Injustice

Help Free the West Memphis Three

www.wm3.org

A year or two ago, I came across a story about the West Memphis Three (WM3).  After reading the detailed Wikipedia page, I kept searching and searching for more articles about them.  I eventually watched a documentary, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills on the case/trial and it’s left me intrigued.  I thought I would share their story; the only way their story will be heard is if it’s continuously re-told, right?

In 1994, three teenagers (Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr.), now men, were charged with the murders of three 8yr old boys (Steve Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers) in May 1993 in West Memphis, AR.

Damien Echols 18yrs old was sentenced to death.
Jason Baldwin 16yrs old was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Jessie Misskelley Jr. 17yrs old was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 40 years.


The Crime

Steve Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers were reported missing on May 5, 1993.  Byers’ adoptive father, John around 7:00pm was the first to notify the police.  A neighbor also reported they had seen the boys talking with Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of Steve Branch, around 6:00pm.  Hobbs later denied seeing the boys at all on May 5th.

The following morning, May 6, 1993, they began a thorough search for the boys around 8:00am.  Around 1:45pm, a parole officer spotted a boy’s black shoe floating in a creek that led to a drain canal.  After further investigation of the ditch they found the bodies of the three boys.  They were stripped naked and had been hogtied with their own shoelaces.  Their clothing was also found in the creek.  Christopher Byers’ body had deep lacerations and injuries to his privates.

The original autopsies were inconclusive as to their time of death, but the Arkansas medical examiner determined that Byers died of blood loss, while Moore and Branch drowned.  A later review of the case by a medical examiner for the defense determined that the boys had been killed between 1:00am and 5:00am on May 6, 1993.


The Investigation

Prosecution claimed Byers’ wounds were results of a knife attack and that the murderer purposely castrated him. While the defense states it’s clearly post-mortem animal predation. Police also suspected the boys were raped or sodomized; later expert testimony proved there was no sign of sexual contact of any kind with any of the victims.  Police also assumed the boys were assaulted and killed at the location they were found; critics argued that the assault, at least, was unlikely to have occurred at the creek.

There was and continues to be criticism of how the police handled the crime scene.  The bodies were removed from the water before the coroner ever arrived to examine the scene and determine the state of rigor mortis, allowing the bodies to decay on the creek bank and be exposed to sun and insects.  The police didn’t even call the coroner until almost two hours AFTER they discovered the floating shoe.  Officials failed to drain the creek in a timely manner and secure possible evidence.  Police failed to control disclosure of information and speculation about the crime scene; this obviously led to mass hysteria, turning the town into a lynch mob.

The same night the three boys’ went missing, a disoriented man stumbled into a nearby BoJangles restaurant covered in mud and blood.  He went into the women’s restroom where he was heard crying, he later left.  The night shift manager called police to report his appearance and 45mins later, a woman officer showed up at the drive-thru window to see if he was still present – she never stepped foot into the restaurant or to take samples.  It wasn’t until the following day and two phone calls later that the police actually showed up at BoJangles to take samples of the blood on the tile from the bathroom.  The evidence that was scrapped up was later “lost” and therefore, never tested.

Mara Leveritt, an investigative journalist and author of Devil’s Knot said, “Police records were a mess.  To call them disorderly would be putting it mildly.”  She speculated the small local police force was overwhelmed by the crime and was under a lot of pressure to find the killer.  Police even refused an unsolicited offer of aid and consultation from the violent crimes experts of the Arkansas State Police.  Leveritt further noted that some of the physical evidence from the scene was stored in paper sacks obtained from a supermarket rather than in the appropriate containers of known and controlled origin.


The Interviews

Police interviewed Damien Echols two days after the bodies were discovered.  During a polygraph exam, he denied any involvement.  The polygraph examiner claimed that Echols’ chart indicated deception.  However, when asked to produce the record of the examination, the examiner indicated that he had no written record (how convenient).  After a month had passed since the murders with very little progress in the case, police continued to focus their investigation on Echols.

On June 3, 1993, police interrogated Jessie Misskelley Jr. (whose IQ was reported to be 72 – making him borderline mentally retarded).  He was questioned alone; neither his parents nor a lawyer were present during the interrogation.  Misskelley’s father gave permission for Jessie to go with police, but did not explicitly give them permission for his minor son to be questioned.  Misskelley was questioned for approximately 12hours; only two portions of his interrogation were recorded totaling 46mins.  Misskelley ‘confessed’ to activity but it was later proven by a Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley that his interrogation was a “classic example” of police coercion.  His “confession” was in many respects inconsistent with the particulars of the crime scene and murder victims.

Shortly after Misskelley’s original “confession”, police arrested Echols and his close friend Jason Baldwin.

Misskelley was tried alone and convicted on February 5, 1994 of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder.  He was sentenced to life plus 40 years in prison.  His conviction was appealed and affirmed by the Arkansas Supreme Court.  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.

In May 1994, the three appealed their convictions, but they were upheld on direct appeal.


Recent Updates

In 2007, two hairs found at the scene of the crime were tested, connecting Terry Hobbs (stepfather of Steve Branch) and David Jacoby to the murder.  They have not been arrested.  Echols petitioned for a retrial based on a statute permitting post-conviction testing of DNA evidence due to technological advances made since 1994 might prove exoneration for the wrongfully convicted.  However, the original trial judge, Judge David Burnett, has disallowed hearing of this information in his court.

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 Jr. 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.  If their convictions are reversed, the State is expected to retry them.

In October 2008, attorney Daniel Stidham, who represented Jessie Misskelley Jr. in 1994, testified at a post conviction relief hearing.  He said under oath that, during the trial, Judge David Burnett approved the then-deliberating jury in the Misskelley matter at approximately 11:50am 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 guilt?” 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.

On November 4, 2010 the Arkansas Supreme Court ordered a lower judge to consider whether newly analyzed DNA evidence may exonerate the three men convicted in the 1993 murders.  The justices also said a lower court must examine claims of misconduct by the jurors who sentenced Damien Echols to death and Jessie Misskelley Jr. and Jason Baldwin to life in prison.

The new hearings are scheduled for December 2011.


In my heart, I do not believe these three men are guilty.  There is absolutely NO evidence whatsoever connecting Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin or Jessie Misskelley Jr. to the murders of Christopher Byers, Steve Branch or Michael Moore.  It’s a horrible case of injustice.  Small town police looked for an “easy out” since they had no leads in the case.  They found it convenient to point fingers to three teens that at the time seemed like good enough suspects.  I’m not alone in my feelings for this case; in fact, there are many famous supporters of the West Memphis Three.  They have been shown support from numerous rock and pop musicians (Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Natalie Maines of The Dixie Chicks, Metallica and Disturbed to name a few) as well as actors; Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder.

So read up on this case, spread the word, voice your opinion.  It’s sick to think about our justice system convicting not one but three men for murders they didn’t commit and leaving the real killer out to walk free.  Makes you really think about the world we live in….


I would highly suggest watching:

Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
Paradise Lost 2: REVELATIONS

I would highly suggest reading:

Blood of Innocents by Guy Reel
Devil’s Knot by Mara Leveritt