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New Evidence Revealed in West Memphis Murders
DNA May Support Innocence of Teens Convicted a Decade Ago
Last updated Thursday, November 8, 2007 7:04 PM CST in Columns
By Becca Bacon Martin
THE MORNING NEWS
You know this is a subject that is close to my heart.
It was after school on May 5, 1993, when three 8-year-old boys disappeared in West Memphis. Shortly after noon on May 6, their bodies were found in a creek in an area of town called Robin Hood Hills. All three of them had been severely beaten, and one child had been stabbed and allegedly mutilated.
The case against the teenagers who came to be called the "West Memphis Three" -- Damien Echols, then 18, Jason Baldwin, 16, and Jesse Misskelley, 17 -- hinged on two things. The first was a confession elicited from Misskelley, who had been in special education classes throughout the time he attended West Memphis schools. The second factor was the prosecution's claim that the three were involved in a Satanic cult -- as evidenced by their choices in clothes, music and books.
The case has galvanized a cross-section of the Hollywood elite, rock stars like Henry Rollins, documentary filmmakers, powerful attorneys and people like me, who think that being Goth isn't enough evidence for a murder conviction.
On Monday, the Los Angeles Times reported, lawyers for Damien Echols -- who has been on death row for more than a decade -- filed a motion in federal court to overturn his conviction based on new evidence, including DNA test results that found no genetic material on the victims' bodies from his client, Baldwin or Misskelley.
Attorneys asserted in the habeas corpus petition, filed in federal court in Little Rock along with dozens of exhibits and affidavits, that genetic evidence found on one of the victims came from an unidentified person.
The Los Angeles Times reported that "tests also revealed that a hair containing DNA consistent with that of Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of one of the victims, was found on a ligature -- black and white shoelaces -- used to hog-tie another of the victims. Another hair found on a tree root at the crime scene contained the DNA of David Jacoby, who was with Hobbs, according to court documents, in the hours before and after the victims disappeared."
The new petition includes analyses done by seven forensic scientists, all of whom challenge prosecutors' claims that Christopher Byers had been sexually mutilated with a knife. According to their separate reviews of autopsy tests, photos and trial testimony, Byers was killed by blunt force blows, and animals later ate parts of his body.
"The brief also states that some of the key testimony asserting that the teenagers were part of a satanic cult -- something they have denied -- was presented by a 'witchcraft expert' with 'a fraudulent Ph.D.' from a school in California that was put out of business by state authorities," The Times' report states.
Here's the rest of Henry Weinstein's Los Angeles Times story:
"Echols' lawyers maintain that members of the jury that convicted and sentenced him to death in Jonesboro in 1994 made misleading statements about what they knew about the case when questioned during voir dire and considered Misskelley's confession during their deliberations -- something that they were specifically told not to by the trial judge.
"Misskelley was tried first. His lawyers maintained that he was borderline mentally retarded and that he had made a statement to prosecutors only in hopes of being rewarded.
"He was convicted, but it was established in court that he had changed key aspects of his story more than once after being questioned by prosecutors. He initially told prosecutors that he saw the crimes occur at a time at which it was established that the three victims and Baldwin were in school, Misskelley was at work on a roofing job and Echols was at the doctor.
"During voir dire for the separate trial of Echols and Baldwin, the judge learned that virtually all of the jurors had heard a lot about the case, from newspaper and television accounts. The judge specifically told the jury not to consider anything they might have heard about Misskelley's statement to the police. But in recent interviews, three jurors, including the foreman, said the statement definitely was a factor they considered.
"'How could you not?' the foreman said, according to court documents. 'It was a primary and deciding factor.'
"The jury's consideration of the statement alone violated Echols' right to a fair trial, according to his attorneys."
You're welcome to form your own opinions. Read more at www.wm3.org. I just want you to think about it.
About this columnist
Becca Bacon Martin is the entertainment editor at The Morning News. Her column began running in 1988 and appears each Sunday. Her work was recently honored with first place in the Arkansas Press Association Better Newspaper Contest. See past columns on her archive page.
Reader Comments (2 comment(s))
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RLStevens72 wrote on Nov 22, 2007 12:38 PM:
Not already registered?
mandolyn wrote on Nov 9, 2007 11:18 AM: