NEW EVIDENCE & LOOKING AT OLD EVIDENCE

[Obscuregawdess]

A lack of DNA evidence to connect three local men to the 1993 murders of three 8-year-old West Memphis boys.



Is not enough to demonstrate their innocence, attorneys for the state wrote in their argument against a new trial.

Damien Echols, who was sentenced to the death penalty in 1994 for the murders, requested a new trial in April.

Attorneys for Echols cited alleged juror bias, DNA-testing results that excluded Echols and a theory that animal predation caused some of the injuries on the three boys.

The new claims are "meritless and the court should deny Echols's motion without a hearing," wrote Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel and two other attorneys for the state in a response filed in circuit court on May 30.

"As it has for 15 years, the State is confident that he, in fact, is guilty of three capital murders for those killings," attorneys for the state wrote. "The State also remains confident, as it has against his many challenges since the jury's 1994 judgments of guilt and sentences of death, that those judgments should be upheld and carried out."

A report filed by Second Judicial District Prosecutor Brent Davis stated that the only material that did not belong to the victims was a hair found on a victim's shoelace that likely belonged to Terry Hobbs, step-father of one of the victims.

But the series of DNA tests and theories about the murders do not demonstrate that a new trial would result in an acquittal, attorneys for the state wrote in a 34-page response.

"The scientific conclusion that he (Echols) was not the source of some DNA evidence is a far cry from the legal conclusion that he could not commit the crimes," the attorneys wrote.

The DNA tests "tell too little to be proof of actual innocence," attorneys for the state wrote.

"Indeed, as to crimes like those committed by Echols, it may well be that DNA-testing results can never conclusively support a claim of actual innocence," the attorneys wrote.

In their motion for a new trial, attorneys for Echols questioned the reliability of jurors in the original trial and cited several inconsistencies in a confession by Jessie Misskelley. Misskelley and Jason Baldwin are serving life sentences for the murders.

Misskelley's confession to police was not used at a trial for Echols and Baldwin, but state attorneys wrote in the recent filing that the court "must consider all evidence of Echols's guilt, regardless of whether it was introduced at trial."

"Despite Echols's disputes with it, that evidence, particularly his codefendants' admissions of guilt, is especially damning," the attorneys for the state wrote.

In a November press conference, Dr. Werner Spitz, an expert for the defendants who has performed or supervised nearly 60,000 autopsies, maintained that wounds on the three boys were due to animal claw marks.

In their response, the state points to Misskelley's confession as proof that a knife was used against the victims.

The state could present experts who would refute Echols's "incredible theory of post-mortem animal predation," attorneys for the state wrote.

"The notion that the victims' injuries were post-mortem animal predation that escaped the observation of investigators and medical and dental experts at the time the bodies were found, recovered, and examined requires the rejection of common sense," they wrote.

In a separate motion, attorneys for Baldwin wrote that a police officer for the San Diego Police Department claims that he was contacted before the trial by West Memphis police about the possibility of animal predation.

Circuit Judge David Burnett has scheduled hearings for Sept. 8 through Oct. 3 for DNA and forensic evidence for the three men.

Burnett has told attorneys for the state and the three men that they would be held in contempt of court for any news account attributed to them outside of the courtroom proceedings.

http://www.theeveningtimes.com/articles ... /news1.txt

[CherokeeKid]

Thanks for the update, OG.

There are strong arguments on both sides. It's hard to tell what is the truth and what really happened, IMO.

I'm curious what will happen in that court hearing this September.

[Obscuregawdess]

YW, CK. I believe the defense's arguments are most credible and strong. After reading up a lot on both sides, there's no doubt in my mind one day the three will be released. If that is the case, I do hope they bring the actual killer(s) to justice. I am also eager to see what happens!

[Obscuregawdess]

In 1993 Jessie Misskelley, Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols were tried for the brutal murder of 3 young children in West Memphis, Arkansas.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Despite the fact that no credible evidence was presented against them, in one of the most gross miscarriages of justice in America of recent decades all three were convicted and sentenced to life, life and death by lethal injection respectively. The reason? In the rural backwater where they lived looking and acting different was enough to make them figures of fear and hatred.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2832257

Whilst it may seem unreasonable to link this to recent legislation in Britain, I believe that this case holds a compelling lesson in the light of recent anti-terror legislation. With increased powers of stop-and-search and the extension of detention-without-trial to 42 days, we are increasingly handing more powers to the police force and Government. However, as this case shows, we should not be prepared to place unconditional trust in the police.

