The Real West Memphis Three
Chris Byers, Michael Moore, and Stevie Branch
Welcome West Memphis Three Facts:
If you are reading this website you have probably spent a few hours watching one or more of the five movies/documentaries about this case. You may have read one of several books about the murders. Maybe you've read some of the thousands of newspaper and magazine articles about the case. Nearly all of them are biased toward the supposed innocence of the West Memphis Three. You can read this entire website in about 30 minutes. Please take that brief time to educate yourself about the facts of this case most of the movies/books/articles leave out.
If you would like to discuss or ask questions about the facts contained on this page, please visit our Facebook discussion group. There are many people there (both West Memphis Three supporters and non-supporters) who will be happy to discuss the facts of the case with you. You can also post on the Facebook page to alert us to any mistakes on this web page:
https://www.facebook.com/WestMemphisThreeFacts
On May 5th, 1993 three eight year old boys were murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas. Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley were arrested, tried and convicted of killing Michael Moore, Stevie Branch, and Chris Byers. In 2011, they pled guilty to the crimes using an Alford Plea, yet were released from prison with time served. There are many important facts left out of the documentaries, books, and most media coverage about the West Memphis Three (WM3) case.
Here are just a few:
FACT - JESSIE MISSKELLEY CONFESSED NUMEROUS TIMES:
The Paradise Lost and West of Memphis documentaries and the book and movie Devil's Knot completely leave out the fact Jessie Misskelley confessed to the murders numerous times both before and after he was convicted.
May 6, 1993: The morning after the murders, Jessie's friend, Buddy Lucas, stopped by Jessie's house. Buddy said Jessie told him he "hurt" some boys in West Memphis the night before. He then broke out in sweat, cried, and gave Buddy a used pair of sneakers (presumably the ones he wore to the crime scene).
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/b_lucas_interview.html
June 3, 1993: With consent from his father, Jessie was taken to the West Memphis Police Department for questioning. He was being questioned because he was a known friend of Damien Echols, who was a suspect in the murders. With additional written permission from his father, he was read his Miranda rights and given a polygraph exam, which he reportedly failed. The documentaries imply that Jessie was interrogated for 12 hours before confessing. That is a lie. Jessie arrived at that police station at 10:00am and confessed at 2:20pm. Only 2 1/2 hours of that time was spent in actual interrogation.
http://wm3truth.com/jessie-misskelleys-confession-june-3-1993/
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/img/jmtimelog.html
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/jmir.html
June 7, 1993: Jessie's own family members believed he could have been involved with the murders. Jessie Misskelley Sr. was interviewed by KAIT-TV just days after his son's arrest. On camera, Jessie Sr. admitted Jessie Jr. may have been with Echols and Baldwin at the crime scene.
Reporter: "Was he with them?"
Misskelley Sr: "He could have been with them, but he didn't have anything to do with it I don't believe."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRtEdkoun1s&feature=youtube_gdata_player
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/jessiemsr.html
June 11, 1993: Many recent reports suggest Jessie immediately recanted. He did not. He confessed again to his own attorneys eight days later.
http://wm3truth.com/2012/04/jessie-misskelleys-confession-to-defense-lawyer-june-11-1993/
August 19, 1993: Jessie Misskelley met with his attorney, Dan Stidham, at the Clay County Detention Center and gave a statement that continued to confirm his guilt.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/jm_stidham_8_19_93.html
http://callahan.mysite.com/pdf/jm_stidham_8_19_93.pdf
February 4, 1994: On the day he was sentenced to life plus 40 years for the murders, he got in a police car and confessed to the officers all the way to prison.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/jmpc.html
February 8, 1994: He put his hand on a Bible and swore to his attorney (Dan Stidham) that he, Damien, and Jason committed the murders. Further, he told Stidham that he was drunk on Evan Williams whiskey during the murders and the broken bottle could be found where he threw it on the ground under a bridge in West Memphis on his way home from the crime scene. Stidham told prosecutors he would believe his client's confession if he could find that bottle. So Stidham, WMPD Inspector Gary Gitchell, and the prosecutors drove to West Memphis to look for it. They found a broken Evan Williams bottle in the exact area that Stidham indicated Jessie said it would be. According to Prosecutor John Fogleman, Stidham directed the group to search the I-40 underpass nearest to Wal-Mart (near the current sight of Kroger), and the men found the broken bottle in that location. Further corroborating this story is the fact that Jessie mentioned in this 2/8/94 confession that Vicki Hutcheson was the one who bought him Evan Williams whiskey on the day of the murders. When the attorneys called Hutcheson she confirmed that she did, indeed, buy Jessie a bottle of Evan Williams on the day of the murders.
http://wm3truth.com/jessie-misskelleys-confession-to-dan-stidham-february-8-1994/
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/img2/jm_2_8_94_statement.html
http://www.callahan.mysite.com/wm3/prefeb22.html
Here is a good retelling of the finding of the Evan Williams bottle by case researcher “St. Alphonse.” According to "St. Alphonse" this is the story as it was told to him by Prosecutor John Fogleman, Prosecutor Brent Davis, and WMPD Inspector Gary Gitchell:
http://midsouthjustice.org/archived_html/west_memphis_homicides/Jessie%20just%20can%27t%20SHUT%20UP%202%20-%20www_ezboard_com.htm
February 17, 1994: This time, Jessie confessed to the prosecutors. At the start of the confession the prosecutors noted that Jessie had not been promised any deals for his testimony. His attorneys begged him not to give this confession, but he gave it anyway.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/jmfeb.html
October 24, 1994: A cell mate of Jessie’s named Michael Johnson wrote to prosecutor Brent Davis begging him to keep Jessie behind bars. He said Jessie told him details of the crime. He described Jessie as a “cold, morbid person.” Johnson got all the facts correct, except one. He told Davis that the WM3 left a woman’s “nightgown” at the scene. No nightgown was found at the scene. However, fibers consistent with Jason Baldwin’s mother’s bathrobe were found on one of the victims. Maybe Jessie called the bathrobe a “nightgown” while mentioning it was a piece of evidence linking the WM3 to the crime. Perhaps Johnson just got this fact a bit mixed up in his retelling of Jessie’s morbid tale. You can read Johnson’s letter at the following link.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/micjo.html
Recent Years: For years, rumors have circulated around Arkansas that Jessie continued to confess to his counselors in prison. So far, none of those counselors have spoken publicly. But other associates of Jessie have spoken about his more recent confessions. Many years before the WM3 were released, a WM3 supporter who posted on the WM3 discussion boards as "TrueRomance" befriended Jessie Misskelley. Her real name may have been "Lindsey." She wrote and received letters to Jessie, talked to him on the phone, and also visited him in prison. She immediately ceased believing in the three's innocence after having a conversation with Jessie in prison where she asked him directly if he had been involved in the murders. According to her, the answer he gave caused her to stop all contact and become a “non” (a non believer in WM3 innocence). We don't know what Jessie told her, she has never disclosed that information, but it clearly wasn't good. Below is an excerpt from a post she made on a WM3 discussion board. The original post cannot be found and the exact date of the post is unknown… it was possibly around 2006. The post still exists because it was copied to other WM3 discussion groups. For clarification, when she refers to “the KGB,” that is a knickname for WM3.org founders Kathy Bakken, Grove Pashley, and Burk Sauls. Here is what “TrueRomance” had to say:
“If I was going to let this case consume my life I felt like I needed to research things more aggressively and ask Jessie some point blank questions I never had. I felt like it was the only fair thing to do. If I'm risking my peace of mind and throwing myself 110% into this then I'm going to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the person I'm putting MY good name on the line for is being honest and is innocent. After all my research and questions I found out things were much different than I originally thought. Its also different when you ask someone a point blank question and you dont get the answer you were expecting. And don't reply to this and tell me to cite this and provide that because I did that little dance with supporters for long enough and I dont care whether anyone agrees with me. The information I found is readily available to anyone who wants to look at it, but any supporter still stuck in that conspiracy mentality is only going to twist it. I was lied to over and over by supporters, the KGB, and consistently withheld information on that side. Once I "became a non" I was offered a wealth of information, never once misled, and never once forced to believe the same as anyone else. I never got that when I was a supporter. So do I believe the three are guilty? Yes. And if any supporter wants to pull this over to the other board or make fun of me or my lifestyle, my physical appearance, or social class (which theyve done in the past), feel free. I got two things out of this situation that youll never have and that is an education and the truth.”
You can read the entire post from "TrueRomance" about her prison relationship with Jessie Misskelley at the following site:
http://realwestmemphisthree.yuku.com/topic/30/Supporters-claim-Jessie-is-retarded
FACT - DAMIEN ECHOLS WAS MENTALLY ILL AT THE TIME OF THE MURDERS:
The documentaries all fail to mention that Damien Echols had an extensive mental health record (more than 500 pages long) at the time of the murders. In 1992 he was sent to psychiatric hospitals twice by court order and once by his own parents. His parents were concerned about his involvement in what they described as "witchcraft" and "devil worship" and wanted him out of their home. In September 1992 Damien's parents told his mental health physician they were "frightened of him and what he can do, not only to them but to other children that reside in the home."
http://callahan.mysite.com/images/500/1/150.jpg
The mental health documents are public record because Damien’s attorneys presented them as evidence in the sentencing phase of his trial. It was a last-ditch effort by Echols’ attorneys to convince the jury he was mentally ill, and possibly spare him from the death penalty. Despite their jaw-dropping revelations about Echols’ mental health at the time of the murders, these records are never mentioned in any of the documentaries.
The documents (often called Exhibit 500 or E500) reveal that Echols:
-Described himself as a homicidal, suicidal, schizophrenic, manic depressive, sociopath (the handwriting on this document is his own)
http://callahan.mysite.com/images/500/1/125.jpg
-Assaulted classmates
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/shadi.html
-Set fires at school
http://wm3truth.com/damien-echols-profile/
-Believed he was possessed by a spirit named "Rosey"
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/gwoods.html
-Believed he was a god/Christ
http://wm3truth.com/2012/06/jailhouse-letters-of-damien-echols/
-Believed he "got power" by drinking blood
http://callahan.mysite.com/images/500/052.jpg
You can read his entire mental health file here:
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/img/exh500.html
A brief index for this huge file can be found here:
http://realwestmemphisthree.yuku.com/topic/29/Damien-Echols-Index-500
Other documents (outside of the Exhibit 500) reveal reports of cruelty to animals, including an incident where several witnesses (including Jason Baldwin's own cousin - Joe Bartoush) reported he stomped a dog to death in 1992. It's a documented fact many murderers start by killing animals, before moving on to humans.
http://wm3truth.com/damien-echols-profile/
Was Damien persecuted and framed for murder by a bunch of redneck cops in West Memphis because he was interested in Wicca, listened to Metallica, and wore black? No. Was he a suspect because police officers in West Memphis knew he was a mentally ill psychopath capable of murder? Yes.
FACT: DAMIEN ECHOLS HAD A WELL-DOCUMENTED TASTE FOR BLOOD:
You can find detailed documentation about Damien's taste for blood in this excellent article by WM3 case researcher Fred J. Walsh:
Damien Echols' Blood Sucking
A fairly chronological guide to documented accounts of his blood sucking/drinking/licking.
(#1) Charter Hospital of Little Rock, June 1992
“Trying to suck blood off peers who have scratched themselves.” (E500, p265)
(#2) Craighead County Juvenile Detention Center, September 1992
A Charter Hospital psychological assessment written on September 10 described his return to juvie:
"Transferred to Crittenden, one of the kids at the detention hall cut his wrists, Damien grabbed his arm and began to the suck the blood, smeared it over his body and said he’s a devil worshipping vampire. Says he’s not a vampire but a witch. He is in isolation and suicide watch."
Joyce Cureton, director of the Craighead County Juvenile Detention Center, reported on the incident:
"Approx. three hours after Damien arrived, he was sitting in rec. area with several other residents. One of the boys had scraped his arm a little, and it was bleeding some. Without warning, Damien grabbed the arm that was bleeding, and began to suck the blood from it. The boys all stated he had been saying he had not taken his medication the night before, and he was about to 'go off on them.' Damien was asked why he did this, and he stated 'I don’t know.'"
In a psychological evaluation dated 9/15/92, Echols offered his own account of the incident:
"While at the Detention Center, he reportedly grabbed a peer and began “sucking blood from the peer’s neck”. According to Damien, he relates that the peer was aware that he was going to do this. Staff reports that Damien was not remorseful for his behavior. Damien indicated that he sucked blood in order to get into a gang. He denies that it was any type of ritual"
"… Damien laughed when he was called “a blood sucking vampire”. He relates he does not know why people think this. He was placed in isolation in the Detention Center until he could be admitted to Charter Hospital. The other peers were afraid of him. Damien denies that he rubbed the blood all over his face."
"… He denied intent to harm himself or others at the time of the exam. He did admit to sucking blood out of the peer’s neck. He related that the peer had hurt his neck, and he subsequently sucked the blood."
While Echols laughed off vampire label he allegedly gave himself, he also went out of his way to convince one social worker that he actually believed himself a vampire...
"Damien Echols ... seemed to withhold no information and readily answered questions concerning his religious beliefs and the fact that he believes that he is a vampire and does worship the devil. It was the social worker’s opinion that Damien was not disclosing information for the purposes of shock, that he was simply disclosing what he currently is believing... [H]is behaviors could best be described as odd and bizzare. Damien smiled at inappropriate times. He cut his eyes back and forth as if he was responding to external stimulation. He seemed to be giggling at something that he was saying or a private joke that was unknown to this social worker."
Pretty fantastical stuff, right? And yet this professed belief in blood-drinking was further corroborated a few months later...
(#3) Counseling Sessions and Social Security Application, January-February 1993
On January 25, Sherry Dockins filed a longer “Individual Progress Note”.
"Focus of today’s session is spent talking with Damien about his feelings of death. He brought with him to session a poem that he had written during the past week. The theme of this poem centered around death and power. Damien explained that he obtains his power by drinking blood of others. He typically drinks the blood of a sexual partner or of a ruling partner. This is achieved by biting or cutting. He states “it makes me feel like a God”. Damien describes drinking blood as giving him more power and strength. He remembers doing this as far back as age 10. He does not remember where he learned to do this."
(#4) Tiffany Allen witnesses a fight between Jason Baldwin and another kid, 1992-1993?, report from 10-93
RIDGE: WHAT OCCURRED DURING THAT FIGHT?
ALLEN: WELL, JOHN HIT HIM [JASON] HARD AND HE STARTED BLEEDING AND THEN AFTER THE FIGHT AND EVERYTHING DAMIEN BENDS DOWN PUT HIS FINGER IN, DIPS INTO THE BLOOD AND THEN STICKS IT IN HIS MOUTH
SOURCE: http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/tifda2.html
(#5) Jessie Misskelley mentions D's blood licking/drinking in the first hour of his being questioned by police, 06-03-93 has seen Jason Baldwin get in Fight
with a guy and got his nose busted and Damien stuck his Finger in the blood and licked it. Occurred in lakeshore. Damien is Sick (in head) Drinks Blood
SOURCES: Notes of Mike Allen and Bryn Ridge
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/jmin.htmlhttp://callahan.8k.com/wm3/jm_ridge1.html
(#6) Jessie Misskelley includes a licking blood detail in his confession to Stidham and Prosecutors, 02-17-94
DAVIS: What, what was Damien doing during this time?
MISSKELLEY: Well the one that got cut on his face, he stuck his finger on his cheek and slicked the blood off of it.
SOURCE: http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/jmfeb.html
(#7) Damien Echols tells interviewer he didn't drink blood -- he licked it, 1994-1996?
SOURCE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTsYjBQIMRQ#t=355s
FACT - DAMIEN ECHOLS HAS DABBLED IN MANY RELIGIONS… FROM BAPTIST, TO CATHOLIC, TO BUDDISM, TO WICCA, TO SATANISM. THE MURDER INVESTIGATION WAS NOT A "WITCH HUNT."
During the trials, prosecutors successfully demonstrated Echols dabbled in many religions and belief systems. Growing up in West Memphis he sometimes attended Baptist youth group sessions and he spent some time studying Catholicism at St. Michael Catholic Church. Many of the journals and books confiscated from his bedroom after the murders had occult related themes. He converted to Buddhism in prison. He and his wife, Lorri Davis, were married in a Buddist ceremony in 2005.
After Lorri helped free him from prison, they moved into movie maker Peter Jackson’s apartment in the Tribeca section of New York City. They lived there rent-free until they left NYC in September 2012 and purchased a $290,000 home in Salem, Massachusetts - home of the Salem witch trials. Damien has said he believes that Salem (with its touristy witch supply shops and tarot card readers) is the only place in the world where he fits in. The early 1800s era house where he resides in Salem serves as home base for him to pursue his many current interests. Judging from his Tweets and recent interviews those interests include:
-Wicca/witchcraft
-Tarot card reading
-Tattooing his "mark" (a crudely drawn black X) on his murder groupies for $200 a pop
-Getting matching tattoos with his new best buddy, Johnny Depp
-Traveling the nation promoting his book, "Life After Death" (published September 2012)
-Traveling the nation promoting his movie "West of Memphis" (released in December 2012)
-Working as a motivational speaker (according to his agent's website he charges "under $10,000")
http://www.kepplerspeakers.com/speakers/?speaker=Damien+Echols+and+Lorri+Davis
-Collecting (presumably fake) human skulls
-Admiring and posting photos of artwork depicting torture and murder
-Selling his own prison artwork for as much as $3,500 for an original and $150 for a print. At a January 2013 exhbit at Sacred Tattoo Art Gallery in NYC he had more than $50,000 worth of his "prison art" for sale. One of his artworks depicted a screaming child being attacked by three butterflies. (Could the butterflies have been Damien, Jason, and Jessie?) That piece alone sold for $1,700
-Writing near daily Tweets about various occult related topics
-Running an occult "faith healing" center. On 4/16/13 Echols opened his "Hermetic Reiki" center in Salem: "@damienechols: The Hermetic Reiki center is up and running. If you'd like to make an appointment email [email protected]." Reiki involves rubbing your hands on the body of another person to heal them by transmitting your "Life Force" to them. Yes, that's right, Echols is a "faith healer." He charges $130 hour for this "service."
-And last, but not least, narcissistically writing and talking about his favorite subject... himself.
Even die-hard supporters are growing tired of his incessant Tweets about "moon water" and "magick." For what it's worth, the murders took place during a full moon and "magick" is a term frequently used by Aleister Crowley.
Were the murders a true satanic ritual? No. Did Damien's interest in the occult coupled with his mental illness play a role? Probably so. Was the city of West Memphis (and later the jury) in a state of "Satanic Panic?" No. That is a myth created by the Paradise Lost documentary makers because it made a good story.
The trials were moved out of West Memphis nearly one hour away to Jonesboro (Echols and Baldwin) and Corning (Misskelley) in order to give the defendants a better shot at seating fair, unbiased juries. Members of those juries were far removed from any alleged "Satanic Panic" in West Memphis. "Satanic Panic" only existed in the minds of some documentary makers who were attempting to make a buck by sensationalizing their movie at the expense of justice for three dead little boys.
http://twitter.com/damienechols
FACT - THERE IS EVIDENCE THE WM3 COMMITTED THE MURDERS:
The documentaries leave out the considerable physical and circumstantial evidence presented at the trials. Some recent mainstream media reports go so far as to say "no evidence was found." Nothing could be farther from the truth. The murderers slicked off the creek bank and washed away most of the physical evidence in the muddy water. Despite their efforts, a few items
remained.
Fibers
Green fibers microscopically similar to a shirt found in Echols' home and red fibers microscopically similar with a bath robe found in Baldwin's home were found on the victims.
The defense retested the fibers in 2012 and claim they do not match. However, the people who retested the evidence were paid by the defense, the fibers have decayed over the years and
are now of poor quality, and the original criminalist who examined them has died and cannot defend attacks against her original findings.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/ebtrial/lsakevicius.html
http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2012/08/30/new-fiber-analysis-results-in-wm3-case
Candle Wax
What appeared to be blue candle wax was found on a book (called Never on a Broomstick) in Echols'
bedroom. A small blue candle was also found on a table in Domini Teer's bedroom. (Domini Teer was Echols' girlfriend at the time). Why is this important? Because blue candle wax was found on the shirt of victim Stevie Branch. It was never proven that the waxes matched, but this strange coincidence was mentioned in the prosecution's closing argument.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/ebtrial/closefogleman.html
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/ebtrial/lisasak2.html
http://callahan.mysite.com/images2/search/domini/dt_search_03.JPG
The Lake Knife
A knife was found submerged blade down in the pond directly behind Jason Baldwin's home. Damien's ex-girlfriend, Deanna Holcomb, testified that the knife was similar to a knife that belonged to Damien. She said Damien's knife was unique because it had a compass on the end. During the trial, a knife distributor testified that the lake knife had a missing compass.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/ebtrial/dholcomb.html
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/ebtrial/jparker.html
Several years ago, a veteran West Memphis Three case researcher named Shaun Wheeler revisited what had been described as a human bite mark on Stevie Branch’s forehead. Wheeler had two forensic odontologists (dentists) compare the wound to the missing compass slot on the handle of the lake knife. According to Wheeler, forensic odontologists Homer Campbell and Peter Loomis are experts in both tool mark and bite mark identification.
Campbell and Loomis both report that the round slot where the compass had been matched the wound on Branch's forehead. These are transcriptions of emails Wheeler says were sent to him by Campbell and Loomis.
