RIDGE:Since this crime took place. The judge said Hobbs had chosen to involve himself in public discussion over whether the convictions were just. GITCHELL: Now, did you say that the boys skipped school that day. Present in the interview will be Inspector Gary Gitchell and Jessie Misskelley. An open letter from Lorri Davis, wife of Damien Echols . JESSIE: They were going to catch their bus and stuff, and they was on their bikes and so, (If the children were catching the bus, why would they be riding their bikes? The first report to the police was made by Byers' adoptive father, John Mark Byers, around 7:00pm. RIDGE:Okay, Damians didnt come up that far? JESSIE: Thats where I seen them going down at, and he was on his back. GITCHELL: Does just everybody takes a turn. [10], After a month had passed with little progress in the case, police continued to focus their investigation upon Echols, interrogating him more frequently than any other person. [9] In 1996, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that Misskelley's confession was voluntary and that he did, in fact, understand the Miranda warning and its consequences. Nonetheless, they claimed he was not regarded as a direct suspect but a source of information. They were convicted under what can best be described as questionable . RIDGE: Alright, have they got their clothes on when you saw them tied? RIDGE:The boots that Damien had on, are they army type boots too, or what kind of boots were they? So, how much is Jessie Misskelley worth at the age of 47 years old? In August 2011, White Light Productions announced that the West Memphis Three would be featured on their new program Wrongfully Convicted. ????). Even if they were notinthe park at 9 a.m. it would not take three hours to walk from their homesorLakeshore, which is where he will claim they met in alaterstatement.). According to HBO's documentaries Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996) and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000), no blood was found at the crime scene, indicating that the location where the bodies were found was not necessarily the location where the murders actually happened. RIDGE:Going under the water, what were they doing up under the water? [53], In September 2008, attorney (now judge) Daniel Stidham, who represented Misskelley in 1994, testified at a postconviction relief hearing. RIDGE: Jason had a knife, what did he cut with the knife. RIDGE: And what else, I think you said that he made the call from his house? Is there anything else that you want to add to this statement? Christopher Byers had lacerations to various parts of his body and mutilation of his scrotum and penis. GITCHELL: So, what else left is there, after that? What did you see him cut or who did you see him cut? JESSIE: No, they just hollered at them, they showed up. JESSIE: Then they tied them up, tied their hands up, they started screwing them and stuff, cutting them and stuff, and I saw it and I turned around and looked, and then I took off running, I went home, then they called me and asked me, how come I didnt stay, I told them, I just couldnt. In 2013, Misskelley's father, Jessie Misskelley, Sr., spoke on his behalf after his son shied away from local reporters. 3:30 PM - 7:00 PM - Jessie with Susie Brewer. RIDGE: Okay, he had his legs up in the air, alright, what was to keep the little boys from running off, but just their hands are tied, whats to keep them from running off? [33] His conviction was appealed, but the Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed the conviction. JESSIE: He choked him real bad and all. RIDGE:These blue jeans that Jason was wearing, designer jeans, or were they old jeans, wore out, holes. On August 19, 2011, Echols, along with Baldwin and Misskelley, was released from prison after their attorneys and the judge handling the upcoming retrial agreed to a deal. RIDGE:Okay, what about when you get with Jason by himself? RIDGE: You were playing around in the water, alright, wha what were you doing in the water? HBO executives ordered them to return the knife to the West Memphis Police Department. JESSIE: He had that uh, like a, skull like. Echols is married, an author, and a movie producer who travels the world. Police believed the boys were assaulted and killed at the location where they were found; critics argued that the assault, at least, was unlikely to have occurred at the creek. Upon further examination, it was concluded that if these marks were bite marks, they did not match the teeth of any of the three convicted. Misskelley was convicted by a jury of one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder. RIDGE:Besides just playing, the little boys, had they been in the water? Also learn how He earned most