I would go further and say that a degree of mistrust of the police is necessary for a healthy society, and they should be given additional powers only when presented with the most watertight evidence. America is meant to be one of the world's great democracies, a bastion of the rule of law, yet the West Memphis Three were duped, coerced and grossly abused by both the police and the local judicial system in a manner more reminiscent of the countries America and Britain are constantly castigating over their human rights abuses.

We have no reason to believe that British police (or politicians) are any less fallible or bigoted than those in West Memphis. In light of this, we should be very careful before placing yet more coercive power in their hands.

http://apaperumbrella.blogspot.com/2008 ... trust.html

[Obscuregawdess]

BY CATHY FRYE

Posted on Friday, June 13, 2008

Damien Echols, convicted in 1994 of killing three West Memphis boys, hasn't proved his innocence through new DNA testing, the state attorney general's office contends in a recent filing in the 15-year-old case.

Assistant attorney general Kent Holt and Craighead County prosecutors argue that Echols — 18 when he was sentenced to death — hasn't been exonerated by several rounds of new DNA testing.

"Those unremarkable results do not (and cannot ) demonstrate his actual innocence," state the court documents, filed May 30 in Craighead County Circuit Court by Holt and Craighead County prosecutors.

The state's filing is a response to Echols' April 11 motion for a new trial. The state attorneys ask that Circuit Judge David Burnett deny the defense team's request for a new trial.

State law permits anyone convicted of a crime to ask for a re-examination of evidence if new tests or science have become available since trial. If the results can be used to prove innocence, the convicted may then ask for another trial.

An international group hoping to prove Echols' innocence raised enough money to hire six high-profile scientists in the past year. After getting the results, his attorneys, also secured through donations, filed a motion for a new trial in April.

In that motion, defense lawyers argue that DNA testing didn't turn up any genetic material belonging to Echols or the other two men convicted in the crime — Jason Baldwin, then 16; and Jessie Misskelley, then 17.

They contend that if the killings took place per the prosecutors' theory of what happened, DNA would have been left behind, both at the crime scene and on the children's bodies.

"Furthermore, a hair containing mitochondrial DNA consistent with that of Terry Hobbs, a stepfather of one of the victims (Steve Branch ), was found on the ligature used to bind another of the victims (Michael Moore ). Another hair found on a tree root at the scene where the bodies were discovered contains mitochondrial DNA consistent with that of David Jacoby." Jacoby, defense attorneys say, was with Hobbs in the hours before and after the children vanished.

Defense attorneys began pointing at Hobbs last year, using the hairs and an investigation by former FBI profiler John Douglas, to create a new theory for what happened on the evening of May 5, 1993, when Steve, Michael and Chris Byers, all 8, disappeared. The boys' bodies were found the next day, submerged in a drainage ditch in Robin Wood Hills, a wooded patch near their homes.

Douglas believes Hobbs, angry at his stepson, wanted to punish and humiliate him, but went further than he intended.

Hobbs has said in two interviews with the Democrat-Gazette that he had nothing to do with the boys' deaths.

In the past year, the scientists hired by the defense have questioned prosecutors' assertions that the children were sexually abused and killed by knifewielding satanists.

The scientists contend the boys' injuries occurred after death, as animals and aquatic life preyed on the bodies. The wounds came from claw and teeth marks, not a knife, they say. The scientists also blame aquatic life for the mutilation and removal of Chris Byers ' genitals.

In a recent filing for Baldwin, defense attorneys said they recently learned that during the murder investigation, West Memphis police consulted with San Diego police about the possibility that animal predation caused the injuries.

The attorney general's response contends that defense attorneys are relying heavily on the animal predation theory to bolster inconclusive DNA results — rather than simply providing new DNA evidence that would prove Echols' innocence. "The point is that Echols ' post-mortem animal-predation theory cannot explain the homicides — the crimes for which he must demonstrate actual innocence.

" Moreover, the state is fully prepared to present at length its own expert evidence clearly refuting Echols' incredible theory of post-mortem animal predation." Regardless, the state argues, the new test results offered to the court don't prove anything.

"The scientific conclusion that he was not the source of some DNA evidence is a far cry from the legal conclusion that he could not commit the crimes," court documents state.