"I believe the injuries to the left forehead and upper lid of the left eye were produced by the knife recovered or one similar. I also sent the photos of the injuries and the knife to another for evaluation and he agrees. Have fun with this and thank you for sending it to me." -Homer Campbell
"Bingo. The circular mark sure looks like the butt of the survival knife. The measurements fit. The diameter of the injury is 30mm, and the diameter of the prominent circular area of the butt of the knife is 29.8mm. The 3 lacerations under the eyebrow look like they were made by the serrations on the back side of the knife. The measurements also fit here. The lacerations measure 11.2mm between them, and the serrated points on the knife vary between 11.1 and 11.4 mm. Of course the photo with the wooden ruler is blurry depicting these serrations but I can still measure them." -Peter Loomis
Also worth noting, the lake knife's missing compass many have had a metal pin. Some have speculated the metal pin could have caused the "x-mark" injury in the center of Stevie's forehead. This is what the missing compass on the lake knife is believed to have looked like. Note the metal pin in the middle: http://thewm3revelations.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/knives-survival-knife-with-compass-black-hk-8838b-c.jpg
This video illustrates how the lake knife could have caused the wound on Stevie's forehead: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4zgf1Epw3TM
An extremely in-depth discussion on this topic with additional pictures of the lake knife compared to the injuries can be found here: http://thewm3revelations.wordpress.com/tag/west-memphis-three-murder-damien-echols-jessie-misske/
The Bloody Necklace
Though never presented to the jury, a necklace belonging to Damien Echols had blood from two DNA sources on it. One source was consistent with his own blood. The second source was consistent with the blood of both victim Stevie Branch and co-defendant Jason Baldwin. The bloody necklace was discovered late in the trial. It was not presented to the jury because doing so would have caused a continuance in the trial to give the defense time to examine the new evidence. It could have also led to a mistrial and a severance of the Echols and Baldwin cases. Prosecutors claimed the sample was used up in the original testing, so the blood on the necklace cannot be re-tested.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/ebtrial/march17_hearing.html http://m.arkansasonline.com/.../mar/18/fate-2-hands-jurors
Three Knots
The victims were tied with three distinct knots. This pointed to three killers involved in the murders.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/ebtrial/lsakevicius.html
Blood at the Crime Scene
In the Paradise Lost documentaries you will hear people say that "no blood was found at the crime scene." Many people have used that to theorize that the murders took place somewhere else and the bodies were later dumped in the ditch (an idea sometimes referred to as "The Man Hole Theory"). It's a tactic used by the WM3 defense team to attempt to frame "alternative suspects" such as Terry Hobbs. The fact is, Luminol testing in May 1993 revealed significant amounts of blood at the crime scene. Luminol is a chemical that glows when it is exposed to blood, but it was not admissible in court in 1994. The blood revealed by the Luminol clearly shows that the murders occurred exactly where Jessie Misskelley said they did. As one law enforcement official described it, the crime scene "lit up like a Christmas tree" when Luminol was applied.
http://wm3truth.com/crime-scene-or-dump-site/
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/img2/luminol_photos.html
Eyewitnesses
Eyewitnesses also played a role. One of the centerpieces of the case involved the Hollingsworth family who knew Damien and claimed to see him walking near the crime scene, covered in mud, on the night of the murders. The witnesses claim that he was walking with his girlfriend Domini Teer. (Domini would later become the teen mother of Damien's only child, Seth, who was born shortly after Damien’s arrest). The witnesses were actually relatives of Domini and knew Damien and Domini well. Prosecutors made a convincing argument that Jason Baldwin and Domini had a similar build and hairstyle at the time of the murders and could have been easily confused for one another in the dark. Regardless of who was with Damien, the Hollingsworth family was adamant that they saw Damien walking with someone near the crime scene on the night of the murders. There is no record that that Hollingsworth family has ever recanted this story.
http://wm3truth.com/the-hollingsworth-sighting/
FACT - ECHOLS, BALDWIN, AND MISSKELLEY DID NOT HAVE ALIBIS. SOME OF THE "ALIBIS" PRESENTED IN WEST OF MEMPHIS ARE LESS THAN TRUTHFUL:
None of the three had an alibi that held up in court for the hours in which the murders occurred. Echols and Misskelley attempted to provide alibi witnesses, but they were all discredited on the stand during the trials. Jason Baldwin's "alibi" was so flimsy, his attorney did not even bother to present it.
Jessie Misskelley's Failed Alibis:
In the documentary West of Memphis, Jessie Misskelly's alibi witnesses tell a story that Jessie was wrestling in a nearby town on the night of the murders. The fact is, Jessie Misskelley's jury heard these witnesses and did not believe their conflicting stories. The movie presents a wrestling contract and a picture of Jessie in wrestling gear and seems to suggest that these items are from May 5th, 1993. Yet the movie presents no proof these items are from May 5th, 1993.
http://wm3truth.com/failed-alibis-for-misskelley-echols-and-baldwin/
Damien Echols Failed Alibis:
In a 2010 interview with CNN, Damien Echols made the following claim:
"At the time the police say the murders took place I was actually on the phone with three different people. The problem was, my attorneys never called them to the stand." -Damien Echols
You can watch that interview here (it’s at the very beginning):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leEtbjm2uHI#t=65s
There are actually four girls that Damien has claimed to talk to on May 5th, 1993. Why didn’t his attorneys call them to the stand? Here’s why. Because not a single one of them could account for his whereabouts from 5:30pm to 9:20pm on May 5th, 1993. The murders are widely believed to have occurred between 6:45pm and 8:00pm. In fact, some of the “phone girls” statements actually place Damien WITH Jason Baldwin during that time. Their statements would not have provided alibis for Damien. To the contrary, they would have provided evidence that he was out of his
home between 5:30pm and 9:20pm with Jason Baldwin on the night of May 5th, 1993. The “phone
girls” would have made much better prosecution witnesses than defense witnesses. Echols should be thankful they weren’t called as witnesses in 1993. Here are summaries of their 1993 police
statements:
( 1 ) Holly George: Damien claimed he talked to Holly George on May 5th, 1993. Holly told police she didn’t talk to Damien that evening. She said she spoke with him much earlier in the afternoon, around 3:00pm or 4:00pm.
http://www.callahan.mysite.com/wm3/hollyg2.html
( 2 ) Heather Cliett: Damien claimed he spoke with Heather Cliett on the evening of May
5th, 1993. Cliett said she'd been unable to reach Echols until 10:30pm. She also mentioned that Holly George told her that Echols had been "out walking around" on May 5th, 1993.
http://www.callahan.mysite.com/wm3/img/hcstatement.html
( 3 ) Domini Teer: Damien’s girlfriend, Domini Teer, said she last saw Damien around 5:00-5:30pm on May 5th, 1993. She said she did not speak with him again until Damien called her around 10:00pm that night.
http://www.callahan.mysite.com/wm3/domit.html
( 4 ) Jennifer Bearden: Most damaging to Damien’s case is Jennifer Bearden. Bearden told police in a 9/10/93 statement that she called Jason’s house between 4:15pm and 5:30pm on May 5th, 1993. She says Jason answered the phone and she talked to Jason and Damien for about 20 minutes. Damien told her he and Jason were “going somewhere” and to call him back at 8:00pm. When Bearden called Damien’s house at 8:00pm his grandmother answered. Damien’s grandmother told Bearden that Damien “wasn’t there.” In her police statement, Bearden says she finally reached Damien around 9:20pm. This is an exchange with officer Bryn Ridge and Bearden during her 9/10/93 statement:
RIDGE: About what time was that call you made to Jason's?
BEARDEN: Between, it had to be somewhere in between 4:15 and 5, something like that 5, 5:30
RIDGE: Who answered the phone at Jason's?
BEARDEN: Jason
RIDGE: And did you talk to Damien?
BEARDEN: Yeah I talked to Jason about 5 minutes and the (inaudible) with Damien and he wasn't talking because they were playing video games with his little brother Matt
RIDGE: Okay, and after that conversation you had with him
BEARDEN: He said him and Jason were going to go somewhere, him and Jason were going somewhere and that he, um, wanted me to call him later at his house around 8 and I said okay.
RIDGE: Okay, did he say where he was going to go?
BEARDEN: No.
RIDGE: Okay, and when you called back about 8.
BEARDEN: His Grandmother said he wasn't there, and I was suppose to call back around 9, and I called back around 9:20, 9:30 and I talk to him for a little bit, but then I had to get off the phone, because I wasn't suppose to be on the phone after 9:30.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/img/bearden.html
During her conversation with Damien around 9:20pm on May 5th, 1993 Bearden says Damien told her he had been “out” with Jason. He claims they had been driven somewhere by Jason’s mother, Angela Gail Grinnell:
RIDGE: Okay, after that last call and you talked to Damien, did you ask him where he had been that evening?
BEARDEN: I said where did you and Jason go, and he said, uh, his Mom just took us some where, he didn't really say where, because like -
RIDGE: Who's Mom took him somewhere?
BEARDEN: Jason's
Problem is, Damien was lying. Jason’s mom could not have driven them anywhere because she told the prosecutor she was at work from 3:00pm until 11:00pm on May 5th, 1993:
FOGLEMAN: OKAY, WHAT HOURS DO YOU WORK THERE?
ANGELA: I WORK FROM 3 TO 11
http://www.callahan.mysite.com/wm3/gail.html
In West of Memphis, Bearden can be seen reading from a police report saying that “she had been on the phone with Damien and Jason during the afternoon after school and until about 9:30pm.” This is offered up as proof that Damien was on the phone with Bearden all night on May 5th until 9:30pm. This poorly written police report distorts the facts of Bearden’s full police statement in which Bearden clearly states that she spoke with Damien before 5:30pm and after 9:20pm and that he was “out” with Jason in between (during the same time the murders were occurring). This is yet another example of how West of Memphis and the other documentaries distort the facts to make the WM3 appear innocent, when the facts clearly point to guilt.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/jenbreport.html
A good, brief summary of the problems with Bearden's statement in West of Memphis can be found here:
http://i1311.photobucket.com/albums/s665/FredJWalsh/Jennifer-Bearden-in-WoM_zps853dd50d.jpg
FACT – DAMIEN ECHOLS HAS LIED ABOUT MANY BASIC FACTS OF THIS CASE.
This list of inconsistencies and outright lies was compiled by WM3 case researcher Fred J. Walsh:
- Place of residence
Told a 2010 interviewer at the time of the crimes he had lived in Marion, AR, and told Larry King it was within 10 or 15 miles of West Memphis. At trial Mr. Echols testified that his residence was at Broadway Trailer Park in West Memphis, within 2 miles of crime scene.
- Frequency of travel within West Memphis
Testified in 1994 to walking around West Memphis "frequently"; in a 2010 interview stated he went to West Memphis "hardly at all."
- Familiarity with area around victim neighborhoods
Testified in 1994 to walking through those neighborhoods 2-3 times a week, and in fact had lived across from Robin Hood Hills in Mayfair Apartments as a child for a time; also answered affirmatively on a police questionnaire that he was familiar with Robin Hood Hills. But in a 2010 interview Mr. Echols denied that familiarity with the crime scene area, and said it was a residential area, and thus out of bounds for him, as he would only go to West Memphis for Walmart, and such.
- Alibi on the Stand
Agreed with prosecutor that his visit to some family friends was moved around depending on the hours he needed to cover.
- Initial Changes to Alibi Story
Alibi story changed between police interviews with Mr. Echols on May 9 and May 10, with respect to (1) who had picked him up from Laundromat near Jason's Uncle's house; (2) who had gotten in the car as passengers; (3) when the pick-up occurred; and (4) where they went afterwards.
- Further changes to Alibi Story
While awaiting trial, Mr. Echols told his defense investigator in July 1993 that at 7:45pm he had fielded a phone call from a 12-year-old girl that lasted 60-90 minutes. The girl, meanwhile, said she reached him not until around 9:30pm and that they had spoken only briefly; an earlier attempt to reach him at 8 or 9pm had indicated he was out; and when she asked him where he'd been that evening, he'd told her with co-defendant Jason Baldwin. In August 1993 Mr. Echols revised this story, saying that the girl had tried to reach him but her call was denied because he had given instructions to his mother not to take it, because he was at home with his girlfriend, Domini -- a claim that is refuted by all accounts of Domini's activities that day.
- Friendship with Jessie Misskelley
In his book Almost Home (2005) Mr. Echols maintained he had known Misskelley enough to say a few words when he saw him. Currently, former FBI profiler and WM3 advocate John Douglas broadcasts Echols' contention that he "didn't even really know" Misskelley. But if we go back to the time of the investigation, the accounts of peers and community members like Domini Teer, Jim McNease, Jason Crosby, Deanna Holcomb, and others, maintain an actual friendship between Echols and Misskelley, and place the two together at Echols' house, walking around town, and at community events in 1991-1993.
- Origin and Extent of his Psych History, aka Exhibit 500
Currently Mr. Echols says his documented psych history for 1992-1993 -- a large set of documents generated by various mental health professionals during his 3 hospitalizations for suicidal and homicidal impulses, detailing among other things the threats to his parents that led to their telling health professionals they did not want him to return to their household, because "they are frightened of him and what he can do, not only to them but to other children that reside in the home" -- was actually a document written by a single perjured woman, and engineered by Jason's lawyers to cast suspicion on him. Neither of these contentions is true. Further, Mr. Echols has told Piers Morgan that he wasn't a troublemaking kid (despite multiple school suspensions for fights and fires, and the three hospitalizations), and typically portrays his various well-documented mental issues, including diagnosed psychoses, as simply "depression."
- Shane Divilbiss Attack (School Fight)
In his hospital papers Mr. Echols told mental health professionals that he had attempted to gouge out his classmate's eyes with fingernails sharpened to points, which is corroborated by Shane Divilbiss's own account. In more recent tellings, Mr. Echols has changed this story to *appearing as though* it was an attempt to gouge the eyes, when actually he was being pulled off Divilbiss, and just trying to hang on, so it only looked like an attempted eye gouging.
- Mark Gardner Rape Allegations
In the mid-90s Mr. Echols made allegations about being violated by a prisonmate, but recanted them and then reclaimed them over time. An investigation by law enforcement indicated no merit to his claim, and certain reporters indicated that the claims were recanted and restated as a method of attracting attention to the need for prison reform. Mr. Echols' story waffled on whether rapes had occurred, and which of the two men had crawled into the other's cell via a removed cinder block. (WM3 advocate Mara Leveritt reported the hole too small for Gardner to have crawled through, so apparently that version of their story was demonstrably false.) Whatever the real story is, Mr. Echols definitely changed his account.
- Softball Girls
At trial Mr. Echols dismissed their claims to have heard him publicly saying he did it, and called them liars, from the stand. More recently he told Dateline that while he doesn't remember saying those things, IF he had said them, it would have been "like a joke."
- No eating utensil in prison
Claimed no access to eating utensil. Arkansas Dept of Corrections reps say that inmates are granted use of an industrial plastic spork that Mr. Echols apparently declined to use.
ECHOLS: "I had to learn to use a fork again. You know I hadn't eaten with a fork in 18 1/2 years."
PIERS MORGAN: Why?
ECHOLS: "They don't give you forks in there."
PIERS MORGAN: How do you eat?
EHOLS: "With your hands."
- Prison Visits from Mom and Sister
Mr. Echols has stated in recent interviews that his mother and sister visited him in prison only a handful of times, and twice, respectively. Pam and Michelle have publicly stated otherwise, and maintain he's not telling the truth about that. Given Mr. Echols' track record with the truth, I'd tend to believe them.
- Relationship with Son
According to public statements of his adult child's mother, Domini, she reacted badly to a People magazine interview, that had Mr. Echols talking about his efforts as a Dad. Domini maintains he hasn't been putting in any effort (he'd been out to Tempe, AZ for publicity event and hadn't called his son) and resents his remarks, and that he had not been responsive to attempts to reach out via private means.
If Mr. Echols had a better track record with the truth, his words might be taken more seriously by those who have been listening well.
FACT - ECHOLS FREQUENTLY WALKED AROUND WEST MEMPHIS AND WAS VERY FAMILIAR WITH THE CRIME SCENE PRIOR TO THE MURDERS:
"He began to walk the moment he got to town, in the morning, at night, when he was anxious or bored or simply awake, through the rain and later the snow.... In his heavy black leather jacket and sunglasses, he wandered all around town, quietly but purposefully, like a ghost looking for something to haunt."
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/article/2013/06/25/damien-echols-salem/
Long, frequent walking is a habit Echols developed in his teen years as a resident of West Memphis, AR -- but you might not know that, to hear him tell it, today. In 2010 Echols told an interviewer he "didn't go to West Memphis a lot, at all," having lived outside West Memphis in Marion. He dismissed the Robin Hood Hills crime scene area as a wooded, residential area that he was unfamiliar with, and never would have been in -- noting that his occasional trips to West Memphis
would have been expressly purposeful, citing Wal-Mart as a destination.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=leEtbjm2uHI#t=532s
These contentions fly in the face of the available documentation, including Echols' own 1994 testimony. At the time of arrest, per his testimony, Echols lived at Broadway Trailer Park in
West Memphis, not in neighboring Marion. And he testified to walking around West
Memphis "a lot" with co-defendant Jason Baldwin.
DE: We [Jason and I] like to walk around a lot just with no place particular in
mind. Just start out walking and walk around all day.
Q: Did you walk quite a bit around West Memphis, then?
DE: Yes, I did.
When shown a map of the neighborhoods around the Robin Hood Hills crime scene, Echols told the prosecutor he would have passed through the area "2-3 times a week," in part because those neighborhoods were nearly smack dab between his own residence and those of best friend Jason Baldwin and girlfriend Domini Teer.
Further, Echols has offered in his books vivid memories of having lived as a child, for a time, at Mayfair Apartments which overlooked Robin Hood Hills. And the Sanders family, longtime friends of his own, lived in West Memphis about 1.25 miles west of the crime scene, another reason for Damien to be in the residential area frequently.
That Damien walked around West Memphis "a lot" is further evidenced by the accounts of fellow defendant Jessie Misskelley and stepfather Jack Echols:
"...Damien he don't stay in one place long, he always walk around, he always go to West Memphis... he goes to West Memphis a lot...and he walks around." - Jessie Misskelley, Dec 1993
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/jm_ofshe.html
"There were other times when Damien had so much energy he did not know what to do. He
got really excited and kind of hyper and he always walked at these times. Damien walked to some of the parks in the area, to some of his friends houses, and across town. He told me that he sometimes got confused because he was sure where he needed to go but when he got there he felt like he was in the wrong place. I though that he meant that he changed his mind about where he wanted to go but he told me that it was not like that. Damien did not decide where he was supposed to walk to but got a feeling about where he should be but, when he got where he was going, his feeling changed and he had to go somewhere else. He was real frustrated at these times and I did not know how to help him. I did not really understand what he meant about not knowing where he wanted to be. I sometimes
felt that I should have done a better job trying to figure out what he was talking about and maybe then I could have made things a little better for him." - Jack Echols, September 2000
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/a_j_echols_declaration.html
Note Jack Echols citing "parks in the area" as his stepson's favorite haunt. Damien himself
listed "woods, park" as the two resources he used in the community:
http://callahan.mysite.com/images/500/3/392.jpg
Taking long walks is no crime, and obviously the above documentation is not intended as
proof of guilt but is merely meant to show that Echols will lie about things which do not flatter his innocence stance, regardless of how easily the lies can be checked out. And because reporters typically do not know the facts, he's never called on it.
(This synopsis courtesy of case researcher Fred J. Walsh)
FACT– TWO OF THE STAR WITNESSES AGAINST TERRY HOBBS IN WEST OF
MEMPHIS ARE CONVICTED FELONS:
Baxter County, Arkansas residents "Cody" Curtis Gott and Christian "Blake" Sisk are former friends of Terry Hobbs' nephew, Mike Hobbs Jr. Their interviews were late additions to the film. They went on camera for West of Memphis in January 2012 to talk about what they call "The Hobbs Family Secret." They claim that Mike Hobbs Jr. told them that he heard that his uncle, Terry Hobbs, was involved in the murders. Gott and Sisk were on probation for felony burglary of their high school when producer Amy Berg interviewed them and got them to tell their "Hobbs Family Secret" tale on camera. In May 2013 they were sent to prison on new charges. Sisk was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Gott was sentenced to 7. There have only been a few media mentions of the fact that these star witnesses against Terry Hobbs are young convicted felons from Mountain Home, AR with lengthy arrest records. Here is an excerpt from a Memphis Commercial Appeal article written by Marc Perrusquia on October 29, 2012:
"...details are surfacing on the criminal backgrounds of two witnesses featured in West of Memphis, a 2-1/2 hour film financed by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and coproduced by Echols and his wife along with documentarian Amy Berg. In the film and in affidavits given by the defense early this year to prosecutor Scott Ellington, two men, both in their early 20s, say they learned Hobbs once confessed to a relative that he killed the three boys - something described as 'the Hobbs Family Secret.' Baxter County (Arkansas) Circuit Court records show the men, Cody Curtis Gott, 20, and Christian Blake Sisk, 21, both of Mountain Home, Ark., pleaded guilty in 2010 to felony burglary and misdemeanor theft in connection with a school break-in. Both were charged again this fall with felony drug dealing. According to the Baxter County Sheriff's Office, Gott was charged in September with delivery of methamphetamines and cocaine and Sisk with delivery of a controlled substance and carrying prohibited weapons. Court records show Sisk also has been convicted of terroristic threatening. Defense spokesman Lonnie Soury said Friday the men, despite their records, passed polygraphs and are credible. 'Too many things point to the Hobbs family,' Soury said. '... Put these people under oath. That's all we're asking.' Terry Hobbs, 54, denies any involvement in the murders. He's said in a series of public statements he believes the West Memphis Three are guilty and that efforts to blame him are motivated by profit."
There are numerous problems with "The Hobbs Family Secret" tale that Gott and Sisk are telling:
1. Mike Hobbs and his son have denied ever saying that Terry Hobbs killed Michael, Chris, and
Stevie.
2. The Gott/Sisk statements are hearsay. While they might work in a movie, the statements are likely inadmissible in a court of law. "Terry Hobbs' brother's son says he heard someone say that his uncle did it" would not cut it in a real courtroom.
3. Gott and Sisk may have a grudge against Mike Hobbs Jr. According to Mike Hobbs Sr., Gott and Sisk made up "The Hobbs Family Secret" in order to retaliate against Mike Jr. According to Mike Hobbs Sr., his son provided information to authorities on the Mountain Home High School break-in that led to the arrest and felony conviction of Gott and Sisk.
4. The WM3 defense team claims Gott and Sisk "passed polygraph tests." However, the defense team chose the testers and paid any fees that may have been charged related to that testing. The results have not been analyzed by anyone other than the defense team for accuracy. Plus, polygraph tests are seldom admissible in court.
