111 posts tagged “west memphis three”

Just a gentle reminder to all WM3 supporters to send Damien a card or a letter for his birthday. He's been in prison for 16 years for crimes he didn't commit, and on death row since he was convicted in 1994. The food the ADC serves the inmates in the Supermax facility is flavor and nutrition-free so if possible, consider sending some money to his ADC commissary account so he can buy nutritious food and vitamins. His online ADC number is 000931. (Use this link to download an ADC deposit slip to mail a US postal money order, checks are not accepted. Send money orders to the ADC's address in Pine Bluff, they'll be returned to you if you send one to Damien in a card or letter.)

Don't forget to address all letters and packages with Damien's ADC number as they won't deliver to him without it!

Damien Echols   #SK931
Varner Unit
PO Box 400
Grady Arkansas 71644

Thank you,

KGBL

Posted by Max Brantley

Arktimes.com

David Mitchell, writing in the Arkansas Law Review, argues that a circuit judge used too narrow a standard for considering post-conviction relief based on new evidence in the West Memphis Three murder case. Mitchell concludes that a new trial was warranted. Let's hope the state Supreme Court reads the Arkansas Law Review.

A news release summarizes:

The Arkansas Law Review, a publication of the University of Arkansas School of Law in cooperation with the Arkansas Bar Association, has published a lengthy and scholarly article reviewing the legal issues surrounding the innocence claims of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley.

New evidence in the case revealed that while no DNA of the convicted young men was found at the crime scene, DNA from Terry Hobbs, stepfather of Stevie Branch, was found in the ligature binding the hands and feet of one of the other children. In addition, some of the country’s leading forensic pathologists have concluded that most of the wounds found on the bodies were, in fact, the result of post mortem animal bites, and not knife wounds, a belief upon which the prosecution based its case.

The well-researched article by David S. Mitchell, Jr., Lock ’Em Up and Throw Away the Key: The “West Memphis Three” and Arkansas’s Statute for Post-Conviction Relief Based on New Scientific Evidence (Volume 62, number 3), reviews the decision by Craighead County Circuit Judge David Burnett, who denied the West Memphis 3’s request for a new trial based upon new DNA and other evidence. In September 2008, Judge Burnett summarily denied Echols’s, Baldwin’s and Misskelley’s respective motions without granting a hearing.

According to the Law Review article, the circuit court employed a very narrow interpretation of the post-conviction relief (DNA) statute (section 16-112-208-(b) (e) to deny Damien Echols and the West Memphis 3 a new trial.

“A close examination of the legal and factual issues presented by Echols’s motion for a new trial reveals the circuit court’s failures on each level, particularly the way the circuit court’s interpretation of the statute eviscerated its purpose.”

“After evaluating the legal arguments presented by the State and Echols on each of these issues, this comment reaches the conclusion that the trial court erred in denying Echols’s motion for a new trial.”

Echols’s case meets the standards set forth in the Arkansas statute as well as the intention of the legislature when the statute was passed in 2001. “The court may then grant a motion for a new trial or resentencing if the DNA test results, when considered with all evidence in the case regardless of whether the evidence was introduced at trial, would establish by compelling evidence that a new trial would result in acquittal. The new evidence is sufficient to establish that any reasonable juror would have reasonable doubt as to Echols’s guilt…”

He concluded, “the circuit court failed in its interpretation of Arkansas’s post-conviction relief statute…it also failed to meet the Arkansas Legislature’s goal of accounting for the ability of new technology to accomplish the mission of criminal law –to punish the guilty and exonerate the innocent.”

The circuit court reasoned that the legislative history of the statute indicated Echols’s testing results were “inconclusive” and required that the motion be denied under section 208 (b). Accordingly, the court gave great significance to the fact that the DNA testing was ordered under a prior version of the statute that allowed that DNA tests could be conducted when the evidence had the “scientific potential” to be materially relevant to the claim of relief. The 2005 statute had a stricter standard that allows only for testing when the results could raise a reasonable probability that the person did not commit the offense. In either interpretation of the statute, Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley meet the standards for a new trial.

The legal community, nationally as well as in Arkansas, has emerged as an important ally in the effort to obtain a new trial for Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley. The Arkansas Law Review article comes on the heels of the support of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Northwestern University School of Law’s Center on Wrongful Convictions, who jointly submitted an Amicus Brief to the Arkansas Supreme Court on behalf of Echols’s appeal for a new trial.