of networth at the age of 46 years old? Echols spent several months in a mental institution in Arkansas and afterward received "full disability" status from the Social Security Administration. RIDGE:Metalica shirt, alright, was he wearing a cap, anything like that? Jessie Misskelley (Jessie Loyd Misskelly Jr.) was born on 10 July, 1975 in 1975, is a Producer. Hutcheson was never charged with theft. JESSIE: That one, he runs out, going out the out the park and I chased him and grabbed him and brought him back. RIDGE: so, your time period may not be exactly right in what youre saying? Echols' sentence was reduced to three counts of first degree murder. April 11, 1977, West Memphis, Arkansas, U.S.), and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. (b. July 10, 1975). Jump to 2:46 (where the below begins). RIDGE:Alright, youre describing a knife that would be about 6 inches long, is that right? RIDGE: It was like earlier in the day, but you dont know exactly what time, okay, cause weve got Ive gotten some real confusion with the times that youre telling me, but now,this 9 oclock in the evening call that you got, explain that to me. Judge Laser then sentenced them to time served, a total of 18 years and 78 days, and they were each given a suspended imposition of sentence for 10 years. Michael Moore was the son of Todd and Dana Moore. How could Damien be in the background if he was not there? JESSIE: Uh, I dont know what he done with it, cause after I left then they, I dont know what they done with, after I left I dont know what they done with it. JESSIE:yes, out there in Lakeshore. There was a small amount of blood found at the scene that was never tested. JESSIE: He keeps on asking me what are we going to do next, I told him, I cant do nothing now cause I go to work with my daddy everyday. [84] Baldwin said in a 2011 interview with Piers Morgan that he worked for a construction company and he was learning how to drive.[79]. [75], Many songs were written about the case, and two albums released in support of the defendants. A hair identified as belonging to a black male was later recovered from a sheet wrapped around one of the victims. Then I came down here when he got out," she said. [50] The prosecutors, while conceding that no DNA evidence tied the accused to the crime scene, said: "The State stands behind its convictions of Echols and his codefendants. [58], After weeks of negotiations, on August 19, 2011, Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley were released from prison as part of a plea deal, making the hearings ordered by the Arkansas Supreme Court unnecessary. They wouldn't be able to pull the same tricks. JESSIE:Ive seen them once that night, I seen them with it that night. RIDGE:But you would be able to point out where these things took place? RIDGE:And, what kind of blade did it have on it? RIDGE OR GITCHELL? JESSIE: Uh, the meat off of his leg. He lived with his mother, Pamela Hobbs, his stepfather, Terry Hobbs, and a four-year-old half-sister, Amanda. RIDGE:Are you scared of Damien now? RIDGE: Okay, the knives, was it one knife, two knives, was your knife there? . [14], Steve Edward Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore were all second graders at Weaver Elementary School. Moore enjoyed wearing his scout uniform even when he was not at meetings. GITCHELL: Did they have a briefcase with them? . . RIDGE:What kind of shirt were you wearing? Dont like the answer? Or had he just been watching them. (Detective Ridge testified that he was unaware on this date that Jessie had a mental handicap. [9], Echols' family was poor, received frequent visits from social workers and he rarely attended school. JESSIE: We usually you know, kill an animals, you know, so you have to know how to handle the meat and stuff, after we kill it to see if he knows, if he cant handle it, then he dont get in. [71] Douglas believed that the perpetrator had a violent history and was familiar with the victims and with local geography. The Alford plea is a legal mechanism that allows defendants to plead guilty while still asserting their actual innocence, in cases where defendants concede that prosecutors have sufficient evidence to secure a conviction. RIDGE:Are you willing to go down there with us and us having a camcorder and show us where these things took place? [59] The three entered into unusual Alford plea deals. RIDGE: Okay, and when you came back a little bit later, and are all three boys are tied? This ruling was in turn thrown out by the Arkansas Supreme Court as to all three defendants on November 4, 2010.