5. Gott and Sisk may have had a financial motivation. According to the defense timeline of events, the "Hobbs Family Secret" tip came in to the WM3 defense team phone "tip line" on December 11th, 2011. On December 16th Gott, Sisk, and a 3rd unnamed informant were flown to Washington, D.C. to meet with WM3 attorney Steve Braga and WM3 PR agent Lonnie Soury. There, they signed affidavits and were polygraphed. It is unclear whether there was an award connected with the "WM3 phone tip line" in December 2011. However, by February 2012 an anonymous donor had contributed a $100,000 reward to that tip line. At the very least, convicted felons Gott and Sisk got an all-expense-paid trip to D.C. out of the deal.
http://www.fox16.com/news/story/WM3-legal-team-makes-claims-against-victims/4HSfGKIjak-VB0S5mHIg1g.cspx
6. As noted above, because Gott and Sisk are convicted felons with extensive criminal records, they would not make credible witnesses against Terry Hobbs in court. Below is a (lengthy) partial listing of their numerous brushes with the law. The source of much of this information can be found here:
https://caseinfo.aoc.arkansas.gov/cconnect/PROD/public/ck_public_qry_cpty.cp_personcase_setup_idx
CHRISTIAN BLAKE SISK CRIMINAL RECORD:
2/10/10-Burglary
According to the Mountain Home Police website on 2/10/10 someone burglarized Mountain Home High School in Baxter County, AR. The items taken during the burglary were frozen pizzas, a scale, speakers, and medication. On 7/2/10 Sisk was arrested for that crime and charged with Felony Commercial Burglary and Misdemeanor Theft of Property. On 10/21/10 he pled guilty and received 48 months (4 years) probation.
Case: 03CR-10-157
14TH CIRCUIT DIVISION 3
http://www.mtnhomepolice.com/index.php?categoryid=1&p2_articleid=34
7/22/10-Terroristic Threatening
On 7/22/10 Sisk was accused of Terroristic Threatening, a misdemeanor. On 10/21/10 he pled guilty and received 12 months probation.
Case: 03CR-10-167
14TH CIRCUIT DIVISION 3
6/25/12-Selling drugs
Sisk was charged with Felony Delivery of Controlled Substance, Felony Unlawful Use of a Communication Device, and a Felony Proximity Enhanced Penalty in connection with an alleged drug deal to an undercover informant on 6/25/12. Sisk appeared in court in Baxter County on these charges on 10/25/12. According to the Baxter Bulletin Sisk pled
not guilty to Delivery of Marijuana, Unlawful Use of a Communication Device and Distribution Near Certain Facilities in connection with these charges.
Case: 03CR-12-244
14TH CIRCUIT DIVISION 4
6/26/12-Selling Marijuana
Sisk was charged with Felony Delivery of Controlled Substance and Felony Proximity Enhanced Penalty for allegedly selling drugs to an undercover informant. According to an article in the Baxter Bulletin he was arraigned on 9/13/12 and pled not guilty to charges of selling an ounce of "medical quality" marijuana on June 26 for $350. According to the article he posted bond and was released from jail. (This article is archived under the heading "Man accused of
fleeing arraigned" and can only be obtained by paying for it).
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baxterbulletin/access/2763676891.html?FMT=ABS&date=Sep+14%2C+2012
Case: 03CR-12-204
14TH CIRCUIT DIVISION 4
10/11/12-Selling Drugs
According to the Baxter County Sheriff's website, a warrant was
issued for Blake Sisk on 10/11/12 for "Delivery of a Schedule 4 or 5 Controlled
Substance." His bond was set at $5,000. You can see his mug shot here:
http://www.baxtercountysheriff.com/warrants.php?ltr=S
12/8/12-Driving While Intoxicated
Sisk was arrest for DWI on 12/8/12. He was caught driving left of center. His bond was set at $870.
Booking Number: 20123256
http://www.mugshotsworld.com/Christian-B-Sisk
2/8/13 - Failure to Appear
According to the Baxter County Sheriff he was charged with Failure to Appear on 2/8/13.
Booking Number: 20130247
http://www.baxtercountysheriff.com/roster_view.php?booking_num=20130247&PHPSESSID=a289fa75be74325aabbd08274512dede
4/17/13 - Wanted in connection with a burglary/beating
Press Release from the Baxter County Sheriff 4/17/13:
One man is in custody and another man is being sought in connection with a residential burglary and felony battery of a person that occurred last month. On March 21, 2013, Sheriff’s Deputy Chuck Menschik took a report from 1702 Old Military Road in rural Mountain Home from a person saying he had been pulled out of his bed while he was sleeping, was held down, and was then beaten. Items of personal property were also stolen from the residence. The victim knew the assailants and provided their identity to Sheriff’s Investigators. The victim later sought medical attention at
Baxter Regional Medical Center and later at another medical facility. The victim was found to have sustained serious physical injuries. A follow-up theft report was taken the next day, March 22nd, by Sheriff’s Corporal Scott Thrasher. Reported stolen from the residence was a personal safe, a Walther PPKS .380 pistol (which had already been reported stolen on March 21st), and Iphone 4, an Ipod touch, several knives, a camcorder, and Clonazepam tablets. These items were collectively valued at approximately $700. Later this same day, one of the suspects, identified as 21 year old
JACOB EDWARD CAPLE of Lakeview, Arkansas, was apprehended at the Mountain Home Walmart on a shoplifting charge and had in his possession at that time the stolen pistol. Some of the other stolen items were found inside this
suspect’s vehicle. CAPLE was taken to the Sheriff’s Office and questioned by Sheriff’s Investigator Trey Edings. CAPLE admitted to Investigator Edings that he and the other suspect the victim had named, 21 year old CHRISTIAN BLAKE SISK of rural Mountain Home, had gone to the victim’s residence on the date in question. They kicked in the door, pulled the victim out of bed, and then beat him. Investigators applied for felony bench warrants for the arrest of JACOB EDWARD CAPLE and CHRISTIAN BLAKE SISK. JACOB CAPLE surrendered himself to the Detention Center this morning and has been booked in on charges of:
Battery in the Second Degree – Felony
Residential Burglary – Felony
Theft of Property (Firearm) – Felony
Theft of Property – Misdemeanor
JACOB CAPLE is being held in lieu of $25,000 bond, with an appearance scheduled in Baxter County Circuit Court for April 25th. Sheriff’s Investigators are currently looking for the second offender, CHRISTIAN BLAKE SISK. Anyone
knowing his current whereabouts is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office.
http://www.baxtercountysheriff.com/press_view.php?id=1097
5/2/13-Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison
On May 2, 2013 Blake Sisk pled guilty to several charges, including residential burglary.
http://hometowndailynews.com/14851/mountain_home_man_sentenced_to_10_years_in_prison_.html
He was sentenced to 10 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
http://www.baxtercountysheriff.com/roster_view.php?booking_num=20131106
CODY CURTIS GOTT CRIMINAL RECORD:
2/10/10-Burglary
According to the Mountain Home Police website on 2/10/10 someone burglarized Mountain Home High School in Baxter County, AR. The items taken during the burglary were frozen pizzas, a scale, speakers, and medication. On 6/29/10 Gott was arrested for that crime and charged with Felony Commercial Burglary and Misdemeanor Theft of Property. On 10/20/10 he pled guilty and received 60 months (5 years) probation.
http://www.mtnhomepolice.com/index.php?categoryid=1&p2_articleid=34
Case: 03CR-10-144
14TH CIRCUIT DIVISION 3
4/19/12-Selling Meth
According to a 9/14/12 article in the Baxter Bulletin, Gott was accused of selling about 1.5 grams of methamphetamine for $150 on 4/19/12. He also received a Felony Proximity Enhanced Penalty. According to the article he appeared in court on that charge on 9/13/12, pled not guilty, and was released on bond. (This article is archived under the heading "Man accused of fleeing arraigned" and can only be obtained by paying for it).
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baxterbulletin/access/2763676891.html?FMT=ABS&date=Sep+14%2C+2012
Cases:
03CR-11-33
03CR-12-205
This is Gott 's mug shot from that arrest:
http://www.jailbase.com/en/arrested/ar-bcso/2012-09-12/cody-gott-20120912-20122478
5/13-Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison
In May 2013, Cody Gott was sentenced to 7 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections for commercial burglary and probation revocation.
http://www.baxtercountysheriff.com/roster_view.php?booking_num=20130867
FACT– TWO OTHER ALLEGED "WITNESSES" AGAINST TERRY HOBBS ARE CONVICTED RAPISTS:
In March 2013 two Crittenden County, Arkansas men (Billy Wayne Stewart and Bennie David Guy) gave sworn statements that alleged that Terry Hobbs, David Jacoby, L.G. Hollingsworth, and Buddy Lucas killed Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Stevie Branch. Stewart and Guy claimed to have information that the murders happened after the boys stumbled upon Hobbs and the other men as they did drugs in the woods. This information was presented to a judge by attorney Ken Swindle, attorney for Terry Hobbs’ ex-wife. (Read more about this aptly-named attorney here:
http://arkansasnews.com/sections/news/arkansas/court-upholds-5-year-old-student%E2%80%99s-suspension-swearing.html). Swindle failed to mention to the judge and the media that Stewart and Guy were convicted rapists that were serving 40 years (Guy) and 70 years (Stewart) on rape and other charges. In 1996, Bennie Guy pled guilty to raping an 11-year-old girl in an Arkansas motel room. He had also been convicted of sexual assault in Texas in 1996 and was serving that 40 year term concurrently with the one in Arkansas. On top of all that, he escaped from jail in 1997 and was serving 6 years for that. He was denied parole in 2008. Despite this, he was miraculously released on parole on June 11, 2013. He had severed just 17 years of the 40 he should have served for raping a little 11-year-old girl. Why was Guy released from prison just months after his assistance with the WM3 case? Coincidence? You be the judge.
Despite his criminal history
Parole came over objections from Crittenden officials
By Gary Meece
West Memphis Evening Times
6/25/13
While a convicted rapist’s release worksheet noted that he had eight supporters backing his release earlier this month, the two public officials who made official comments were adamantly against his release by the state Parole Board. West Memphis 3 tipster Bennie David Guy was paroled out by the Arkansas Parole Board after serving 17 years of a 40-year sentence despite objections from Crittenden County officials.
In his note to Institutional Release Services, which was seeking recommendations concerning
Guy’s potential parole, Tommy Trammel, chief deputy for the Crittenden County Sheriff’s Department at the County Jail, wrote: “object due to criminal history.”
In his response on the form, Circuit Judge Victor Hill had even stronger words concerning Guy: “I recommend that this inmate serve every minute of his sentence." Names of supporters were not made public. The Parole Board does not release the names of citizens (other than public officials) who comment for or against the potential parole of an inmate.
Guy now is languishing in a East Texas jail. Guy, a former resident of Earle, went from the state
prison system’s Ouachita River Correctional Unit directly to the Gregg County Jail; besides his Arkansas charges, Guy was sentenced to 40 years in Texas in July 1996 on a charge of sexual assault by a habitual offender and was serving that term concurrently while in Arkansas.
Concerning Guy’s status in Texas, “I am unable to give you any information about the above referenced case. I can confirm that he was booked into the Gregg County jail on June 11, 2013. There
are no hearings set at this time,” Terri Shepherd, court administrator for the 124th District Court, said in an e-mail response to a query.
Officials at the Gregg County District Attorney's office said Monday afternoon that they were awaiting paperwork to determine the next stage in handling Guy's case and no paperwork had been received yet. Guy’s appeal of his case on various legal grounds to U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas was denied in 2009.
In April, Ken Swindle, an attorney representing the mother of one of the victims, presented new allegations in the 20-year-old murders of three West Memphis 8-year-olds by relying on sworn statements from Guy and another convicted Crittenden County rapist; both were then serving time in the Cummins Unit of the Arkansas prison system.
Billy Wayne Stewart and Guy alleged that Terry Hobbs, David Jacoby, L.G. Hollingsworth and Buddy Lucas killed Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Stevie Branch on May 5, 1993, after the boys stumbled upon them getting high in the woods near the service road in West Memphis.
Neither statement mentioned Stewart’s or Guy’s circumstances or extensive criminal histories.
Whatever the dispensation of his case in Texas, Guy is under supervised probation according to the Arkansas legal system until July 24, 2035. Guy’s case came under scrutiny prior to his involvement in the West Memphis 3 case, as he had sought parole after learning that DNA collected after
the rape was not a conclusive match to his DNA; the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that the lack of DNA evidence did not exonerate him in the case.
He had gotten support from the activist group the Innocence Project but had failed in
various appeals to the courts.Terry Hobbs, stepfather to Stevie Branch, has denied the allegations made by Guy and Stewart, as has Jacoby, a friend who helped Hobbs search for the boys on May 5, 1993.
Hollingsworth died in a traffic accident in 2001. The sworn statements by Guy and Stewart were
based on alleged admissions from Buddy Lucas. Because of his friendship with Jessie Misskelley Jr., Lucas was interrogated extensively in the 1993 investigation but never has been a suspect in the case.
Misskelley, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin, teens living in local trailer parks at the time of the
killings, were convicted of the murders in 1994 and were released from prison in 2011 in a special plea deal in which they were released on suspended sentences in exchange for guilty pleas. The case has been the subject of four movie documentaries, and the so-called West Memphis 3 have received extensive support from music and film personalities.
Baldwin, who lives in Seattle, has become an activist working with the Innocence Project, and has cofounded his own group, Proclaim Justice Inc., a nonprofit organization currently based in Lakeway, Texas, near Austin. Its Web site states it is “a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation dedicated to winning freedom for inmates who are factually innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted.” The organization continues to attempt to stir up public support for the WM3. Guy, who was 53 when his allegations came to light this spring, was serving a sentence of 40 years issued on Aug. 5, 1996, for rape - habitual offender, from Crittenden County. He had pleaded guilty to the rape of an 11-year-old girl in a motel room on May 27, 1995; he had been on probation at the time of the offense. He also had been sentenced to six years in 1997 for escape, second degree, and had a prior conviction for robbery, for which he was given a two-year sentence in 1994.
Stewart, 49, continues to serve a total time of 70 years on a rape sentence handed down in 2011. He has a string of other felony convictions dating back to 1983. Last week, the Evening Times reported that two other men making allegations against Terry Hobbs are now in prison. Tipsters Christian Blake Sisk and Cody Curtis Gott appeared in last year’s “West of Memphis,” which was
produced by Damien Echols.
Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington has said he believes Echols, Misskelley and Baldwin are guilty and he has seen no evidence to convince him otherwise.
FACT - MISSKELLEY AND ECHOLS FAILED THEIR POLYGRAPH TESTS:
Echols and Misskelley both consented to polygraph tests. Baldwin did not. The original polygraph examiner, West Memphis Police Detective Bill Durham, believed Echols and Misskelley showed signs of deception when answering questions about their involvement in the murders. These results were later disputed by other examiners who were paid by the defense.
Misskelley's polygraph results:
http://callahan.mysite.com/images2/jm_polygraph.jpg
Echols' polygraph results:
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/depoly.html
FACT - "THE SOFTBALL GIRLS" HAVE NOT RECANTED:
Jodee Medford was one of the so-called "softball girls" who told jurors she heard Damien Echols boasting to other kids at the softball field about killing the children. A frequent supporter lie is the false claim that Jodee Medford has "recanted." No public records exist stating that Jodee has recanted. Some people may have misunderstood an affidavit by Jodee's mother, but nowhere in the affidavit does the mother say her daughter has recanted her story.
On the witness stand during his trial, Echols denied bragging to Medford and others that he killed the children. But in a more recent interview with CBS' 48 Hours, Echols admitted that he may have bragged at the softball park about killing the boys. He said "it would have been, like, a joke." You can see him say it on this video at time mark 12:50.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGWa4KomcuA
This means Echols perjured himself at trial when he denied, on the witness stand, that he bragged about the murders at the softball park. The CBS reporter, Erin Moriarty (a long-time champion of the innocence of the WM3), did not bother to ask Echols about his perjury.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/d_medford_declaration.html
FACT– FOUR OUT OF THE SIX SURVIVING PARENTS OF THE VICTIMS BELIEVE THE WM3 ARE GUILTY:
Supporters of the West Memphis Three and lazy journalists often say “even the parents of the victims think the West Memphis Three are innocent.” The fact is Todd and Dana Moore (parents of Michael Moore), Terry Hobbs (step-father of Stevie Branch), and Steve Branch (father of Stevie Branch) all still firmly believe the WM3 are guilty as charged. Melissa Byers (mother of Chris Byers) died believing they were guilty. The parents who claim the WM3 are innocent are Mark Byers (step-father of Chris Byers) and Pam Hobbs (mother of Stevie Branch). It is worth noting that these are the two parents who have made the most TV, print, and film appearances. Click on this link for newspaper columns by Todd Moore and Terry Hobbs. Though these columns were likely written with some help from attorneys, they capture the true feelings that both men have repeatedly expressed over the years.
http://wm3truth.com/2012/08/columns-by-todd-moore-and-terry-hobbs/
FACT - THE WM3 WERE NOT "FORCED" TO ACCEPT THE ALFORD PLEA:
After years of steadfastly upholding the verdicts of two Arkansas juries, The Arkansas Supreme Court finally relented to pressure from WM3 celebrity supporters and the WM3's all-star defense team. In December 2010 the Arkansas Supreme Court granted an evidentiary hearing scheduled for December 2011. The purpose of the hearing was to allow Judge David Laser to hear any "new evidence" the defense had gathered over the years that might justify a new trial. Judge Laser was a new judge who replaced the original trial judge - Judge David Burnett.
But instead of presenting that evidence to Judge Laser at the December hearing, the defense went to a new prosecutor (Scott Ellington) in the summer of 2011 and suggested a deal. Their clients would plead guilty using a legal maneuver called an "Alford Plea" in exchange for time served. The new prosecutor inexplicably accepted the deal. No one "forced" the WM3 to plead guilty. It was their own idea.
Instead of presenting their "new evidence" and gaining complete exoneration, the slick WM3 defense team convinced a newbie prosecutor he could get rid of a difficult case if the WM3 could plead guilty and be released from prison. Now, that same defense team and a slew of celebrity WM3 supporters are hounding Arkansas officials for full exoneration. Without full exoneration, the WM3 will forever remain convicted child killers and convicted felons.
This is the transcript of the in-chambers hearing prior to the public Alford Plea hearing on 8/19/11.
In it, there are repeated mentions by the State that the Alford Plea was the brainchild of the defense. (Example: End of page 31, beginning of page 32). This leaves no doubt that the WM3’s own
attorneys came up with the idea for their clients to plead guilty.
http://callahan.mysite.com/pdf/8_19_11_hearing.pdf
Even Mara Leveritt, champion of the innocence of the WM3, concedes that the Alford Pleas were the defense’s idea. She talks about it in this article:
http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/the-big-ask/Content?oid=1888389
Innocent people with solid evidence of innocence do not plead guilty. Period.
Misskelley Alford Plea:
http://wm3org.typepad.com/files/misskelley-alford.pdf
Echols/Baldwin Alford Plea:
www.wm3org.typepad.com/files/alford-plea-dj.pdf
FACT - THE WM3 HAVE NOT BEEN "EXONERATED":
Contrary to recent media reports, the WM3 have not been "exonerated," found "not guilty," or been "proven innocent." They remain convicted and confessed murderers who were rightfully convicted by two juries. The primary way they could be exonerated is if an alternate suspect is tried and convicted through the judicial process.
Previous efforts to frame alternate suspects such as Mark Byers, step-father of Chris Byers, have failed. Now, the WM3 and their supporters are relentlessly attempting to do the same thing to Terry Hobbs, step-father of Stevie Branch. By some estimates, the "Free the WM3" movement has spent as much as $20 million to find "new evidence" that someone else committed the murders. When given the opportunity to present that evidence at a December 2011 evidentiary hearing, the
WM3 instead chose to plead guilty.
Now, they are presenting their evidence in the court of public opinion through numerous books, movies, and media interviews. WM3 supporters have even offered a $200,000 reward to compel people to "remember" things that might point to the innocence of the WM3. Despite tremendous pressure from the WM3 attorneys, celebrity supporters, and the WM3 PR team so far nothing has been presented to prosecutors in Arkansas that is compelling enough to reopen the case and charge an alternate suspect with the murders. Until that happens, the WM3 will remain guilty as charged.
FACT - EVEN IF "THE HAIR" DOES MATCH TERRY HOBBS, THAT DOESN'T MAKE HIM GUILTY OR THE WM3 INNOCENT:
After years of efforts to frame step-father Mark Byers with the murders failed, the WM3 defense team and makers of the documentaries Paradise Lost 3 and West of Memphis have turned to a new red herring suspect... step-father Terry Hobbs. Many recent media reports claim that "Hobbs' DNA was found on a victim." That sounds pretty compelling, but it's not exactly true.
When most people hear the word "DNA" they assume that means something like blood or semen. This "DNA" is actually a hair fragment found on a shoestring used to hog tie Michael Moore. The defense often says the hair was "tied into" the shoestring. But there are currently no publicly available photographs or documents to prove that claim.
Experts paid by the WM3 defense team claim that they determined through lab tests that Terry Hobbs is a "possible source" of that hair. Problem is, 1.5% of the rest of the population is also a "possible source" of that hair. That means that more than 4.5 MILLION Americans are also "possible sources" of that hair. In addition, Michael Moore frequently visited the Hobbs home. The hair could have easily landed on Moore's shoestring through secondary transfer as he played there. The hair is meaningless and will never lead to the conviction of Terry Hobbs.
Paid defense experts also report that a second hair found on a tree stump near the crime scene weeks after the murders could have come from Hobbs' friend, David Jacoby. But it also could have come from 7% of the rest of the population. A whopping 21 MILLION Americans are also possible owners of the hair found on the tree stump. The “Jacoby hair” is completely meaningless as evidence in court.
