Postby zanev » Fri Aug 19, 2011 3:02 pm
Jonesboro, Arkansas (CNN) -- Three men who served 18 years in prison following their convictions in a 1993 triple-slaying in West Memphis, Arkansas, walked free Friday to cheers from a supportive crowd after entering new pleas in the case.
"I want to be out. I deserve to be out," said Jason Baldwin, who along with Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley Jr., was freed after entering rarely used pleas in which they maintained their innocence but acknowledged that prosecutors have evidence to convict them.
Echols and Baldwin entered what is known as an Alford plea on three counts of first degree murder. Misskelley entered similar pleas to one count of first degree murder and two counts of second degree murder.
Craighead County Circuit Judge David Laser sentenced the three to the 18 years already served and imposed a 10-year suspended sentence -- meaning they could be returned to jail if they violate the law.
"I don't think that it will make the pain go away to the victim families. I don't think it will make the pain go away to the defendant families," Laser said, adding it was nevertheless the best for all involved.
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* Damien Echols
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Echols was previously sentenced to death and Misskelley and Baldwin were given life sentences in the May 1993 slayings of second-graders Steven Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore.
The boys' bodies were mutilated and left in a ditch, hogtied with their own shoelaces. Prosecutors argued that the men who were convicted, teenagers at the time, were driven by satanic ritual and that Echols had been the ringleader.
Critics of the case against the men argued that no direct evidence tied the three to the murders and that a knife recovered from a lake near the home of one of the men could not have caused the boys' wounds. More recent DNA testing also demonstrated no links, according to the men's supporters.
Echols said after his release that he was "very much in shock, very overwhelmed."
"I'm just tired," Echols said. "This has been going on for over 18 years, and it's been an absolute living hell."
Baldwin said he didn't initially want to accept the deal.
"This was not justice," he said, adding that he dropped his opposition to pave the way for Echols' release from death row.
"He had it so much worse than I had it," Baldwin said of Echols. "It's just insufferable to put a person through that."
While prosecuting attorney Scott Ellington said the pleas entered Friday validate the decision of jurors who sent the men to prison, it also spares Arkansas the possibility of a retrial, which would have been difficult to prosecute after so many years, or a potential civil lawsuit by the men. The trio had been on course to win the right to new trials later this year.
"This is an appropriate resolution to this case at this time," Ellington, who works in Arkansas' second judicial district, told reporters. "Only time will tell as to whether this was a right decision on my part."
Although supporters of the men, dubbed the West Memphis 3, believe the true killer remains free, Ellington said he believes the pleas resolve the case.
"I have no reason to believe there was anyone else involved in the homicide of these three children but the three defendants who pled guilty today," he said. But he said the state could file charges against others if new evidence emerges implicating someone else in the case.
Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said his staff had been helping Ellington's staff prepare for a state Supreme Court hearing on the case scheduled for December. But he said he learned this week that Ellington had accepted a plea deal proposed by the defense.
"I continue to believe that these defendants are guilty of the crimes for which they have now been twice convicted," McDaniel said in a release. "Prosecutors know their cases better than anyone. In this case, Mr. Ellington has exercised his discretion in such a way that has led to nine murder convictions that can never be appealed."
The case has drawn national attention, with actor Johnny Depp and singers Eddie Vedder and Natalie Maines trying to rally support for the men's release. Vedder and Maines were at the courthouse on Friday.
John Mark Byers, whose son Christopher Byers was one of the three victims, said he believes the three men are innocent and releasing them without exonerating them of the crime is an outrage.
"They're innocent. They did not kill my son," Byers said before the hearing.
The father of another of the victims, Steven Branch, also blasted the decision, but for another reason.
"I don't know what kind of deal they worked up," Steve Branch told CNN affiliate WMC-TV before the hearing. "Now you can get some movie stars and a little bit of money behind you and you can walk free for killing somebody."
But Jessie Misskelley Sr. said he was happy that his son would be getting out of prison.
"I thought it might be some kind of publicity stunt. I can't believe it but it's real," he told WMC.
The three men were seeking a retrial in the case, and a hearing had been scheduled for a new trial. The state Supreme Court ruled in November that the three could present new evidence to the trial court after DNA testing between 2005 and 2007 failed to link them to the crime.
The material included hair from a ligature used to bind Moore and a hair recovered from a tree stump near where the bodies were found, Arkansas Supreme Court documents said.
The hair found in the ligature was consistent with Branch's stepfather, Terry Hobbs, while the hair found on the tree stump was consistent with the DNA of a friend of Hobbs, according to the documents.
Police have never considered Hobbs a suspect, and he maintains that he had nothing to do with the murders.
Echols and Baldwin said in a news conference after the men were released that they would continue to work to clear their names, something Baldwin said authorities aren't trying to do.
"They're not out there trying to find out who really murdered those boys," he said.
I close my eyes, Inis Mona
And reminisce of those palmy days
I moon o'er you, Inis Mona
As long as I breathe
I'll call you my home
Postby sarobah » Fri Aug 19, 2011 4:11 pm
This case illustrates a serious flaw in any justice system which can probably never be fixed, and why the death penalty must never be used.
Perhaps these three are guilty, perhaps not. However, the prosecutors and the victims’ families* have such a strong emotional investment in punishing someone – anyone – that evidence becomes secondary to need to punish and to the presumption of guilt.
