the capital murder convictions for Echols and Baldwin, and ordered a new trial. Each man then entered an Alford plea to lesser charges of first and second degree murder while verbally stating their innocence. Judge Laser then sentenced them to time served
Time served
In criminal law, "time served" describes a sentence where the defendant is credited immediately after the guilty verdict with the time spent in remand awaiting trial. The time is usually subtracted from the sentence, with only the balance being served after the verdict...
, a total of 18 years and 78 days, and they were given a Suspended Imposition of Sentence for 10 years. If they re-offend they can be sent back to prison for 21 years.
The Alford plea deal meant that the hearing ordered by the Arkansas Supreme Court in November 2010, scheduled for December 2011 before Judge Laser, became unnecessary. Factors cited by prosecutor Scott Ellington for agreeing to the plea deal included the fact that two of the victims' families have joined forces with the defense, the mother of a witness who testified about Echols's confession has questioned her daughter's truthfulness, and the State Crime Lab employee who collected fiber evidence at the Echols and Baldwin homes after their arrests has died. As part of the plea deal, they can not pursue civil litigation against any of the police officers or prosecutors involved in their case and they can not make money off their story.
The plea deal caused outrage in the supporters and people who believe in their guilt . Supporters petitioned the Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe to pardon Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley based on the DNA. Beebe denied the request but promised to reconsider once the DNA testing is complete and points to another suspect . Prosecutor Scott Ellington has recently said the Arkansas state crime laboratory will run tests on the DNA evidence once the defense's laboratory has completed theirs. This will include running the results through the FBI's Combined DNA Index System database and cross-checks with DNA from police on the crime scene and from lab employees. Ellington said that although he still considered the men guilty, the three would likely be acquitted if a new trial were held "given the prominent lawyers now representing them, the fact that evidence has decayed or disappeared over time and the death or change of heart of several witnesses." He said that if the DNA points to another suspect, he will fully exonerate them and pursue the other suspect. In a September 29, 2011, interview, Echols said that they can be fully exonerated if they find the real culprit and can be pardoned by the Governor of Arkansas. According to Governor Mike Beebe, they can not be pardoned unless they serve their full 10 year suspended sentence, and if the DNA is matched to another's, he will make arrangements to pardon them. However, he said that until then, he will believe they are guilty because they were found guilty by a jury.
Family and law enforcement opinions
The families of the three victims are divided in their opinions as to the guilt or innocence of the West Memphis Three. In 2000, the biological father of Christopher Byers, Rick Murray, described his doubts on the West Memphis Three website. In August 2007, Pamela Hobbs, the mother of victim Stevie Branch, and John Mark Byers, adoptive father of Christopher Byers, joined those who have publicly questioned the verdicts, calling for a reopening of the verdicts and further investigation of the evidence. In late 2007, John Mark Byers announced that he now believes that Echols, Misskelley, and Baldwin are innocent. "I believe I would be the last person on the face of the earth that people would expect or dream to see say free the West Memphis Three," said Byers. "From looking at the evidence and the facts that were presented to me, I have no doubt the West Memphis Three are innocent." Byers is writing a book, and a film biography is being considered for production. Byers has been speaking to the media on behalf of the convicted and has expressed his desire for "justice for six families."In 2010, district Judge Brian S. Miller ordered Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of victim Stevie Branch, to pay $17,590 to Dixie Chicks
Dixie Chicks
The Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...
singer Natalie Maines
Natalie Maines
Natalie Louise Maines Pasdar is an American singer-songwriter who achieved success as the lead vocalist for the female alternative country band, the Dixie Chicks...
for legal costs stemming from a defamation lawsuit he filed against the band. Miller dismissed a suit Hobbs filed over Maines's remarks at a 2007 Little Rock rally implying he was involved in killing his stepson. The judge said Hobbs had voluntarily injected himself into a public controversy over whether three teenagers convicted of killing the three 8-year-old boys had been wrongfully condemned.
John E. Douglas
John E. Douglas
John Edward Douglas , is a former special agent with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation , one of the first criminal profilers, and criminal psychology author.-Early life:...
