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Obscuregawdess Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 7:13 pm
CA 6/19/99, No New Trial for Echols, Judge Rules THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL NO NEW TRIAL FOR ECHOLS, JUDGE RULES Latest legal team 'failed to prove innocence' Published on June 19, 1999 By Bartholomew Sullivan Death Row inmate Damien Wayne Echols was not denied effective legal counsel and questionable new evidence does not establish his innocence, a judge reviewing the case has ruled. Echols, convicted of capital murder in the May 5, 1993 bludgeoning deaths of three West Memphis 8-year-old boys, sought a new trial on grounds of ineffective legal services after his appeals to both the Arkansas and U.S. supreme courts were rejected. Two other suspects were given life sentences after their convictions. Represented by a legal team that included O. J. Simpson's attorney Barry Scheck, Echols tried to establish that his trial lawyers, Val P. Price and Scott Davidson, both of Jonesboro, had failed to adequately investigate the case, lost opportunities to impeach state witnesses, and ignored critical evidence. Circuit Judge David Burnett of Osceola, who presided at the original trial, refused to recuse himself in ruling against Echols's petition. He released his long-awaited ruling late Thursday afternoon in Jonesboro. By state law, his decision not to step aside was discretionary. Echols's new legal team sought to establish that bite-mark evidence showed someone other than the three suspects arrested in the case was involved in the killing. But Burnett, quoting the testimony of Dr. Harry Mincer, president of the American Board of Forensic Odontology, said the mark on one victim was not a bite mark "within a degree of reasonable medical certainty.'' "The petitioner (Echols) has failed to prove a valid claim of actual innocence or to demonstrate incompetence of counsel,'' Burnett wrote. Many of the issues raised by the new lawyers constituted nothing more than second-guessing Price's and Davidson's trial strategy, Burnett wrote. The heinous child murder with its hints of a satanic motivation has gained national attention following a documentary film shot, in part, during the Echols trial. Whether Echols's trial lawyers prejudiced his defense in permitting the filming was another issue raised by the new legal team. Burnett ruled that it did not. http://westmemphisthreediscussion.yuku.com/topic/2810		"Bratty Mama Leci" Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 11754 Location: Kentucky



Obscuregawdess Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 7:26 pm
Driver resigns; audit starts Tuesday Driver resigns; audit starts Tuesday By Mike Bowie Evening Times Staff Writer Jerry Driver has resigned as Crittenden County's Chief Juvenile Intake Officer, and an audit of his former office is scheduled to begin in the morning. Circuit/Chancery Judge Ralph Wilson confirmed the resignation this morning, saying that he had received a letter from Driver asking that the resignation be made effective Friday, the same day the two were scheduled to meet to discuss office expenditures and recordkeeping. Wilson suspended Driver Feb. 6 after meeting with Driver and County Judge Brian Williams and reviewing records of the juvenile office, including a checking account the office used. "He (Driver) did not really give any reason for resigning. I got the letter over the weekend and I spoke this morning with Dorothy Barnes. She has agreed to stay as the head of the office until we can get a replacement," Wilson said. He said that he had been trying to reach Williams this morning to tell him to go ahead and begin the application procedure for hiring a new chief intake officer. Wilson had named Barnes to the position after suspending Driver. The judge had given Driver until Feb. 28 to produce invoices to back up purchases made through the checking account. At the time, a review of the available records by the Evening Times showed that approximately $18,000 in checks had been written to Driver. Driver had also been directed to produce the remaining records for the checking account. Williams said no additional records had been turned in since the initial conference early last month. Stubs for the checks showed that some had been written for computer equipment, some for trips, some for purchases at a gun shop and some showed no reason that the checks were written. Wilson said also that Williams had asked that the state legislative audit staff begin their audit of the office in the morning. "Today is the normal day for juvenile court and there would just be too much going on for the people to get anything done. I think Judge Williams used good judgement in asking that the audit begin tomorrow," Wilson said. Williams said this morning that the first thing the audit staff would have to do is look at the records of the checking account the office has at the Citizens Bank. "They will have to reconcile the account for October of 1993 through October of 1996. They will have to determine how much money went into the account and where it went. Since we don't have all the records, I am going to have to order the microfilm from the bank," Williams said. He said another task the audit staff will face will be to try to find invoices for checks that have been written through the account. In some instances there are companies named on the check stubs, but in many others, there is no identifying company. http://home.comcast.net/~wm3files/ET03.03.97_01.jpg		"Bratty Mama Leci" Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 11754 Location: Kentucky



Obscuregawdess Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 7:33 pm
CA 9-27-00 EX-CRITTENDEN OFFICIAL TO PAY UP Copyright 2000 The Commercial Appeal The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) September 27, 2000, WEDNESDAY, FINAL EDITION SECTION: NEWS, Pg. A7 LENGTH: 396 words HEADLINE: EX-CRITTENDEN OFFICIAL TO PAY UP BYLINE: Bartholomew Sullivan The Commercial Appeal BODY: The former juvenile officer for Crittenden County, Ark., charged last year with theft after a state audit found he'd written $ 27,400 in unauthorized checks, has been ordered to repay the debt in $ 241 monthly installments. Jerry B. Driver, 60, pleaded no contest to the theft charge March 27 and Circuit Judge David Burnett ordered him placed on probation, then authorized a transfer of the probation to authorities in Michigan, where Driver now lives. Restitution was ordered at the time, and the issue was initially left open, court files show. The county has made a claim with the Arkansas Governmental Bonding Board to have the loss reimbursed. That board is scheduled to meet Oct. 10. Crittenden County Quorum Court member Jim Turner has been adamant that the county get its money back and was harshly critical Tuesday that the county - the victim of the crime - allowed Driver to get away without some time behind bars. "Tell me when Crittenden County has put someone in jail for stealing our money,'' he told a specially called meeting of the Quorum Court. "No one has been to jail for stealing the county's money.'' Also at Tuesday's meeting, Turner urged county officials to remain vigilant in their efforts to get the money back, either directly from Driver or from the state bonding authority. Court records indicate that on Aug. 3, Burnett revisited the issue of restitution and ordered $ 27,684.19 repaid in monthly installments beginning Sept. 15. At $ 241 a month, it would take more than nine years to pay off the debt. Because of the complexity of accounting for monthly fees and fines, it could not be determined whether the first installment was made on time. Driver's lawyer, Kent J. Rubens, asked Burnett on Aug. 22 to reconsider his Aug 3 order, contending the total sum set is not in accordance with the facts. No action has been taken on that request, according to the court file, and Burnett said through his case coordinator that he does not plan to reconsider his decision. Driver, a former commercial airline pilot, resigned in April 1997 after questions were raised about disbursements from an account of fees paid by juvenile probationers. A state audit released in January 1998 indicated Driver wrote $ 27,400 in unauthorized checks and that a $ 212 chain saw was among items the audit could not account for. http://westmemphisthreediscussion.yuku.com/topic/2780		"Bratty Mama Leci" Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 11754 Location: Kentucky



Obscuregawdess Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 8:02 pm
Columbia Pacific University Ordered To Close CPU is the "school" where Dale Griffis, "satan expert" got his PhD - www.dca.ca.gov/press_releases/2000113.htm		"Bratty Mama Leci" Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 11754 Location: Kentucky



Obscuregawdess Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 8:35 pm
CA4/14/94, Effort on new Ark. killings trial faulted The Commercial Appeal Effort on new Ark. killings trial faulted Date: April 14, 1994 Section: Metro Page: B7 Source: Bartholomew Sullivan The Commercial Appeal Edition: Final Prosecutors blasted defense lawyers' efforts to gain new trials for two men convicted last month in the West Memphis triple-murder case, saying charges of alleged misconduct by prosecutors are unfounded. Second Judicial District Atty. Brent Davis and Deputy Prosecutor John N. Fogleman filed a response to the Charles Jason Baldwin's request for a new trial on Tuesday. Lawyers for both Baldwin and Damien Wayen Echols filed almost identical motions March 29 asking for new trials. Baldwin's lawyers followed up their motion with a request for Circuit Judge David Burnett to recuse himself and not consider the new trial motion. Baldwin's lawyer, Paul N. Ford, in an affidavit filed March 29, said prosecutors engaged in misconduct when they sought a one-day continuance toward the end of Baldwin's and Echols's trial in Jonesboro. Both Davis and Fogleman filed affidavits Tuesday stating that no misconduct or improper contact was made with the trial court. The state also denied it was aware of ``any information about threats being made to jurors,'' cited as another defense basis for a new trial. Burnett has not yet ruled on the motions or the request that he recuse himself. http://westmemphisthreediscussion.yuku.com/topic/2725		"Bratty Mama Leci" Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 11754 Location: Kentucky



Obscuregawdess Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 8:35 pm
CA3/25/94, Fogleman,prosecutor in Ark.deaths, runs for judge The Commercial Appeal Fogleman, prosecutor in Ark. deaths, runs for judge Date: March 25, 1994 Section: Business Page: B7 Edition: Final John N. Fogleman, the Crittenden County deputy prosecutor who recently won convictions in the West Memphis triple-murder case, filed to run for Circuit judge in the six-county Second Judicial District on Thursday. Mike Walden, a Craighead County deputy prosecutor since 1976, and Chet Dunlap, a Poinsett County lawyer, also are seeking the position from which Circuit Judge Gerald Pearson is retiring. Fogleman, the city attorney in Marion and a Marion Public Schools board member, is a member of the West Memphis firm of Hale, Fogleman and Rogers. He has been a deputy prosecutor since 1983. Walden, a member of the Jonesboro firm of Henry, Walden and Halsey, has been a deputy prosecutor in Craighead County since 1976. Dunlap, whose practice includes criminal defense work, has been a lawyer in Trumann for 10 years and worked briefly as a deputy prosecutor in northwest Arkansas after law school. The Second Judicial District includes Clay, Greene, Craighead, Poinsett, Mississippi and Crittenden counties. http://westmemphisthreediscussion.yuku.com/topic/2742		"Bratty Mama Leci" Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 11754 Location: Kentucky



Obscuregawdess Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 8:55 pm
CA6/29/93, Lawyers Allege Illegal Search of Baldwin's Home Lawyers allege illegal search of Baldwin's home June 29, 1993 By Bartholomew Sullivan Evidence seized by police when they executed a search warrant at the home of a 16-year-old suspect in the West Memphis triple-murder case should not be available for use at trial, lawyers argued in court papers filed Monday. Lawyers for Charles Jason Baldwin, charged June 3 with three counts of capital murder, said the police did not comply with state law when they entered Baldwin's home on the night of his arrest. After co-defendant Jessie Lloyd Misskelley Jr., 17, gave police a statement that implicated Baldwin and Michael Wayne Echols, 18, in the murders, police sought a search warrant for all three defendants' mobile homes. Police told Municipal Judge William P. Rainey that the items to be seized were in imminent danger of removal. Rainey authorized the nighttime search on that basis. Baldwin, Echols and Misskelley, charged in the May 5 deaths of 8-year-olds Steve Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers, are being held without bond at undisclosed locations. According to a brief in support of their motion to suppress the evidence, filed Monday in Crittenden County Circuit Court, Baldwin's lawyers said West Memphis police misled Rainey. They told him the evidence they were seeking was in imminent danger of being removed or destroyed, adding the alleged murderers were "friends and members of a close-knit cult group." Baldwin's lawyers, Paul N. Ford and George Robin Wadley Jr. of Jonesboro, said that there is nothing in Misskelley's statement indicating that Baldwin was Misskelley's friend or "ever participated in occultic activities." The lawyers also said there was nothing to suggest the evidence wouldn't have been available the next morning. Police Inspector Gary Gitchell, the lead detective on the case, declined comment on the motion to suppress the evidence seized in the search of Baldwin's home. Prosecutor John Fogleman also said he had no comment on the motion. Ford and Wadley say that blood and hair samples taken from their client on the night of his arrest also violated state law. State prosecutors filed a motion June 17 seeking samples of the defendants' blood, hair and saliva. That motion is pending in court. Lawyers for Misskelley said last week that they plan to contest the state's motion. Baldwin's lawyers say that because some samples have already been obtained illegally, the state would be violating his constitutional rights if it permits taking additional samples. Ford and Wadley contend that Misskelley's statement did not provide sufficiently detailed information for the 45-page list of items connected with the murders sought at Baldwin's home. Their motion also states that the police asked for material generally available "in any home in Crittenden County." For example, in their motion, the lawyers stated police said they would be looking for "blue, green, red, black (or) purple fibers," and "blue, yellow, red paint or plastic." The motion does not say what was seized from Baldwin's house because of an existing Circuit Court judge's order prohibiting disclosure of the police investigative file. But it does say that samples of handwriting were taken from Baldwin's home. The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. Arkansas law goes further, requiring police to conduct searches between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. unless the circumstances in which the objects are to be seized are ''difficult to predict with accuracy" or when there is imminent danger that evidence will be removed. The search of Baldwin's home began at 10:32 p.m. and ended at 12:59 a.m., June 4, after Rainey signed a search warrant at 9:50 p.m. The hair and blood samples also were taken at night. http://westmemphisthreediscussion.yuku.com/topic/2675		"Bratty Mama Leci" Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 11754 Location: Kentucky



Obscuregawdess Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 9:00 pm
CA2/18/94, Friend of Slain Boys, 8, Implicated Victim's Dad http://westmemphisthreediscussion.yuku.com/topic/2735 THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL FRIEND OF SLAIN BOYS, 8, IMPLICATED VICTIM'S DAD, DEFENSE ATTORNEY CLAIMS Date: Friday, February 18, 1994 Section: News Page: A1 Source: By Bartholomew Sullivan and Marc Perrusquia The Commercial Appeal Dateline: Edition: Final An 8-year-old boy whose mother said she attended a satanic cult meeting with two defendants in the West Memphis triple-murder case has made statements implicating the father of one murder victim, a defense lawyer claims. Val P. Price of Jonesboro, who represents Damien Wayne Echols, told Circuit Judge David Burnett in court in Jonesboro Wednesday that 8-year-old Aaron Hutcheson "has made numerous statements" and that in one said "a Mark Byers was present at the time of the murders." On Thursday, Victoria M. Hutcheson verified that her son, Aaron, said Byers was in the woods on the night of May 5 last year when 8-year-olds Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Steven Branch were brutalized. Christopher Byers was also sexually mutilated. Byers, 36, was not available at home or by telephone and did not return phone messages Thursday. He did tell The Associated Press: "As far as him saying he saw me out there, that's a bald-faced lie." Byers said, "He (Aaron) made the comment that he heard me hollering for Christopher and all. (But) he said he was too scared to holler back because they, the people doing the killing, were closer to him than I was." At the center of the controversy is Aaron, a friend of the three victims, who has given several statements to police, including one on tape that was played to the jury at Jessie Lloyd Misskelley Jr.'s murder trial last month in Corning, Ark. In it he said, "Nobody knows what happened but me." That statement led to speculation that the boy might be an eyewitness to the murders. The boy's mother said she has not seen statements her son gave police. But she said Aaron told her he saw Byers in the woods the night of the murders "hurting" Christopher. "That's not the first time Aaron saw Byers hurting him," she said. Psychiatrists treating Aaron assert the boy has been ritually abused, Hutcheson said. State prosecutors have subpoenaed his medical records from the East Arkansas Regional Medical Center in West Memphis. West Memphis Police Insp. Gary Gitchell said Thursday that Aaron never implicated Byers during an interview with police. "I've never seen anything like that in writing," said Gitchell. "He's never said it to any of us." Aaron Hutcheson implicated Echols, Misskelley and Charles Jason Baldwin, ''and no one else," Gitchell said. "There has been nothing to indicate Byers was involved with this whatsoever." Baldwin, 16, and Echols, 19, go on trial Tuesday in Jonesboro on capital murder charges. Misskelley was found guilty of first- and second-degree murder on Feb. 4 and was sentenced to life in prison plus 40 years. Also in court Wednesday, Price's co-counsel representing Echols, Scott Davidson, said the defense team wants to see a tape of an interview with Byers filmed by a New York-based documentary film crew. In the interview filmed at the West Memphis crime scene, according to Davidson, Byers allegedly described an assault he suffered when he was 18 or 19 years old in which he was tied up, sodomized and thrown in a ditch. According to police, the three 8-year-olds suffered the same fate, although whether they were sodomized has been disputed by Baldwin's defense lawyers. Davidson also asserted that representatives of the film crew delivered a knife to West Memphis police, and that they got it from Byers. When the knife was delivered was not clear. Burnett has said he is inclined to let jurors see another knife, which was found behind Baldwin's house on Nov. 17, but has withheld a final ruling. Hutcheson said she didn't learn that Aaron said he witnessed the murders until 10 days after the May 5 slayings. Aaron was with a babysitter the night of the murders, she said. After the murders, Hutcheson shielded her son by sending him to stay with a relative in Fort Smith, Ark., she said. "I sent him away. I knew it was going to get hideous," she said. Aaron failed to mention he witnessed the murders because he was afraid and confused, she said. Aaron has told police several versions about what happened the night of the murders, sources say. But Hutcheson said she has "no doubt" her son was there that night. In an interview, Hutcheson also elaborated on testimony she gave in the Misskelley trial about attending a cult meeting with Echols and Misskelley. Hutcheson testifed she saw about 10 to 15 people at a Wednesday night ''esbat" meeting, but the judge limited her testimony and she did not describe details then. She said she saw what she took to be the beginning of an orgy, with people painted black taking off their clothes. According to court records in Shelby County, John Mark Byers is a self- employed jeweler. Crittenden County court records show that Burnett accepted a 1988 guilty plea from Byers after he was charged with "threaten(ing) to cause the death of Sandra Byers." Ryan Clark, the victim Christopher Byers's half-brother, said Sandra Byers is his father's ex- wife, now a resident of Missouri. She could not be reached Thursday. The felonious threat occurred on Sept. 9, 1987, according to court records. Byers successfully completed three years' probation on May 5, 1992, a year to the day before his son was killed. Shelby County records show Byers was arrested by Shelby County Sheriff's narcotics officers in July 1992 at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, spent a night in jail, but was never charged. Aaron's mother said Thursday that Byers telephoned her Wednesday night, angrily asking to speak with her son. "He said Aaron saw him in the woods yelling for the boys. He said, 'Isn't that right?' He said: 'Tell me the statement (Aaron gave police). Can I talk to Aaron?' " Hutcheson said she told Byers he could not talk to her son. Aaron has been receiving pyschological treatment since the murders, and doctors have advised that he not speak to anyone about the slayings, she said. Hutcheson said she has asked for protection from the prosecutor's office and the West Memphis police, but said they have been unresponsive. Gitchell declined comment on whether security for the youth is being provided. "I'm scared to death," Hutcheson said. "West Memphis won't do nothing. I'm getting ready to get the hell out of town."		"Bratty Mama Leci" Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 11754 Location: Kentucky



Obscuregawdess Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 9:35 pm
CA3/02/94, Ark. Supreme Court Says Judge Was Wrong... This article is (c) 1994 THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL ARK. SUPREME COURT SAYS JUDGE WAS WRONG TO CLOSE JURY SELECTION Date: Wednesday, March 2, 1994 Section: News Page: A7 Source: By Joan I. Duffy The Commercial Appeal Little Rock Bureau Dateline: Edition: Final The Arkansas Supreme Court sided with The Commercial Appeal Tuesday and said a judge in Jonesboro erred in excluding the public and press from jury selection for the trial of Damien Wayne Echols and Charles Jason Baldwin. The court ruled 5-1, with one justice not participating, that Circuit Judge David Burnett exceeded his authority in ordering the closed-door questioning of prospective jurors. The ruling said nothing about the newspaper's request for tape recordings or transcripts of the jury selection, which was completed by the time the issue reached the high court. Burnett closed the proceedings over the newspaper's objections after both defense attorneys and the state requested private examinations. They said the nature of the case required them to ask sensitive questions about sexual abuse and child molestation that would be difficult for prospective jurors to address honestly in open court. The Supreme Court based Tuesday's ruling on past decisions, which strictly limit the discretion of judges to close jury selection. "Members of the public, probably including members of a victim's family, have the right to hear the voir dire examination of individual jurors," the court ruled. "Cases have been reversed in this court because of answers given by prospective jurors which subsequent investigation established were false, or at least incorrect." Chief Justice Jack Holt Jr. disagreed with the majority ruling, saying the court in this case and in several precedents has oversimplified the issues and given "short shrift to a defendant's right to receive a fair trial, creating what appears to be an absolute right to open hearings regardless of the circumstances." "The petition before us presents in the starkest terms the opposition of two values of immeasurable worth in our national history and our legal culture - the right of a free press to observe and report criminal trials and the right of a criminal defendant to a fair trial," Holt said in his dissent. ''Both concepts are deeply rooted in the Anglo-American experience, but when they conflict, one must yield to the other. In my opinion, this court has made the wrong decision in declaring error and, in so doing, has once again elevated a qualified right into an absolute right." After testimony ended Tuesday, Burnett said, "I'll follow whatever orders of the court I'm required to follow. But after reading the opinion, I was impressed by the dissent." Keywords: COURT RULING AR MEDIA TRIAL Document Number: 9401100252 All content herein is (c) 1994 THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL and may not be republished without permission. http://westmemphisthreediscussion.yuku.com/topic/2698		"Bratty Mama Leci" Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 11754 Location: Kentucky



Obscuregawdess Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 1:31 am
"Devilish Questions" by Mara Leveritt Devilish questions Nine years later, a reporter is still searching for important answers about medical evidence in the notorious West Memphis murders. By Mara Leveritt October 4, 2002 By the time of the incident at UALR, I'd come to know a lot about the 1993 murders of the three little boys in West Memphis. I'd opened musty evidence boxes and held the sheets their bodies had been wrapped in nearly eight years before. I'd pored over transcripts of the subsequent trials, in which juries found three local teenagers - alleged by the state to have been satanists - guilty of killing the children. I'd chronicled for this paper some of the Internet and celebrity attention the case attracted after a 1996 documentary raised questions about the conduct of the trials. And now I was writing a book that would examine the case in depth. I planned to call it Devil's Knot, because of the references to satanism - and because the case itself was strangely tangled, complicated by highly unusual legal twists and turns. Many of the story's most confounding elements traced to the four weeks after the murders, while police were conducting their investigation. I had questions for the police and prosecutors, and especially for Dr. Frank Peretti, the state forensic pathologist who had examined the children's bodies. Thus, I was delighted to learn, in January of last year, that Peretti was going to speak on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Better yet, signs announcing his appearance said the associate medical examiner would be speaking specifically about his involvement in the West Memphis murder investigation. On the advertised date, I found my way to the room where Peretti was to appear. I paid a small admission fee to the campus's Criminal Justice Club, which was sponsoring the event, took a seat and opened my laptop. The computer had barely come to life when I was approached by the club's faculty sponsor. She asked who I was and why I was in the room. Startled, I replied that I was a reporter and I was interested in Dr. Peretti's subject. The professor asked me to leave. I was stunned. I pointed out that this was a publicly advertised speech, to be delivered by a state employee, on a state university campus. But she was adamant. She told me that Dr. Peretti had stipulated before agreeing to talk that he would not address the group if any reporters or law students were present. Dumbfounded, I explained that the case in question was a matter of public record, that all three of the defendants had been convicted, and their convictions had been affirmed nearly five years earlier by the Arkansas Supreme Court. More to the point, I argued, it was outrageous for Dr. Peretti or for anyone at the school to attempt to discriminate among attendees at a public event. She insisted that, even though the event was advertised and an admission fee was being charged, it was really a classroom lecture that not just anyone could attend. In the end, after I'd taken my protest to the chancellor's office, it was Peretti who settled the matter. He announced that he would indeed speak to the group - but not about the West Memphis case. I did not stay to listen. But some members of the audience who did - members who were not, incidentally, students - told me later that the talk had been disappointing. They'd hoped to hear Dr. Peretti discuss one of Arkansas's most infamous crimes; a horrible triple-murder that had resulted in a sentence of death for one of the accused and to life in prison for the others. Some, like me, were familiar with the case and had come hoping to hear the doctor answer some longstanding questions. Given the chance, I would have liked to ask the doctor... Why had it taken so long to get his autopsy reports to police? The bodies of the boys - Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Stevie Branch - were found submerged in a creek on May 6, 1993. The boys were naked and each was bound hand-to-foot with shoelaces. Christopher had been crudely castrated. The bodies were wrapped in sheets, loaded into a hearse, and driven to Little Rock, where they were placed in the chilly morgue at the Arkansas Crime Laboratory. The next morning, as detectives in West Memphis began their search for the killer or killers, Dr. Peretti performed the autopsies. But, while time is of the essence for officers investigating any murder, weeks passed before West Memphis detectives received Peretti's report. For Chief Inspector Gary Gitchell, the delay was maddening. By May 26, 20 days after the bodies were found, the detective heading the investigation was growing frantic. He typed a letter to crime lab officials expressing his exasperation. The letter listed several fundamental questions, the answers to which, Gitchell said, were "vital" to his investigation. Nearly three weeks had passed since the murders, and Gitchell was pleading with the crime lab to tell him when the boys had died and what had caused their deaths. He asked if he could get a diagram of the children's wounds. More specifically he asked, had "any tears or blood or punctures" been found in their clothes? Had a stick that was sent to the lab been used upon the children? Was there evidence that the boys had been sodomized? What about Peretti's report of finding urine in the boys' stomachs ? Gitchell's letter went on to mention what had supposedly been one of the department's most closely guarded secrets. Gitchell noted that Peretti had "mentioned finding urine" in the stomachs of two of the boys, and that he had asked that the police send "water samples" to the lab. Gitchell had sent the lab a Mason jar filled with water taken from the creek, but weeks had passed since that request, and the department had heard nothing more. "What has been determined in regards to the urine?" a frustrated Gitchell demanded. "Can the urine, if that is what it is, be used to eliminate any suspects - or develop any?" Gitchell clearly was grasping at straws. "Can you tell us which kid was killed first?," he begged. And, "Were the kids dragged?" He wrote, "Anything you can think to give us would be greatly appreciated. We need information from the crime lab desperately... without [it] our hands are tied..." With the murders unsolved after nearly a month and public pressure for an arrest mounting, Gitchell complained that, because of the crime lab's delay, "We feel as though we are walking blind-folded through this case." Where did the murders take place? Gitchell's frustration, however, was about to come to a sudden end. Nine days after he wrote his desperate letter to crime lab officials, and still without a response, he and his detectives abruptly made three nighttime arrests. The next morning, June 5, 1993 - a month to the day after the children disappeared - Gitchell announced that 18-year-old Damien Echols, 17-year-old Jessie Misskelley Jr., and 16-year-old Jason Baldwin were being charged with their murders. Before long the public learned that the arrests were based in large part on statements Jessie had made to police the day before. Detectives had interrogated the former special-education student for nearly eight hours with neither a lawyer nor parent present. At first, Jessie had denied any knowledge of the killings. Eventually, however, he'd told police that he'd seen Echols and Baldwin kill the boys. Later still, he'd added that, at one point, he'd even assisted the two teenagers by catching and holding one of the victims who had tried to escape. Misskelley's statement was riddled with inaccuracies - descriptions of what transpired that police knew did not fit the crime - and he retracted his statements the following day. But the case proceeded to trial. And there, attorneys for both the prosecution and the defense raised more questions about Peretti's work. The urine Peretti had verbally reported would remain a mystery. When police finally received the doctor's written report, it contained no mention whatsoever of that finding - neither why urine had been suspected in the first place, nor how that suspicion had been dismissed. Neither was there any report on the water police had been asked to send. In light of Peretti's finding that two of the boys had drowned, the omission may have been significant. Prosecutors contended that the children had been killed where their bodies were discovered. Defense attorneys theorized that the murders had occurred somewhere else. Science might have settled the question if the creek water had been analyzed and compared with fluid found in the victims' lungs. But Peretti's report never mentioned what had happened to the water the police had sent. Were the boys sodomized? From the start, police had suspected that the crime had a sexual component. The boys' nakedness, the way they were tied, and especially the castration, all seemed to suggest it. That's why Gitchell's letter to the crime lab had stressed detectives' need for evidence as to whether the boys had been raped. Gitchell had not received an answer by the time he and his officers questioned Jessie Misskelley, but in light of the circumstances, the detectives assumed the boys had been sodomized. Jessie was questioned by police, then a statement was tape-recorded. He was questioned again, without the tape-recorder, then another recorded statement was taken. In those recorded statements, Jessie included fuzzy references to seeing the attackers "screwing" the victims. The defendants were tried in 1994. Jessie's trial was first. But to the prosecutors' chagrin, when Peretti was called to testify, he stated that he'd found no evidence that any of the eight-year-olds had been sodomized. The associate medical examiner added that he'd observed "no injury" to any of their anuses. When one of the defense lawyers asked if Peretti would expect to find such injuries on children who reportedly had been raped, Peretti answered: "If it were forcible, I would expect to find injuries." But he added, "I couldn't find any physical evidence of that." Why had Peretti withheld information from West Memphis authorities? The investigation into the murders might have taken a different course if Gitchell and his detectives had known of Peretti's findings before they made their arrests. During Peretti's trial testimony he explained, at least in part, why the police had been laboring in the dark. Normally, as soon as an autopsy is complete, the medical examiner issues what is called a Cause of Death report. This is an interim report that's intended to provide police with the medical examiner's broad conclusions, while the more formal, complete report is being prepared. The primary purpose of the COD report is to help investigators understand the deaths they are dealing with. As Peretti explained on the witness stand: "This sheet automatically goes to the prosecutor of the county of death, the coroner, and the investigative agencies handling the death investigation." The prosecutor asked, "Did you kind of change that procedure a little bit in this case, in order to insure that the information obtained in your autopsy report wasn't disseminated to the general public?" Peretti answered that normally, he listed the cause of death and the factors that had contributed to it. But in this case, he said, because the murders had generated "rumors" and "intense media coverage," he had listed only the causes of death on the report. Those were that two of the boys had died from "multiple injuries and drowning" and one - the child who'd been so horribly castrated - had died simply from "multiple injuries." Astonishingly, Peretti informed the court that he had deliberately avoided telling investigators anything specific about the nature of the boys' fatal wounds. He testified, "I did not say anything about any of the injuries. I didn't tell the prosecutor. I didn't tell the police. And I didn't tell the coroner. I just kept it to myself." Peretti was not asked, and he did not explain, why he had chosen to withhold from police information that would normally have been released. Had the castration been frenzied or methodical? One of the detectives who recovered the bodies testified that he'd seen "hundreds" of stab wounds surrounding the site of Christopher's castration. That suggested to prosecutors that the act had been a sloppy wild one, performed in a savage frenzy. Peretti's report on Christopher's autopsy was a scant nine pages. He'd dealt with the castration in a nine-line paragraph. He'd simply described the stab wounds as "multiple" and had given a range of measurements. Nothing about the report suggested that the mutilation had been conducted with care. But to the prosecutors' dismay, when defense lawyers questioned Peretti on the stand, quite a different picture emerged. When one of the lawyers asked if it would have taken "some skill and precision" to perform the castration Peretti had examined, the doctor replied, "I would think so." Upon further questioning Peretti added his belief that the dismemberment probably had taken the assailant "longer than five or ten minutes" to perform. When a defense attorney asked Peretti if he himself could have performed such a castration, "with the skill and the precision and knowledge" he possessed, while "in the dark," "in the water," and "with mosquitoes all around" him, the doctor had replied, "It would be difficult." What time were the three boys killed? The delay and imprecision of Peretti's autopsy reports had complicated the prosecutors' job at trial. But, in a dramatic turn of events, his testimony also confounded the defense. During Jessie's trial, Peretti testified that he had not been able to establish a reliable time of death because of the condition of the bodies, which had lain for some time submerged in a creek. That uncertainty had allowed prosecutors to argue that the murders had taken place early on the evening of May 5 - a time that coincided with one of the times Jessie Misskelley had offered in his many and varying accounts of the crime. The jury convicted Jessie, almost entirely on the basis of his self-incriminating statements. But Peretti's testimony took a shocking turn when Damien and Jason were placed on trial together. This time, after Peretti was placed under oath, he stunned the courtroom by contradicting his own testimony at Jessie Misskelley's trial. This time Peretti stated that he had, in fact, been able to estimate the time of the boys' deaths. When asked what that estimate was, Peretti gave a time range that was hours beyond even the latest time mentioned by Jessie in any of his statements. Moreover, Peretti added, he'd discussed the time factor with two other state medical examiners, and that they had concurred in his opinion. The prosecutors were furious. Later, one of them fumed, "If you rely on Dr. Peretti for a time-of-death opinion, it's a mistake. Dr. Peretti is another book." Jessie's lawyers were equally aghast. They asked the court to grant Jessie a new trial, in light of the fact that Peretti's new testimony contradicted Jessie's confession. They argued that, if Peretti had estimated a later time of death, Jessie's jurors should have been able to hear that. But the court denied the petition. Damien and Jason were convicted on circumstantial evidence. It consisted mostly of claims that the killings bore "signs of the occult;" that Damien, in particular, harbored an interest in "the occult;" and that fibers found with the bodies were "microscopically similar" - though not identical - to fibers found in the defendants' homes. In 1996, the Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed all three of the convictions. But in the years that followed, questions bedeviled the case. The ones involving the medical examiner's office represented just a slice of them. Questions accumulate I finished Devil's Knot without the benefit of an interview with Dr. Peretti. But as I prepared to write this article, focusing so closely on his role in the case, I made one more attempt to speak with him and ask for his responses. Peretti's boss, Dr. William Q. Sturner, Arkansas's chief medical examiner, responded instead. He told me that Peretti had requested permission to speak about the case from Brent Davis, the prosecuting attorney for the Second Judicial District, where the trials were held eight years ago. Sturner said that Davis had told Peretti he was not to discuss the case, since Damien Echols still had appeals pending. I pointed out that cases are considered closed either when charges are dismissed or when a defendant is convicted. In these cases, the defendants were convicted more eight years ago, at which time the investigative records had, in fact, been released. I questioned Davis' authority for instructing Peretti not to discuss the case - especially since Judge John Fogleman, who'd prosecuted the case with Davis, had discussed the case with me at length. But when I attempted to discuss the matter with Davis, he did not return my call. As often happened in Devil's Knot, the attempt to unravel a single strand led to knottier questions to ponder. I put this newest one to Dr. Sturner. Civil appeals were pending in this case more than a year ago, when Dr. Peretti had agreed to discuss it at UALR. Had Prosecutor Davis given Peretti permission to discuss the case at a public forum then? Sturner said he did not know. But three days later I received a certified letter from Dr. Peretti. Noting that my question about the talk at UALR had been relayed to him, he wrote: "Please be advised that permission to give this talk was granted by Mr. Davis." Well, I thought, that's one question answered. But now, in addition to the lingering questions about Dr. Peretti's role in this complex case, we have some others to ponder: Why was Prosecutor Brent Davis reportedly willing to let Peretti talk about the case to a group at UALR, but not to a reporter writing for the general public? And, perhaps more to the point: Why, almost 10 years after the West Memphis triple-murder investigation, is Davis still trying to limit public discussion of the role that Dr. Peretti and the crime lab played in it? Copyright 2002 Arkansas Times Inc. arktimes.com/021004coverstorya.html		"Bratty Mama Leci" Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 11754 Location: Kentucky



Obscuregawdess Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 12:46 pm
Ghosts of Crimes Past For a town of its size West Memphis has had an unusual number of high profile cases of multiple murders involving children. In 1961, 15 year old Gurvis Nichols shot to death two ten year old children, stating that he did it because he wanted to see God. He was sent to a mental institution and later released, believed to be living in Germantown, a suburb of Memphis, in 1993. The police attempted to locate him to question him about the 1993 murders but could not find him. In 1985, Ronald Ward, aged 15, was tried and sentenced to death for the murders of Lois Townsend Jarvis, 76, Audrey Townsend, 72, and Chris Simmons, 12. Fogelman and Davis were the prosecutors. At the time, he became famous as the nation's youngest inmate on death row. Two years later he won a retrial and his sentence was reduced to life without parole. In 1988, further down 14th Street, Barbara McCoy and Mary Williams killed McCoy's two children, Bianca Tirado, aged 7, and Maximillion McCoy aged 2 in what was described as an exorcism gone bad. Just before the trial was to have begun, the main witness died, India McCoy, aged 17. Barbara McCoy plead innocent due to insanity and received 13 months in a mental institution before being released to the community. Mary Williams was also eventually released, but the timing and details of her release are unknown to this author. There had also been a spate of child murders in Eastern Arkansas leading up to the time of the killings in West Memphis, and authorities and the media wondered if they were related. Authorities Wonder If 6 Kids' Deaths in East Ark. Are Related Memphis Commercial Appeal, June 3, 1993. [excerpt] The three boys murdered in West Memphis are among half a dozen cases -- all of which remain unsolved -- of children killed in a four-county area in East Arkansas over the past two years. The three murders that were speculated as having been connected to the West Memphis killings were: May 4, 1991: Hickory Ridge - Christina Marie Pipkin, 9, disappears. Her body was found in a ditch five days later. May 21, 1992: Wynne - Geneva Smith, 13 disappears. Her body was found in the St. Francis River ten days later. Oct. 13, 1992: Wynne - Gardenia Jones Cross, 16, died of puncture wounds to temple and cuts to the face and neck. A later article in the Commercial Appeal speculated whether another death in Wynne was related to these. July 8, 1993: Ark. Officials Seek Body's ID. A decomposed body was found by two farmers Wednesday morning in southwest Wynne, said police Sgt. Ronnie Baldwin. [snip] It was not known whether foul play was involved. The body is the fourth found in Cross County since May 1991. Foul play was believed to be involved in the other three deaths. And, finally, a 13 year old boy, Lance Guthrie was found shot to death in Forrest City on July 3, 1992. There is nothing to connect him to the above deaths beyond young age, time period of his death and location. Were the murderers ever found in these cases? In two of the cases, arrests were made, but no convictions. In November, 1999 Johnny Key and Freddie Jones were arrested for the murder of Geneva Smith. According to Sheriff Ronnie Baldwin, the case fell through when the main witness backed out. Also in November of 1999, Robbie Dale Tubbs, 38 was arrested for the murder of Christina Pipkin. He was found not guilty when his lawyer discovered the main piece of evidence against his client, a DNA sample matching the victim, was actually a laboratory mix-up: the same sample was being compared to itself (hence the match). Homicides and unexplained deaths, Eastern Arkansas, 1991 - 1993. CP = Christina Pipkin, aged 9, May 1991. GC = Gardenia Cross, aged 16, October 1992. GS = Geneva Smith, aged 13, May 1992. LG = Lance Graham, aged 13, June 1992. U = Unidentified, found July, 1993. 3 = Christopher Byers, Michael Moore, Steve Branch, aged 8, May 1993. Brown lines = Interstates. Yellow lines = county lines. Gray lines = railroads. [i]Ghosts of Crimes In the More Distant Past..." http://www.jivepuppi.com/jivepuppi_ghosts.html		"Bratty Mama Leci" Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 11754 Location: Kentucky



Obscuregawdess Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 11:10 pm