The state filed several exhibits with its response, including a letter from the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory, dated May 30, that says the tissue samples taken from some of the wounds are indicative of injury before death, and therefore couldn't have been caused by animal predation.

It also contends the wounds showed "clearly incised edges," indicating a sharp instrument caused them.

Because of the judge's gag order, attorneys from either side are unable to comment.

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/228497/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

State: DNA doesn't clear Echols
Damien Echols, convicted in 1994 of killing three West Memphis boys, hasn't proved his innocence through new DNA testing, the state Attorney General's Office contends in a recent filing in the 15-year-old case.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette stories:... - http://www2.arkansasonline.com/news/news/arkansas/

State: DNA doesn't clear Echols
Arkansas Online - Little Rock,AR,USA
By Cathy Frye (Contact) Damien Echols, convicted in 1994 of killing three West Memphis boys, hasn't proved his innocence through new DNA testing, ...

[Obscuregawdess]

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Court grants Darlie Routier right to limited DNA testing of ...
Dallas Morning News - Dallas,TX,USA
"People have been exonerated because of DNA, and we believe that will hold true for Darlie." Steve Cooper, a Dallas attorney for Mrs. Routier, ...
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 6f728.html

DNA success, and excess
Albany Times Union - Albany,NY,USA
Hundreds of prisoners have been freed because DNA was exonerating evidence. New York should think twice about DNA testing that could serve a very different ...
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/st ... =6/19/2008

Crime, politicians respond: John Key
New Zealand Herald - New Zealand
DNA profiling is an invaluable tool for identifying and catching criminals, and for exonerating the innocent. * Giving police the ability to issue ...
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/stor ... d=10517215

Tillman Case Discussion Follows Performance Of 'The Exonerated'
Hartford Courant - United States
He was the first person in the state to be cleared through modern DNA testing. Tillman will speak Thursday, as will Goodrow, Gerard A. Smyth, ...
http://www.courant.com/news/local/mr/mi ... 7669.story

Inmate confesses to 1985 rape of Richardson woman after DNA ...
Dallas Morning News - Dallas,TX,USA
Of the 17 DNA exoneration cases in Dallas County since 2001, this is at least the fifth time genetic testing has also identified the real perpetrator. ...
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... fa49c.html

DNA sample identifies attacker from 1985 rape case
The Associated Press -
... according to the Innocence Project. Thirty-two people have been formally exonerated through DNA testing in Texas, also a national high.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iNOF ... wD91C7BC00








http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... 79D6911072

[Obscuregawdess]

A trial lawyer for Jessie Misskelley says the defendant was so easy to manipulate that police would have had little trouble persuading him to confess to a role in the 1993 slayings of three 8-year-old West Memphis boys.

Former Misskelley defense lawyer Dan Stidham testified yesterday at Jonesboro before Circuit Judge David Burnett. To buttress his claim about how easy it was to lead Misskelley into error, he provided the judge with a videotape that was played in court yesterday.

On the tape, Stidham and a psychologist convince Misskelley in just a matter of minutes to say that he robbed a convenience store near his home, though no such robbery ever occurred.

The judge is presiding over a hearing in which Misskelley is seeking a new trial. His new lawyers claim that he was inadequately represented by his defense team in his 1994 trial, a claim that Stidham doesn't dispute.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/sto ... 83&catid=2

Thursday, November 20, 2008

[Obscuregawdess]

In post-trial tape, Misskilley described how killings were performed
Associated Press
Saturday, November 22, 2008

JONESBORO, Ark. -- Four days after his trial ended, one of three teenagers convicted of killing three 8-year-olds in West Memphis in 1993 related to his lawyer details of how the killings occurred.

The conversation with Jessie Misskelley Jr., now 31, was taped by his defense lawyer, Dan Stidham, and played Thursday at a hearing before Circuit Judge David Burnett.

Burnett is presiding over a hearing at which lawyers for Misskelley and codefendant Jason Baldwin are seeking new trials. They claim the two were inadequately defended in their 1994 trials, a claim Stidham does not dispute in Misskelley's case.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/20 ... artner=RSS

FEATURING AN EXCLUSIVE REPORT FROM WITHIN DEATH ROW

"You can turn it into a monastery or it will turn into hell" says Death Row prisoner Damien Echols of his life of solitary confinement in a "supermax" prison in Arkansas. In the new issue of Parabola, Echols, convicted of murder but believed innocent by many, reports how his study of Zen Buddhism and Western spiritual traditions helps him to cope with life behind bars and in the face what he and others perceive to be a massive injustice.

"Do you see what justice is?" asks the renowned mystic G.I. Gurdjieff in this Winter 2008 issue of Parabola. "[N]othing on earth is done without it." Yet how can this be, in a world where innocents suffer and the guilty go free? What is justice?

http://7thspace.com/headlines/298263/pa ... color.html

[Obscuregawdess]

JONESBORO — Jessie Misskelley, convicted in the 1993 deaths of three West Memphis 8-year-old boys, was not mentally competent to assist his attorneys and should not have faced trial, a forensic psychologist testified in a Craighead County Circuit Court hearing Friday.

Misskelley is seeking to prove his former attorneys did not provide adequate legal counsel and is asking for a new trial. He was convicted in February 1994 in the slayings of Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore.

Misskelley was sentenced to life in prison plus 40 years.

Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin also were convicted in the deaths. Echols was sentenced to die by lethal injection; Baldwin is serving life in prison without parole.

Timothy Derning, a San Francisco psychologist, testified Friday that a mental evaluation he conducted on Misskelley on June 29, 2004, indicated Misskelley did not possess the intellect needed to assist his attorneys with his defense.

He said Misskelley's former attorney, Dan Stidham of Paragould, used a questionable psychologist in determining Misskelley's competency. The psychologist, William Wilkins, should have determined Misskelley's mental handicap after evaluating him, Derning testified Friday.

"He was doing whatever he felt he wanted to do and was not following the standard of our practice," Derning said of Williams.

"He did a great disservice to the court coming in here," he said. "He had no basis." A MacArthur Competence test Misskelley took with Derning 1 4 / 2 years ago showed Misskelley had an IQ of 70, Derning said.

"He meets the criteria for mental retardation," Derning said.

On cross examination with 2 nd Judicial Prosecutor Brent Davis of Jonesboro, Derning admitted to being paid more than $ 300 an hour to testify for defense attorneys and said he earned about $ 150, 000 a year testifying in courts.

Davis also questioned a detailed alibi Misskelley provided of his whereabouts May 5, 1993, when the three boys were killed. Misskelley listed in 30-minute increments where he was that day.

"Doesn't that show competent assistance ?" Davis asked. "He showed the ability to assist with counsel." "It adds to the information," Derning replied. "But it doesn't change my opinion about his ability to effectively help his counsel." The hearing will resume in January, Circuit Court Judge David Burnett said.

Attorneys expect to take at least 10 more days to present evidence before Burnett can make a ruling.

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/244258/


Saturday, November 22, 2008

[Obscuregawdess]

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[Obscuregawdess]

Monday, August 31, 2009

http://blog.freewestmemphis3.org/?p=11


The hearing in Jonesboro, Arkansas which ended a few weeks ago represented a watershed in the effort to overturn the convictions of Jason Baldwin, Jessie Misskelley and Damien Echols. Although the Rule 37 hearing for ineffective counsel involved only Jason and Jessie, the evidence presented had a very strong impact on innocence of all three wrongfully convicted young men.


Some of the country’s leading forensic experts, Drs. Werner Spitz, Michael Baden, Richard Souviron and Janice Ophoven, presented compelling scientific testimony that the murders of the young boys in 1993 were not committed with a knife, which was the basis of the prosecution’s entire case. The testimony that the terrible wounds on the children were, in fact, the result of animal bites and scratches while their bodies were in the drainage ditch in Robin Hood Hills, undermines both the cause of death assertions, as well as the prosecution’s motive of a ritualistic killing.


Furthermore, the appearance of Vicki Hutcheson on the witness stand during the last day of the hearings, prepared to testify that she lied in the original trial implicating Jessie, Jason and Damien in satanic cult activity, was chilling.


While Judge Burnett refused to grant her immunity from perjury prosecution and she therefore refused to testify under oath, she confirmed outside the courtroom that she had been virtually forced by the police investigators in West Memphis to make up the story of cult activity and falsely implicate the defendants.



The evidence presented by the forensic experts and other witnesses was so strong and the DA’s office so unprepared to refute it, Judge Burnett quickly postponed the hearings until October to allow the DA to “find” someone to challenge the evidence. Good luck.