, a former longtime FBI agent who has interviewed the country's most prolific serial killers during his years with the FBI and works as a profiler to help police in their searches for violent criminals, said the slayings of the three West Memphis boys weren't the work of three unsophisticated teenage killers, but that of a single person who set out to taunt and "punish" the victims. Douglas was formerly FBI Unit Chief of the Investigative Support Unit of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime
National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime
In November 1982, following a meeting between members of the Criminal Personality Research Project advisory board and other specialists, the concept of a single ' was put forward. This elite investigative branch was never envisaged as a replacement for traditional crime investigation by local law...
for 25 years. Douglas stated in his report for Echols' legal team that there was no evidence for Satanic ritual involvement in the killings and agreed with the post-mortem animal predation explanation for the alleged knife injuries. Douglas believed that the perpetrator had a violent history and was familiar with the victims and geography. He stated that the victims had died from a combination of blunt force trauma wounds and drowning in a personal cause driven crime.
Documentaries, publications and studies
Three films, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood HillsParadise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills is a 1996 documentary film directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky about the trials of three teenage boys who came to be known as the West Memphis 3 in West Memphis, Arkansas. They were accused of the murder and sexual mutilation of three...
, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations
Paradise Lost 2: Revelations
Paradise Lost 2: Revelations is the 2000 sequel to the documentary film Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, about the trial and conviction of three teenagers known as the West Memphis 3 accused of murdering three young boys in a Satanic ritual abuse.-Description:In Paradise Lost...
, and the upcoming Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory is a 2011 documentary film and sequel to the films Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations. The three films chronicle the arrest, 18 year imprisonment, and eventual release of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie...
, directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky are a team of American documentary filmmakers that have received large critical acclaim and cult-fame since their debut true-crime film, Brother's Keeper -The West Memphis Three:...
have documented this case and were strongly critical of the verdict. The movie marked the first time Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
allowed their music to be used in a movie, which drew attention to the case.
There have been a number of books, including Blood of Innocents by Guy Reel, The Last Pentacle of the Sun: Writings in Support of the West Memphis Three, edited by Brett Alexander Savory & M. W. Anderson, featuring dark fiction and non-fiction by well-known speculative fiction writers, and Devil's Knot by Mara Leveritt, which also argue that the suspects were wrongly convicted. In 2005, Damien Echols completed his memoir, Almost Home, Vol 1, offering his perspective of the case. A forthcoming book by Greg Day in defense of John Mark Byers has not yet been released.
In 2002, Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins is an American singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, writer, comedian, publisher, actor, and radio DJ....
worked with other vocalists from various well-known rock, hip hop, punk and metal groups and members of Black Flag
Black Flag (band)
Black Flag was an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. The band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band...
and the Rollins Band
Rollins Band
Rollins Band was an American rock band led by singer and songwriter Henry Rollins.They are best known for the songs "Low Self Opinion" and "Liar", which both earned heavy airplay on MTV in the early 1990s...
on the compilation album Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three
Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three
-Band:*Marcus Blake – bass guitar ; backing vocals *Jason Mackenroth – drums ; backing vocals *Jim Wilson – guitar ; backing vocals -Vocalists:...
. All money raised from sales of the album are donated to the legal funds of the West Memphis Three. Metalcore band Zao's 2002 album Parade of Chaos included a track inspired by the case named "Free The Three". On April 28, 2011, the band Disturbed released a song entitled "3" as a download on their website. The song is about the West Memphis Three, with 100% of the proceeds going to their benefit foundation for their release.
A website by Martin David Hill, containing approximately 160,000 words and intending to be a "thorough investigation", collates and discusses many details surrounding the murders and investigation, including some anecdotal information.
Investigative journalist Aphrodite Jones
Aphrodite Jones
Aphrodite Jones is an American reporter, author, and cable TV host of the series, True Crime with Aphrodite Jones, which airs on Investigation Discovery...
undertook an exploration of the case on her Discovery Network
Discovery Network
A Discovery Network is a community that can include commercial, academic, governmental and independent entities collaborating together and coordinating their efforts to enrich society with new material goods and services, and extracting some value from doing so...
show True Crime With Aphrodite Jones following the DNA discoveries. The episode premiered May 5, 2011, with extensive background information included on the show's page at the Investigation Discovery site. In August 2011, White Light Productions announced that the West Memphis Three will be featured on their new program, Wrongfully Convicted.
