2 posts tagged “appeal”

MyFoxMemphis
By Jon Gambrell
Associated Press Writer

JONESBORO, Ark. (WHBQ FOX13 myfoxmemphis.com)  --  

Lurid details and accounts of Satanism filled the trials of the men convicted in the 1993 slayings of three West Memphis boys.

Now, court hearings on appeals by Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley will focus on DNA evidence unable to be analyzed at the time of their convictions almost 15 years ago.

Judge David Burnett, who in March 1994 accepted a jury's recommendation to give Echols the death penalty and Baldwin life in prison without parole, will hold a hearing Tuesday about the appeals. And if it weren't for two documentaries, Web sites and rock band support of the "West Memphis Three," the case would have faded away, said Jeffrey Walker, a criminology professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

"If it wasn't the 'West Memphis Three,' if it wasn't the West Memphis killings and it wasn't the attention this had been given, (the appeal) wouldn't be heard," Walker said.

Police found the bodies of 8-year-olds Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore a day after the boys disappeared from their quiet, tree-lined neighborhood May 5, 1993. Their hands bound to their legs by shoelaces, the boys showed signs of suffering severe beatings before being left in a drainage ditch.

A month passed and the community posted a $30,000 reward before police arrested the three teens. Misskelley told investigators how he watched Baldwin and Echols sexually assault and beat two of the boys as he ran down another trying to escape. A separate jury gave Misskelley, who refused to testify against the other two, a life-plus-40-year sentence for the killings.

The hearing comes after a wide-ranging federal appeal of Echols' death sentence. Echols' attorneys point to DNA evidence tests that showed no trace of the three convicted in the killings. Testimony from forensic experts in the appeal claim the mutilation of one of the boys likely came from an animal after their deaths -- rather than prosecutors' claims about satanic rituals.

U.S. District Court Judge William R. Wilson Jr. ruled in November that claims about the DNA evidence first needed to be heard in state courts. That ruling in itself was "unusual" for a federal habeas corpus petition, the standard appeal by the imprisoned to have their convictions reviewed, Walker said.

"Any time you've got a high-profile case like this, what I would suggest is, if it has any influence in the justice process, it's more likely to get picked up for an appeal or it's more likely to be heard," he said. "It will be ruled, or should be, on the facts. But sometimes, a case that wouldn't get heard on an appeal will if it's got a lot of publicity like this one."

Separate appeals with Baldwin and Misskelley also will be considered by Burnett. The one-day hearing Tuesday likely will focus on scheduling, though Burnett could offer an idea of what he will consider from Echols' 188-page appeal and several hundred of pages of addendums and reports.

The three men, all serving their sentence at the state's Varner Unit, will not attend Tuesday's hearing, said Dina Tyler, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Correction.

Joint Status and Case Management Memorandum submitted by lawyers for all three and Brent Davis (to Judge Burnett) last week -- click here