I am very happy that the United States District Court dismissed all claims by Terry Hobbs against Natalie Pasdar (Maines) and the Dixie Chicks, in which he alleged he was accused of murdering his stepson Stevie Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers.

Federal Judge Brian Miller, after a thoughtful review of the evidence, ruled that Natalie Pasdar clearly demonstrated her intention to ensure that any remarks and writings she made on the legal aspects of the West Memphis 3 case came from court filings and legal papers.

My heartfelt appreciation to Natalie and the Dixie Chicks for their support for a new trial for Damien, Jason and Jessie. May the Arkansas Supreme Court grant the West Memphis 3 their freedom in their appeals currently before the court.

-- Lorri Davis, wife of Damien Echols

Awwww Huck, we sure enough are sad you're never going to be president!

Arkansasnews.com
Posted on 01 December 2009

By John Brummett

We beheld a flurry of Mike Huckabee news over the weekend. It featured superficial judgment, predictable if unintended comedy, horrific human tragedy and, of course, a seemingly pathological unwillingness to accept personal responsibility, but rather to blame others.

Events began Saturday in Midland, Texas, where, at a Barnes & Noble book store, thousands were reported to have lined up to obtain Huckabee’s signature on their copy of his latest cranked-out pamphlet for cash, which apparently is a collection of Christmas stories.

Persons interviewed by the local newspaper were quoted as saying the country needed Huckabee to become president and get up to Washington and straighten this mess out. They said they liked his populist conservatism and his TV show on Fox and his straight talk and that he played music.

One person was quoted as saying the best thing about Huckabee was that he was not “all spit and polish.”

There was your superficial judgment.

Huckabee isn’t all spit and polish, of course. But his national political prominence is largely just that.

You take away his spit and polish and you’ve got a decent small-town Baptist preacher and a guy who, reflecting an uncommon willpower and focus, once ridded himself of his considerable obesity and ran a few marathons. I will always give Huckabee admiring credit for that, if not much else.

Then, on Sunday, Huckabee went on a Fox News talk show and said he was disinclined to run for president in 2012 because his television show on Fox was going great. There was your predictable if unintended comedy.

I told you when he ran for president in 2007-08 that he wasn’t really running for president, but for a show on Fox. He was ginning up the glib to try out for a gig. And he got the gig.

Now he’s making good money playing a politician on TV and radio and playing an author in Midland. And now he suggests strongly that he prefers the gig to serving the country. There’s a spirit of public service for you.

About the time he was talking on Fox, four police officers were being gunned to death in the state of Washington. There was your horrific human tragedy.

Soon the authorities were looking for a “person of interest.” This person, Maurice Clemmons, had been sentenced in Arkansas in 1990 to an accumulated 108 years in prison for aggravated robbery and other serious misdeeds.

But, in 2000, Huckabee, then governor of Arkansas, commuted Clemmons’ sentence to make him eligible for parole, which he soon received. Huckabee’s judgment was that Clemmons deserved a break because he’d been but a teenager when sentenced.

Maybe Damien Echols needs to try that, rather than all this hard evidentiary nonsense.

Confronted late Sunday by these events, Huckabee put out a statement saying that, if indeed Clemmons committed these senseless acts, it would reflect an abject failing of the criminal justice system, from the parole officials who recommended the commutation to the Arkansas authorities who bungled a subsequent arrest of Clemmons to the Washington authorities who had the man in custody on a child rape charge just weeks ago only to let him get away on bail and for a supposed psychiatric evaluation.

There was your unwillingness to accept personal responsibility. While it is true that Arkansas authorities misplayed an arrest warrant and lost Clemmons in 2004, that happened only after Clemmons had been freed from essentially a life sentence that only Huckabee — only Huckabee — had commuted. Ditto for any subsequent snafu in Washington.

Bad judgment. Overplayed compassion grounded in his church-based obsession with the notion of redemption. Excuse-making.

Yes, Huckabee is right about one thing: That’s all better-suited for a Fox gabfest than the presidency of the United States.

——-
John Brummett is a columnist for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock. His e-mail address is jbrummett@arkansasnews.com; his telephone number is (501) 374-0699.

Check out the 7-minute news story from KATV-7 in Little Rock featuring Damien Echols. Fair and comprehensive, we like that!

It was in 1993, and three 8-year-olds were found murdered in West Memphis. Three teens were sent to prison for their deaths. Friday, we wrap up our three-part series on the West Memphis Three.

Across Arkansas and really across the world, the discussions continue 16 years later about whether the men are guilty or innocent. One thing they can agree on is how this famous case forever changed the city.