The WM3's own hired expert called the hairs "weak evidence" during a 2007 press conference. How the hairs have suddenly become "strong evidence" in West of Memphis is beyond explanation:
"The two hairs that I know about – the one that could have in fact come from Mr. Hobbs and the one that could have in fact come from David Jacoby – constitute what I call weak evidence. Because there are other people it could have come from and there isn’t any way to really prove our selection of possible sources for that hair. I don’t think – my personal opinion – I don’t think that that hair evidence would be enough to convict Mr. Hobbs or Mr. Jacoby or anyone that would be in a similar situation because it’s simply not strong enough. The percentages I gave of people who could be the source of those hairs are 1.5% of the population in the respect to one hair and 7% in respect to the other hair. That’s not particularly strong evidence and especially in the context of what most people are accustomed to with DNA testing." - Thomas Fedor, Forensic Serologist
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/press_conference.html
FACT – THE WM3 DEFENSE TEAM CHANGES THEIR INJURY THEORY TO FIT EACH NEW RED HERRING SUSPECT:
The West Memphis Three defense team once categorized some of the victims’ injuries as “bite marks.” If you are new to this case, you may not be aware the defense theory evolved from a human causing the purported bite marks, to a veritable zoo of animals inflicting the victims’ injuries. The WM3 originally tried to portray stepfather Mark Byers as “the real killer.” A defense expert testified at a post-conviction hearing he suspected there was at least one human bite mark on victim Stevie Branch. Defense experts also speculated human bites were on the other two victims.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/rule37/october27.html
When Byers had his teeth extracted because he needed dentures, many WM3 supporters
concluded it only could mean one thing: Byers had murdered the children. The documentary Paradise Lost 2: Revelations is built around the premise Byers may have murdered the boys. Many WM3 supporters felt the stepfather’s teeth being removed was proof positive of guilt. Despite years of trying, the WM3 defense was never able to pin the crime on Byers. He had a good alibi,
nothing to connect him to the crime, oh… and he’s the innocent step-parent of a victim.
Things changed when Terry Hobbs (step-father of victim Stevie Branch) was determined by the defense to be a "possible source" of a hair found on a shoestring used to tie up victim Michael Moore. Problem is, that hair is also a possible match for 1.5% of the rest of the population. That means that more than 4.5 MILLION Americans are also "possible sources" of that hair. In addition, Michael Moore frequently visited the Hobbs home. The hair could have easily landed on Moore's shoestring through secondary transfer as he played there.
Despite these facts, the defense suddenly adopted an animal predation theory to explain the boys’ injuries. The purpose was to try to discredit the Misskelley confessions, to foster Hobbs as a
“suspect,” and to bring into question the State’s forensics evidence. The transition to a new alternate suspect and new injury theory was seamless. The defense would soon maintain that the castration of Chris Byers with a knife was, in fact, the work of alligator snapping turtles. This theory would appear in West of Memphis, a documentary produced by Peter Jackson and Damien Echols. Other wounds and injuries on the murdered boys were attributed to a wide range of animals and all claims of human bite marks ceased.
For more detailed information on this subject, click here:
http://midsouthjustice.org/smf/index.php?topic=146.0
FACT - "MR. BONJANGLES" DIDN'T DO IT:
Around the time the boys were reported missing on the night of May 5th, 1993 a bleeding, muddy African American man stumbled into the women's bathroom of the Bojangles chicken restaurant about a mile from the crime scene. WM3 supporters often complain about one piece of evidence that was lost... blood scrapings from that bathroom at Bojangles. While it is a shame the samples were lost, the man in Bojangles could not have committed the murders. According to the restaurant manager (Marty King) "Mr. Bojangles" had a "blue cast type brace on his arm that had white Velcro on it." A disoriented, one armed man could not have subdued and hogtied three boys. Could he have been a witness? Yes. Was he the murderer? No.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/martyking.html
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/bojangles.html
FACT - CELEBRITIES ARE NOT CRIME EXPERTS, THEY MAKE MISTAKES, AND
MOST DON'T KNOW ANY MORE ABOUT THIS CASE THAN YOU DO:
Johnny Depp, Peter Jackson, Natalie Maines, Eddie Vedder, Henry Rollins, Dave Navarro, Marilyn Manson... the list of WM3 celebrity supporters goes on and on. The argument goes that all these celebrities wouldn't put their careers on the line to support child killers. When you watch interviews with these celebrities nearly all say they became involved in the case after watching the Paradise Lost documentaries. Chances are, that's how you learned about this case as well. Problem is, if you've really read all the information on this website, you now know that the Paradise Lost series contains lots of things that make the WM3 appear innocent, while leaving out virtually all the facts that point to guilt. Many of these celebrities joined the Free the WM3 crusade with only half of the facts. None will ever destroy their careers by admitting that the WM3 might be guilty. Their reputations now rely on the WM3 being "innocent" and they are sparing no expense to continue to attempt to prove it.
FACT - THE WM3 WERE NOT "WRONGFULLY CONVICTED":
Don't let all the shameless profit-seeking movies, documentaries, and books fool you. The WM3 were found guilty by two juries based on solid physical and circumstantial evidence. They remain guilty (yet free) men because they got a lucky break from a prosecutor who was new to the case. They have not proven that they were "wrongfully convicted" or "falsely convicted," as they often claim. Once they entered guilty pleas through the Alford agreement, the burden fell on them to prove their innocence. They've been out of jail since August 2011 and, so far, they have failed to do so.
FACT – THE STATE OF ARKANSAS SHOULD NOT HAVE RELEASED THE WEST MEMPHIS THREE WITHOUT A SECOND JURY TRIAL:
Here are some facts about the ill-fated Alford Plea:
-One of Damien Echols' attorneys approached his old law school buddy, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, about the idea of an Alford Plea in the summer of 2011. An Alford Plea allows a person to plead guilty, while claiming innocence. McDaniel sent Echols' attorneys to prosecutor Scott Ellington.
http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/the-big-ask/Content?oid=1888389&storyPage1
http://www.tjsl.edu/the-jeffersonian/news/2011/09/west-memphis-three-and-their-alford-plea
-Ellington had been on the job less than one year when he made the call to release the WM3. In a panel discussion about the case just days after the release of the WM3, Ellington publicly admitted he did not read the entire West Memphis police case file before letting the WM3 out of prison.
http://www.clintonschoolspeakers.com/lecture/view/west-memphis-three-past-present-and-future/
-Ellington was, most likely, misled by slick WM3 attorneys into believing real evidence of innocence existed when it didn’t.
-Ellington likely thought this case would "go away" if he let the WM3 out of prison in exchange for guilty pleas.
-As part of the Alford Plea, the WM3 had to agree not to sue the state of Arkansas for wrongful conviction. Some have speculated that the State of Arkansas freed the WM3 for fear the WM3 might sue for millions if they were exonerated in a second jury trail. The fact is, even today the WM3 could still probably sue IF they could prove someone else committed the crime. Arkansas is one of about 23 states that does not have a statute that gives exonerated convicts a set amount for wrongful conviction. If they could prove in a court of law that someone else committed the crime, and if that person was convicted, and if the WM3 were exonerated by that conviction, there doesn't seem to be anything to prevent them for suing for wrongful conviction at some point in the future.
http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Compensating_The_Wrongly_Convicted.php
-The WM3 defense team is believed to have sent prosecutor Ellington all of the evidence that they would have presented at the 2011 evidentiary hearing. Plus, they have sent him additional “evidence” gathered by movie makers during the making of Damien Echols’ movie West of Memphis. If this evidence hasn't been sufficient for Ellington to re-open the case and prosecute Terry Hobbs, why does anyone think the "new evidence" would have been enough to win them a new trial? The evidence was insufficient to win a new trial, the defense knew it, and that's why they approached Ellington with the Alford Plea.
-The state of Arkansas denied justice for both the West Memphis Three and the three eight-year-old victims by allowing a new prosecutor and a bunch of defense attorneys to decide the outcome of this case. If the WM3 are indeed innocent, they now have to live as convicted murderers and felons the rest of their lives. More likely, the state of Arkansas released three child killers to walk among us in a failed effort to get rid of a complicated, expensive, politically unpopular, and time consuming case.
FACT - DAMIEN'S DISTURBING PET NAME FOR HIS GROUPIES IS "CHUPACABRAS”:
Justin Bieber has his legion of "Beliebers," but what does Damien Echols call his growing flock of murder groupies on Twitter? "Chupacabras" of course! The Chupacabras are even using hash tags like #teamchupacabra and (Look out! They’re taking over!) #chupacabranation. Here's just one example of a Tweet from the Chupacabra-in-Chief to his flock of groupies:
"@damienechols: Tonight is the full moon, my little Chupacabras. Step outside and howl just to see your breath in the air."
So what, you ask, is a Chupacabra? A Chupacabra is a mythical vampire-like, blood-sucking creature. The literal translation is "goat sucker." Oh. Ok. Right. What else would a guy who’s been repeatedly documented licking/drinking blood call his followers? There's a certain kind of genius to it. It seems Damien has found a way to call his groupies "suckers".... and have them like it! Here are a few select Tweets from #teamchupacabra:
@damienechols: Movie stars are the ones who have "fans". I'd rather have Chupacabras.
@Redangel325: @damienechols I think we started something... #teamChupacabra now we need shirts. Hahahaha
@Mr_Nerjer: @damienechols I'm in with #teamchupacabra!
@damienechols: @Redangel325: @damienechols I want to be #teamChupacabra
@marciejb10: @damienechols Chupacabrafragilisticexpialidocious #teamChupacabra
@effektedchik: @damienechols I think the constant travelling calls for #teamchupacabraairlines with moonwater inflight refreshments!
@dolface79: @damienechols #teamchupacabra leader is a tough job...but someones gotta do it!
@AlainaBaina5: @damienechols goat suckers for life #teamchupacabra
@dixiefairy: @damienechols I'm proud to be part of Chupacabra Nation!
@fairygirl1975: @damienechols #teamchupacabra winning
@damienechols: @thewickedbelle: @damienechols: if being a chupacabra is wrong, I don't wanna be right! :) #chupacabrapower
You couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried.
https://twitter.com/damienechols
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chupacabra
FACT - DAMIEN ECHOLS IS NUTS. HERE ARE JUST A FEW SELECT QUOTES FROM HIS WRITINGS :
"I see a perfect explosion, God's ammunition dump, going up in the flames of righteousness, Satan storming heaven, his artillery captain, a fiercely grinning fool with red flayed cheeks, Damien by name, never to be Michael Hutchison (Echols' birth name) again. The end is near. Kiss your ass goodbye people, it's time to pay up. Now is the Judgment. I am the Judge." -Damien Echols
“Everyone will pay because everyone is too stupid to open their eyes. This is the final times and I am the new Messiah. Wake up and smell the crud faggets, I don't care whether you are saved or not. Everyone pays the price." -Damien Echols
"My body is changing but that medicine is making it happen a lot more slowly than normal. I am outgrowing my skin. I am eating packs of sugar and Koolaid to give my body the extra energy it needs to make its change. Soon people will know I am the Christ just by looking at me." -Damien Echols
"Even after I die, people are going to remember me forever. They're going to talk about me for years. People will tell their kids stories. It will be like I'm the West Memphis boogey man. Little kids will be looking under their beds before they go to bed. Damien might be under there." - Damien Echols
FACT – VERY FEW JOURNALISTS RESEARCH THIS CASE (BEYOND WATCHING THE DOCUMENTARIES) BEFORE INTERVIEWING THE WM3. IF YOU ARE A REPORTER WHO IS TOO LAZY TO DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH, HERE IS A LIST OF QUESTIONS TO ASK DAMIEN ECHOLS. PRESTIGIOUS JOURNALISM AWARDS AWAIT THOSE BRAVE ENOUGH TO ASK THESE QUESTIONS:
( 1 ) Why did you (Echols) tell Larry King you lived in Marion “10-15 miles from crime scene” when at the time of the crimes, by your own testimony, you lived at Broadway Trailer Park in West Memphis, less than 2 miles from the crime scene?
( 2 ) Why have you (Echols) told interviewers you went to West Memphis "hardly at all" when you in fact lived there at the time of the murders, and testified to walking around West Memphis with Jason Baldwin "frequently?”
( 3 ) Why have you (Echols) told interviewers you were unfamiliar with crime scene neighborhood
where victims lived? You testified in 1994 to walking through that neighborhood "2 to 3 times a week.” In your first book, you vividly recount living in Mayfair Apartments, across from crime scene.
( 4 ) Why have you (Echols) dismissed reports of your mental illness as the work of "3rd & 4th-hand rumors" when 1st-hand documentation from mental health professionals, peers, and law enforcement officers clearly demonstrate your mental illness in 1992-1993?
( 5 ) When you (Echols) personally reported to the Social Security Administration in 1992 that you were plagued with the following issues - "Homicidal, Suicidal, Manic Depression, Schizophrenia, Drug Abuse, Alcohol Abuse & Sociopathic" - how much of that self-assessment was legitimate? If
some of those assessments were not legitimate, why did you report them in an application for disability benefits?
( 6 ) Awaiting trial, why did you (Echols) write that your body was changing via Koolaid packs, transforming you into "the Christ?”
( 7 ) If you (Echols) were a "white Wiccan" at the time of your arrest, why did you write imagery of yourself as "Satan's artillery captain" storming Heaven? Why did your talk about overseeing
Armageddon, with reminders to yourself about "choosing Disciples before Halloween?”
( 8 ) How do you (Echols) reconcile your contention that you were on the phone with four different girls when the crimes occurred (6:30pm-9:00pm), with the fact that 1993 statements offered by those girls do not cover your alibi for the hours from 5:00pm-9:20pm?
( 9 ) Why did Jennifer Bearden report in 1993 that your grandma told her you (Echols) were "out" when she called at 8:00pm on May 5th? Why did Bearden tell police that you told her you were “out” somewhere with Jason Baldwin that night when she did finally reach you by phone around 9:30pm on May 5th? Why did Heather Cliett suggest to police you were with Jason that night,
and why did she report that Holly George told her you were “out”that night walking around? Since these alibis with your “phone girls” have failed, where exactly were you between 6:30pm and 9:00pm on May 5th, 1993?
( 10 ) When you (Echols) spoke with the WMPD on May 10th, 1993 why did your account of May 5th differ sharply from the story your girlfriend, Domini, told? You said she was dropped off at home before 3pm; her own account put her home at 7pm.
( 11 ) Why, at the trial, did you (Echols) smirk at the testimony of the “softball girls” and call them liars from the stand? Did you admit to perjury when you told reporter Erin Moriarty that you might have told the girls at the softball park you killed the boys, but you were just “joking.”
( 12 ) What is the truth of the Mark Gardner rape allegations that you (Echols) have submitted and withdrawn at points? If the rape allegations were false, why did you make them? If they were true, exactly how did Gardner “force” you to crawl through a removed cinder block so he could rape you?
( 13 ) Was Joe Bartoush's account of you (Echols) killing a dog (partially corroborated by Heather Cliett, Blaine Hodge, and your large collection of animal skulls) true? If it was not true, why would Jason Baldwin's own cousin (Joe Bartoush) offer this damaging information to police, especially with you and Jason in peril of going to prison for triple murder?
( 14 ) When you (Echols) said that, like Manson & Bundy, you would be remembered by the world, was this what you had in mind?
( 15 ) Do you (Echols) feel your parents were truthful when they told your doctors in September 1992 that they did not want you living in their home any more, for fear your would harm them & the children in the house? If not, why would they offer that statement?
( 16 ) Why, in recent interviews, do you (Echols) categorize Exhibit 500 as a document written by one woman, and submitted by Jason's lawyers to attack you? Exhibit 500 is actually a collection of
documents written by mental health professionals documenting your three stays in mental hospitals for suicidal/homicidal impulses in 1992. It was compiled by your own defense team and submitted in the sentencing phase in an attempt to secure leniency for you. Why are you attacking Baldwin and his attorneys for a document your doctors wrote and YOU submitted to your jury?
(17) For many years you (Echols) accused step-father Mark Byers of the murders. More recently, you have pointed the finger at step-father Terry Hobbs. You’ve even implied that Mr. Bojangles could be involved. If you didn’t commit these murders, who did?
(18) How much money have you (Echols) made off your books, your documentary, your artwork, your speaking engagements, your tattoo work, and other murder-related business ventures since your release in August 2011? How much in donations would you estimate you have received over the years from WM3.org, Peter Jackson, Johnny Depp, and other benefactors?
-Most of these questions were written by long-time case researcher, Fred J. Walsh
DONATIONS NEEDED FOR WEAVER READING GROVE MEMORIAL UPGRADES:
Sunday, May 5th 2013 marked the 20th anniversary of the murders of 8-year-old Cub Scouts Michael Moore, Chris Byers, and Steve Branch in West Memphis, Arkansas.
A fund has been set up to honor the boys by making upgrades and improvements to their
memorial at their former school, Weaver Elementary in West Memphis. The memorial is called "The Weaver Reading Grove." It was constructed in 1994 on the playground of Weaver Elementary. It consists of a gazebo, benches, and a memorial stone honoring the boys. In honor of the 20th anniversary, people from around the world donated money to build a flower bed with 20 yellow roses buses around the gazebo.
Sheila Grissom, principal of Weaver Elementary, has set up a fund to pay for maintenance of the memorial and to make upgrades to the adjoining playground. If you would like to make a donation in memory of Michael, Chris and Steve to the Weaver Elementary Reading Grove/ Playground Fund, please send your donation to the school at the following address:
Weaver Elementary Reading Grove/Playground Fund
1280 East Barton Ave.
West Memphis, AR 72301
For more information contact Sheila Grissom, Weaver Elementary School principal, at [email protected]
CONTACT INFORMATION:
This web page serves as a place to store and preserve the true and original facts of this case as they become more and more skewed daily by the "exonerate the WM3" publicity machine and various “in it for profit” movie makers and book writers. It is maintained by a group of people who have followed and researched this case for years, many since 1993.
If you would like to dispute, discuss, or ask questions about the facts contained on this page, please go to Facebook and "like" this discussion group. There are many people in this group who will be happy to discuss and debate the facts with you. You can also use this Facebook page to alert us to any mistakes on this page:
West Memphis Three Facts
https://www.facebook.com/WestMemphisThreeFacts
ADDITIONAL WEBSITES AND INFORMATION:
The following websites offer a wealth of factual information about the WM3 case.
http://www.callahan.mysite.com
The WM3 case may, quite possibly, be the most well-documented criminal case on the planet thanks to a website called "Callahan's." (This site was formally called www.callahan.8k.com. If you come across any old Callahan links on this or other sites, simply change "8k" to "mysite"). It contains thousands of documents and trial transcripts related to the case. It is a nonbiased website maintained by two guys who believe the WM3 are innocent and one who believes they are guilty. It speaks volumes that two of the guys who know the most about the case don't agree on guilt vs. innocence. If they aren't 100 percent sure, how can you be?
www.wm3truth.com
UPDATE: This page appears to have been taken down. If anyone has info on how to correct the broken links on this page, please message the West Memphis Three Facts Facebook page. This is a fact-filled page maintained by long-time WM3 case researcher David Klein. It contains numerous comment sections for questions and answers. There is a related Facebook page for case discussion: https://www.facebook.com/wm3truth
http://midsouthjustice.org/smf/index.php?board=5.0
Midsouth Justice is a message board that has a discussion area for the Byers/Moore/Branch murder case.
http://midsouthjustice.org/smf/index.php?topic=122.0
This is a list of coincidences that would have had to occur for the WM3 to be innocent. It was compiled by WM3 case researcher Tom Walker.
http://blog.gregcday.com/
Greg Day is the Author of “Untying the Knot,” which he wrote with Mark Byers. Mark Byers, stepfather of victim Chris Byers, has lately claimed the WM3 are innocent. But Greg Day doesn’t agree. He has researched the case for seven years, he strongly believes the WM3
are guilty, and he’s blogging about it.
http://www.capitalpunishmentbook.com/?s=west+memphis+three&x=0&y=0
They met while he was on death row. She was a crusader, he was a convicted murderer. They married while he was still in prison and she fought for years for his release. Sounds like the story of Damien Echols and his wife Lorri Davis, right? Wrong. It is the story of Billy and Jodie Sinclair. If ANYONE on the planet should sympathize with Damien Echols it should be Billy Sinclair, right? They share the exact same story. The only problem is, Billy Sinclair doesn’t believe a word Damien Echols says. Sinclair has won many prestigious writing awards and now works as a paralegal. After serving 25 years on death row, he knows a murderer when he sees one. He's written several blogs about his firm belief in the guilt of the West Memphis Three.
http://womenincrimeink.blogspot.com/2010/03/dont-free-west-memphis-three.html
Pat Brown is one of the nation’s foremost criminal profilers. She has provided crime commentary, profiling, and forensic analysis for just about every major TV network and is the author of several books on criminal profiling. She has researched the case in-depth and believes the West Memphis Three are guilty. This is a link to one of her blogs about the WM3.
http://trenchreynolds.me/?s=west+memphis+three
Damien Echols doesn’t have crime blogger Trench Reynolds fooled. Reynolds believes the WM3 are guilty and has written numerous, interesting blogs on the subject.
http://www.salemweb.com/discus/messages/44821/44821.html?1367979986
Some of Damien's new neighbors in his new hometown of Salem, Massachusetts aren't very happy about having a convicted and confessed child killer living in their neighborhood. This fact-filled discussion thread about Echols was first posted by a Salem resident named Mike Blatty. Blatty is the son of William Peter Blatty, author of the book The Exorcist. The main character in that book is a demon-possessed priest named Damien. According to the book Blood of the Innocents (page 185) a copy of The Exorcist was found in Damien's bedroom when he was arrested for triple murder. Blatty is just one of a growing number of people who have actually taken the time to research the case in-depth. He believe that the WM3 are guilty. The numerous threads on Damien Echols were taking up so much space on the community message board that the subject was moved to its own page. It’s called “Salem Resident Damien Echols" and it is filled with information about Echols written mainly by his new (and pretty unwelcoming) neighbors in Salem.
FOOTNOTE:
Thank you for taking the time to read this page. Come back often for frequent factual additions and updates. We'll end on a quote borrowed from WM3Truth website author David Klein. It also applies here:
"If you read this whole page and still believe you're just like Damien Echols, please get some psychiatric help before you kill a bunch of people."
Chris Byers, Michael Moore, and Stevie Branch
Welcome West Memphis Three Facts:
If you are reading this website you have probably spent a few hours watching one or more of the five movies/documentaries about this case. You may have read one of several books about the murders. Maybe you've read some of the thousands of newspaper and magazine articles about the case. Nearly all of them are biased toward the supposed innocence of the West Memphis Three. You can read this entire website in about 30 minutes. Please take that brief time to educate yourself about the facts of this case most of the movies/books/articles leave out.
If you would like to discuss or ask questions about the facts contained on this page, please visit our Facebook discussion group. There are many people there (both West Memphis Three supporters and non-supporters) who will be happy to discuss the facts of the case with you. You can also post on the Facebook page to alert us to any mistakes on this web page:
https://www.facebook.com/WestMemphisThreeFacts
On May 5th, 1993 three eight year old boys were murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas. Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley were arrested, tried and convicted of killing Michael Moore, Stevie Branch, and Chris Byers. In 2011, they pled guilty to the crimes using an Alford Plea, yet were released from prison with time served. There are many important facts left out of the documentaries, books, and most media coverage about the West Memphis Three (WM3) case.
Here are just a few:
FACT - JESSIE MISSKELLEY CONFESSED NUMEROUS TIMES:
The Paradise Lost and West of Memphis documentaries and the book and movie Devil's Knot completely leave out the fact Jessie Misskelley confessed to the murders numerous times both before and after he was convicted.
May 6, 1993: The morning after the murders, Jessie's friend, Buddy Lucas, stopped by Jessie's house. Buddy said Jessie told him he "hurt" some boys in West Memphis the night before. He then broke out in sweat, cried, and gave Buddy a used pair of sneakers (presumably the ones he wore to the crime scene).
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/b_lucas_interview.html
June 3, 1993: With consent from his father, Jessie was taken to the West Memphis Police Department for questioning. He was being questioned because he was a known friend of Damien Echols, who was a suspect in the murders. With additional written permission from his father, he was read his Miranda rights and given a polygraph exam, which he reportedly failed. The documentaries imply that Jessie was interrogated for 12 hours before confessing. That is a lie. Jessie arrived at that police station at 10:00am and confessed at 2:20pm. Only 2 1/2 hours of that time was spent in actual interrogation.
http://wm3truth.com/jessie-misskelleys-confession-june-3-1993/
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/img/jmtimelog.html
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/jmir.html
June 7, 1993: Jessie's own family members believed he could have been involved with the murders. Jessie Misskelley Sr. was interviewed by KAIT-TV just days after his son's arrest. On camera, Jessie Sr. admitted Jessie Jr. may have been with Echols and Baldwin at the crime scene.
Reporter: "Was he with them?"
Misskelley Sr: "He could have been with them, but he didn't have anything to do with it I don't believe."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRtEdkoun1s&feature=youtube_gdata_player
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/jessiemsr.html
June 11, 1993: Many recent reports suggest Jessie immediately recanted. He did not. He confessed again to his own attorneys eight days later.
http://wm3truth.com/2012/04/jessie-misskelleys-confession-to-defense-lawyer-june-11-1993/
August 19, 1993: Jessie Misskelley met with his attorney, Dan Stidham, at the Clay County Detention Center and gave a statement that continued to confirm his guilt.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/jm_stidham_8_19_93.html
http://callahan.mysite.com/pdf/jm_stidham_8_19_93.pdf
February 4, 1994: On the day he was sentenced to life plus 40 years for the murders, he got in a police car and confessed to the officers all the way to prison.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/jmpc.html
February 8, 1994: He put his hand on a Bible and swore to his attorney (Dan Stidham) that he, Damien, and Jason committed the murders. Further, he told Stidham that he was drunk on Evan Williams whiskey during the murders and the broken bottle could be found where he threw it on the ground under a bridge in West Memphis on his way home from the crime scene. Stidham told prosecutors he would believe his client's confession if he could find that bottle. So Stidham, WMPD Inspector Gary Gitchell, and the prosecutors drove to West Memphis to look for it. They found a broken Evan Williams bottle in the exact area that Stidham indicated Jessie said it would be. According to Prosecutor John Fogleman, Stidham directed the group to search the I-40 underpass nearest to Wal-Mart (near the current sight of Kroger), and the men found the broken bottle in that location. Further corroborating this story is the fact that Jessie mentioned in this 2/8/94 confession that Vicki Hutcheson was the one who bought him Evan Williams whiskey on the day of the murders. When the attorneys called Hutcheson she confirmed that she did, indeed, buy Jessie a bottle of Evan Williams on the day of the murders.
http://wm3truth.com/jessie-misskelleys-confession-to-dan-stidham-february-8-1994/
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/img2/jm_2_8_94_statement.html
http://www.callahan.mysite.com/wm3/prefeb22.html
Here is a good retelling of the finding of the Evan Williams bottle by case researcher “St. Alphonse.” According to "St. Alphonse" this is the story as it was told to him by Prosecutor John Fogleman, Prosecutor Brent Davis, and WMPD Inspector Gary Gitchell:
http://midsouthjustice.org/archived_html/west_memphis_homicides/Jessie%20just%20can%27t%20SHUT%20UP%202%20-%20www_ezboard_com.htm
February 17, 1994: This time, Jessie confessed to the prosecutors. At the start of the confession the prosecutors noted that Jessie had not been promised any deals for his testimony. His attorneys begged him not to give this confession, but he gave it anyway.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/jmfeb.html
October 24, 1994: A cell mate of Jessie’s named Michael Johnson wrote to prosecutor Brent Davis begging him to keep Jessie behind bars. He said Jessie told him details of the crime. He described Jessie as a “cold, morbid person.” Johnson got all the facts correct, except one. He told Davis that the WM3 left a woman’s “nightgown” at the scene. No nightgown was found at the scene. However, fibers consistent with Jason Baldwin’s mother’s bathrobe were found on one of the victims. Maybe Jessie called the bathrobe a “nightgown” while mentioning it was a piece of evidence linking the WM3 to the crime. Perhaps Johnson just got this fact a bit mixed up in his retelling of Jessie’s morbid tale. You can read Johnson’s letter at the following link.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/micjo.html
Recent Years: For years, rumors have circulated around Arkansas that Jessie continued to confess to his counselors in prison. So far, none of those counselors have spoken publicly. But other associates of Jessie have spoken about his more recent confessions. Many years before the WM3 were released, a WM3 supporter who posted on the WM3 discussion boards as "TrueRomance" befriended Jessie Misskelley. Her real name may have been "Lindsey." She wrote and received letters to Jessie, talked to him on the phone, and also visited him in prison. She immediately ceased believing in the three's innocence after having a conversation with Jessie in prison where she asked him directly if he had been involved in the murders. According to her, the answer he gave caused her to stop all contact and become a “non” (a non believer in WM3 innocence). We don't know what Jessie told her, she has never disclosed that information, but it clearly wasn't good. Below is an excerpt from a post she made on a WM3 discussion board. The original post cannot be found and the exact date of the post is unknown… it was possibly around 2006. The post still exists because it was copied to other WM3 discussion groups. For clarification, when she refers to “the KGB,” that is a knickname for WM3.org founders Kathy Bakken, Grove Pashley, and Burk Sauls. Here is what “TrueRomance” had to say:
“If I was going to let this case consume my life I felt like I needed to research things more aggressively and ask Jessie some point blank questions I never had. I felt like it was the only fair thing to do. If I'm risking my peace of mind and throwing myself 110% into this then I'm going to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the person I'm putting MY good name on the line for is being honest and is innocent. After all my research and questions I found out things were much different than I originally thought. Its also different when you ask someone a point blank question and you dont get the answer you were expecting. And don't reply to this and tell me to cite this and provide that because I did that little dance with supporters for long enough and I dont care whether anyone agrees with me. The information I found is readily available to anyone who wants to look at it, but any supporter still stuck in that conspiracy mentality is only going to twist it. I was lied to over and over by supporters, the KGB, and consistently withheld information on that side. Once I "became a non" I was offered a wealth of information, never once misled, and never once forced to believe the same as anyone else. I never got that when I was a supporter. So do I believe the three are guilty? Yes. And if any supporter wants to pull this over to the other board or make fun of me or my lifestyle, my physical appearance, or social class (which theyve done in the past), feel free. I got two things out of this situation that youll never have and that is an education and the truth.”
You can read the entire post from "TrueRomance" about her prison relationship with Jessie Misskelley at the following site:
http://realwestmemphisthree.yuku.com/topic/30/Supporters-claim-Jessie-is-retarded
FACT - DAMIEN ECHOLS WAS MENTALLY ILL AT THE TIME OF THE MURDERS:
The documentaries all fail to mention that Damien Echols had an extensive mental health record (more than 500 pages long) at the time of the murders. In 1992 he was sent to psychiatric hospitals twice by court order and once by his own parents. His parents were concerned about his involvement in what they described as "witchcraft" and "devil worship" and wanted him out of their home. In September 1992 Damien's parents told his mental health physician they were "frightened of him and what he can do, not only to them but to other children that reside in the home."
http://callahan.mysite.com/images/500/1/150.jpg
The mental health documents are public record because Damien’s attorneys presented them as evidence in the sentencing phase of his trial. It was a last-ditch effort by Echols’ attorneys to convince the jury he was mentally ill, and possibly spare him from the death penalty. Despite their jaw-dropping revelations about Echols’ mental health at the time of the murders, these records are never mentioned in any of the documentaries.
The documents (often called Exhibit 500 or E500) reveal that Echols:
-Described himself as a homicidal, suicidal, schizophrenic, manic depressive, sociopath (the handwriting on this document is his own)
http://callahan.mysite.com/images/500/1/125.jpg
-Assaulted classmates
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/shadi.html
-Set fires at school
http://wm3truth.com/damien-echols-profile/
-Believed he was possessed by a spirit named "Rosey"
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/gwoods.html
-Believed he was a god/Christ
http://wm3truth.com/2012/06/jailhouse-letters-of-damien-echols/
-Believed he "got power" by drinking blood
http://callahan.mysite.com/images/500/052.jpg
You can read his entire mental health file here:
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/img/exh500.html
A brief index for this huge file can be found here:
http://realwestmemphisthree.yuku.com/topic/29/Damien-Echols-Index-500
Other documents (outside of the Exhibit 500) reveal reports of cruelty to animals, including an incident where several witnesses (including Jason Baldwin's own cousin - Joe Bartoush) reported he stomped a dog to death in 1992. It's a documented fact many murderers start by killing animals, before moving on to humans.
http://wm3truth.com/damien-echols-profile/
Was Damien persecuted and framed for murder by a bunch of redneck cops in West Memphis because he was interested in Wicca, listened to Metallica, and wore black? No. Was he a suspect because police officers in West Memphis knew he was a mentally ill psychopath capable of murder? Yes.
FACT: DAMIEN ECHOLS HAD A WELL-DOCUMENTED TASTE FOR BLOOD:
You can find detailed documentation about Damien's taste for blood in this excellent article by WM3 case researcher Fred J. Walsh:
Damien Echols' Blood Sucking
A fairly chronological guide to documented accounts of his blood sucking/drinking/licking.
(#1) Charter Hospital of Little Rock, June 1992
“Trying to suck blood off peers who have scratched themselves.” (E500, p265)
(#2) Craighead County Juvenile Detention Center, September 1992
A Charter Hospital psychological assessment written on September 10 described his return to juvie:
"Transferred to Crittenden, one of the kids at the detention hall cut his wrists, Damien grabbed his arm and began to the suck the blood, smeared it over his body and said he’s a devil worshipping vampire. Says he’s not a vampire but a witch. He is in isolation and suicide watch."
Joyce Cureton, director of the Craighead County Juvenile Detention Center, reported on the incident:
"Approx. three hours after Damien arrived, he was sitting in rec. area with several other residents. One of the boys had scraped his arm a little, and it was bleeding some. Without warning, Damien grabbed the arm that was bleeding, and began to suck the blood from it. The boys all stated he had been saying he had not taken his medication the night before, and he was about to 'go off on them.' Damien was asked why he did this, and he stated 'I don’t know.'"
In a psychological evaluation dated 9/15/92, Echols offered his own account of the incident:
"While at the Detention Center, he reportedly grabbed a peer and began “sucking blood from the peer’s neck”. According to Damien, he relates that the peer was aware that he was going to do this. Staff reports that Damien was not remorseful for his behavior. Damien indicated that he sucked blood in order to get into a gang. He denies that it was any type of ritual"
"… Damien laughed when he was called “a blood sucking vampire”. He relates he does not know why people think this. He was placed in isolation in the Detention Center until he could be admitted to Charter Hospital. The other peers were afraid of him. Damien denies that he rubbed the blood all over his face."
"… He denied intent to harm himself or others at the time of the exam. He did admit to sucking blood out of the peer’s neck. He related that the peer had hurt his neck, and he subsequently sucked the blood."
While Echols laughed off vampire label he allegedly gave himself, he also went out of his way to convince one social worker that he actually believed himself a vampire...
"Damien Echols ... seemed to withhold no information and readily answered questions concerning his religious beliefs and the fact that he believes that he is a vampire and does worship the devil. It was the social worker’s opinion that Damien was not disclosing information for the purposes of shock, that he was simply disclosing what he currently is believing... [H]is behaviors could best be described as odd and bizzare. Damien smiled at inappropriate times. He cut his eyes back and forth as if he was responding to external stimulation. He seemed to be giggling at something that he was saying or a private joke that was unknown to this social worker."
Pretty fantastical stuff, right? And yet this professed belief in blood-drinking was further corroborated a few months later...
(#3) Counseling Sessions and Social Security Application, January-February 1993
On January 25, Sherry Dockins filed a longer “Individual Progress Note”.
"Focus of today’s session is spent talking with Damien about his feelings of death. He brought with him to session a poem that he had written during the past week. The theme of this poem centered around death and power. Damien explained that he obtains his power by drinking blood of others. He typically drinks the blood of a sexual partner or of a ruling partner. This is achieved by biting or cutting. He states “it makes me feel like a God”. Damien describes drinking blood as giving him more power and strength. He remembers doing this as far back as age 10. He does not remember where he learned to do this."
(#4) Tiffany Allen witnesses a fight between Jason Baldwin and another kid, 1992-1993?, report from 10-93
RIDGE: WHAT OCCURRED DURING THAT FIGHT?
ALLEN: WELL, JOHN HIT HIM [JASON] HARD AND HE STARTED BLEEDING AND THEN AFTER THE FIGHT AND EVERYTHING DAMIEN BENDS DOWN PUT HIS FINGER IN, DIPS INTO THE BLOOD AND THEN STICKS IT IN HIS MOUTH
SOURCE: http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/tifda2.html
(#5) Jessie Misskelley mentions D's blood licking/drinking in the first hour of his being questioned by police, 06-03-93 has seen Jason Baldwin get in Fight
with a guy and got his nose busted and Damien stuck his Finger in the blood and licked it. Occurred in lakeshore. Damien is Sick (in head) Drinks Blood
SOURCES: Notes of Mike Allen and Bryn Ridge
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/jmin.htmlhttp://callahan.8k.com/wm3/jm_ridge1.html
(#6) Jessie Misskelley includes a licking blood detail in his confession to Stidham and Prosecutors, 02-17-94
DAVIS: What, what was Damien doing during this time?
MISSKELLEY: Well the one that got cut on his face, he stuck his finger on his cheek and slicked the blood off of it.
SOURCE: http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/jmfeb.html
(#7) Damien Echols tells interviewer he didn't drink blood -- he licked it, 1994-1996?
SOURCE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTsYjBQIMRQ#t=355s
FACT - DAMIEN ECHOLS HAS DABBLED IN MANY RELIGIONS… FROM BAPTIST, TO CATHOLIC, TO BUDDISM, TO WICCA, TO SATANISM. THE MURDER INVESTIGATION WAS NOT A "WITCH HUNT."
During the trials, prosecutors successfully demonstrated Echols dabbled in many religions and belief systems. Growing up in West Memphis he sometimes attended Baptist youth group sessions and he spent some time studying Catholicism at St. Michael Catholic Church. Many of the journals and books confiscated from his bedroom after the murders had occult related themes. He converted to Buddhism in prison. He and his wife, Lorri Davis, were married in a Buddist ceremony in 2005.
After Lorri helped free him from prison, they moved into movie maker Peter Jackson’s apartment in the Tribeca section of New York City. They lived there rent-free until they left NYC in September 2012 and purchased a $290,000 home in Salem, Massachusetts - home of the Salem witch trials. Damien has said he believes that Salem (with its touristy witch supply shops and tarot card readers) is the only place in the world where he fits in. The early 1800s era house where he resides in Salem serves as home base for him to pursue his many current interests. Judging from his Tweets and recent interviews those interests include:
-Wicca/witchcraft
-Tarot card reading
-Tattooing his "mark" (a crudely drawn black X) on his murder groupies for $200 a pop
-Getting matching tattoos with his new best buddy, Johnny Depp
-Traveling the nation promoting his book, "Life After Death" (published September 2012)
-Traveling the nation promoting his movie "West of Memphis" (released in December 2012)
-Working as a motivational speaker (according to his agent's website he charges "under $10,000")
http://www.kepplerspeakers.com/speakers/?speaker=Damien+Echols+and+Lorri+Davis
-Collecting (presumably fake) human skulls
-Admiring and posting photos of artwork depicting torture and murder
-Selling his own prison artwork for as much as $3,500 for an original and $150 for a print. At a January 2013 exhbit at Sacred Tattoo Art Gallery in NYC he had more than $50,000 worth of his "prison art" for sale. One of his artworks depicted a screaming child being attacked by three butterflies. (Could the butterflies have been Damien, Jason, and Jessie?) That piece alone sold for $1,700
-Writing near daily Tweets about various occult related topics
-Running an occult "faith healing" center. On 4/16/13 Echols opened his "Hermetic Reiki" center in Salem: "@damienechols: The Hermetic Reiki center is up and running. If you'd like to make an appointment email [email protected]." Reiki involves rubbing your hands on the body of another person to heal them by transmitting your "Life Force" to them. Yes, that's right, Echols is a "faith healer." He charges $130 hour for this "service."
-And last, but not least, narcissistically writing and talking about his favorite subject... himself.
Even die-hard supporters are growing tired of his incessant Tweets about "moon water" and "magick." For what it's worth, the murders took place during a full moon and "magick" is a term frequently used by Aleister Crowley.
Were the murders a true satanic ritual? No. Did Damien's interest in the occult coupled with his mental illness play a role? Probably so. Was the city of West Memphis (and later the jury) in a state of "Satanic Panic?" No. That is a myth created by the Paradise Lost documentary makers because it made a good story.
The trials were moved out of West Memphis nearly one hour away to Jonesboro (Echols and Baldwin) and Corning (Misskelley) in order to give the defendants a better shot at seating fair, unbiased juries. Members of those juries were far removed from any alleged "Satanic Panic" in West Memphis. "Satanic Panic" only existed in the minds of some documentary makers who were attempting to make a buck by sensationalizing their movie at the expense of justice for three dead little boys.
http://twitter.com/damienechols
FACT - THERE IS EVIDENCE THE WM3 COMMITTED THE MURDERS:
The documentaries leave out the considerable physical and circumstantial evidence presented at the trials. Some recent mainstream media reports go so far as to say "no evidence was found." Nothing could be farther from the truth. The murderers slicked off the creek bank and washed away most of the physical evidence in the muddy water. Despite their efforts, a few items
remained.
Fibers
Green fibers microscopically similar to a shirt found in Echols' home and red fibers microscopically similar with a bath robe found in Baldwin's home were found on the victims.
The defense retested the fibers in 2012 and claim they do not match. However, the people who retested the evidence were paid by the defense, the fibers have decayed over the years and
are now of poor quality, and the original criminalist who examined them has died and cannot defend attacks against her original findings.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/ebtrial/lsakevicius.html
http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2012/08/30/new-fiber-analysis-results-in-wm3-case
Candle Wax
What appeared to be blue candle wax was found on a book (called Never on a Broomstick) in Echols'
bedroom. A small blue candle was also found on a table in Domini Teer's bedroom. (Domini Teer was Echols' girlfriend at the time). Why is this important? Because blue candle wax was found on the shirt of victim Stevie Branch. It was never proven that the waxes matched, but this strange coincidence was mentioned in the prosecution's closing argument.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/ebtrial/closefogleman.html
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/ebtrial/lisasak2.html
http://callahan.mysite.com/images2/search/domini/dt_search_03.JPG
The Lake Knife
A knife was found submerged blade down in the pond directly behind Jason Baldwin's home. Damien's ex-girlfriend, Deanna Holcomb, testified that the knife was similar to a knife that belonged to Damien. She said Damien's knife was unique because it had a compass on the end. During the trial, a knife distributor testified that the lake knife had a missing compass.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/ebtrial/dholcomb.html
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/ebtrial/jparker.html
Several years ago, a veteran West Memphis Three case researcher named Shaun Wheeler revisited what had been described as a human bite mark on Stevie Branch’s forehead. Wheeler had two forensic odontologists (dentists) compare the wound to the missing compass slot on the handle of the lake knife. According to Wheeler, forensic odontologists Homer Campbell and Peter Loomis are experts in both tool mark and bite mark identification.
Campbell and Loomis both report that the round slot where the compass had been matched the wound on Branch's forehead. These are transcriptions of emails Wheeler says were sent to him by Campbell and Loomis.
"I believe the injuries to the left forehead and upper lid of the left eye were produced by the knife recovered or one similar. I also sent the photos of the injuries and the knife to another for evaluation and he agrees. Have fun with this and thank you for sending it to me." -Homer Campbell
"Bingo. The circular mark sure looks like the butt of the survival knife. The measurements fit. The diameter of the injury is 30mm, and the diameter of the prominent circular area of the butt of the knife is 29.8mm. The 3 lacerations under the eyebrow look like they were made by the serrations on the back side of the knife. The measurements also fit here. The lacerations measure 11.2mm between them, and the serrated points on the knife vary between 11.1 and 11.4 mm. Of course the photo with the wooden ruler is blurry depicting these serrations but I can still measure them." -Peter Loomis
Also worth noting, the lake knife's missing compass many have had a metal pin. Some have speculated the metal pin could have caused the "x-mark" injury in the center of Stevie's forehead. This is what the missing compass on the lake knife is believed to have looked like. Note the metal pin in the middle: http://thewm3revelations.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/knives-survival-knife-with-compass-black-hk-8838b-c.jpg
This video illustrates how the lake knife could have caused the wound on Stevie's forehead: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4zgf1Epw3TM
An extremely in-depth discussion on this topic with additional pictures of the lake knife compared to the injuries can be found here: http://thewm3revelations.wordpress.com/tag/west-memphis-three-murder-damien-echols-jessie-misske/
The Bloody Necklace
Though never presented to the jury, a necklace belonging to Damien Echols had blood from two DNA sources on it. One source was consistent with his own blood. The second source was consistent with the blood of both victim Stevie Branch and co-defendant Jason Baldwin. The bloody necklace was discovered late in the trial. It was not presented to the jury because doing so would have caused a continuance in the trial to give the defense time to examine the new evidence. It could have also led to a mistrial and a severance of the Echols and Baldwin cases. Prosecutors claimed the sample was used up in the original testing, so the blood on the necklace cannot be re-tested.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/ebtrial/march17_hearing.html http://m.arkansasonline.com/.../mar/18/fate-2-hands-jurors
Three Knots
The victims were tied with three distinct knots. This pointed to three killers involved in the murders.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/ebtrial/lsakevicius.html
Blood at the Crime Scene
In the Paradise Lost documentaries you will hear people say that "no blood was found at the crime scene." Many people have used that to theorize that the murders took place somewhere else and the bodies were later dumped in the ditch (an idea sometimes referred to as "The Man Hole Theory"). It's a tactic used by the WM3 defense team to attempt to frame "alternative suspects" such as Terry Hobbs. The fact is, Luminol testing in May 1993 revealed significant amounts of blood at the crime scene. Luminol is a chemical that glows when it is exposed to blood, but it was not admissible in court in 1994. The blood revealed by the Luminol clearly shows that the murders occurred exactly where Jessie Misskelley said they did. As one law enforcement official described it, the crime scene "lit up like a Christmas tree" when Luminol was applied.
http://wm3truth.com/crime-scene-or-dump-site/
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/img2/luminol_photos.html
Eyewitnesses
Eyewitnesses also played a role. One of the centerpieces of the case involved the Hollingsworth family who knew Damien and claimed to see him walking near the crime scene, covered in mud, on the night of the murders. The witnesses claim that he was walking with his girlfriend Domini Teer. (Domini would later become the teen mother of Damien's only child, Seth, who was born shortly after Damien’s arrest). The witnesses were actually relatives of Domini and knew Damien and Domini well. Prosecutors made a convincing argument that Jason Baldwin and Domini had a similar build and hairstyle at the time of the murders and could have been easily confused for one another in the dark. Regardless of who was with Damien, the Hollingsworth family was adamant that they saw Damien walking with someone near the crime scene on the night of the murders. There is no record that that Hollingsworth family has ever recanted this story.
http://wm3truth.com/the-hollingsworth-sighting/
FACT - ECHOLS, BALDWIN, AND MISSKELLEY DID NOT HAVE ALIBIS. SOME OF THE "ALIBIS" PRESENTED IN WEST OF MEMPHIS ARE LESS THAN TRUTHFUL:
None of the three had an alibi that held up in court for the hours in which the murders occurred. Echols and Misskelley attempted to provide alibi witnesses, but they were all discredited on the stand during the trials. Jason Baldwin's "alibi" was so flimsy, his attorney did not even bother to present it.
Jessie Misskelley's Failed Alibis:
In the documentary West of Memphis, Jessie Misskelly's alibi witnesses tell a story that Jessie was wrestling in a nearby town on the night of the murders. The fact is, Jessie Misskelley's jury heard these witnesses and did not believe their conflicting stories. The movie presents a wrestling contract and a picture of Jessie in wrestling gear and seems to suggest that these items are from May 5th, 1993. Yet the movie presents no proof these items are from May 5th, 1993.
http://wm3truth.com/failed-alibis-for-misskelley-echols-and-baldwin/
Damien Echols Failed Alibis:
In a 2010 interview with CNN, Damien Echols made the following claim:
"At the time the police say the murders took place I was actually on the phone with three different people. The problem was, my attorneys never called them to the stand." -Damien Echols
You can watch that interview here (it’s at the very beginning):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leEtbjm2uHI#t=65s
There are actually four girls that Damien has claimed to talk to on May 5th, 1993. Why didn’t his attorneys call them to the stand? Here’s why. Because not a single one of them could account for his whereabouts from 5:30pm to 9:20pm on May 5th, 1993. The murders are widely believed to have occurred between 6:45pm and 8:00pm. In fact, some of the “phone girls” statements actually place Damien WITH Jason Baldwin during that time. Their statements would not have provided alibis for Damien. To the contrary, they would have provided evidence that he was out of his
home between 5:30pm and 9:20pm with Jason Baldwin on the night of May 5th, 1993. The “phone
girls” would have made much better prosecution witnesses than defense witnesses. Echols should be thankful they weren’t called as witnesses in 1993. Here are summaries of their 1993 police
statements:
( 1 ) Holly George: Damien claimed he talked to Holly George on May 5th, 1993. Holly told police she didn’t talk to Damien that evening. She said she spoke with him much earlier in the afternoon, around 3:00pm or 4:00pm.
http://www.callahan.mysite.com/wm3/hollyg2.html
( 2 ) Heather Cliett: Damien claimed he spoke with Heather Cliett on the evening of May
5th, 1993. Cliett said she'd been unable to reach Echols until 10:30pm. She also mentioned that Holly George told her that Echols had been "out walking around" on May 5th, 1993.
http://www.callahan.mysite.com/wm3/img/hcstatement.html
( 3 ) Domini Teer: Damien’s girlfriend, Domini Teer, said she last saw Damien around 5:00-5:30pm on May 5th, 1993. She said she did not speak with him again until Damien called her around 10:00pm that night.
http://www.callahan.mysite.com/wm3/domit.html
( 4 ) Jennifer Bearden: Most damaging to Damien’s case is Jennifer Bearden. Bearden told police in a 9/10/93 statement that she called Jason’s house between 4:15pm and 5:30pm on May 5th, 1993. She says Jason answered the phone and she talked to Jason and Damien for about 20 minutes. Damien told her he and Jason were “going somewhere” and to call him back at 8:00pm. When Bearden called Damien’s house at 8:00pm his grandmother answered. Damien’s grandmother told Bearden that Damien “wasn’t there.” In her police statement, Bearden says she finally reached Damien around 9:20pm. This is an exchange with officer Bryn Ridge and Bearden during her 9/10/93 statement:
RIDGE: About what time was that call you made to Jason's?
BEARDEN: Between, it had to be somewhere in between 4:15 and 5, something like that 5, 5:30
RIDGE: Who answered the phone at Jason's?
BEARDEN: Jason
RIDGE: And did you talk to Damien?
BEARDEN: Yeah I talked to Jason about 5 minutes and the (inaudible) with Damien and he wasn't talking because they were playing video games with his little brother Matt
RIDGE: Okay, and after that conversation you had with him
BEARDEN: He said him and Jason were going to go somewhere, him and Jason were going somewhere and that he, um, wanted me to call him later at his house around 8 and I said okay.
RIDGE: Okay, did he say where he was going to go?
BEARDEN: No.
RIDGE: Okay, and when you called back about 8.
BEARDEN: His Grandmother said he wasn't there, and I was suppose to call back around 9, and I called back around 9:20, 9:30 and I talk to him for a little bit, but then I had to get off the phone, because I wasn't suppose to be on the phone after 9:30.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/img/bearden.html
During her conversation with Damien around 9:20pm on May 5th, 1993 Bearden says Damien told her he had been “out” with Jason. He claims they had been driven somewhere by Jason’s mother, Angela Gail Grinnell:
RIDGE: Okay, after that last call and you talked to Damien, did you ask him where he had been that evening?
BEARDEN: I said where did you and Jason go, and he said, uh, his Mom just took us some where, he didn't really say where, because like -
RIDGE: Who's Mom took him somewhere?
BEARDEN: Jason's
Problem is, Damien was lying. Jason’s mom could not have driven them anywhere because she told the prosecutor she was at work from 3:00pm until 11:00pm on May 5th, 1993:
FOGLEMAN: OKAY, WHAT HOURS DO YOU WORK THERE?
ANGELA: I WORK FROM 3 TO 11
http://www.callahan.mysite.com/wm3/gail.html
In West of Memphis, Bearden can be seen reading from a police report saying that “she had been on the phone with Damien and Jason during the afternoon after school and until about 9:30pm.” This is offered up as proof that Damien was on the phone with Bearden all night on May 5th until 9:30pm. This poorly written police report distorts the facts of Bearden’s full police statement in which Bearden clearly states that she spoke with Damien before 5:30pm and after 9:20pm and that he was “out” with Jason in between (during the same time the murders were occurring). This is yet another example of how West of Memphis and the other documentaries distort the facts to make the WM3 appear innocent, when the facts clearly point to guilt.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/jenbreport.html
A good, brief summary of the problems with Bearden's statement in West of Memphis can be found here:
http://i1311.photobucket.com/albums/s665/FredJWalsh/Jennifer-Bearden-in-WoM_zps853dd50d.jpg
FACT – DAMIEN ECHOLS HAS LIED ABOUT MANY BASIC FACTS OF THIS CASE.
This list of inconsistencies and outright lies was compiled by WM3 case researcher Fred J. Walsh:
- Place of residence
Told a 2010 interviewer at the time of the crimes he had lived in Marion, AR, and told Larry King it was within 10 or 15 miles of West Memphis. At trial Mr. Echols testified that his residence was at Broadway Trailer Park in West Memphis, within 2 miles of crime scene.
- Frequency of travel within West Memphis
Testified in 1994 to walking around West Memphis "frequently"; in a 2010 interview stated he went to West Memphis "hardly at all."
- Familiarity with area around victim neighborhoods
Testified in 1994 to walking through those neighborhoods 2-3 times a week, and in fact had lived across from Robin Hood Hills in Mayfair Apartments as a child for a time; also answered affirmatively on a police questionnaire that he was familiar with Robin Hood Hills. But in a 2010 interview Mr. Echols denied that familiarity with the crime scene area, and said it was a residential area, and thus out of bounds for him, as he would only go to West Memphis for Walmart, and such.
- Alibi on the Stand
Agreed with prosecutor that his visit to some family friends was moved around depending on the hours he needed to cover.
- Initial Changes to Alibi Story
Alibi story changed between police interviews with Mr. Echols on May 9 and May 10, with respect to (1) who had picked him up from Laundromat near Jason's Uncle's house; (2) who had gotten in the car as passengers; (3) when the pick-up occurred; and (4) where they went afterwards.
- Further changes to Alibi Story
While awaiting trial, Mr. Echols told his defense investigator in July 1993 that at 7:45pm he had fielded a phone call from a 12-year-old girl that lasted 60-90 minutes. The girl, meanwhile, said she reached him not until around 9:30pm and that they had spoken only briefly; an earlier attempt to reach him at 8 or 9pm had indicated he was out; and when she asked him where he'd been that evening, he'd told her with co-defendant Jason Baldwin. In August 1993 Mr. Echols revised this story, saying that the girl had tried to reach him but her call was denied because he had given instructions to his mother not to take it, because he was at home with his girlfriend, Domini -- a claim that is refuted by all accounts of Domini's activities that day.
- Friendship with Jessie Misskelley
In his book Almost Home (2005) Mr. Echols maintained he had known Misskelley enough to say a few words when he saw him. Currently, former FBI profiler and WM3 advocate John Douglas broadcasts Echols' contention that he "didn't even really know" Misskelley. But if we go back to the time of the investigation, the accounts of peers and community members like Domini Teer, Jim McNease, Jason Crosby, Deanna Holcomb, and others, maintain an actual friendship between Echols and Misskelley, and place the two together at Echols' house, walking around town, and at community events in 1991-1993.
- Origin and Extent of his Psych History, aka Exhibit 500
Currently Mr. Echols says his documented psych history for 1992-1993 -- a large set of documents generated by various mental health professionals during his 3 hospitalizations for suicidal and homicidal impulses, detailing among other things the threats to his parents that led to their telling health professionals they did not want him to return to their household, because "they are frightened of him and what he can do, not only to them but to other children that reside in the home" -- was actually a document written by a single perjured woman, and engineered by Jason's lawyers to cast suspicion on him. Neither of these contentions is true. Further, Mr. Echols has told Piers Morgan that he wasn't a troublemaking kid (despite multiple school suspensions for fights and fires, and the three hospitalizations), and typically portrays his various well-documented mental issues, including diagnosed psychoses, as simply "depression."
- Shane Divilbiss Attack (School Fight)
In his hospital papers Mr. Echols told mental health professionals that he had attempted to gouge out his classmate's eyes with fingernails sharpened to points, which is corroborated by Shane Divilbiss's own account. In more recent tellings, Mr. Echols has changed this story to *appearing as though* it was an attempt to gouge the eyes, when actually he was being pulled off Divilbiss, and just trying to hang on, so it only looked like an attempted eye gouging.
- Mark Gardner Rape Allegations
In the mid-90s Mr. Echols made allegations about being violated by a prisonmate, but recanted them and then reclaimed them over time. An investigation by law enforcement indicated no merit to his claim, and certain reporters indicated that the claims were recanted and restated as a method of attracting attention to the need for prison reform. Mr. Echols' story waffled on whether rapes had occurred, and which of the two men had crawled into the other's cell via a removed cinder block. (WM3 advocate Mara Leveritt reported the hole too small for Gardner to have crawled through, so apparently that version of their story was demonstrably false.) Whatever the real story is, Mr. Echols definitely changed his account.
- Softball Girls
At trial Mr. Echols dismissed their claims to have heard him publicly saying he did it, and called them liars, from the stand. More recently he told Dateline that while he doesn't remember saying those things, IF he had said them, it would have been "like a joke."
- No eating utensil in prison
Claimed no access to eating utensil. Arkansas Dept of Corrections reps say that inmates are granted use of an industrial plastic spork that Mr. Echols apparently declined to use.
ECHOLS: "I had to learn to use a fork again. You know I hadn't eaten with a fork in 18 1/2 years."
PIERS MORGAN: Why?
ECHOLS: "They don't give you forks in there."
PIERS MORGAN: How do you eat?
EHOLS: "With your hands."
- Prison Visits from Mom and Sister
Mr. Echols has stated in recent interviews that his mother and sister visited him in prison only a handful of times, and twice, respectively. Pam and Michelle have publicly stated otherwise, and maintain he's not telling the truth about that. Given Mr. Echols' track record with the truth, I'd tend to believe them.
- Relationship with Son
According to public statements of his adult child's mother, Domini, she reacted badly to a People magazine interview, that had Mr. Echols talking about his efforts as a Dad. Domini maintains he hasn't been putting in any effort (he'd been out to Tempe, AZ for publicity event and hadn't called his son) and resents his remarks, and that he had not been responsive to attempts to reach out via private means.
If Mr. Echols had a better track record with the truth, his words might be taken more seriously by those who have been listening well.
FACT - ECHOLS FREQUENTLY WALKED AROUND WEST MEMPHIS AND WAS VERY FAMILIAR WITH THE CRIME SCENE PRIOR TO THE MURDERS:
"He began to walk the moment he got to town, in the morning, at night, when he was anxious or bored or simply awake, through the rain and later the snow.... In his heavy black leather jacket and sunglasses, he wandered all around town, quietly but purposefully, like a ghost looking for something to haunt."
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/article/2013/06/25/damien-echols-salem/
Long, frequent walking is a habit Echols developed in his teen years as a resident of West Memphis, AR -- but you might not know that, to hear him tell it, today. In 2010 Echols told an interviewer he "didn't go to West Memphis a lot, at all," having lived outside West Memphis in Marion. He dismissed the Robin Hood Hills crime scene area as a wooded, residential area that he was unfamiliar with, and never would have been in -- noting that his occasional trips to West Memphis
would have been expressly purposeful, citing Wal-Mart as a destination.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=leEtbjm2uHI#t=532s
These contentions fly in the face of the available documentation, including Echols' own 1994 testimony. At the time of arrest, per his testimony, Echols lived at Broadway Trailer Park in
West Memphis, not in neighboring Marion. And he testified to walking around West
Memphis "a lot" with co-defendant Jason Baldwin.
DE: We [Jason and I] like to walk around a lot just with no place particular in
mind. Just start out walking and walk around all day.
Q: Did you walk quite a bit around West Memphis, then?
DE: Yes, I did.
When shown a map of the neighborhoods around the Robin Hood Hills crime scene, Echols told the prosecutor he would have passed through the area "2-3 times a week," in part because those neighborhoods were nearly smack dab between his own residence and those of best friend Jason Baldwin and girlfriend Domini Teer.
Further, Echols has offered in his books vivid memories of having lived as a child, for a time, at Mayfair Apartments which overlooked Robin Hood Hills. And the Sanders family, longtime friends of his own, lived in West Memphis about 1.25 miles west of the crime scene, another reason for Damien to be in the residential area frequently.
That Damien walked around West Memphis "a lot" is further evidenced by the accounts of fellow defendant Jessie Misskelley and stepfather Jack Echols:
"...Damien he don't stay in one place long, he always walk around, he always go to West Memphis... he goes to West Memphis a lot...and he walks around." - Jessie Misskelley, Dec 1993
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/jm_ofshe.html
"There were other times when Damien had so much energy he did not know what to do. He
got really excited and kind of hyper and he always walked at these times. Damien walked to some of the parks in the area, to some of his friends houses, and across town. He told me that he sometimes got confused because he was sure where he needed to go but when he got there he felt like he was in the wrong place. I though that he meant that he changed his mind about where he wanted to go but he told me that it was not like that. Damien did not decide where he was supposed to walk to but got a feeling about where he should be but, when he got where he was going, his feeling changed and he had to go somewhere else. He was real frustrated at these times and I did not know how to help him. I did not really understand what he meant about not knowing where he wanted to be. I sometimes
felt that I should have done a better job trying to figure out what he was talking about and maybe then I could have made things a little better for him." - Jack Echols, September 2000
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/a_j_echols_declaration.html
Note Jack Echols citing "parks in the area" as his stepson's favorite haunt. Damien himself
listed "woods, park" as the two resources he used in the community:
http://callahan.mysite.com/images/500/3/392.jpg
Taking long walks is no crime, and obviously the above documentation is not intended as
proof of guilt but is merely meant to show that Echols will lie about things which do not flatter his innocence stance, regardless of how easily the lies can be checked out. And because reporters typically do not know the facts, he's never called on it.
(This synopsis courtesy of case researcher Fred J. Walsh)
FACT– TWO OF THE STAR WITNESSES AGAINST TERRY HOBBS IN WEST OF
MEMPHIS ARE CONVICTED FELONS:
Baxter County, Arkansas residents "Cody" Curtis Gott and Christian "Blake" Sisk are former friends of Terry Hobbs' nephew, Mike Hobbs Jr. Their interviews were late additions to the film. They went on camera for West of Memphis in January 2012 to talk about what they call "The Hobbs Family Secret." They claim that Mike Hobbs Jr. told them that he heard that his uncle, Terry Hobbs, was involved in the murders. Gott and Sisk were on probation for felony burglary of their high school when producer Amy Berg interviewed them and got them to tell their "Hobbs Family Secret" tale on camera. In May 2013 they were sent to prison on new charges. Sisk was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Gott was sentenced to 7. There have only been a few media mentions of the fact that these star witnesses against Terry Hobbs are young convicted felons from Mountain Home, AR with lengthy arrest records. Here is an excerpt from a Memphis Commercial Appeal article written by Marc Perrusquia on October 29, 2012:
"...details are surfacing on the criminal backgrounds of two witnesses featured in West of Memphis, a 2-1/2 hour film financed by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and coproduced by Echols and his wife along with documentarian Amy Berg. In the film and in affidavits given by the defense early this year to prosecutor Scott Ellington, two men, both in their early 20s, say they learned Hobbs once confessed to a relative that he killed the three boys - something described as 'the Hobbs Family Secret.' Baxter County (Arkansas) Circuit Court records show the men, Cody Curtis Gott, 20, and Christian Blake Sisk, 21, both of Mountain Home, Ark., pleaded guilty in 2010 to felony burglary and misdemeanor theft in connection with a school break-in. Both were charged again this fall with felony drug dealing. According to the Baxter County Sheriff's Office, Gott was charged in September with delivery of methamphetamines and cocaine and Sisk with delivery of a controlled substance and carrying prohibited weapons. Court records show Sisk also has been convicted of terroristic threatening. Defense spokesman Lonnie Soury said Friday the men, despite their records, passed polygraphs and are credible. 'Too many things point to the Hobbs family,' Soury said. '... Put these people under oath. That's all we're asking.' Terry Hobbs, 54, denies any involvement in the murders. He's said in a series of public statements he believes the West Memphis Three are guilty and that efforts to blame him are motivated by profit."
There are numerous problems with "The Hobbs Family Secret" tale that Gott and Sisk are telling:
1. Mike Hobbs and his son have denied ever saying that Terry Hobbs killed Michael, Chris, and
Stevie.
2. The Gott/Sisk statements are hearsay. While they might work in a movie, the statements are likely inadmissible in a court of law. "Terry Hobbs' brother's son says he heard someone say that his uncle did it" would not cut it in a real courtroom.
3. Gott and Sisk may have a grudge against Mike Hobbs Jr. According to Mike Hobbs Sr., Gott and Sisk made up "The Hobbs Family Secret" in order to retaliate against Mike Jr. According to Mike Hobbs Sr., his son provided information to authorities on the Mountain Home High School break-in that led to the arrest and felony conviction of Gott and Sisk.
4. The WM3 defense team claims Gott and Sisk "passed polygraph tests." However, the defense team chose the testers and paid any fees that may have been charged related to that testing. The results have not been analyzed by anyone other than the defense team for accuracy. Plus, polygraph tests are seldom admissible in court.