A Collection of History on the Arkansas Death Penalty Last updated Saturday, May 5, 2007 8:27 PM CDT in News By The Morning News with Contributions from Ron Wood Lynch Mobs FAYETTEVILLE -- Not everyone hanged in Washington County made it to the gallows because mobs sometimes took matters into their own hands. A black slave accused of killing his owner, a man identified only as Mullis, outside Fayetteville was lynched by a mob In 1860 after being taken from the Washington County Jail. The slave and the Mullis' wife had allegedly conspired in the killing. The wife narrowly avoided the same fate. In 1856, Dr. James Boone was beaten to death by three slaves, two of his own and one belonging to a neighbor. Boone's sons allegedly took the two slaves that belonged to their father from the Washington County Jail and lynched them. The third was tried, convicted and hanged. Supreme Court Ruling In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Furman v. Georgia the death penalty was unconstitutional. The 5-4 ruling said the death penalty constituted cruel and inhumane punishment. Justices also ruled that judges and juries in death penalty cases had too much discretion, resulting in the death penalty being applied in an arbitrary and capricious manner. The ruling struck down existing death penalty laws. The death sentences of 629 people on death row were commuted by the court. In light of the court's ruling, 37 states revised their death penalty statutes, including Arkansas and Georgia. The Furman ruling stood until July 2, 1976, when the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in Gregg v. Georgia that the death penalty was constitutional if judges and juries are required by state law to follow specific procedural guidelines, such as bifurcated trials, and consider specific aggravating and mitigating factors when deciding whether to impose capital punishment. The ruling also required a mandatory state supreme court appeals process to determine whether the sentence was influenced by passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor; whether the evidence supported a finding of an aggravating circumstance; and, whether the penalty was excessive or disproportionate compared to similar cases and defendants. The court ruled in Gregg that mandatory death penalty statutes were unconstitutional because they constituted cruel and unusual punishment but that the death penalty, per se, was not unconstitutional. Source: U.S. Supreme Court It's the Law In Arkansas, a person can be charged with capital murder if they kill someone and the crime has one or more of the following aggravating circumstances: * The murder occurred while committing or attempting to commit arson, terrorism, rape, kidnapping, carjacking, robbery, burglary, a felony violation of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, involving an actual delivery of a controlled substance, or first-degree escape. * The killing was the premeditated murder of an on-duty law enforcement officer, jailer, prison official, firefighter, judge or other court official, probation officer, parole officer, any military personnel, or teacher or school employee. * The murder was premeditated. * The murder victim was any holder of any public office or a candidate for public office. * Premeditated murder while in prison * Contract killing * The murder was of a person under the age of 14 by a person over the age of 18. * Death resulting from discharging a firearm at a vehicle, conveyance, or a residential or commercial occupiable structure that is known to be occupied. * Treason (defined solely as levying war against the state or adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort) SOURCE: Arkansas Code Annotated State Executes Two Women in 162 Years FAYETTEVILLE -- Sometimes the condemned wear a skirt. Lavinia Burnett of Washington County was the first woman hanged in the state in 1845. It was also the first legal hanging in Washington County. Lavinia, along with her husband, Crawford, and their son, John, were hanged for the murder of Jonathan Selby. Selby, a bachelor who lived near Fayetteville, was murdered for money he supposedly kept at his house. A Burnett daughter told authorities that her parents hatched the plan and her brother killed Selby. Lavinia and Crawford Burnett were tried in October 1845 and sentenced to be hanged on Nov. 8, 1845. The gallows was erected not far from the National Cemetery. The event was well attended, according to reports of the day. After the execution of his parents, John Burnett was arrested in Missouri and returned to Washington County. He was found guilty on Dec. 4, 1845, and hanged the day after Christmas. Isaac Murphy was part of the defense team assembled to defend the Burnetts. Murphy cast the only vote against secession at the Arkansas Secession Convention and would go on to be the state's governor during Reconstruction, following the Civil War. The last woman executed by the state was Christina Marie Riggs, 28, who asked for the death penalty for drugging and suffocating her two children in 1996 at her home in Sherwood. She was executed by lethal injection May 2, 2000. The execution did not go as planned because the staff was unable to locate a vein in Riggs' arm. They eventually were able to access a vein in her wrist. Riggs, a former nurse, tried to kill herself after killing her children. She didn't allow her attorneys to present a defense at trial. Riggs was the fifth woman executed in the United States after the Supreme Court lifted a ban on capital punishment in 1976. She was the first woman executed in Arkansas since Lavinia Burnett. Burnett and Riggs were the only two women executed in the past 162 years. Sentenced and Executed Persons sentenced to death for murder and executed from Benton, Carroll and Washington counties. No one has ever been sentenced to death in Madison County and executed. * Crawford Burnett, Washington County, hanged Nov. 8, 1845. * Lavinia Burnett, Washington County, hanged Nov. 8, 1845. * John Burnett, Washington County, hanged Dec. 26, 1845. * Glory Doghead, Benton County, hanged Feb. 4, 1853. * Unidentified slave, Washington County, hanged in 1856. * Alfred Stephens, Washington County, hanged March 8, 1861. * Cornelius Hammon, Benton County, hanged Jan. 14, 1876. * Samuel Vaughn, Washington County, hanged Aug. 27, 1894. * Omer Davis, Washington County, hanged Sept. 11, 1913. * Vick Tobay, Washington County, electrocuted Aug. 14, 1920. * Amos Ratcliff, Carroll County, electrocuted Jan. 14, 1921. * Tyrus Clark, Benton County, electrocuted Jan. 8, 1926. * James Hyde, Carroll County, electrocuted Feb. 13, 1948. * Hoyt Franklin Clines, Benton County, lethal injection Aug. 3, 1994. * Darryl Richley, Benton County, lethal injection Aug. 3, 1994. * James William Holmes, Benton County, lethal injection Aug. 3, 1994. * William Frank Parker, Benton County, lethal injection Aug. 8, 1996. Death Row * Don W. Davis, convicted of murder in Benton County, sits on death row awaiting execution. SOURCE: Arkansas Department of Correction Executions at Fort Smith 1873-1896 From 1873 until 1896, the U.S. Court for the Western District of Arkansas executed 86 men on the gallows at the old Fort Smith. The district included all of Indian Territory during this era. All the men were convicted of rape or murder, which carried a mandatory federal death sentence. Judge Issac C. Parker, who earned the nickname, "Hanging Judge," sentenced to death 79 of the 86 men. During Parker's 21 year tenure, 160 death sentences were handed down. Of those: 43 were commuted to life in prison or lesser terms; two were pardoned by the President; 31 had appeals that resulted in acquittals or convictions overturned; two were granted new trials and discharged; one was shot and killed while attempting to escape; and two died in jail while awaiting execution. Source: Fort Smith Historical Site Reader Comments (18 comment(s)) The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsibility of their authors. The Morning News does not review comments before their publication, nor do we guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by our comment policy. If you see a comment that violates our policy, please notify the web editor. Bill wrote on May 6, 2007 11:29 AM: " I hope you are kidding about Echols being innocent. I received a letter from him after I wrote about him in one of my books and he was upset with me that I had only told part of the story and left out the graphic details. I sent the letter on the DA's Office shortly there after. " Last Word wrote on May 6, 2007 11:37 AM: " So how does that make him guilty? By asking you to tell the graphic details? It is about facts not a letter he wrote? I have read all the graphics I think it is important to tell all not just half. Half will get you on death row. " Bonnie wrote on May 6, 2007 12:43 PM: " I've read most of the documents associated with the WM3 case, and I've not seen anything to indicate that Echols, Baldwin, and Miskelley are guilty to the exclusion of any other suspect, most of whom are far more likely to have been involved in the murders than these three who didn't live in the same neighborhood and none of whom had access to a vehicle that night. Considering the craziness of each and every statement wrung from Miskelley regarding what supposedly happened in those woods by the Blue Beacon Truck Wash compared to the actual physical condition of the bodies of the victims and the condition of the wooded area with its gully and stagnant drainage ditch at the bottom, the evidence is that Miskelley knew nothing of the true facts of the case. Indeed, the physical evidence indicates the children were killed elsewhere and lay on their backs for over an hour before they were placed, face down, in the mud at the bottom of the ditch. That three young men were apparently accused and convicted of such a horrible murder solely because they were seen as sufficiently expendable to serve as acceptable scapegoats when the West Memphis police failed to find where the children actually died is totally unacceptable. Not one of the statements (I won't dignify them by calling them "confessions") matched the facts of the case shown by the autopsy reports or the forensic evidence and reports. " cnadolsky wrote on May 6, 2007 1:23 PM: " ....and what book might that be Bill? " Baddie_76 wrote on May 6, 2007 5:14 PM: " Exactly where did The WM3 even get brought up???? All I see is Bill coming and mentioning it. The article itself seems to be about the HISTORY of the DP in Arkansas. What am I missing??????? " Buffy2618 wrote on May 6, 2007 7:06 PM: " So Bill we're to believe that after 14 years of protesting his innocence and trying so hard to get out he admits to you his guilt....before the appeals and DNA testing are complete. Yeah, that makes sense. I'm sure Damien was more upset that you only did a half hearted job. Just like everybody else in this case. If your going to write about it, at least get your facts and information straight. But then, it's not