On June 3, police interrogated Jessie Misskelley Jr. Misskelley, whose IQ was reported to be 72 (making him borderline mentally retarded), was questioned alone; his parents were not present during the interrogation.^[3]

Misskelley's father gave permission for Misskelley to go with police, but did not explicitly give permission for his minor son to be questioned or interrogated.^[3]

 Misskelley was questioned for roughly twelve hours; only two segments, totaling 46 minutes, were recorded.^{[15]   Â} 

Miskelley finally confessed, implicating Echols and Jason Baldwin. 

 Misskelley quickly recanted his confession, citing intimidation, coercion, fatigue, and veiled threats from police.^[3]

Throughout the course of the trial and afterward, many teenagers came forward with statements regarding being questioned and polygraphed by the local police. They said that Durham, among others, was at times aggressive and verbally abusive if they did not say what was expected of them.^{[citation needed]} After the test, when asked what he was afraid of, Echols replied, "The electric chair."^[14]

.^[3]

 During Misskelley's trial, Dr. Richard Ofshe, an expert on false confessions and police coercion and Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley, testified that the brief recording of Misskelley's interrogation was a "classic example" of police coercion.^[11]

 He has further described Misskelley's statement as "the stupidest fucking confession I've ever seen."^[16] Critics have also stated that Misskelley's "confession" was in many respects inconsistent with the particulars of the crime scene and murder victims, including (for example) an "admission" that Misskelley "watched Damien rape one of the boys."

Police had initially suspected that the boys were raped due to their dilated anuses, but forensic evidence later proved conclusively that the murdered boys had not been raped at all, and their dilated anuses were a normal post-mortem condition.^[3][17][18]

Subsequent to his conviction, a police officer also alleged that Misskelley had also confessed to her. However, once again, no reliable details of the crime were provided.^[3]

Misskelley was a minor when he was questioned, and though informed of his Miranda rights, he later claimed he did not fully understand them.^[3] The Arkansas Supreme Court determined that Misskelley's confession was voluntary and that he did, in fact, understand the Miranda warning and its consequences.^[19]

 Misskelley specifically said he was "scared of the police" during his first confession.^[20] Portions of Misskelley's statements to the police were leaked to the press and reported on the front page of the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper before any of the trials began.^[3]

Shortly after Misskelley's original confession, police arrested Echols and his close friend Baldwin. Eight months after his original confession, on February 17, 1994, Misskelley made another statement to police with his lawyer Dan Stidham in the room continually advising Misskelley not to say anything.

Misskelley ignored this advice continually and went on to detail how Damien and Jason abused and murdered the boys, while he watched until he decided to leave

 Misskelley's attorney, Dan Stidham, who was later elected to a municipal judgeship, has written a detailed critique of what he asserts are major police errors and misconceptions during their investigation.^[21]

Based primarily on Miskelley's confession of his implication of Damien Echols and his friend, Baldwin, the three boys were arrested and charged with capital murder.

Miskelley and Echols had both dropped out of school but Baldwin was a good student who was gifted artistically and wanted to attend art school.  He and 
Echols had become good friends primarily because they shared a distaste for West Memphis and its evangelical ties.  Miskelley was an acquantance but not a close friend of either Echols or Baldwin.

Despite thorough searches of the three boys' homes, no muddy shoes or bloody clothing was ever found to link them to the crimes and there were no fingerprints, shoeprints, or other forensic evidence that linked them.

Trials

Echols and Baldwin were tried together; Misskelley was tried separately.   Damien Echols was sentenced to death. Jessie Misskelley, Jr., was sentenced to life in prison, plus 40 years (he received two 20-year sentences in addition to the life sentence). Jason Baldwin was sentenced to life imprisonment.

The case has received considerable attention. Their supporters believe the arrests and convictions were a miscarriage of justice and that the defendants were wrongfully convicted during a period of intense media scrutiny. The defendants remain imprisoned, but legal proceedings are ongoing. As of July 2007, new forensic evidence was being presented in the case.

A status report jointly issued by the State and the Defense team on July 17, 2007 states, "Although most of the genetic material recovered from the scene was attributable to the victims of the offenses, some of it cannot be attributed to either the victims or the defendants." On October 29, 2007, the defense filed a Second Amended Writ of Habeas Corpus, outlining the new evidence.[1]

In September 2008, Judge David Burnett (Circuit Court) denied Echols' application for a hearing on the new DNA evidence. Hearings for Baldwin and Misskelley were scheduled to continue in August, 2009.
Echols' next stage in the legal process is an appeal to the Arkansas Supreme Court. Unless that court reverses the conviction, he will proceed to federal court on his pending writ of habeas corpus.[citation needed].