West Memphis, Arkansas is a crossroads of two major interstates. It's a small city with quaint shops and churches practically on every corner. Even so, it's a town filled with deep scars after what many believe was bad police work and a negative depiction in two HBO documentaries.

"I feel sorry for West Memphis," says author Mara Leveritt. "It not only suffered the murders; it has now suffered a lot as a result of how the murders were handled."

Leveritt has studied the case from the beginning, interviewed key players and told the story in a book, titled the Devil's Knot.

She explains, "I know the judge has said several times he is so sorry he let the cameras in there because it showed people what was happening in that trial and they couldn't believe it."

Still, Levreitt says because of the films, the West Memphis Three has received world-wide attention.

"There have been hundreds of people killed in the name of religion," said Fmr. Prosecuting Attorney John Fogleman at the Echols/Baldwin trial in 1994.

"The West Memphis Police Department did a botched job just to get these boys arrested," said Echols' mother Pam.

There've been rallies at the state capitol, dedicated internet sites and several celebrity supporters; like actress Winona Ryder, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and the Dixie Chicks.

"People say that people don't care any more; this situation proves that they do," explains Echols' wife Lorri.

Natalie Pasdar of the Dixie Chicks visited the Arkansas' State Capitol in 2007. She explained, "When you see the films and when you go to the website and you learn about the case and all the evidence that's out now, you just feel like what can I do?"

Lorri Davis, who married Echols years after his conviction, believes key players have built their careers on this case.

She says, "I think there is just a great protectiveness that we can take care of our own, we didn't do anything wrong. What I say to that is step up and be a hero. You are not going to be condemned."

Prosecutor Brent Davis is now a Circuit Judge. The former lead detective on the case is running for Crittenden County Sheriff. Prosecutor John Fogleman is running for a seat on the Arkansas Supreme Court. There's also speculation of a possible State Senate run for Judge David Burnett.

Davis says, "If it were tried today and we knew what we know today on all three cases, there is no way they would have been convicted."

Despite repeated and countless attempts by Today's THV, police and prosecutors won't comment on the case. They stand by the decision of two juries and their investigation.

Juror William Billingsley says, "It was very difficult because I was not put on the jury to try to play God or play executioner."

Still many questions remain, like the suspicious man seen the night of the murders. According to police, he walked into a West Memphis restaurant, what used to be Bojangles, covered in blood and mud. Detectives took scrapings from the bathroom.

"Then at trial when the defense team asked about that the police said, well we lost all that evidence," explains Leveritt.

If the 8-year-old boys would have lived they'd be in their mid 20's. Instead, a memorial now stands at their elementary school. Two of the kids' homes are vacant and boarded up. The crime scene, Robin Hood Hills is now gone. The boys who played together and died together are now separated. Michael Moore's resting place is in Arkansas, Stevie Branch is in Missouri and Christopher Byers is in Tennessee.

"One thing I know for sure, he wouldn't be in a grave in a cemetery in a headstone. There would be more to his life than that," says Byers' father John Mark Byers.

As for the three convicted, the 16, 17 and 18 year olds are now men in their thirties.

"I have seen them go from teenagers to practically balding," explains Leveritt.

"It's been so long since I've talked to either one of them, practically a lifetime," explains Echols about Jessie Misskelley Jr. and Jason Baldwin.

Echols' home, where police arrested him, is now an empty shell. His only child is grown.

Echols says, "I have a son who is now almost the same age I was when I was sent here."

Sixteen years have passed. Many will always believe the West Memphis Three are guilty, while others work to get them freed.

Leveritt adds, "Now if you want to have a fair trial and these three convicted again then so be it, but let's not do it calling what we had any kind of fairness."

The Arkansas Supreme Court is currently reviewing the new DNA evidence as well as juror misconduct to determine whether to grant Damien Echols a new trial. Baldwin and Misskelley are seeking a new trial in Craighead County based on ineffective legal counsel.

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel recently filed a legal response to the Supreme Court in Echols' appeal for a new trial saying there's no need to re-examine his conviction.
Watch the full interview with author Mara Leveritt.

Monday, we started from the beginning when Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley were sent to prison. It could have all ended there, but for some that moment was just the beginning.

Tuesday night, we heard from Damien Echols on death row, who described "being in absolute terror and being numb at the same time." We also streamed Echols' extended interview.