It does not really seem to matter to those involved whether the person being punished is innocent or guilty, so long as it provides some degree of catharsis. In fact, I sometimes wonder, in cases like this, if it’s actually preferable, on a subconscious level, for an innocent person to be convicted. It transfers the suffering from the victim of the crime to the victim of the miscarriage of justice.
This case also illustrates why claims of “satanic ritual†should always ring alarm bells. When the prosecutors cannot find a plausible motive to connect the accused to the crime, it bcomes a convenient catch-all.
* Remarkably, one victim’s father appears to have separated his emotional commitment from his need for someone to “pay†for the crime.
Last edited by
sarobah on Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Words, like Nature, half reveal and half conceal the soul within.
Postby Kyle » Fri Aug 19, 2011 8:36 pm
I remember back when this all went down 18 years ago and some of the things that have gone on since then. What happened to the 3 boys is pretty horrifying and not for the faint of heart (if you go looking it up, don't say I didn't warn you). It was as bad as a crime gets and people were outraged and wanted someone to be convicted for it. Some young kid said he saw "Satanists" do it and the West Memphis 3, being weird goth-like kids at a time it wasn't a common thing, made good scapegoats for the crime. There's actually some evidence either the West Memphis Police Dept. or the state of Arkansas covered up some evidence of juror misconduct in the case.
Anyway, there was a very good chance the 3 were going to get a new trial at the end of the year, which the state of Arkansas knew they had a good chance of losing and the 3 being acquitted. This deal helps them out by getting a guilty plea and effectively closes the case as far as Arkansas is concerned, unless new evidence comes to light. But since the state has no reason to look for it (being they have 3 guilty pleas) it would take someone else to introduce the evidence.
I don't really think the state truly thinks they're guilty though. Why on God's Earth would you release 3 people you're sure killed 3 young boys in a horrifying and disturbing way? Especially the one who was sentenced to death for it? You just don't do that kind of thing.
For the most part, everyone is happy with this outcome. A lot of people support the West Memphis 3. They're happy because the 3 men are released. The state of Arkansas is happy because this essentially closes the case for them. The only people that aren't happy are the ones who think they did it and deserve to spend the rest of their lives in prison. And yes, they do exist.
Postby zanev » Mon Aug 22, 2011 10:01 am
The victims family even believe these three are innocent.
I don't think they can get a new trial now due to their plea...it would be double jeopardy.
I close my eyes, Inis Mona
And reminisce of those palmy days
I moon o'er you, Inis Mona
As long as I breathe
I'll call you my home
Postby Kyle » Mon Aug 22, 2011 2:27 pm
Two of the three victims' families support them. The dad of the other victim doesn't, and is one of the people who believes they're guilty. He had to be removed from the courtroom when they announced the verdict, and was one of the people who broke the story to the media.
But it's pretty big when the families of even two of the three believe the ones found guilty of the crime are innocent.
They won't get a new trial. The only way anything will change now is if new evidence comes up, which someone will have to present to the state of Arkansas or the city of West Memphis because they consider the case closed and have no reason to look at it any further.
Postby zanev » Mon Aug 22, 2011 5:52 pm
Kyle wrote:Two of the three victims' families support them. The dad of the other victim doesn't, and is one of the people who believes they're guilty. He had to be removed from the courtroom when they announced the verdict, and was one of the people who broke the story to the media.
But it's pretty big when the families of even two of the three believe the ones found guilty of the crime are innocent.
They won't get a new trial. The only way anything will change now is if new evidence comes up, which someone will have to present to the state of Arkansas or the city of West Memphis because they consider the case closed and have no reason to look at it any further.
The new DNA evidence has not even been considered yet.
I close my eyes, Inis Mona
And reminisce of those palmy days
I moon o'er you, Inis Mona
As long as I breathe
I'll call you my home
Postby Kyle » Mon Aug 22, 2011 7:43 pm
Unfortunately, it probably won't be at this point, since the case is considered closed. Not that they probably would've anyway, the way this whole case has been screwed up.
Postby zanev » Tue Aug 23, 2011 5:41 pm
Kyle wrote:Unfortunately, it probably won't be at this point, since the case is considered closed. Not that they probably would've anyway, the way this whole case has been screwed up.
There was a date set for later this year to consider the DNA evidence, which makes the timing of this plea deal really odd.
I close my eyes, Inis Mona
And reminisce of those palmy days
I moon o'er you, Inis Mona
As long as I breathe
I'll call you my home
Postby Kyle » Tue Aug 23, 2011 8:07 pm
Yeah it was strange. They were almost certain to get a new trial which would have allowed all the new DNA evidence to be admitted into court and they stood a very good chance of getting acquitted. Even the West Memphis DA admitted to as much.
Postby zanev » Tue Aug 23, 2011 8:47 pm
Kyle wrote:Yeah it was strange. They were almost certain to get a new trial which would have allowed all the new DNA evidence to be admitted into court and they stood a very good chance of getting acquitted. Even the West Memphis DA admitted to as much.
I guess if i was in jail on death row that long I'd want out asap... cause no matter if you're innocent or not everyone knows who these three are and getting a job will be the same difficulty if they are innocent or guilty.
Reason for gap of employment: I was on death row
I close my eyes, Inis Mona
And reminisce of those palmy days
I moon o'er you, Inis Mona
As long as I breathe
I'll call you my home