Aftermath

Today, although some West Memphis police personnel continue to insist the West Memphis Three are guilty^{[citation needed]}, many critics continue to call for further investigation into the verdict. The biological father of Christopher Byers, Rick Murray, described his doubts in 2000 on the West Memphis Three website.^[25]

In August 2007, Pamela Hobbs, the mother of victim Steven Branch, and John Mark Byers, adoptive father of Christopher Byers, joined those who have publicly questioned the verdicts, calling for a reopening of the verdicts and further investigation of the evidence.

District Judge Brian S. Miller ordered Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of victim Stevie Branch, to pay $17,590 to Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines for legal costs stemming from a defamation lawsuit he filed against the band. Miller dismissed a suit Hobbs filed over Maines' remarks at a 2007 Little Rock rally implying he was involved in killing his stepson. The judge said Hobbs had voluntarily injected himself into a public controversy over whether three teenagers convicted of killing the three 8-year-old boys had been wrongfully condemned. ^[26]

[edit]Legal status

The convictions were upheld on direct appeal.^[19][27] Echols case recently petitioned for a retrial based on a statute permitting post-conviction testing of DNA evidence due to technological advances made since 1994 might provide exoneration for the wrongfully convicted. However, the original trial judge, Judge David Burnett, has disallowed hearing of this information in his court.

It is expected that a reversal of Echols' conviction would result in the vacating of the Baldwin and Misskelley convictions.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2008, it was revealed that Kent Arnold, the jury foreman on the Echols/Baldwin trial, had discussed the case with an attorney prior to the beginning of deliberations and advocated for the guilt of the West Memphis Three as a result of the inadmissible Jessie Misskelley statements. Legal experts have agreed that this issue has the strong potential to result in the reversal of the convictions of Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols. If their convictions are reversed, the State is expected to retry them.^{[citation needed]}

In October 2008, Attorney (now Judge) Daniel Stidham, who represented Jessie Misskelley in 1994, testified at a postconviction relief hearing. Stidham testified under oath that, during the trial, Judge David Burnett approached the then-deliberating jury in the Misskelley matter at approximately 11:50 a.m. and advised them they would be breaking for lunch. When the foreman answered "we may almost be done", Judge Burnett responded "well, you'll still have to return for sentencing." When the foreman asked "what if we find him not guilty?" Judge Burnett closed the door without answering. Stidham testified that his failure to request a mistrial based on this exchange was ineffective assistance of counsel and that Misskelley's conviction should therefore be vacated. Legal experts^[who?] have agreed that this issue has the strong potential to result in the reversal of the conviction of Jessie Misskelley. If his conviction is reversed, the State is expected to retry him.^{[citation needed]}

[edit]John Mark Byers' knife gift

John Mark Byers, the adoptive father of victim Christopher Byers, gave a knife to cameraman Doug Cooper,^[28] who was working with documentary makers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky while they were filming the first Paradise Lost feature. The knife was a small utility-type knife, manufactured by Kershaw.^[28][29] According to the statements given by Berlinger and Sinofsky, Cooper informed them of his receipt of the knife on December 19, 1993. After the documentary crew returned to New York, Berlinger and Sinofsky reported to have discovered what appeared to be blood on the knife. HBO executives ordered them to return the knife to the West Memphis Police Department.^[30][31] The knife was not received at the West Memphis Police Department until January 8, 1994.^[32]

Byers initially claimed the knife had never been used. Blood was found on the knife, and Byers then stated that he had used it only once, to cut deer meat.^[33] When told the blood matched both his and Chris' blood type, Byers said he had no idea how that blood might have gotten on the knife. During interrogation, West Memphis police suggested to Byers that he might have left the knife out accidentally, and Byers agreed with this.^[3] Byers later stated that he may have cut his thumb. Further testing on the knife produced inconclusive results, due in part to the rather small amount of blood,^[3] and due to the fact that both John Mark Byers and Chris Byers had the same HLA-DQα genotype.^[34]

John Mark Byers agreed to, and subsequently passed, a polygraph test during the filming of Paradise Lost 2: Revelations in regards to the murders, but the documentary indicated that Byers was under the influence of several psychoactive prescription medications that could have affected the test results. During the filming of the show Byers also volunteered his false teeth when presented with the challenge he had bit the boys' bodies, although at the time of the murders he had his original teeth, which he later had voluntarily extracted, and later claimed there was a medical reason for the procedure.