Click here to read Attorney General Dustin McDaniel's response to Echols' latest motion for a new trial. In Bizarro World, the fact that Echols' DNA is not a match for the DNA at the crime scene doesn't mean he wasn't there and didn't do it. See Page 7: "In other words, it is conceivable that the appellant left no biological material or that any he left was not recovered or tested and there are wholly and obvious innocent explanations for the recovery of biological material of a victim's step-father and that of his friend." From Page 10: "In short, DNA evidence is not necessary to solve homicides, and, without DNA-testing results that could be dispositive of the identity of the killers here, the appellant cannot raise a reasonable probability he was not one of them."

Pray tell, what is that perfectly innocent explanation? I'm all ears, Dusty. These three teenagers were such criminal masterminds that they left behind NO DNA, footprints, murder weapon(s) or personal items, then returned to their homes ON FOOT with no wounds, victim's DNA or biological material from the outdoor crime scene? Jason even went to school at 9am the day after the murders! A thorough investigation of these murders has yet to occur, may never occur, and the real murder or murderers are out there somewhere.

We know you're scared, McDaniels, and here's why. The existent DNA from the 1993 Robin Hood Hills crime scene was tested and paid for by WM3 supporters (not the state of Arkansas) and does not belong to Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin or Jessie Misskelley. Two of the recovered hairs DO belong to persons that possibly had motive, opportunity and the means to commit the murders, unlike the WM3 who had none. Despite all of your transparent delays, as soon as these cases reach federal courts, they will be freed and you know it because not one piece of "evidence" the state presented at their original trials will hold up in any court today. And DNA that doesn't match the suspects? Not compelling. Anywhere. 

Damien Echols' defense team is scheduled to file its final brief with the Arkansas State Supreme Court on November 30, 2009.  The ASSC may hold oral arguments regarding these issues in early 2010.

[Thanks to Cov and Callahan for hosting the response.]

Please click here to watch the video, which includes interviews with Damien Echols, Pam Hobbs, and John Mark Byers.

Three teenagers were later convicted, but in recent months the case has been brought back into the spotlight and thousands across the world now believe the killer is still out there.

We've told you about new witnesses coming forward, appeals being filed and new evidence the defense claims clears the convicted. So over the next three nights, we'll dig deeper. Monday, we start from the beginning when the accused were sent to prison. It could have all ended there, but for some that moment was just the beginning.

It was March 18, 1994 when Judge David Burnett read the verdicts for Damien Echols, 19, and his best friend 16-year-old Jason Baldwin.

"We the jury, find Damien Echols guilty of capital murder of Steven Branch. We the jury, find Damien Echols guilty in the capital murder of Chris Byers. We the jury, find Damien Echols guilty in the capital murder of Michael Moore," says Judge Burnett.

"It's wrong. All of it is wrong. It's been our Salem witch trial from the very beginning," says one of Jason Baldwin's family members.

"He was tortured to death by three murdering bastards on a ditch bank. He was 8 years old," screamed Christopher Byers mother Melissa in 1994.

Some called it the work of Satanism for a crime so heinous, so horrifying, so tragic.

One resident cried, "All of West Memphis. All of West Memphis is just torn up."

The victims were Christopher Byers, Stevie Branch, Michael Moore; all 2nd grade classmates, all friends, all neighbors in a small West Memphis neighborhood.

They played together, disappeared together, died together.

Police Chief of Detectives Gary Gitchell explains in 1993, "The three boys were found submerged in water and it is not an accident. They did not slip off in it. We do have three homicide victims."

The scene was Robin Hood Hills just blocks from the boys' homes. The city became paralyzed with fear.

Author Mara Leveritt has studied the crimes and written a book. She says, "People were not going to the stores. Business was falling off."

Instead of letting their kids walk home from school, parents started picking them up.

One resident says, "To think that this possibly was going on while I was so close to it. It's an eerie feeling inside."

The wooded area, off Interstate 40, has since been torn down, but there is still speculation today if they were killed there, or somewhere else and then dumped later."

No one though debates the brutality of the crime. The boys were found naked, mutilated and beaten. Their hands and feet were bound.

Leveritt says, "The whole region was traumatized by these murders."

Rumors flew in the religious community along with stories of satanic rituals and witches.

Days turned into weeks.

Gitchell says, "We've got 28,000 to 30,000 people in West Memphis and as far as I'm concerned everybody is a suspect."

Then a month after the murders came a break. After hours of questioning, Jessie Misskelley Jr. confessed. He was a borderline mentally retarded 17-year-old with what some say was an error-filled story. It's one his father says was provoked.