5. Gott and Sisk may have had a financial motivation. According to the defense timeline of events, the "Hobbs Family Secret" tip came in to the WM3 defense team phone "tip line" on December 11th, 2011. On December 16th Gott, Sisk, and a 3rd unnamed informant were flown to Washington, D.C. to meet with WM3 attorney Steve Braga and WM3 PR agent Lonnie Soury. There, they signed affidavits and were polygraphed. It is unclear whether there was an award connected with the "WM3 phone tip line" in December 2011. However, by February 2012 an anonymous donor had contributed a $100,000 reward to that tip line. At the very least, convicted felons Gott and Sisk got an all-expense-paid trip to D.C. out of the deal.
http://www.fox16.com/news/story/WM3-legal-team-makes-claims-against-victims/4HSfGKIjak-VB0S5mHIg1g.cspx
6. As noted above, because Gott and Sisk are convicted felons with extensive criminal records, they would not make credible witnesses against Terry Hobbs in court. Below is a (lengthy) partial listing of their numerous brushes with the law. The source of much of this information can be found here:
https://caseinfo.aoc.arkansas.gov/cconnect/PROD/public/ck_public_qry_cpty.cp_personcase_setup_idx
CHRISTIAN BLAKE SISK CRIMINAL RECORD:
2/10/10-Burglary
According to the Mountain Home Police website on 2/10/10 someone burglarized Mountain Home High School in Baxter County, AR. The items taken during the burglary were frozen pizzas, a scale, speakers, and medication. On 7/2/10 Sisk was arrested for that crime and charged with Felony Commercial Burglary and Misdemeanor Theft of Property. On 10/21/10 he pled guilty and received 48 months (4 years) probation.
Case: 03CR-10-157
14TH CIRCUIT DIVISION 3
http://www.mtnhomepolice.com/index.php?categoryid=1&p2_articleid=34
7/22/10-Terroristic Threatening
On 7/22/10 Sisk was accused of Terroristic Threatening, a misdemeanor. On 10/21/10 he pled guilty and received 12 months probation.
Case: 03CR-10-167
14TH CIRCUIT DIVISION 3
6/25/12-Selling drugs
Sisk was charged with Felony Delivery of Controlled Substance, Felony Unlawful Use of a Communication Device, and a Felony Proximity Enhanced Penalty in connection with an alleged drug deal to an undercover informant on 6/25/12. Sisk appeared in court in Baxter County on these charges on 10/25/12. According to the Baxter Bulletin Sisk pled
not guilty to Delivery of Marijuana, Unlawful Use of a Communication Device and Distribution Near Certain Facilities in connection with these charges.
Case: 03CR-12-244
14TH CIRCUIT DIVISION 4
6/26/12-Selling Marijuana
Sisk was charged with Felony Delivery of Controlled Substance and Felony Proximity Enhanced Penalty for allegedly selling drugs to an undercover informant. According to an article in the Baxter Bulletin he was arraigned on 9/13/12 and pled not guilty to charges of selling an ounce of "medical quality" marijuana on June 26 for $350. According to the article he posted bond and was released from jail. (This article is archived under the heading "Man accused of
fleeing arraigned" and can only be obtained by paying for it).
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baxterbulletin/access/2763676891.html?FMT=ABS&date=Sep+14%2C+2012
Case: 03CR-12-204
14TH CIRCUIT DIVISION 4
10/11/12-Selling Drugs
According to the Baxter County Sheriff's website, a warrant was
issued for Blake Sisk on 10/11/12 for "Delivery of a Schedule 4 or 5 Controlled
Substance." His bond was set at $5,000. You can see his mug shot here:
http://www.baxtercountysheriff.com/warrants.php?ltr=S
12/8/12-Driving While Intoxicated
Sisk was arrest for DWI on 12/8/12. He was caught driving left of center. His bond was set at $870.
Booking Number: 20123256
http://www.mugshotsworld.com/Christian-B-Sisk
2/8/13 - Failure to Appear
According to the Baxter County Sheriff he was charged with Failure to Appear on 2/8/13.
Booking Number: 20130247
http://www.baxtercountysheriff.com/roster_view.php?booking_num=20130247&PHPSESSID=a289fa75be74325aabbd08274512dede
4/17/13 - Wanted in connection with a burglary/beating
Press Release from the Baxter County Sheriff 4/17/13:
One man is in custody and another man is being sought in connection with a residential burglary and felony battery of a person that occurred last month. On March 21, 2013, Sheriff’s Deputy Chuck Menschik took a report from 1702 Old Military Road in rural Mountain Home from a person saying he had been pulled out of his bed while he was sleeping, was held down, and was then beaten. Items of personal property were also stolen from the residence. The victim knew the assailants and provided their identity to Sheriff’s Investigators. The victim later sought medical attention at
Baxter Regional Medical Center and later at another medical facility. The victim was found to have sustained serious physical injuries. A follow-up theft report was taken the next day, March 22nd, by Sheriff’s Corporal Scott Thrasher. Reported stolen from the residence was a personal safe, a Walther PPKS .380 pistol (which had already been reported stolen on March 21st), and Iphone 4, an Ipod touch, several knives, a camcorder, and Clonazepam tablets. These items were collectively valued at approximately $700. Later this same day, one of the suspects, identified as 21 year old
JACOB EDWARD CAPLE of Lakeview, Arkansas, was apprehended at the Mountain Home Walmart on a shoplifting charge and had in his possession at that time the stolen pistol. Some of the other stolen items were found inside this
suspect’s vehicle. CAPLE was taken to the Sheriff’s Office and questioned by Sheriff’s Investigator Trey Edings. CAPLE admitted to Investigator Edings that he and the other suspect the victim had named, 21 year old CHRISTIAN BLAKE SISK of rural Mountain Home, had gone to the victim’s residence on the date in question. They kicked in the door, pulled the victim out of bed, and then beat him. Investigators applied for felony bench warrants for the arrest of JACOB EDWARD CAPLE and CHRISTIAN BLAKE SISK. JACOB CAPLE surrendered himself to the Detention Center this morning and has been booked in on charges of:
Battery in the Second Degree – Felony
Residential Burglary – Felony
Theft of Property (Firearm) – Felony
Theft of Property – Misdemeanor
JACOB CAPLE is being held in lieu of $25,000 bond, with an appearance scheduled in Baxter County Circuit Court for April 25th. Sheriff’s Investigators are currently looking for the second offender, CHRISTIAN BLAKE SISK. Anyone
knowing his current whereabouts is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office.
http://www.baxtercountysheriff.com/press_view.php?id=1097
5/2/13-Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison
On May 2, 2013 Blake Sisk pled guilty to several charges, including residential burglary.
http://hometowndailynews.com/14851/mountain_home_man_sentenced_to_10_years_in_prison_.html
He was sentenced to 10 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
http://www.baxtercountysheriff.com/roster_view.php?booking_num=20131106
CODY CURTIS GOTT CRIMINAL RECORD:
2/10/10-Burglary
According to the Mountain Home Police website on 2/10/10 someone burglarized Mountain Home High School in Baxter County, AR. The items taken during the burglary were frozen pizzas, a scale, speakers, and medication. On 6/29/10 Gott was arrested for that crime and charged with Felony Commercial Burglary and Misdemeanor Theft of Property. On 10/20/10 he pled guilty and received 60 months (5 years) probation.
http://www.mtnhomepolice.com/index.php?categoryid=1&p2_articleid=34
Case: 03CR-10-144
14TH CIRCUIT DIVISION 3
4/19/12-Selling Meth
According to a 9/14/12 article in the Baxter Bulletin, Gott was accused of selling about 1.5 grams of methamphetamine for $150 on 4/19/12. He also received a Felony Proximity Enhanced Penalty. According to the article he appeared in court on that charge on 9/13/12, pled not guilty, and was released on bond. (This article is archived under the heading "Man accused of fleeing arraigned" and can only be obtained by paying for it).
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baxterbulletin/access/2763676891.html?FMT=ABS&date=Sep+14%2C+2012
Cases:
03CR-11-33
03CR-12-205
This is Gott 's mug shot from that arrest:
http://www.jailbase.com/en/arrested/ar-bcso/2012-09-12/cody-gott-20120912-20122478
5/13-Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison
In May 2013, Cody Gott was sentenced to 7 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections for commercial burglary and probation revocation.
http://www.baxtercountysheriff.com/roster_view.php?booking_num=20130867
FACT– TWO OTHER ALLEGED "WITNESSES" AGAINST TERRY HOBBS ARE CONVICTED RAPISTS:
In March 2013 two Crittenden County, Arkansas men (Billy Wayne Stewart and Bennie David Guy) gave sworn statements that alleged that Terry Hobbs, David Jacoby, L.G. Hollingsworth, and Buddy Lucas killed Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Stevie Branch. Stewart and Guy claimed to have information that the murders happened after the boys stumbled upon Hobbs and the other men as they did drugs in the woods. This information was presented to a judge by attorney Ken Swindle, attorney for Terry Hobbs’ ex-wife. (Read more about this aptly-named attorney here:
http://arkansasnews.com/sections/news/arkansas/court-upholds-5-year-old-student%E2%80%99s-suspension-swearing.html). Swindle failed to mention to the judge and the media that Stewart and Guy were convicted rapists that were serving 40 years (Guy) and 70 years (Stewart) on rape and other charges. In 1996, Bennie Guy pled guilty to raping an 11-year-old girl in an Arkansas motel room. He had also been convicted of sexual assault in Texas in 1996 and was serving that 40 year term concurrently with the one in Arkansas. On top of all that, he escaped from jail in 1997 and was serving 6 years for that. He was denied parole in 2008. Despite this, he was miraculously released on parole on June 11, 2013. He had severed just 17 years of the 40 he should have served for raping a little 11-year-old girl. Why was Guy released from prison just months after his assistance with the WM3 case? Coincidence? You be the judge.
Despite his criminal history
Parole came over objections from Crittenden officials
By Gary Meece
West Memphis Evening Times
6/25/13
While a convicted rapist’s release worksheet noted that he had eight supporters backing his release earlier this month, the two public officials who made official comments were adamantly against his release by the state Parole Board. West Memphis 3 tipster Bennie David Guy was paroled out by the Arkansas Parole Board after serving 17 years of a 40-year sentence despite objections from Crittenden County officials.
In his note to Institutional Release Services, which was seeking recommendations concerning
Guy’s potential parole, Tommy Trammel, chief deputy for the Crittenden County Sheriff’s Department at the County Jail, wrote: “object due to criminal history.”
In his response on the form, Circuit Judge Victor Hill had even stronger words concerning Guy: “I recommend that this inmate serve every minute of his sentence." Names of supporters were not made public. The Parole Board does not release the names of citizens (other than public officials) who comment for or against the potential parole of an inmate.
Guy now is languishing in a East Texas jail. Guy, a former resident of Earle, went from the state
prison system’s Ouachita River Correctional Unit directly to the Gregg County Jail; besides his Arkansas charges, Guy was sentenced to 40 years in Texas in July 1996 on a charge of sexual assault by a habitual offender and was serving that term concurrently while in Arkansas.
Concerning Guy’s status in Texas, “I am unable to give you any information about the above referenced case. I can confirm that he was booked into the Gregg County jail on June 11, 2013. There
are no hearings set at this time,” Terri Shepherd, court administrator for the 124th District Court, said in an e-mail response to a query.
Officials at the Gregg County District Attorney's office said Monday afternoon that they were awaiting paperwork to determine the next stage in handling Guy's case and no paperwork had been received yet. Guy’s appeal of his case on various legal grounds to U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas was denied in 2009.
In April, Ken Swindle, an attorney representing the mother of one of the victims, presented new allegations in the 20-year-old murders of three West Memphis 8-year-olds by relying on sworn statements from Guy and another convicted Crittenden County rapist; both were then serving time in the Cummins Unit of the Arkansas prison system.
Billy Wayne Stewart and Guy alleged that Terry Hobbs, David Jacoby, L.G. Hollingsworth and Buddy Lucas killed Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Stevie Branch on May 5, 1993, after the boys stumbled upon them getting high in the woods near the service road in West Memphis.
Neither statement mentioned Stewart’s or Guy’s circumstances or extensive criminal histories.
Whatever the dispensation of his case in Texas, Guy is under supervised probation according to the Arkansas legal system until July 24, 2035. Guy’s case came under scrutiny prior to his involvement in the West Memphis 3 case, as he had sought parole after learning that DNA collected after
the rape was not a conclusive match to his DNA; the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that the lack of DNA evidence did not exonerate him in the case.
He had gotten support from the activist group the Innocence Project but had failed in
various appeals to the courts.Terry Hobbs, stepfather to Stevie Branch, has denied the allegations made by Guy and Stewart, as has Jacoby, a friend who helped Hobbs search for the boys on May 5, 1993.
Hollingsworth died in a traffic accident in 2001. The sworn statements by Guy and Stewart were
based on alleged admissions from Buddy Lucas. Because of his friendship with Jessie Misskelley Jr., Lucas was interrogated extensively in the 1993 investigation but never has been a suspect in the case.
Misskelley, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin, teens living in local trailer parks at the time of the
killings, were convicted of the murders in 1994 and were released from prison in 2011 in a special plea deal in which they were released on suspended sentences in exchange for guilty pleas. The case has been the subject of four movie documentaries, and the so-called West Memphis 3 have received extensive support from music and film personalities.
Baldwin, who lives in Seattle, has become an activist working with the Innocence Project, and has cofounded his own group, Proclaim Justice Inc., a nonprofit organization currently based in Lakeway, Texas, near Austin. Its Web site states it is “a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation dedicated to winning freedom for inmates who are factually innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted.” The organization continues to attempt to stir up public support for the WM3. Guy, who was 53 when his allegations came to light this spring, was serving a sentence of 40 years issued on Aug. 5, 1996, for rape - habitual offender, from Crittenden County. He had pleaded guilty to the rape of an 11-year-old girl in a motel room on May 27, 1995; he had been on probation at the time of the offense. He also had been sentenced to six years in 1997 for escape, second degree, and had a prior conviction for robbery, for which he was given a two-year sentence in 1994.
Stewart, 49, continues to serve a total time of 70 years on a rape sentence handed down in 2011. He has a string of other felony convictions dating back to 1983. Last week, the Evening Times reported that two other men making allegations against Terry Hobbs are now in prison. Tipsters Christian Blake Sisk and Cody Curtis Gott appeared in last year’s “West of Memphis,” which was
produced by Damien Echols.
Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington has said he believes Echols, Misskelley and Baldwin are guilty and he has seen no evidence to convince him otherwise.
FACT - MISSKELLEY AND ECHOLS FAILED THEIR POLYGRAPH TESTS:
Echols and Misskelley both consented to polygraph tests. Baldwin did not. The original polygraph examiner, West Memphis Police Detective Bill Durham, believed Echols and Misskelley showed signs of deception when answering questions about their involvement in the murders. These results were later disputed by other examiners who were paid by the defense.
Misskelley's polygraph results:
http://callahan.mysite.com/images2/jm_polygraph.jpg
Echols' polygraph results:
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/depoly.html
FACT - "THE SOFTBALL GIRLS" HAVE NOT RECANTED:
Jodee Medford was one of the so-called "softball girls" who told jurors she heard Damien Echols boasting to other kids at the softball field about killing the children. A frequent supporter lie is the false claim that Jodee Medford has "recanted." No public records exist stating that Jodee has recanted. Some people may have misunderstood an affidavit by Jodee's mother, but nowhere in the affidavit does the mother say her daughter has recanted her story.
On the witness stand during his trial, Echols denied bragging to Medford and others that he killed the children. But in a more recent interview with CBS' 48 Hours, Echols admitted that he may have bragged at the softball park about killing the boys. He said "it would have been, like, a joke." You can see him say it on this video at time mark 12:50.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGWa4KomcuA
This means Echols perjured himself at trial when he denied, on the witness stand, that he bragged about the murders at the softball park. The CBS reporter, Erin Moriarty (a long-time champion of the innocence of the WM3), did not bother to ask Echols about his perjury.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/d_medford_declaration.html
FACT– FOUR OUT OF THE SIX SURVIVING PARENTS OF THE VICTIMS BELIEVE THE WM3 ARE GUILTY:
Supporters of the West Memphis Three and lazy journalists often say “even the parents of the victims think the West Memphis Three are innocent.” The fact is Todd and Dana Moore (parents of Michael Moore), Terry Hobbs (step-father of Stevie Branch), and Steve Branch (father of Stevie Branch) all still firmly believe the WM3 are guilty as charged. Melissa Byers (mother of Chris Byers) died believing they were guilty. The parents who claim the WM3 are innocent are Mark Byers (step-father of Chris Byers) and Pam Hobbs (mother of Stevie Branch). It is worth noting that these are the two parents who have made the most TV, print, and film appearances. Click on this link for newspaper columns by Todd Moore and Terry Hobbs. Though these columns were likely written with some help from attorneys, they capture the true feelings that both men have repeatedly expressed over the years.
http://wm3truth.com/2012/08/columns-by-todd-moore-and-terry-hobbs/
FACT - THE WM3 WERE NOT "FORCED" TO ACCEPT THE ALFORD PLEA:
After years of steadfastly upholding the verdicts of two Arkansas juries, The Arkansas Supreme Court finally relented to pressure from WM3 celebrity supporters and the WM3's all-star defense team. In December 2010 the Arkansas Supreme Court granted an evidentiary hearing scheduled for December 2011. The purpose of the hearing was to allow Judge David Laser to hear any "new evidence" the defense had gathered over the years that might justify a new trial. Judge Laser was a new judge who replaced the original trial judge - Judge David Burnett.
But instead of presenting that evidence to Judge Laser at the December hearing, the defense went to a new prosecutor (Scott Ellington) in the summer of 2011 and suggested a deal. Their clients would plead guilty using a legal maneuver called an "Alford Plea" in exchange for time served. The new prosecutor inexplicably accepted the deal. No one "forced" the WM3 to plead guilty. It was their own idea.
Instead of presenting their "new evidence" and gaining complete exoneration, the slick WM3 defense team convinced a newbie prosecutor he could get rid of a difficult case if the WM3 could plead guilty and be released from prison. Now, that same defense team and a slew of celebrity WM3 supporters are hounding Arkansas officials for full exoneration. Without full exoneration, the WM3 will forever remain convicted child killers and convicted felons.
This is the transcript of the in-chambers hearing prior to the public Alford Plea hearing on 8/19/11.
In it, there are repeated mentions by the State that the Alford Plea was the brainchild of the defense. (Example: End of page 31, beginning of page 32). This leaves no doubt that the WM3’s own
attorneys came up with the idea for their clients to plead guilty.
http://callahan.mysite.com/pdf/8_19_11_hearing.pdf
Even Mara Leveritt, champion of the innocence of the WM3, concedes that the Alford Pleas were the defense’s idea. She talks about it in this article:
http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/the-big-ask/Content?oid=1888389
Innocent people with solid evidence of innocence do not plead guilty. Period.
Misskelley Alford Plea:
http://wm3org.typepad.com/files/misskelley-alford.pdf
Echols/Baldwin Alford Plea:
www.wm3org.typepad.com/files/alford-plea-dj.pdf
FACT - THE WM3 HAVE NOT BEEN "EXONERATED":
Contrary to recent media reports, the WM3 have not been "exonerated," found "not guilty," or been "proven innocent." They remain convicted and confessed murderers who were rightfully convicted by two juries. The primary way they could be exonerated is if an alternate suspect is tried and convicted through the judicial process.
Previous efforts to frame alternate suspects such as Mark Byers, step-father of Chris Byers, have failed. Now, the WM3 and their supporters are relentlessly attempting to do the same thing to Terry Hobbs, step-father of Stevie Branch. By some estimates, the "Free the WM3" movement has spent as much as $20 million to find "new evidence" that someone else committed the murders. When given the opportunity to present that evidence at a December 2011 evidentiary hearing, the
WM3 instead chose to plead guilty.
Now, they are presenting their evidence in the court of public opinion through numerous books, movies, and media interviews. WM3 supporters have even offered a $200,000 reward to compel people to "remember" things that might point to the innocence of the WM3. Despite tremendous pressure from the WM3 attorneys, celebrity supporters, and the WM3 PR team so far nothing has been presented to prosecutors in Arkansas that is compelling enough to reopen the case and charge an alternate suspect with the murders. Until that happens, the WM3 will remain guilty as charged.
FACT - EVEN IF "THE HAIR" DOES MATCH TERRY HOBBS, THAT DOESN'T MAKE HIM GUILTY OR THE WM3 INNOCENT:
After years of efforts to frame step-father Mark Byers with the murders failed, the WM3 defense team and makers of the documentaries Paradise Lost 3 and West of Memphis have turned to a new red herring suspect... step-father Terry Hobbs. Many recent media reports claim that "Hobbs' DNA was found on a victim." That sounds pretty compelling, but it's not exactly true.
When most people hear the word "DNA" they assume that means something like blood or semen. This "DNA" is actually a hair fragment found on a shoestring used to hog tie Michael Moore. The defense often says the hair was "tied into" the shoestring. But there are currently no publicly available photographs or documents to prove that claim.
Experts paid by the WM3 defense team claim that they determined through lab tests that Terry Hobbs is a "possible source" of that hair. Problem is, 1.5% of the rest of the population is also a "possible source" of that hair. That means that more than 4.5 MILLION Americans are also "possible sources" of that hair. In addition, Michael Moore frequently visited the Hobbs home. The hair could have easily landed on Moore's shoestring through secondary transfer as he played there. The hair is meaningless and will never lead to the conviction of Terry Hobbs.
Paid defense experts also report that a second hair found on a tree stump near the crime scene weeks after the murders could have come from Hobbs' friend, David Jacoby. But it also could have come from 7% of the rest of the population. A whopping 21 MILLION Americans are also possible owners of the hair found on the tree stump. The “Jacoby hair” is completely meaningless as evidence in court.