Byers has been persecuted by supporters of the defendants for his behavior.^{[citation needed]} The West Memphis Three website and the second documentary both seem to allude to the assertion that Byers is the murderer. Damien Echols was the first suspect to agree to a polygraph examination during the investigation. Even advocates for the use of polygraph evidence will generally volunteer the fact that polygraph evidence is not inherently admissible as evidence in any American court of criminal law, as such tests rely heavily on the opinions of the examiner administering the test, and polygraph examiners as a rule do not openly share their test data. This is part of why most criminal lawyers will not advise their clients to submit to a state-administered polygraph test, instead generally recommending independent commercial testing services by an examiner in good standing in the county of the court's jurisdiction.

[edit]Possible teeth imprints

As documented in Paradise Lost 2, Echols, Misskelley and Baldwin submitted imprints of their teeth (after their imprisonment) that were compared to apparent bite-marks on Steve Branch's forehead, initially overlooked in the original autopsy and trial. No matches were found. According to the film, Byers had his teeth removed in 1997—after the first trial. He has never offered a consistent reason for their removal; in one instance claiming they were knocked out in a fight, in another saying the medication he was taking made them fall out, and in yet another claiming that he had long planned to have them removed so as to obtain dentures.^[3] After an expert examined autopsy photos and noted what he thought might be the imprint of a belt buckle on Byers' corpse, the elder Byers revealed to the police that he had spanked his stepson shortly before the boy disappeared.^[3] He also had a 1988 conviction for terroristic threats that arose from an incident involving his ex-wife, Sandra Byers.^[3]Melissa Byers had contacted Christopher's school a few weeks before the murders, expressing concerns that her son was being sexually abused.^[3] A fact not revealed until after the trial was that John Mark Byers had acted as a police informant on several occasions.^[3] His prior conviction for the 1988 incident had been expunged in May, 1992, upon the completion of probation, despite the fact that other criminal charges against him should have caused the revocation of his probation.^[3]

[edit]Vicki Hutcheson recants

In October 2003, Vicki Hutcheson, who played a part in the arrests of Miskelley, Echols and Baldwin, gave an interview to the Arkansas Times in which she stated that every word she had given to the police was a fabrication.^[35] She further asserted that the police had insinuated if she did not cooperate with them they would take away her child.^[35] She noted that when she visited the police station they had photographs of Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley on the wall and were using them as dart targets.^[35] She also claims that an audio tape the police claimed was "unintelligible" (and eventually lost) was perfectly clear and contained no incriminating statements.^[35] However, Hutcheson did not testify at the Echols/Baldwin trial.

[edit]DNA testing and new physical evidence

In 2007, DNA collected from the crime scene was tested. None was found to match DNA from Echols, Baldwin, nor Misskelley.^[36] In addition, a hair "not inconsistent with" Terry Hobbs, stepfather to Stevie Branch, was found tied into the knots used to bind victim Michael Moore.^[37][38] The prosecutors, while conceding that no DNA evidence ties the accused to the crime scene, has said that, "The State stands behind its convictions of Echols and his codefendants."^[39]

On October 29, 2007 papers were filed in federal court by Damien Echols' defense lawyers seeking a retrial or his immediate release from prison. The filing cited DNA evidence linking Terry Hobbs (stepfather of one of the victims) to the crime scene, and new statements from Hobbs' now ex-wife. Also presented in the filing is new expert testimony that the "knife" marks on the victims were the result of animal predation after the bodies had been dumped.^[1][40]

On September 10, 2008 Circuit Court Judge David Burnett denied the request for a retrial, citing the DNA tests as inconclusive. ^[41]

[edit]John Mark Byers

In late 2007, John Mark Byers, adoptive father to Christopher Byers, announced that he now believes that Echols, Misskelley, and Baldwin are innocent. "I believe I would be the last person on the face of the earth that people would expect or dream to see say free the West Memphis 3," said Byers. "From looking at the evidence purple and the facts that were presented to me, I have no doubt the West Memphis 3 are innocent." Byers is writing a book, and a film biography is being considered for production.^[42] Mr. Byers has been speaking to the media on behalf of the convicted and has expressed his desire for "justice for six families."

[edit]Documentaries and studies

Two films, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, have documented this case, as have the books Blood of Innocents by Guy Reel and Devil's Knot byMara Leveritt. The documentary films and Leveritt's book were strongly critical of the verdict, and argue that the suspects were wrongly convicted.^{[citation needed][43]} Damien Echols wrote a book "Almost Home, Vol 1"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Memphis_Three