"Cussed him, spit in his face, stepped on his hands," says Jessie Misskelley Sr.

"I just don't understand if he was in fact involved in this crime how he made a mistake on a time factor," explains a false confession expert during the trial.

Leveritt says, "The suggestions for the changes came from police, even in the parts that were recorded."

Misskelley recanted his confession the next day but had already implicated two others, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin. Both listened to heavy metal music. Echols wore black and practiced the Wicca religion.

After the arrests, the West Memphis Police Department held a press conference. A reporter asked, "On a scale of one to ten, how solid is this case?" Gitchell responded, "An 11"

All three were taken into custody. All three were tried. All three were convicted. Damien Echols was sentenced to die. Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were locked up for life.

Gail Grinnell, Baldwin's mother says, "My son is suffering for something he hasn't done."

As for the victims' families, some seemed to let it all end there.

"That is what all three of them are. Punks. Punks," shouted Pam Hobbs, Stevie Branch's mother, in 1993.

Also in 1993, Christopher Byers father, Mark John Byers said, "The day you die. I am going to praise God."

Only recently, they've had a change of heart. They now believe the killer is still out there.

"It is total incompetency on the West Memphis Police Department," says Byers.

Pam Hobbs explains, "The justice system failed me May 5, 1993."

They're two parents, now 16 years later fighting for justice; not just for their sons but for the three men accused.

Now Today's THV does want to make it clear that not all the parents believe the three men are innocent; including Michael Moore's father, Todd Moore. We reached out to him several times hoping he'd share his story, but he declined to be interviewed or even make on comment.

If it weren't for two HBO documentary filmmakers, this case wouldn't have garnered the world wide attention it has today. Was justice served?

Damien Echols says, "Back then, the murders were still fresh and everyone was still scared, almost terrified. Everybody was in sort of a blind panic at the time and it limited everybody's ability to use logic or to think."

We'll let you decide. Tuesday night, we'll walk you through the new evidence that the defense says clears the West Memphis Three. Catch the second part of this three part series Tuesday night on the "THV 10:00 Difference."

The boys attended Weaver Elementary in West Memphis. Shortly after the murders, the school put up a monument in their honor.

Beginning tonight at 10:00 p.m (Central Time), KTHV will be airing a three-part special about the case. 

Monday:  Was Justice Served For The WM3 & The Victims?

Tonight on the "THV 10:00 Difference," we're taking a look back at three of the state's most haunting murders. Sixteen years ago, Arkansans sat in shock as they watched the news and learned of the brutal killings of three children in West Memphis.

Three teenagers were later convicted but in recent months the case has been brought back into the spotlight.

We've told you about new witnesses coming forward, appeals being filed and evidence the defense claims clears the convicted. So over the next three nights, we'll dig deeper. Tonight, we start from the beginning when the accused were sent to prison. It could have all ended there, but for some that moment was just the beginning.

It was April 18, 1994, when Judge David Burnett read the verdict for Damien Echols, 19, and his best friend 16-year-old Jason Baldwin.

"We the jury, find Damien Echols guilty of capital murder of Steven Branch. We the jury, find Damien Echols guilty in the capital murder of Chris Byers. We the jury, find Damien Echols guilty in the capital murder of Michael Moore."

"It's wrong. All of it is wrong. It's been our Salem witch trial from the very beginning," says one of Jason Baldwin's family members.

Some called it the work of Satanism for a crime so heinous, so horrifying and so tragic.

"All of West Memphis. All of West Memphis is just torn up," said one resident in 1993.

The victims were all 8 years old, all second grade classmates, all neighbors in a small West Memphis neighborhood. They played together, disappeared together, died together.

Police Chief of Detectives Gary Gitchell says, "The three boys were found submerged in water and it is not an accident. They did not slip off in it. We do have three homicide victims."

The scene was Robin Hood Hills, just blocks from the boys' homes. The city became paralyzed with fear.

"People were not going to the stores. Business was falling off," explains author Mara Leveritt.

A month after the murders, a break came. After hours of questioning, Jessie Misskelley Jr. confessed. He recanted his story the next day but had already implicated two other teens, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin.

Catch this THV Extra tonight on the "THV 10:00 Difference" and find out why two of the victim's parents now 16 years later believe the three men accused are innocent. 

If it weren't for two HBO documentary filmmakers, this case wouldn't have garnered the world wide attention it has today. Was justice served?