your life that is on the line now is it? " dog wrote on May 6, 2007 10:13 PM: " The WM3 got brought up because Damien Echols is the most notorious not-guilty-beyond-a-reasonable-doubt person on death row in Arkansas. " kma367 wrote on May 7, 2007 9:19 AM: " I've been researching the Echols/Baldwin/Miskelley case since 1999/2000 and I have yet to see a shred of exculpatory evidence that proves the 3 killers are innocent. I have seen a lot of people like "Bonnie" who claim there is evidence that does'nt exist and who twist the facts to suit their belief in innocence. " kerrie wrote on May 7, 2007 10:31 AM: " kma367 I too have been researching this case since then and I can't seem to find anything that would indicate the three were guilty of this crime. The confession was so botched, anyone can see that. Different times and wrong details. There is NO physical evidence that links the three to the case. Saying fibers and blood samples are similiar to the defendents is no where near the same as saying the fibers and blood came from them. The reason why the WM3 was brought up in the first place was because the first response was about Damien Echols being on death row and the response was deleted. So much for free speach! I just think that Arkansas should look at their CJ system before an innocent man is executed and that innocent man is Damien Echols. " Larner wrote on May 7, 2007 10:39 AM: " Questionable convictions have occurred all across the nation; but that of D. Echols, J. Baldwin, and J. Miskelley has to be one of the most notorious; and unfortunately for the state of Arkansas it has managed to negatively color the perceptions of the justice system for the state in people literally all over the world. I only rejoice it isn't apparently as bad in Washington County, where I've been known to reside. " whitegoddess wrote on May 8, 2007 5:42 AM: " Even as far away as Australia i am disgusted in the lack of credible evidence in the wm3 case. To think in our alleged 'modern age' that shonky scapegoating allowed by 'the court' still happens is a move back in time. No evidence connected these 3 to the deaths of those poor lil ones, alleged confessions by Jessie didn't even match facts of the case, and there were more viable suspects to have been seriously eliminated first. Death Penalty hasn't evolved thru time, it's taken big leaps backwards. History has been made in this situation, whether it is liked or not. Bill appears to have a vivid imagination, and it is probably a self serving comment!Use common sence..... " Kimbo wrote on May 8, 2007 8:09 AM: " "Considering the craziness of each and every statement wrung from Miskelley regarding what supposedly happened in those woods..." Um it did happen in those woods, and the craziness you talk about is otherwise known as a confession, with gruesome details. These gruesome details, as you know, were factual to the crime. Supporting baby killers, even with a killer Misfits t-shirt, isn't cool. Kimbo " rugstain wrote on May 8, 2007 10:37 AM: " For years I've been following this case. Recently I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Echols in person while visiting the United States on sabbatical. Initially I believed wholeheartedly that he and the other two boys were guilty. But after talking with him on an intellectual and emotional level I now know he is completely innocent of all charges and erroneously imprisoned. I'm planning another trip to the United States in June so that I can be available to show my support for my new friend Damien, as well as Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelly in the upcoming WM3 world awareness protest. I sincerely urge my fellow Aussies to join me in this quest to correct a wrong done by the American Justice system. Let me conclude with a special note to Mr. Echols .....Hang in there Babe. Im comming for you Mate. " Kerrie wrote on May 8, 2007 12:16 PM: " Kimbo, You need to do some more research on Jessie's confession. He did not give anyone true factual gruesome details of the crime. He said rope instead of shoestrings, he gave three different times, wrong kind of knife and he also said the victims were sodomized when they were not. There are many more discrepencies but you can read them yourself. " RandyH wrote on May 8, 2007 4:21 PM: " Well, I give this paper credit for boosting its online readership! Wonder whose idea it was to leak it to the Bulletin Boards? Ok, kids, back to your own yard to argue! And Larner, I thought Texas was the most notorious state when it came to the DP? How, many of those listed in this article were slaves? To say no innocent man has ever been executed in the USA is a bit unbelievable considering the lynchings that took place in the slave days under the premise of "legal justice". " Kerrie wrote on May 8, 2007 6:50 PM: " We supporters did not draw our conclusions based on the Paradise Lost movies. Actually, in my opinion the movies make the three look guilty. Supporters are supporters based on the facts of the trial transcripts and the police investigations that are there for everyone to view. There is also 45 hours of video footage of trial available to the public. The real sad thing about this is there are three innocent people in jail and the real murderer(s) are still out there. I hope he/she or they don't live in your neighborhood. " Mankind wrote on May 9, 2007 8:13 AM: " Billy, I think what Charley would like to hear is we're not going to hang. Well, Charley. If they catch us, we're gonna hang. " JMByters wrote on May 9, 2007 9:15 AM: " I new I was innocent. I was scared at first but i said a pryer to GOD and I asked him LORD PLEASE let me pass this test. Those movie people tried to make a fool out of me but YOU lissen UP! I did took drugs and done other things Im not proud of but I am a NEW man now. I was arrested ONe tIME the last year and i got off. So that makes me innocent juts like them other times. People just will NOT let me be. When I see a person that look like they dont know me I tell them who I am and i say DO YOU think I could have DONE all that terrable thing? Most say NO! but there is that few who say MAYBE I DONT NO. Well HERE me now. I did NOT DO IT. The write peopl are in jail. I know because I was THERE. Were you? NO. How do I KNOW this you ask? I was dieagnosed with this brain tumor and I had spells but I no WhAT I saw. So dont judge me. " http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/05/06/news/050607azdphistoryexp.txt		"Bratty Mama Leci" Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 11754 Location: Kentucky



Obscuregawdess Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 2:59 pm
Baldwin lawyers fire salvo of papers allegations: State withheld evidence By Cathy Frye (Contact LITTLE ROCK — On the eve of a court-ordered deadline, defense attorneys for Jason Baldwin - one of three men convicted 15 years ago of killing three young boys in West Memphis - fired a new volley of allegations Thursday in separate filings at the Arkansas Supreme Court and the Craighead County Circuit Court. In the Supreme Court filing, attorneys contend that prosecutors withheld material evidence from the defense teams representing Baldwin, then 16; Damien Echols, 18; and Jessie Misskelley, 17. In 2007, six forensic pathologists and odontologists hired by defense attorneys concluded that the three 8-year-old victims - Steve Branch, Michael Moore and Chris Byers - suffered injuries caused by animals preying on the boys’ bodies after death. Prosecutors had argued during Echols and Baldwin’s trial that the wounds were inflicted by a knife during satanic and sexual rituals. Those two were tried together; Misskelly was tried separately. In Thursday’s filing, defense attorneys say they recently learned that during the murder investigation, West Memphis police consulted with San Diego police about the possibility that animal predation had caused the injuries. If the state considered animal predation a possible rea-son for the children’s wounds, the state should have made that known to Baldwin’s trial attorneys, the defense’s court filing states. Defense attorneys also argue that prosecutors failed to provide Baldwin’s defense with information about the survival knife shown to jurors as the murder weapon. A law enforcement dive team found the knife several months after the murders in a man-made lake at the Lakeshore Trailer Park in Marion, where Baldwin lived with his mother and his brothers. “Although no witness was presented to the jury to provide that information, the state argued this knife matched some of the wound patterns on the victims’ remains, making the issue of timing logically explicit: the knife must have been tossed into the lake after the killings,” the documents state. Post-conviction investigations turned up two witnesses who told police that a large knife was thrown into the lake before the murders, attorneys say. And a police officer indicated that divers were given precise instructions as to where to find the knife. Again, the defense says, if officers or prosecutors knew that the knife had been tossed into the lake before the killings, they should have shared that information with Baldwin’s team. Thursday’s filing also questions the reliability of prosecution witness Michael Carson, housed with Baldwin in the Juvenile Detention Center for seven days before the trial. Carson testified that Baldwin told him he had dismembered the boys and sucked the blood from their genitals. Since Baldwin’s conviction, however, defense attorneys have learned that Carson continued to act as an informant after leaving Arkansas. Even while living in California, he often sought advice and assistance from Arkansas authorities, the defense says. The defense has since located all the staff and detainees who would have been at the juvenile center with Baldwin and Carson. No one else heard Baldwin say anything about the boys’ deaths, attorneys say. Records indicate