The WM3's own hired expert called the hairs "weak evidence" during a 2007 press conference. How the hairs have suddenly become "strong evidence" in West of Memphis is beyond explanation:
"The two hairs that I know about – the one that could have in fact come from Mr. Hobbs and the one that could have in fact come from David Jacoby – constitute what I call weak evidence. Because there are other people it could have come from and there isn’t any way to really prove our selection of possible sources for that hair. I don’t think – my personal opinion – I don’t think that that hair evidence would be enough to convict Mr. Hobbs or Mr. Jacoby or anyone that would be in a similar situation because it’s simply not strong enough. The percentages I gave of people who could be the source of those hairs are 1.5% of the population in the respect to one hair and 7% in respect to the other hair. That’s not particularly strong evidence and especially in the context of what most people are accustomed to with DNA testing." - Thomas Fedor, Forensic Serologist
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/press_conference.html
FACT – THE WM3 DEFENSE TEAM CHANGES THEIR INJURY THEORY TO FIT EACH NEW RED HERRING SUSPECT:
The West Memphis Three defense team once categorized some of the victims’ injuries as “bite marks.” If you are new to this case, you may not be aware the defense theory evolved from a human causing the purported bite marks, to a veritable zoo of animals inflicting the victims’ injuries. The WM3 originally tried to portray stepfather Mark Byers as “the real killer.” A defense expert testified at a post-conviction hearing he suspected there was at least one human bite mark on victim Stevie Branch. Defense experts also speculated human bites were on the other two victims.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/rule37/october27.html
When Byers had his teeth extracted because he needed dentures, many WM3 supporters
concluded it only could mean one thing: Byers had murdered the children. The documentary Paradise Lost 2: Revelations is built around the premise Byers may have murdered the boys. Many WM3 supporters felt the stepfather’s teeth being removed was proof positive of guilt. Despite years of trying, the WM3 defense was never able to pin the crime on Byers. He had a good alibi,
nothing to connect him to the crime, oh… and he’s the innocent step-parent of a victim.
Things changed when Terry Hobbs (step-father of victim Stevie Branch) was determined by the defense to be a "possible source" of a hair found on a shoestring used to tie up victim Michael Moore. Problem is, that hair is also a possible match for 1.5% of the rest of the population. That means that more than 4.5 MILLION Americans are also "possible sources" of that hair. In addition, Michael Moore frequently visited the Hobbs home. The hair could have easily landed on Moore's shoestring through secondary transfer as he played there.
Despite these facts, the defense suddenly adopted an animal predation theory to explain the boys’ injuries. The purpose was to try to discredit the Misskelley confessions, to foster Hobbs as a
“suspect,” and to bring into question the State’s forensics evidence. The transition to a new alternate suspect and new injury theory was seamless. The defense would soon maintain that the castration of Chris Byers with a knife was, in fact, the work of alligator snapping turtles. This theory would appear in West of Memphis, a documentary produced by Peter Jackson and Damien Echols. Other wounds and injuries on the murdered boys were attributed to a wide range of animals and all claims of human bite marks ceased.
For more detailed information on this subject, click here:
http://midsouthjustice.org/smf/index.php?topic=146.0
FACT - "MR. BONJANGLES" DIDN'T DO IT:
Around the time the boys were reported missing on the night of May 5th, 1993 a bleeding, muddy African American man stumbled into the women's bathroom of the Bojangles chicken restaurant about a mile from the crime scene. WM3 supporters often complain about one piece of evidence that was lost... blood scrapings from that bathroom at Bojangles. While it is a shame the samples were lost, the man in Bojangles could not have committed the murders. According to the restaurant manager (Marty King) "Mr. Bojangles" had a "blue cast type brace on his arm that had white Velcro on it." A disoriented, one armed man could not have subdued and hogtied three boys. Could he have been a witness? Yes. Was he the murderer? No.
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/martyking.html
http://callahan.mysite.com/wm3/bojangles.html
FACT - CELEBRITIES ARE NOT CRIME EXPERTS, THEY MAKE MISTAKES, AND
MOST DON'T KNOW ANY MORE ABOUT THIS CASE THAN YOU DO:
Johnny Depp, Peter Jackson, Natalie Maines, Eddie Vedder, Henry Rollins, Dave Navarro, Marilyn Manson... the list of WM3 celebrity supporters goes on and on. The argument goes that all these celebrities wouldn't put their careers on the line to support child killers. When you watch interviews with these celebrities nearly all say they became involved in the case after watching the Paradise Lost documentaries. Chances are, that's how you learned about this case as well. Problem is, if you've really read all the information on this website, you now know that the Paradise Lost series contains lots of things that make the WM3 appear innocent, while leaving out virtually all the facts that point to guilt. Many of these celebrities joined the Free the WM3 crusade with only half of the facts. None will ever destroy their careers by admitting that the WM3 might be guilty. Their reputations now rely on the WM3 being "innocent" and they are sparing no expense to continue to attempt to prove it.
FACT - THE WM3 WERE NOT "WRONGFULLY CONVICTED":
Don't let all the shameless profit-seeking movies, documentaries, and books fool you. The WM3 were found guilty by two juries based on solid physical and circumstantial evidence. They remain guilty (yet free) men because they got a lucky break from a prosecutor who was new to the case. They have not proven that they were "wrongfully convicted" or "falsely convicted," as they often claim. Once they entered guilty pleas through the Alford agreement, the burden fell on them to prove their innocence. They've been out of jail since August 2011 and, so far, they have failed to do so.
FACT – THE STATE OF ARKANSAS SHOULD NOT HAVE RELEASED THE WEST MEMPHIS THREE WITHOUT A SECOND JURY TRIAL:
Here are some facts about the ill-fated Alford Plea:
-One of Damien Echols' attorneys approached his old law school buddy, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, about the idea of an Alford Plea in the summer of 2011. An Alford Plea allows a person to plead guilty, while claiming innocence. McDaniel sent Echols' attorneys to prosecutor Scott Ellington.
http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/the-big-ask/Content?oid=1888389&storyPage1
http://www.tjsl.edu/the-jeffersonian/news/2011/09/west-memphis-three-and-their-alford-plea
-Ellington had been on the job less than one year when he made the call to release the WM3. In a panel discussion about the case just days after the release of the WM3, Ellington publicly admitted he did not read the entire West Memphis police case file before letting the WM3 out of prison.
http://www.clintonschoolspeakers.com/lecture/view/west-memphis-three-past-present-and-future/
-Ellington was, most likely, misled by slick WM3 attorneys into believing real evidence of innocence existed when it didn’t.
-Ellington likely thought this case would "go away" if he let the WM3 out of prison in exchange for guilty pleas.
-As part of the Alford Plea, the WM3 had to agree not to sue the state of Arkansas for wrongful conviction. Some have speculated that the State of Arkansas freed the WM3 for fear the WM3 might sue for millions if they were exonerated in a second jury trail. The fact is, even today the WM3 could still probably sue IF they could prove someone else committed the crime. Arkansas is one of about 23 states that does not have a statute that gives exonerated convicts a set amount for wrongful conviction. If they could prove in a court of law that someone else committed the crime, and if that person was convicted, and if the WM3 were exonerated by that conviction, there doesn't seem to be anything to prevent them for suing for wrongful conviction at some point in the future.
http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Compensating_The_Wrongly_Convicted.php
-The WM3 defense team is believed to have sent prosecutor Ellington all of the evidence that they would have presented at the 2011 evidentiary hearing. Plus, they have sent him additional “evidence” gathered by movie makers during the making of Damien Echols’ movie West of Memphis. If this evidence hasn't been sufficient for Ellington to re-open the case and prosecute Terry Hobbs, why does anyone think the "new evidence" would have been enough to win them a new trial? The evidence was insufficient to win a new trial, the defense knew it, and that's why they approached Ellington with the Alford Plea.
-The state of Arkansas denied justice for both the West Memphis Three and the three eight-year-old victims by allowing a new prosecutor and a bunch of defense attorneys to decide the outcome of this case. If the WM3 are indeed innocent, they now have to live as convicted murderers and felons the rest of their lives. More likely, the state of Arkansas released three child killers to walk among us in a failed effort to get rid of a complicated, expensive, politically unpopular, and time consuming case.
FACT - DAMIEN'S DISTURBING PET NAME FOR HIS GROUPIES IS "CHUPACABRAS”:
Justin Bieber has his legion of "Beliebers," but what does Damien Echols call his growing flock of murder groupies on Twitter? "Chupacabras" of course! The Chupacabras are even using hash tags like #teamchupacabra and (Look out! They’re taking over!) #chupacabranation. Here's just one example of a Tweet from the Chupacabra-in-Chief to his flock of groupies:
"@damienechols: Tonight is the full moon, my little Chupacabras. Step outside and howl just to see your breath in the air."
So what, you ask, is a Chupacabra? A Chupacabra is a mythical vampire-like, blood-sucking creature. The literal translation is "goat sucker." Oh. Ok. Right. What else would a guy who’s been repeatedly documented licking/drinking blood call his followers? There's a certain kind of genius to it. It seems Damien has found a way to call his groupies "suckers".... and have them like it! Here are a few select Tweets from #teamchupacabra:
@damienechols: Movie stars are the ones who have "fans". I'd rather have Chupacabras.
@Redangel325: @damienechols I think we started something... #teamChupacabra now we need shirts. Hahahaha
@Mr_Nerjer: @damienechols I'm in with #teamchupacabra!
@damienechols: @Redangel325: @damienechols I want to be #teamChupacabra
@marciejb10: @damienechols Chupacabrafragilisticexpialidocious #teamChupacabra
@effektedchik: @damienechols I think the constant travelling calls for #teamchupacabraairlines with moonwater inflight refreshments!
@dolface79: @damienechols #teamchupacabra leader is a tough job...but someones gotta do it!
@AlainaBaina5: @damienechols goat suckers for life #teamchupacabra
@dixiefairy: @damienechols I'm proud to be part of Chupacabra Nation!
@fairygirl1975: @damienechols #teamchupacabra winning
@damienechols: @thewickedbelle: @damienechols: if being a chupacabra is wrong, I don't wanna be right! :) #chupacabrapower
You couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried.
https://twitter.com/damienechols
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chupacabra
FACT - DAMIEN ECHOLS IS NUTS. HERE ARE JUST A FEW SELECT QUOTES FROM HIS WRITINGS :
"I see a perfect explosion, God's ammunition dump, going up in the flames of righteousness, Satan storming heaven, his artillery captain, a fiercely grinning fool with red flayed cheeks, Damien by name, never to be Michael Hutchison (Echols' birth name) again. The end is near. Kiss your ass goodbye people, it's time to pay up. Now is the Judgment. I am the Judge." -Damien Echols
“Everyone will pay because everyone is too stupid to open their eyes. This is the final times and I am the new Messiah. Wake up and smell the crud faggets, I don't care whether you are saved or not. Everyone pays the price." -Damien Echols
"My body is changing but that medicine is making it happen a lot more slowly than normal. I am outgrowing my skin. I am eating packs of sugar and Koolaid to give my body the extra energy it needs to make its change. Soon people will know I am the Christ just by looking at me." -Damien Echols
"Even after I die, people are going to remember me forever. They're going to talk about me for years. People will tell their kids stories. It will be like I'm the West Memphis boogey man. Little kids will be looking under their beds before they go to bed. Damien might be under there." - Damien Echols
FACT – VERY FEW JOURNALISTS RESEARCH THIS CASE (BEYOND WATCHING THE DOCUMENTARIES) BEFORE INTERVIEWING THE WM3. IF YOU ARE A REPORTER WHO IS TOO LAZY TO DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH, HERE IS A LIST OF QUESTIONS TO ASK DAMIEN ECHOLS. PRESTIGIOUS JOURNALISM AWARDS AWAIT THOSE BRAVE ENOUGH TO ASK THESE QUESTIONS:
( 1 ) Why did you (Echols) tell Larry King you lived in Marion “10-15 miles from crime scene” when at the time of the crimes, by your own testimony, you lived at Broadway Trailer Park in West Memphis, less than 2 miles from the crime scene?
( 2 ) Why have you (Echols) told interviewers you went to West Memphis "hardly at all" when you in fact lived there at the time of the murders, and testified to walking around West Memphis with Jason Baldwin "frequently?”
( 3 ) Why have you (Echols) told interviewers you were unfamiliar with crime scene neighborhood
where victims lived? You testified in 1994 to walking through that neighborhood "2 to 3 times a week.” In your first book, you vividly recount living in Mayfair Apartments, across from crime scene.
( 4 ) Why have you (Echols) dismissed reports of your mental illness as the work of "3rd & 4th-hand rumors" when 1st-hand documentation from mental health professionals, peers, and law enforcement officers clearly demonstrate your mental illness in 1992-1993?
( 5 ) When you (Echols) personally reported to the Social Security Administration in 1992 that you were plagued with the following issues - "Homicidal, Suicidal, Manic Depression, Schizophrenia, Drug Abuse, Alcohol Abuse & Sociopathic" - how much of that self-assessment was legitimate? If
some of those assessments were not legitimate, why did you report them in an application for disability benefits?
( 6 ) Awaiting trial, why did you (Echols) write that your body was changing via Koolaid packs, transforming you into "the Christ?”
( 7 ) If you (Echols) were a "white Wiccan" at the time of your arrest, why did you write imagery of yourself as "Satan's artillery captain" storming Heaven? Why did your talk about overseeing
Armageddon, with reminders to yourself about "choosing Disciples before Halloween?”
( 8 ) How do you (Echols) reconcile your contention that you were on the phone with four different girls when the crimes occurred (6:30pm-9:00pm), with the fact that 1993 statements offered by those girls do not cover your alibi for the hours from 5:00pm-9:20pm?
( 9 ) Why did Jennifer Bearden report in 1993 that your grandma told her you (Echols) were "out" when she called at 8:00pm on May 5th? Why did Bearden tell police that you told her you were “out” somewhere with Jason Baldwin that night when she did finally reach you by phone around 9:30pm on May 5th? Why did Heather Cliett suggest to police you were with Jason that night,
and why did she report that Holly George told her you were “out”that night walking around? Since these alibis with your “phone girls” have failed, where exactly were you between 6:30pm and 9:00pm on May 5th, 1993?
( 10 ) When you (Echols) spoke with the WMPD on May 10th, 1993 why did your account of May 5th differ sharply from the story your girlfriend, Domini, told? You said she was dropped off at home before 3pm; her own account put her home at 7pm.
( 11 ) Why, at the trial, did you (Echols) smirk at the testimony of the “softball girls” and call them liars from the stand? Did you admit to perjury when you told reporter Erin Moriarty that you might have told the girls at the softball park you killed the boys, but you were just “joking.”
( 12 ) What is the truth of the Mark Gardner rape allegations that you (Echols) have submitted and withdrawn at points? If the rape allegations were false, why did you make them? If they were true, exactly how did Gardner “force” you to crawl through a removed cinder block so he could rape you?
( 13 ) Was Joe Bartoush's account of you (Echols) killing a dog (partially corroborated by Heather Cliett, Blaine Hodge, and your large collection of animal skulls) true? If it was not true, why would Jason Baldwin's own cousin (Joe Bartoush) offer this damaging information to police, especially with you and Jason in peril of going to prison for triple murder?
( 14 ) When you (Echols) said that, like Manson & Bundy, you would be remembered by the world, was this what you had in mind?
( 15 ) Do you (Echols) feel your parents were truthful when they told your doctors in September 1992 that they did not want you living in their home any more, for fear your would harm them & the children in the house? If not, why would they offer that statement?
( 16 ) Why, in recent interviews, do you (Echols) categorize Exhibit 500 as a document written by one woman, and submitted by Jason's lawyers to attack you? Exhibit 500 is actually a collection of
documents written by mental health professionals documenting your three stays in mental hospitals for suicidal/homicidal impulses in 1992. It was compiled by your own defense team and submitted in the sentencing phase in an attempt to secure leniency for you. Why are you attacking Baldwin and his attorneys for a document your doctors wrote and YOU submitted to your jury?
(17) For many years you (Echols) accused step-father Mark Byers of the murders. More recently, you have pointed the finger at step-father Terry Hobbs. You’ve even implied that Mr. Bojangles could be involved. If you didn’t commit these murders, who did?
(18) How much money have you (Echols) made off your books, your documentary, your artwork, your speaking engagements, your tattoo work, and other murder-related business ventures since your release in August 2011? How much in donations would you estimate you have received over the years from WM3.org, Peter Jackson, Johnny Depp, and other benefactors?
-Most of these questions were written by long-time case researcher, Fred J. Walsh
DONATIONS NEEDED FOR WEAVER READING GROVE MEMORIAL UPGRADES:
Sunday, May 5th 2013 marked the 20th anniversary of the murders of 8-year-old Cub Scouts Michael Moore, Chris Byers, and Steve Branch in West Memphis, Arkansas.
A fund has been set up to honor the boys by making upgrades and improvements to their
memorial at their former school, Weaver Elementary in West Memphis. The memorial is called "The Weaver Reading Grove." It was constructed in 1994 on the playground of Weaver Elementary. It consists of a gazebo, benches, and a memorial stone honoring the boys. In honor of the 20th anniversary, people from around the world donated money to build a flower bed with 20 yellow roses buses around the gazebo.
Sheila Grissom, principal of Weaver Elementary, has set up a fund to pay for maintenance of the memorial and to make upgrades to the adjoining playground. If you would like to make a donation in memory of Michael, Chris and Steve to the Weaver Elementary Reading Grove/ Playground Fund, please send your donation to the school at the following address:
Weaver Elementary Reading Grove/Playground Fund
1280 East Barton Ave.
West Memphis, AR 72301
For more information contact Sheila Grissom, Weaver Elementary School principal, at [email protected]
CONTACT INFORMATION:
This web page serves as a place to store and preserve the true and original facts of this case as they become more and more skewed daily by the "exonerate the WM3" publicity machine and various “in it for profit” movie makers and book writers. It is maintained by a group of people who have followed and researched this case for years, many since 1993.
If you would like to dispute, discuss, or ask questions about the facts contained on this page, please go to Facebook and "like" this discussion group. There are many people in this group who will be happy to discuss and debate the facts with you. You can also use this Facebook page to alert us to any mistakes on this page:
West Memphis Three Facts
https://www.facebook.com/WestMemphisThreeFacts
ADDITIONAL WEBSITES AND INFORMATION:
The following websites offer a wealth of factual information about the WM3 case.
http://www.callahan.mysite.com
The WM3 case may, quite possibly, be the most well-documented criminal case on the planet thanks to a website called "Callahan's." (This site was formally called www.callahan.8k.com. If you come across any old Callahan links on this or other sites, simply change "8k" to "mysite"). It contains thousands of documents and trial transcripts related to the case. It is a nonbiased website maintained by two guys who believe the WM3 are innocent and one who believes they are guilty. It speaks volumes that two of the guys who know the most about the case don't agree on guilt vs. innocence. If they aren't 100 percent sure, how can you be?
www.wm3truth.com
UPDATE: This page appears to have been taken down. If anyone has info on how to correct the broken links on this page, please message the West Memphis Three Facts Facebook page. This is a fact-filled page maintained by long-time WM3 case researcher David Klein. It contains numerous comment sections for questions and answers. There is a related Facebook page for case discussion: https://www.facebook.com/wm3truth
http://midsouthjustice.org/smf/index.php?board=5.0
Midsouth Justice is a message board that has a discussion area for the Byers/Moore/Branch murder case.
http://midsouthjustice.org/smf/index.php?topic=122.0
This is a list of coincidences that would have had to occur for the WM3 to be innocent. It was compiled by WM3 case researcher Tom Walker.
http://blog.gregcday.com/
Greg Day is the Author of “Untying the Knot,” which he wrote with Mark Byers. Mark Byers, stepfather of victim Chris Byers, has lately claimed the WM3 are innocent. But Greg Day doesn’t agree. He has researched the case for seven years, he strongly believes the WM3
are guilty, and he’s blogging about it.
http://www.capitalpunishmentbook.com/?s=west+memphis+three&x=0&y=0
They met while he was on death row. She was a crusader, he was a convicted murderer. They married while he was still in prison and she fought for years for his release. Sounds like the story of Damien Echols and his wife Lorri Davis, right? Wrong. It is the story of Billy and Jodie Sinclair. If ANYONE on the planet should sympathize with Damien Echols it should be Billy Sinclair, right? They share the exact same story. The only problem is, Billy Sinclair doesn’t believe a word Damien Echols says. Sinclair has won many prestigious writing awards and now works as a paralegal. After serving 25 years on death row, he knows a murderer when he sees one. He's written several blogs about his firm belief in the guilt of the West Memphis Three.
http://womenincrimeink.blogspot.com/2010/03/dont-free-west-memphis-three.html
Pat Brown is one of the nation’s foremost criminal profilers. She has provided crime commentary, profiling, and forensic analysis for just about every major TV network and is the author of several books on criminal profiling. She has researched the case in-depth and believes the West Memphis Three are guilty. This is a link to one of her blogs about the WM3.
http://trenchreynolds.me/?s=west+memphis+three
Damien Echols doesn’t have crime blogger Trench Reynolds fooled. Reynolds believes the WM3 are guilty and has written numerous, interesting blogs on the subject.
http://www.salemweb.com/discus/messages/44821/44821.html?1367979986
Some of Damien's new neighbors in his new hometown of Salem, Massachusetts aren't very happy about having a convicted and confessed child killer living in their neighborhood. This fact-filled discussion thread about Echols was first posted by a Salem resident named Mike Blatty. Blatty is the son of William Peter Blatty, author of the book The Exorcist. The main character in that book is a demon-possessed priest named Damien. According to the book Blood of the Innocents (page 185) a copy of The Exorcist was found in Damien's bedroom when he was arrested for triple murder. Blatty is just one of a growing number of people who have actually taken the time to research the case in-depth. He believe that the WM3 are guilty. The numerous threads on Damien Echols were taking up so much space on the community message board that the subject was moved to its own page. It’s called “Salem Resident Damien Echols" and it is filled with information about Echols written mainly by his new (and pretty unwelcoming) neighbors in Salem.
FOOTNOTE:
Thank you for taking the time to read this page. Come back often for frequent factual additions and updates. We'll end on a quote borrowed from WM3Truth website author David Klein. It also applies here:
"If you read this whole page and still believe you're just like Damien Echols, please get some psychiatric help before you kill a bunch of people."