In January, 2010, the CBS television news journal 48 Hours aired "The Memphis 3", an in depth coverage of the history of the case including interviews with Echols and supporters. On September 17, 2011, 48 Hours reaired the episode with the update of their release and interviews from Echols and his wife, and Baldwin. Piers Morgan Tonight aired an episode on September 29, 2011, about them discussing their plans for the future and continued investigations on the case.
Jessie Misskelley
Jessie Misskelley Jr. (born July 10, 1975) was arrested in connection to the murders on May 5, 1993. After a reported 12 hours of interrogation by police, Misskelley, who has an IQ of 72, confessed to the murders, and implicated Baldwin and Echols. However, the confession was at odds with facts known by police, such as the time of the murders. Under the "Bruton rule", his confession could not be admitted against his co-defendants and thus he was tried separately. Misskelley was convicted by a jury of one count of first-degree murderMurder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
and two counts of second-degree murder. The court sentenced him to life plus 40 years in prison. His conviction was appeal
Appeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
ed and affirmed by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
On August 19, 2011, Misskelley, along with Baldwin and Echols, entered an Alford plea
Alford plea
An Alford plea in United States law is a guilty plea in criminal court, where the defendant does not admit the act and asserts innocence...
. Judge David Laser then sentenced them to 18 years and 78 days, the amount of time they had served, and also levied a suspended sentence of 10 years. All three were released from prison that same day. Since his release, he has gotten engaged to his high school girlfriend and enrolled in a community college to become an auto mechanic.
Charles Jason Baldwin
Charles Jason Baldwin(born April 11, 1977) along with Misskelley and Echols, entered an Alford pleaAlford plea
An Alford plea in United States law is a guilty plea in criminal court, where the defendant does not admit the act and asserts innocence...
on August 19, 2011. Baldwin pled guilty to three counts of first degree murder while still asserting his actual innocence. The judge then sentenced the three men to 18 years and 78 days, the amount of time they had served, and also levied a suspended sentence of 10 years. Baldwin was initially resistant to this deal, insisting as a matter of principle that he would not plead guilty to something he did not do. But, he said, his refusing the deal would have meant Echols stayed on death row. "This was not justice," he said of the deal. "However, they’re trying to kill Damien." Since his release, he has moved to Seattle to live with friends and is in a relationship with a woman who befriended him while he was in prison. He has stated that he plans on enrolling in college and teaching law. Baldwin stated in an interview with Piers Morgan
Piers Morgan
Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan , known professionally as Piers Morgan, is a British journalist and television presenter. He is editorial director of First News, a national newspaper for children....
that he now works for a construction company and he is learning how to drive.
Damien Wayne Echols
Damien Wayne Echols (born Michael Wayne Hutchison, December 11, 1974) was on death row, locked-down 23 hours per day at the Varner UnitVarner Unit
The Varner Unit is a high-security state prison of the Arkansas Department of Correction in Varner, unincorporated Lincoln County, Arkansas, United States. It is located along U.S. Highway 65, near Grady, and south of Pine Bluff...
Supermax. On August 19, 2011, Echols, along with the two others collectively known at the West Memphis Three, were released from prison after their attorneys and the judge handling the upcoming retrial agreed to a deal. Under the terms of the Alford guilty plea, Echols and his co-defendants accepted the sufficiency of evidence supporting the three counts of first degree murder while maintaining their innocence. DNA evidence failed to connect Echols or his co-defendants to the crime.
