West Memphis Three: Difference between revisions

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The '''"West Memphis Three"''' is the collective nickname of three then-teenagers -- Damien (Wayne) Echols (formerly Michael Wayne Hutchison), (Charles) Jason Baldwin, and Jessie (Lloyd) Misskelley, Jr.  -- who in 1994 were convicted of the gruesome murder of three eight-year-old boys -- Christopher Byers, (James) Michael Moore, and Steve (Edward) Branch -- in West Memphis, Arkansas, on May 5, 1993.
The '''"West Memphis Three"''' is the collective nickname of three then-teenagers -- Damien (Wayne) Echols (formerly Michael Wayne Hutchison), (Charles) Jason Baldwin, and Jessie (Lloyd) Misskelley, Jr.  -- who in 1994 were convicted of the gruesome murder of three eight-year-old boys -- Christopher Byers, (James) Michael Moore, and Steve (Edward) Branch -- in West Memphis, Arkansas, on May 5, 1993.
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''Commentary''
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* [http://www.chromehorse.net/rants/rants98/damien.htm Bill Van Dyk] @ chromehorse.net
* [http://www.chromehorse.net/rants/rants98/damien.htm Bill Van Dyk] @ chromehorse.net
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Revision as of 22:56, 15 November 2007

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The "West Memphis Three" is the collective nickname of three then-teenagers -- Damien (Wayne) Echols (formerly Michael Wayne Hutchison), (Charles) Jason Baldwin, and Jessie (Lloyd) Misskelley, Jr. -- who in 1994 were convicted of the gruesome murder of three eight-year-old boys -- Christopher Byers, (James) Michael Moore, and Steve (Edward) Branch -- in West Memphis, Arkansas, on May 5, 1993.

The case has been controversial since its beginning, with some believing that the defendants were carrying out some Satanic ritual killing (guilty) and others that the defendants were themselves the victims of a modern "witch hunt" (innocent). The cable-television network HBO made two documentaries, starting with the police videotape of the bodies where they were found and including footage from the trials: Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills in 1996 and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations in 1999, both directed and produced by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky.

Little Rock, Arkansas, investigative journalist Mara Leveritt wrote the definitive book on the subject so far, the 2002 Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three. Several heavy-metal musicians contributed to concerts and/or recordings to raise money for the three defendants, and Echols wrote a book: Almost Home: My Life Story Vol. 1. New York DNA lawyer Barry Scheck, of the Innocence Project legal clinic at Benjamin Cardozo Law School in New York, joined (in about 2001) the team of lawyers trying to get post-conviction relief[1] for Echols, the only one of the three sentenced to death instead of to life in prison. On May 24, 2007, the Imagine Piano Peace Project visited the Crittenden County courthouse in Marion, Arkansas, in memory of the victims of the West Memphis killings.

In February 2007 a lawyer representing Echols announced that he had received the results of DNA tests those lawyers had arranged (DNA analyses were not performed before the trials, and no direct,[2] physical[3] evidence against the defendants was ever introduced) and would be submitting that "significant" evidence to the state's prosecutors shortly. Prosecutor Brent Davis, defense lawyer Dennis Riordan, the state's pathologist who performed the autopsies on the victims, and several independent forensic experts hired by the defense spent about two hours on May 17, 2007, at the Arkansas State Police Crime Laboratory in Little Rock reviewing the DNA and other forensic evidence in the case. While some media commentators posit that the evidence not available previously may result in a new trial for the three men convicted of the crime, others (joined by the mother of one of the victims) say that the new evidence will lead to an additional perpetrator, making the group the "West Memphis Four."

Although the parties to the May 2007 review of the forensic evidence did not disclose any particulars of their discussions, saying they had agreed not to do so, in keeping with its practice of publicizing the details of criminal investigations and encouraging citizens' input to the on-going process, in July 2007 the West Memphis Police Department told news reporters that it was following up on new DNA evidence that a hair from one victim's stepfather was caught in a knot binding one of the bodies. That stepfather is the ex-husband of the victim's mother who had been saying publicly, since being told about the DNA results, that there was a fourth perpetrator still at large, and the West Memphis police said they had re-interviewed both of those former spouses at some length.

On October 29, 2007, attorneys for Echols filed a lengthy document (posted on the WM3 webpage -- see external link below), in federal court in Little Rock, Arkansas, seeking a writ of habeas corpus and setting forth the new evidence and legal reasons why (they said) that federal court should overturn the state-court convictions of Echols and, by logical implication, Baldwin and Misskelley. That new evidence included results of DNA analyses, affidavits from jurors at the 1994 trial of Echols and Baldwin (swearing to legal irregularities that undercut the validity of the convictions), affidavits from persons who were not called as witnesses at the trial but would have testified that Echols was elsewhere at the time of the crime, and the detailed reports of experts -- including Drs. Michael Baden (forensic pathologist), Vincent Di Maio (forensic pathologist), Janice Ophoven (pediatric pathologist), Richard Souviron (forensic odontologist), Werner Spitz (forensic pathologist), and Robert Wood (forensic dentist) -- concluding that the victims died from blunt-force trauma and drowning, and their bodies were mutilated by animals after they were in the ditch where they were found.

Cited works

Other works

  • Blood of Innocents: The True Story of Multiple Murder in West Memphis, Arkansas by Guy Reel, Marc Perrusquia & Bartholemew Sullivan [ISBN 078601363X (2000 paperback); ISBN 0786018607 (2007 paperback)]
  • Free the West Memphis 3: A Benefit For Truth & Justice [UPC 099923815020 (2000 CD)]
  • The Last Pentacle of the Sun: Writings in Support of the West Memphis 3 [ISBN 1551521628 (2004 paperback)]
  • Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three [UPC 060768457324 (2002 CD)]


Legal terms

Whereas in science and engineering specialized terms are called "technical" language, in the field of law words or phrases with specific legal meanings beyond their definitions in ordinary usage are called "words of art" or "terms of art." Here are those meanings for some of those terms in this article:

  1. ↑ Post-conviction relief is an improvement in the situation of a person who was convicted of a crime. There are many common kinds of relief, and some of them (such as having the conviction invalidated because new evidence shows the convict did not commit the crime) are available only to a convict who was found guilty at a trial, while others (such as challenging the conditions of confinement because of prison over-crowding) are also available to persons who pled guilty and so waived having a trial. An appeal is part of the trial process itself, not a separate new legal proceeding for post-conviction relief. A person convicted in a state court may seek post-conviction relief in that state's court and/or in federal court, depending on the reasons asserted.
  2. ↑ Direct evidence is evidence that goes to prove (or disprove) the factual issue to be decided, as opposed to circumstantial evidence, which creates a logical inference as to the truth (or falsity) of the proposition: Example: A dead body with a knife sticking out of it is direct evidence that a murder was committed; a blood stain on the deck of a drifting yacht whose owner and anchor are both suddenly missing is circumstantial evidence that there was a murder.
  3. ↑ Physical evidence is a tangible object put forward to prove (or disprove) a fact in issue, as opposed to documentary evidence, which may be a report or other written material, or testimonial evidence, which is what a witness swears (in person or in a written affidavit) happened: Example: Photos from the security camera are physical evidence of the robbery, but the statement of the security guard who was there is testimonial evidence, and the investigating officer's report is documentary evidence.


External links

Official webpage

Books

Movies

Imagine Piano Peace Project

Commentary

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