Damien Echols says, "Back then, the murders were still fresh and everyone was still scared, almost terrified. Everybody was in sort of a blind panic at the time and it limited everybody's ability to use logic or to think."

We'll let you decide. We'll walk you through the new evidence that the defense says clears the West Memphis Three.

By George Jared

JONESBORO — Three women’s witness statements will not be considered by the Arkansas Supreme Court in deciding whether they’ll order a new trial for convicted murderer Damien Echols.

Justices denied a motion for staying Echols’ appeal and refused to consider new witness statements submitted for review earlier this month.

No written explanation accompanied the decision. Officials with the Arkansas Supreme Court in Little Rock said it is common for motion rulings not to have written explanations.

Echols and cohorts Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were convicted in 1994 of the deaths of West Memphis 8-year-olds Michael Moore, Steven Branch and Christopher Byers.

The boys’ bodies were found in a drainage ditch in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis on May 6, 1993, one day after they reportedly disappeared while riding bikes in their neighborhood.

Attempts to reach Echols’ attorney, Dennis Riordan, were unsuccessful.

Claims by sisters

Two sisters, Jamie Clark Ballard and Brandy Clark Willams, claim they saw Byers, Branch and Moore at 6:30 p.m. on May 5, 1993, near the time prosecutors believe the boys were abducted. Ballard was 13 at the time, and Williams was 11.

Their mother, Deborah Moyer, also claims she saw the boys at the time. All three stated in sworn affidavits that the last time they saw the boys the three were headed toward Branch’s house, which was on the same street as Moyer’s, at the behest of Terry Hobbs, Branch’s stepfather.

In sworn statements Hobbs has said he never saw his stepson or the other boys on May 5, 1993.

Hobbs became a central figure in the case in 2007 when a hair collected from one of Moore’s ligatures likely matched Hobbs’ DNA. Another hair collected from a nearby tree stump at the crime scene is a likely match for a friend Hobbs claimed to have been with when the boys became missing, according to court documents.

The West Memphis Police Department has maintained that Hobbs and the friend, David Jacoby, are not and never have been suspects in the case. Secondary hair transfer might account for those particular hairs being at the crime scene, police say.

None of the DNA evidence that has been tested thus far implicates Echols, Baldwin or Misskelley, who’ve been dubbed the “West Memphis Three.”

More than $1M raised

Their supporters have raised more than $1 million to hire attorneys and investigators to seek new trials.

A lack of DNA and forensic evidence linking the convicted to the crime and perceived wrongdoing by prosecutors and Judge David Burnett have spurred international interest in the case.

The bizarre manner in which the boys were tied and the horrific injuries to their bodies led police and prosecutors to believe the killings could have been part of an occult or satanic ritual.

Echols told police he was a member of the Wiccan religion and didn’t believe in God or the devil. The admission made him a suspect, and it also brought his best friend, Jason Baldwin, into the fold.

Some of the parents of the slain boys have in recent years come forward doubting the convictions.

Police based their initial case on a convoluted confession given by Misskelley on June 3, 1993. Misskelley got the time and exact place of the crimes wrong during his interrogation.

He also told police the boys were sexually assaulted.

According to state Medical Examiner Dr. Frank Peretti and other defense forensic pathologists, the boys were not sodomized, and no evidence proved they were forced to perform oral sex, as Misskelley confessed.

Misskelley, who has an IQ of 72, also said ropes were used to tie the youths when, in fact, their own shoelaces had been used.

Despite the inconsistencies a jury found Misskelley guilty. Even after the conviction Misskelley confessed twice more, and each time his story changed. He now claims the initial confession was coerced.

Police maintain that Misskelley gave them details, such as the mutilation of Byers’ genitals, that only the killer would know. A review of the confession tape isn’t clear as to whether Misskelley identified Byers.

The three women came forward with their new claim after learning earlier this year that Hobbs told police he didn’t see the juveniles the day they disappeared.

Ongoing lawsuit

Hobbs is in an ongoing civil lawsuit with famed country music singer Natalie Maines after she allegedly named him as the true killer on Web site posts and at a rally in Little Rock in 2007.

Hobbs steadfastly maintains his innocence in the case but refuses to comment about it publicly, acting on the advice of his attorney.

Retrial for hearings for both Baldwin and Misskelley wrapped up earlier this month, and Burnett is expected to decide by the end of the year if the two will receive new trials.

Echols has other challenges before the Arkansas Supreme Court that might garner him a new trial. It’s unknown when the court will rule on those filings.

Copyright 2009 Jonesboro Sun