New DNA evidence establishing that there was none of the three young men’s DNA at the crime scene while implicating others, new forensic testimony by the country’s leading pathologists, recantations by important witnesses and shocking evidence of juror bias and misconduct during the trials, establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley are innocent. It is time that the Arkansas Supreme Court intervenes and do what is obvious to every impartial observer: overturn the convictions and grant these men a new trial.

[AC]

OG, does this make sense? Why give the DA until October? Didn't they have all their ducks in a row?

[Obscuregawdess]

They should have, after all this time! All it is, IMO, is damage control... pure and simple. They were not prepared and probably did not expect Burnett to give the testimony much weight; but with these top-notch experts, they shoulda' realized they better be ready!

[Obscuregawdess]

Mara Leveritt's complaint about sealing of Supreme Court records in the West Memphis Three case

Open the records

Mara Leveritt's complaint about sealing of Supreme Court records in the West Memphis Three case by the court's clerk (rather than by order of any court) got attention from the Arkansas Supreme Court yesterday.
In a curious decision, it punted. Rather than telling its clerk to unseal records he had no business or authority to seal, it sent the entire record back to Circuit Judge David Burnett, who, as dissenting Justice Paul Danielson notes, now can have another bite at further unwarranted sealing of critical evidence in multiple cases.
There's no ground, 15 years after the murders, for sealing anything in this case, particularly the evidence that bears on a tainted jury. (Unless you are prosecutors who'd prefer no further exposure of underhanded actions in this case.) Someone will make the argument for open court to Burnett. His record in the case doesn't inspire hope that the public's interest will be served.


http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasb ... cords.aspx

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuse ... =512651885


ETA: LYNCH Burnett!!!!!!!!

[Obscuregawdess]

Monday, Oct 12, 2009 @08:55pm CDT



There's a development in the so-called West Memphis Three case.

The defense team representing Damien Echols, who is on Arkansas death row for his conviction in the case, reports that there are new witnesses who have not been questioned in the 1993 investigation.

Two other men are imprisoned for the killings of three eight-year-old boys.

Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley continue their fight for new trials.

This afternoon, Echols' defense team issued the following news release:

Neighbors Saw Steven Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore With Hobbs Just Before Their Disappearance

Three eyewitnesses have come forward and provided sworn statements that they saw Steven Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore with Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of Steven Branch, at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 5, 1993, immediately before the time the boys disappeared. Hobbs was calling loudly at the children and ordering them to return to his house. The new evidence establishes that the last person who had custody of the three boys before they vanished and died was Terry Hobbs. Jamie Clark Ballard, who lived only three doors down from Terry and Pam Hobbs, has supplied a sworn affidavit, as have both her mother and her sister.

Based upon this new evidence, a motion on behalf of Damien Echols was delivered today to the Arkansas Supreme Court asking the court to order the matter to the Circuit Court to permit further factual development of Echols’s claims of actual innocence.

Ballard states in her sworn affidavit that, “Between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., I saw Stevie Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers playing in my backyard. I am absolutely, completely and totally positive that I saw Terry Hobbs hollering at Stevie, Michael and Christopher to get back down to the Hobbs house at approximately 6:30 pm. If Terry Hobbs said he did not see Stevie Branch, Michael Moore or Christopher Byers on May 5, 1993, he is not telling the truth. I know for a fact that Terry Hobbs saw, was with and spoke to Stevie, Michael or Christopher on May 5, 1993.”

Hobbs has repeatedly said that he never saw the three boys the day they were murdered. In fact, during a recent civil deposition of Terry Hobbs, dated July 21, 2009, Hobbs stated, for the first time under oath, that he never saw his stepson, Steven Branch, at any time on May 5, 1993. Under oath he was asked, “It’s your testimony that you did not see Stevie Branch at all the day of May 5th of 1993. Correct?” Hobbs answer: “Correct.” “Did you see Stevie at all that day, May 5th?” Answer: “No, I did not.” “Did you see any of the three boys that day?” Answer: “No, I did not. No I never seen Stevie that day.”