[46]. I had always assumed that my son's murderer had taken the knife during the crime. JESSIE: They need to be put away for awhile. RIDGE: Okay, so he kills an animal, you mentioned earlier that he may have to eat part of that animal, what part of the animal would he eat? JESSIE:He didnt have one that night. The crime and investigation. RIDGE:Okay, what were you wearing that day? [44], In 2007, Echols petitioned for a retrial, based on a statute permitting post-conviction testing of DNA evidence due to technological advances made since 1994 which might provide exoneration for the wrongfully convicted. A hair "not inconsistent with" Stevie Branch's stepfather, Terry Hobbs, was found tied into the knots used to bind one of the victims. RIDGE: Has he ever had sex with them before? Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? GITCHELL: Did they call them by name? After a reported 12 hours of interrogation by police, Misskelley, who has an IQ of 72, confessed to the murders, and implicated Baldwin and Echols. It is not yet known whether the jury had an accurate transcript that included the next, critical portion wherein Jessie is told they are correcting his statement ]]]. They switch the side of the creek he was on from BB toMemphis), (Jessie leaves again and again he is guided to give more details after he says he left), [[Tape omission / blank 20 seconds jumps to here]]. Stevie Branch's mother, the ex-wife of Terry Hobbs, and Mark Byers have publicly stated the WM3 were wrongly convicted. [22], The day after the victims' bodies were found, Bojangles' manager Marty King, thinking there was a possible connection to the bleeding man found in the bathroom, reported the incident to police officers who then inspected the ladies' room. He told me that he had to go toWest Memphisso, him and Damien with and then I went with them. Also, my sister Jo Lynn told me that she saw Terry wash clothes, bed linens and curtains from Stevie's room at an odd time around the time of the Murders. RIDGE: Alright, what occurred, what did he talk about? (Again, the hog tied postion doesnt align with the boys being on their backs. Mara Leveritt, an investigative journalist and the author of Devil's Knot, argues that Echols' information may have come from police leaks, such as Detective Gitchell's comments to Mark Byers, that circulated amongst the local public. I could not believe it was in Terry's things. [9][28], On May 6, 1993 (before the victims were found later the same day), Hutcheson took a polygraph exam by Detective Don Bray at the Marion Police Department, to determine whether or not she had stolen money from her West Memphis employer. Jessie Misskelley was brought in to WMPD for questioning on 3 June 1993. [76], A website by Martin David Hill, containing approximately 160,000 words and intending to be a "thorough investigation", collates and discusses many details surrounding the murders and investigation, including some anecdotal information. JESSIE: Damien had some black pants on, some boots and a black t-shirt. To assist in the appeals process, Echols' appellate legal team retained a Berkeley, California-based forensic psychiatrist, Dr. George Woods, to make their case. [59], The families of the three victims are divided in their opinions as to the guilt or innocence of the West Memphis Three. The West Memphis Three are three men convicted as teenagers in 1994 of the 1993 murders of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, United States. None was found to match DNA from Echols, Baldwin, or Misskelley. For the former Australian rules footballer, see, DNA testing and new physical evidence (2007). Note:This is a transcription of the taped confession of Jessie Misskelley, Jr. regarding the murder of Chris Byers, Steve Branch and Michael Moore. JESSIE: He called me and asked me if I could go toWest Memphiswith him and I told him, no, I had to work and stuff. We have estimated His conviction was appealed and affirmed by the Arkansas Supreme Court. JESSIE: They had had some houses, trees and stuff, (Trees, houses, and stuff?? No way did this happen; it is a straight-up invention said to tell Ridge what he wanted to hear. GITCHELL:Have you ever seen them with a briefcase before? Theyre not even TRYING to make this look like a legitimate interrogation! There is no way he could have received any call). JESSIE:I was close by the interstate. RIDGE: Has he done things with them before? JESSIE: When he first called me when he first got he called me he said, how come I how come I you left, and said, I couldnt stand it, I had to do something else. their arms and stuff, and hold them down like, where they couldnt raise up and the other one stick his legs up. Ok. RIDGE:Okay, and Jasons black and lace up? Several rounds of DNA testing in recent years have failed to turn up any physical evidence connecting the three men to the . 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