PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In April this year, the Arkansas Supreme Court approved new DNA testing in the case, ending a two-year legal battle fought by Echols' lawyers to retest DNA evidence previously thought to have been lost by the West Memphis Police Department. The DNA will be tested using the M-Vac system, an advanced instrument that can extract minute particles from inside fabric. Echols' lawyers will use it to extract DNA from the shoelaces that bound the three murdered boys. "They're going to go in there and literally unknot those ligatures where they know that those skin cells are tucked into that fabric and they're going to extract them," Benca said. "I think there's no question that we're going to know who tied those knots."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Benca says results for the new DNA testing will come back early next year. If it can determine who tied the knots, the West Memphis Three may have a chance at the exoneration they have long fought for, and the real killer may soon face justice. "I'm a full-time judge and I can't be involved in the actual defense," Stidham said, "but I'll resign my judgeship immediately if we were to get a new trial." Stidham has recently published "Harvest of Innocence," a memoir of the West Memphis Three case from his perspective first as Misskelley's attorney in 1993 and then later as an advocate for all three convicted teenagers. In the book, Stidham reveals new insight court proceedings, which he asserts to have been corrupted by misconduct on the part of prosecutors and the court."
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STORY: "New DNA testing in West Memphis 3 case may exonerate convicted, find 'real killer' in 2025," by Reporter Andre Mobley , published by KATV on December 31, 2024.
GIST" Thirty years ago, Arkansas witnessed one of the most horrific crimes in its history—the brutal murder of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis.
Three teenagers, famously dubbed the West Memphis Three, were convicted for the murders. Over the years, many have become convinced of their innocence due to a lack of evidence and revelations about the alleged mishandling of the case by police and the court system.
But if that's the case, who killed the little boys?
On May 5, 1993, the naked, hogtied bodies of eight-year-olds Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore were found submerged in a drainage ditch in a patch of woods in West Memphis.
Police suggested they had been raped and one boy, castrated. Police said one had been beaten to death, and two drowned. The shocking crime led many to believe that it"The satanic panic that gripped the community was palpable," said Dan Stidham, former attorney for Jessie Misskelley and currently a district judge for the 17th Judicial District of Arkansas.
West Memphis police needed to find a culprit, fast. But critics say they made critical mistakes in their investigation, mishandling or failing to collect evidence and failing to pursue leads.
They soon arrested three teenagers—Jessie Misskelley, Damien Echols, and Jason Baldwin—charging them with murder with little to go on but Misskelley's confession. They accused the boys of belonging to a satanic cult.
Dan Stidham, then a young part-time public defender with no jury trial experience, was asked to represent Misskelley.
Stidham, like many others, believes West Memphis police coerced a false confession out of Misskelley, who was later said in court proceedings to have the IQ of a seven-year-old child. Police interviewed Misskelley for hours but recorded less than an hour. His confession contained glaring inaccuracies.
"There were a lot of shenanigans that were going on, prosecutorial misconduct and finally I threatened to hold a press conference if they didn't leave my client alone," Stidham told KATV.
"There was one point where the lead prosecutor was meeting with my client behind my back, I didn't even know he was meeting with him—which is a clear violation," he said.
According to Stidham, Judge David Burnett, who presided over the West Memphis Three trials, took an inappropriately aggressive approach to the case and actually aided the prosecution.
"He manipulated the juries throughout the trials," he told KATV.
Despite a lack of physical evidence and dubious testimony from individuals who later recanted their statements, the three teenagers were convicted. Echols was sentenced to death and Baldwin and Misskelley to life in prison.
Years of appeals, legal maneuverings, and new DNA testing would follow.
In 2007, a retrial seemed imminent.
But instead of going to trial and risking defeat, the state of Arkansas offered the West Memphis Three a deal to let them go free—an Alford plea, in which they pled guilty but maintained their innocence.
"And everybody thought we were going to get a new trial, even the prosecutors admitted it," Stidham said, "and then all of a sudden, this Alford plea comes out of nowhere."