that Carson and Baldwin were togetheronly once for any length of time. A staff member present on that occasion has signed an affidavit saying nothing was said about the murders. Another staff member told defense investigators that law enforcement officers instructed her to take a leave of absence around the time she might be called as a defense witness. The last issue addressed in Thursday’s Supreme Court filing pertains to genetic material found on the victims’ clothing. During the trial, a scientist testified that “it is most likely that the DNA we were detecting did come from sperm cells.” This testimony aided prosecutors in their argument that the murders were sexually and satanically motivated. If the defense team had been provided lab notebooks and notes in the file, they would have seen a report from the state Crime Laboratory that stated: “No semen was found on any items,” the defense filing states. Baldwin’s attorneys also were not given notes from one criminalist who had written that the genetic material may have been contaminated by bacteria from the water. This, according to his notes, could have caused sperm tests to show a positive reaction. In the Supreme Court filing, a petition for a writ of error coram nobis, attorneys are asking the high court to give the trial court authority to consider facts not known at the time of trial - through no fault of the defendant. In Craighead County Circuit Court, defense attorneys filed anAmended Petition for Relief under Rule 37, alleging that: Baldwin didn’t have a fair and impartial jury because jurors continued to read about the case and considered Jessie Misskelley’s confession during deliberations, even though that confession was not admissible at Baldwin’s trial. Prosecutors withheld information regarding the knife, then committed prejudicial misconduct by conducting a demonstration with a grapefruit during closing arguments. Baldwin’s defense failed to prepare adequately for the case, didn’t interview numerous possible witnesses who could have accounted for Baldwin’s whereabouts and activities on the days in question, should have challenged Carson’s credibility, and should have encouraged Baldwin to testify. Defense attorneys for Baldwin and Misskelley could file more documents today. None of the attorneys could comment on the case because Craighead County Circuit Judge David Burnett forbade them from speaking to news media. Burnett has tentatively set a three-week court session in September and October to hear appeals regarding new DNA evidence. Echols was sentenced to die and remains on death row. Baldwin and Misskelley received life sentences. This article was published Friday, May 30, 2008. Arkansas, Pages 13, 17 on 05/30/2008 http://www2.arkansasonline.com/news/2008/may/30/baldwin-lawyers-fire-salvo-papers-20080530/		"Bratty Mama Leci" Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 11754 Location: Kentucky



Obscuregawdess Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 3:07 pm
Those Guys Who Could Have Been You Murder, injustice, and the West Memphis Three IMAGINE: you find yourself in the most extreme and unfortunate of circumstances. You're on Arkansas' Death Row, convicted as the ringleader of the triple-murder of three young boys, a crime that you maintain that you did not, would not commit. On top of this, the reality of life in prison has made it necessary to file a lawsuit against the state to get proper protection from being victimized in repeated prison rapes. Time and money to appeal is running out, and you must depend on the kindness of strangers for moral and financial support. There's help, but the idea of "freedom," of any kind, seems almost delusional. That's Damien Echols's story. The name might ring a bell. After all, the case of the West Memphis Three -- as supporters of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley call them -- was big news for a while, spawning two HBO-produced films (Paradise Lost and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations), several benefit concerts and albums, and a host of books, including journalist Mara Leveritt's excellent Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three. But even after all this, all three boys-turned-men remain behind bars. You may also have run across Echols's name in a 2001 Shambhala Sun piece by the Reverend Kobutsu Malone of the Engaged Zen Foundation. As Malone reported, Echols, in the face of his profound suffering, elected to take jukai (the Zen precepts ceremony) from him. He still maintains his Zen meditation practice in the pen. Damien's practice is also touched on in Broken Summers, a book by the writer/performer Henry Rollins. In part a document of the author's efforts to do benefit work for the WM3, the book includes a photo-section. There, readers will find a reproduction of a drawing by Damien, of Bodhidharma, the first ancestor of Chinese Zen. But this is not just a sketch; it's a pretty-well-detailed picture of Bodhidharma, and it's rendered entirely in coffee: One assumes that prisoner Echols had no access to a pen. Whatever the case, there's clearly some dedication there. Word from supporters has always been that the WM3 were set up: with no solid leads on suspects, the police went along with the ongoing "Satanic panic" of the region and decided that Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley, based on their fondness for heavy metal music and black clothing, were devil worshippers. The murders of the young boys found in West Memphis, Arkansas' "Robin Hood Hills" in 1993 were, the cops maintained, part of a Satanic ritual. It's worrisome: how many of us have been enthralled by music that parents and cops love to hate? For many, it's part of being a kid. And some of us still like it, secretly or not, as adults. But: despite our very different circumstances, we might also share Damien Echols's desire to sit, look at our minds, and challenge ourselves to transcend our suffering. Look at the "All-coffee Bodhidharma" and think about the West Memphis Three. It might cross your mind: That could have been me! As meditators, or spiritually-concerned people -- Buddhist or not -- perhaps we can work with the idea that Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley are us. After all, the WM3 trials and their outcomes, whether or not they are indeed the travesties that they seem to be, affect each of us. Consider: Is this a country that allows a case like this to get so out of control? Are we people who prize dialogue and fairness, or can that go out the window when three little boys are victimized and townspeople, understandably, are demanding that the perps are found and punished? Is "a life for a life" really something to live by when life is as short and complex as it is? Of course, big questions like these don't have answers that fit us all. But whatever you think about the West Memphis Three -- guilty or innocent -- there's a powerful reminder here of the hope, the chance, of relief. Think about Damien Echols. Even if you studied up on the case and ended up thinking he's guilty, the fact remains that he's found his way to the Dharma in the face of it all, and he's making a commitment to himself in one of the most extreme and unfortunate of circumstances. We might consciously blow off some aspect of our practice because we "don't feel like it," but maybe it can help to think of that guy on Death Row. That guy who could have been you. Kobutsu Malone and the many other people who so dedicatedly attend to Dharma work with prisoners must know in ongoing and much more intimate ways that these people are us. Not like us; they are us. Just to see film footage of the troubled and just-convicted 18-year-old Damien Echols, in comparison with footage of him today -- in his early 30s, self-educated, and thoughtful -- suggests that Buddhist teachings and communities might indeed help any one of us to find the Buddha in ourselves. It sure seems that things come out differently when we work to see people in prisons, literal or figurative, without the bars getting in the way. Information about the West Memphis Three can be found at wm3.org. A lengthy run-down of the case is included, as well as details on writing to Damien, Jesse, and Jason in prison. Contributions to the WM3's legal defense fund are also needed so that DNA testing and other evidence can be introduced in the appeals process. An on-line guestbook for messages of support to the families of the three murdered children can be found at: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/6119/memorial.html A different version of this piece appeared in Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Journal (Winter 2005). http://theworsthorse.net/wm3.html		"Bratty Mama Leci" Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 11754 Location: Kentucky



Obscuregawdess Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 3:50 pm
How a musical moral panic destroyed three young men Hell Hounds: April, 2003 by Damon W. Root ON THE AFTERNOON of May 6, 1993, the dead bodies of three 8-year-old boys were discovered less than half a mile from their homes in West Memphis, Arkansas. Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore were found naked, beaten, bound hand to foot with their shoelaces, and submerged in a water-filled ditch. Christopher Byers had been castrated. Four weeks later, West Memphis police announced the arrests of 18-year-old Damien Echols, 17-year-old-Jessie Misskelley Jr., and 16-year-old Jason Baldwin, soon known as the West Memphis Three. After six hours of questioning without a parent or lawyer present, Misskelley, a special education dropout with a history of behavior problems and an IQ of 72, implicated himself, Baldwin, and Echols during a rambling, factually impossible "confession'' that he subsequently retracted. "Most of his answers were vague," writes Mara Leveritt in Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Th