The mental stability of Damien Echols during the years immediately prior to the murders and also during his trial was the focus of his appellate legal team in their appeal attempts. In his efforts to win a new trial, Echols, 27 at the time of the appeal, claimed he was incompetent to stand trial because of a history of mental illness. The record on appeal spells out a long history of Echols's mental heath problems, including a May 5, 1992, Arkansas Department of Youth Services referral for possible mental illness, a year to the day before the murders. Hospital records for his treatment in Little Rock 11 months before the killings show a history of self-mutilation, and assertions to hospital staff that he gained power by drinking blood, that he had inside him the spirit of a woman who had killed her husband and that he was having hallucinations. He also told mental health workers that he was "going to influence the world." The appellate legal team argued that Echols didn't waive his assertion that he wasn't mentally competent before his 1994 trial because he wasn't competent to waive it. To assist in the appeals process, Echols’ appellate legal team retained a Berkeley, Calif.-based forensic psychiatrist, Dr. George Woods; see George Woods Affidavit, to make their case.
Echols' lawyers claimed that his condition worsened during the trial, when he developed a "psychotic euphoria that caused him to believe he would evolve into a superior entity, " and eventually be transported to a different world. His psychosis dominated his perceptions of everything going on in court, Woods wrote. Echols' mental state while in prison awaiting trial, was also called into question by his appellate team. While in prison Damien wrote letters to Gloria Shettles, an investigator for his defense team. Echols sought to overturn his conviction based on trial error including juror misconduct, as well as with the results of a DNA Status Report filed on July 17, 2007, which concluded "none of the genetic material
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
recovered at the scene of the crimes was attributable to Mr. Echols, Echols' co-defendant, Jason Baldwin, or defendant Jessie Misskelley ... [a]lthough most of the genetic material recovered from the scene was attributable to the victims of the offenses, some of it cannot be attributed to either the victims or the defendants." Advanced DNA and other scientific evidence — combined with additional evidence from several different witnesses and experts — released in October 2007 has thrown the original ruling into question. A hearing on his petition for a writ of habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
is pending in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
In 1999, he married while he was in prison. Until August 2011, he was incarcerated in the Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC) Varner Unit Supermax
Supermax
Supermax is the name used to describe "control-unit" prisons, or units within prisons, which represent the most secure levels of custody in the prison systems of certain countries...
. Echols, ADC# 000931, entered the system on March 19, 1994. On August 19, 2011, Echols, along with Baldwin and Misskelley, entered an Alford plea
Alford plea
An Alford plea in United States law is a guilty plea in criminal court, where the defendant does not admit the act and asserts innocence...
. The judge then sentenced them to 18 years and 78 days, the amount of time they had served, and also levied a suspended sentence of 10 years. Echols sentence was reduced to three counts of first degree murder. Lawyers representing the West Memphis Three reached the plea deal that allowed the men to walk free. They were transferred to the hearing with their possessions. The plea deal did not technically result in a full exoneration; some of the convictions would stand, though the men would not admit guilt. The counsel representing the men said they would continue to pursue full exoneration.
Echols co-wrote the lyrics to the song "Army Reserve", on Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
's self-titled album
Pearl Jam (album)
Pearl Jam is the eighth studio album by the American alternative rock band Pearl Jam and its debut and only release for J Records...
. Punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
musician Michale Graves
Michale Graves
Michael Emanuel , better known by his stage name Michale Graves, is an American singer and songwriter, singing for the late 1990s re-incarnation of The Misfits from 1995 to 1998 and again from late 1998 until late 2000. Graves grew up in Dumont, New Jersey...
, formerly of The Misfits has been writing music to coincide with Echols' poetry. Echols and Graves worked together on an album, illusions, released October 2007. Echols has published his memoirs, Almost Home: My Life Story Vol. 1. His poetry has appeared in the Porcupine Literary Arts magazine (Volume 8, Issue 2), and he has written non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
for the Arkansas Literary Forum. Since his release, he has moved to New York with his wife and has no intentions of returning to Arkansas. In a interview with Piers Morgan
Piers Morgan
Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan , known professionally as Piers Morgan, is a British journalist and television presenter. He is editorial director of First News, a national newspaper for children....
, he stated that he would like to have a career in writing and visual arts
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
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External links
- West Memphis Three at the Court TVCourt TVtruTV is an American cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Time Warner. The network launched as Court TV in 1991, changing to truTV in 2008...
Crime Library - Archive of West Memphis Three reports from Memphis Commercial Appeal
- Chen, Stephanie. "Echols of West Memphis 3 talks about appeal, death row." CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
. September 29, 2010.