Police never questioned Terry Hobbs during the original investigation of the crimes, but after new evidence was revealed that his DNA was found at the crime scene in 2007, he was questioned by West Memphis Police Department on June 21, 2007. In that interview he stated numerous times to Detective Mitchell that he did not see the boys at any time that day. Officer Mitchell asked Terry Hobbs about what time he got home from work, and he responds roughly about 3-3:30 p.m. He was then asked if he saw Stevie anywhere. His answer: “I did not, he wasn’t there.”

According to the motion prepared by Dennis Riordan and Don Horgan, Echols attorneys, “It has previously been established that Hobbs was never questioned by police during the original investigation of the crimes, despite the fact that the lead detective in the investigation of the murders has conceded both that when a child homicide occurs, police should always consider the parents of the child as potential suspects, and that it is “statistically proven that homicide victims are usually the result of family, close friends, [and] known acquaintances” (see below). Yet DNA evidence submitted to the Circuit Court in the § 16‑112‑201 proceedings below links Hobbs to the ligature used to bind Michael Moore. A hair linked by DNA testing to David Jacoby, whom Hobbs had visited in the hour before the boys disappeared, was found at the crime scene. Hobbs, moreover, has been accused assaultive conduct in the past. He has made bizarre and self-incriminating statements concerning his activities on the date the boys went missing. His whereabouts during a key early evening time period on May 5th have never been accounted for. Certain family members recalled that he had acted suspiciously on the date of the disappearance and the days that followed. His wife and other family members have voiced their belief that Hobbs was responsible for the killings.

“Considered in the context of all available evidence in these matters, the new revelations that Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of Steven Branch, had Steven, Christopher, and Michael in his custody just before their disappearance and death, and that Hobbs has deliberately denied and concealed that critical fact, cannot reasonably be reconciled with the conclusion that appellants were responsible for the crimes of which they stand convicted.”

The eyewitnesses, who saw the boys in their backyard prior to returning to the Hobbs home, were never questioned by the police on the day of the murders. According to the affidavit of Jamie Clark Ballard, “Following the murders, the police never came to interview me or my family. In fact, after the murders, I do not recall ever seeing any police vehicles on my street or seeing any police interviewing any of the people in my neighborhood.”

Damien Echols case is currently under appeal in the Arkansas Supreme court seeking a new trial based upon new evidence. Dozens of pieces of evidence found at the crime scene conclusively show that no DNA from the murders matches Echols or the other two men. DNA testing, however, links Terry Hobbs, stepfather of one of the murdered children, to the crime scene, and other evidence has emerged implicating him in the crimes. In addition, scientific evidence from the nation’s leading forensics experts demonstrates that most of the wounds on the victims were caused by animals at the crime scene, after their deaths – not by knives used by the perpetrators, as the prosecution claimed and was the centerpiece of the prosecution’s case. Moreover, evidence presented that a knife recovered from a lake near one defendant’s home caused the wounds was completely discredited by the pathologists.

Echols’s also informed the Supreme Court that a prominent Arkansas attorney in a sworn affidavit has revealed improper conversations that the jury foreman held with the attorney while the original trial was in progress, clearly violating the law and the rights of Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin to a fair and impartial trial. In those conversations, the jury foreman indicates that he had prejudged Echols’s guilt and was trying to convince other jurors to convict based upon news reports of the false confession of Jessie Misskelley, which was barred from admission at the Echols-Baldwin trial. During one conversation, the jury foreman told the attorney that the prosecution had presented a weak case, and that the prosecution had better present something powerful the next day (the end of the prosecution’s case) or it would be up to him to secure a conviction.

http://nwahomepage.com/content/fulltext/?cid=126952 (Video and article)

[Obscuregawdess]

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Oct 15, 2009 at 9:08 AM

By George Jared


JONESBORO — Neighbors of three West Memphis 8-year-olds who were murdered in 1993 have come forward, claiming they saw the juveniles around the time they disappeared.


And the new revelations conflict with statements made by one of the boys’ stepfather as to his whereabouts when the three went missing.



In affidavits presented to the Arkansas Supreme Court on Monday, sisters Jamie Clark Ballard and Brandy Clark Williams and their mother, Deborah Moyer, claim to have seen Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore at 6:30 p.m. May 5, 1993.


The boys were playing in Moyer’s backyard when Branch’s stepfather, Terry Hobbs, yelled at the boys and told them to go to his house, according to court documents.
Ballard, then 13, said she spoke to Byers, telling him his older brother was looking for him. Williams, who was 11 at the time, and Ballard then left for church, documents state. Moyer said she went outside to tell the boys to get out of her yard, and she saw a man with blond hair standing down the street yelling at the boys.