The West Memphis Three took the deal in 2011 and were set free, but to this day, the shadow of their convictions has hung heavy over their lives. Even some of the murdered boys' parents became convinced the West Memphis Three were innocent.
"They're innocent, they did not kill my son. And this is wrong, what the state of Arkansas is doing to cover their ass," said John Mark Byers, father of murder victim Christopher Byers, in a 2011 interview with KATV.
"I want true justice and now we'll never know. I thought there was going to be a trial and them crackerjack police officers and attorneys, the investigators that was on this case in 1993, they messed up. And now the state of Arkansas, it's like they want to sweep it under the rug and it's over. It's over for everyone else, but it continues to live on for me. Every day," said Pam Hicks, mother of murder victim Stevie Branch, in a 2011 interview with KATV.
But if Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley didn't kill the three little boys in West Memphis all those years ago... that means the real killer is still out there.
Byers and Hicks both came to believe that police failed to adequately investigate someone they both knew.
Stidham said DNA testing in 2007 turned up no match for the West Memphis Three at the crime scene, but it did turn up a partial match for one of the murdered boys' stepfathers and Pam's ex-husband, Terry Hobbs, as well as a partial match for his friend, David Jacoby. A hair that could be Hobbs' was found in the ligature binding one of the little boys.
"Mr. Hobbs, the other stepfather, we can't account for where he was every hour and every minute," Stidham said.
North Little Rock attorney Patrick Benca, part of Damien Echols' legal team, says that despite the evidence pointing to Hobbs coming to light in 2007, authorities made little to no effort investigating him.
"The interview they did of Mr. Hobbs subsequent to that finding that his hair was at the scene... the interview was comical," Benca said. "I mean, they literally asked him two or three questions and said good day."
Stidham says he and the West Memphis Three's current attorneys have a theory as to what could have happened.
"We're going to have to have a smoking gun. We're going to have to have more than just the DNA. We're going to have to have corroboration. And there were two witnesses that saw Terry Hobbs with the boys that night yelling at them to come home. And they ran through these ladies' yard, and they heard him yelling at the boys and interacting with them—which he denies," he said.
Stidham has another theory as to who may have murdered the little boys, whose bodies were found a stone's throw from an Interstate-40 truck stop.
DNA belonging to other, unknown individuals was found at the crime scene. DNA that can now be tested with new, state-of-the-art technology.
"If we get enough genetic markers from the DNA testing, then we can compare it to my suspect who is a long-haul truck driver," Stidham revealed.
Stidham says his suspect is currently in prison for other slayings. He didn't divulge the man's name.
The FBI says it has a pool of hundreds of suspects—all long-haul truckers—for nearly a thousand suspected serial killings along America's highways.
The two theories we've mentioned, and a myriad of others have been offered over the years, but now, finally, we may soon have answers.
In April this year, the Arkansas Supreme Court approved new DNA testing in the case, ending a two-year legal battle fought by Echols' lawyers to retest DNA evidence previously thought to have been lost by the West Memphis Police Department.
The DNA will be tested using the M-Vac system, an advanced instrument that can extract minute particles from inside fabric. Echols' lawyers will use it to extract DNA from the shoelaces that bound the three murdered boys.
"They're going to go in there and literally unknot those ligatures where they know that those skin cells are tucked into that fabric and they're going to extract them," Benca said.
"I think there's no question that we're going to know who tied those knots."
Benca says results for the new DNA testing will come back early next year.
If it can determine who tied the knots, the West Memphis Three may have a chance at the exoneration they have long fought for, and the real killer may soon face justice.
"I'm a full-time judge and I can't be involved in the actual defense," Stidham said, "but I'll resign my judgeship immediately if we were to get a new trial."
Stidham has recently published "Harvest of Innocence," a memoir of the West Memphis Three case from his perspective first as Misskelley's attorney in 1993 and then later as an advocate for all three convicted teenagers.
In the book, Stidham reveals new insight court proceedings, which he asserts to have been corrupted by misconduct on the part of prosecutors and the court."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