Contradicts statements


That contradicts a sworn statement Hobbs gave to police, in which he said he never saw Branch or the other two on the day they disappeared.


Officials with the West Memphis Police Department have repeatedly said Hobbs is not a suspect in the murders, and he was interviewed only at the behest of prosecutors.


Hobbs has professed his innocence in various media interview and even filed a lawsuit against famed country musician Natalie Maines after he claimed she made public remarks indicating he was guilty of the killings.


Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, who were teens at the time, were convicted of capital murder in 1994 for killing the boys.


The nude, tied, bludgeoned bodies of Branch, Moore and Byers were found in a rain-filled ditch in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, a day after they went missing.


A perceived lack of DNA or forensic evidence tying the convicted to the crime has caused a international outpouring of support for new trials in the case.


Attorneys for Echols presented the neighbors’ statements to the Arkansas Supreme Court in hopes it will order new trials. It’s not known if or when the statements will be added to Echols’ case file.


Satanic or occult activity was the alleged motive for the crime.



Misskelley confessed to police in 1993


Misskelley confessed to the crime in an interview with police June 3, 1993. He claimed he, along with Echols and Baldwin, was consuming alcohol near the ditch when the three boys approached. The teens then subdued, sexually assaulted and tortured the boys before disposing of them in the water, police said.


The confession is riddled with errors, including the time of the crime and where it happened. Misskelley said ropes were used to tie the victims when in fact their own shoelaces were used. Misskelley, who has an IQ of 72, has since recanted the confession and has said that police coerced him into confessing.


Renowned forensic pathologists have recently testified at a hearing for Baldwin and Misskelley there was no evidence of a sexual assault.


State medical examiners, who were criticized for their work on the case, said there was no evidence the boys were sodomized, and no semen was collected.


Horrific injuries to all three boys, including the genital mutilation of Byers, were the result of cuts from a sharp implement or knife, state medical examiners claim. But defense forensic pathologists testified that most of the wounds, including those to Byers genitals, can be attributed to animal predation.


In Misskelley’s confession he claimed they used a knife on the victims.Hairs and other DNA collected from the crime scene were tested in 2007 and didn’t match any of the defendants. A hair found inside one of Moore’s ligatures matched Hobbs, court records state. Police said the hair could have been at the scene as a result of a secondary transfer.


Ballard, Moyer and Williams came forward with new information about the case after learning Hobbs said he didn’t see his stepson or the other boys just prior to their disappearance.


According to documents, Ballard said she was friends with Ryan Clark, Byers older brother. After school the day the boys disappeared, Ballard said Byers’ stepfather, John Mark Byers, told Clark to find his brother.


When Ballard saw Byers playing in her backyard she reportedly told him that his brother was looking for him, and he needed to go home.



Pam Hobbs, Branch’s mother who was married to Terry Hobbs for 17 years, has said recently that she believes her ex-husband was involved in the murders, and she thinks the men convicted deserve new trials.


John Mark Byers has also said he thinks Terry Hobbs was involved with the murders, and he now ademantly supports efforts to free the so called “West Memphis Three.”


Rule 37 hearings for Misskelley and Baldwin wrapped up earlier this month, and Judge David Burnett is expected to rule by the end of the year if they will get new trials. In 1999 Burnett rejected a bid by Echols for a new trial.


gjared@jonesborosun.com
Copyright 2009 Jonesboro Sun


http://wm3.vox.com/library/post/ark-hig ... =feed-atom

[Obscuregawdess]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?dooci ... 5734870046

[Hannie]

It says';sorry video not available...

[Obscuregawdess]

Skating rink (interior)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 0878708499

Skating rink surveillance - afternoon of May 23, 1993
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 9284689360

Skating rink surveillance - evening of May 23, 1993
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 4215756678

Writings on walls - June 14, 1993
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 2050125013

[Obscuregawdess]

It says';sorry video not available...

Ugh! Let me see... I have it saved, so maybe I can format it and upload to Youtube. It had been a while since I watched these until an awesome poster named Bit from paradiselost3.com MB posted these. 'll try to do that for ya today, Hannie! I'm sorry.

[Obscuregawdess]

http://www.wm3blackboard.com/forum/index.php?board=59.0