Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) - A judge has denied a request for a new trial for three men convicted of killing three boys in West Memphis 15 years ago.
Circuit Court Judge David Burnett issued an order Wednesday denying the request. Lawyers for Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley - known by supporters as the "West Memphis Three" - had requested a new trial, arguing that new DNA evidence clears their clients.
Both Baldwin and Misskelley claim their lawyers failed to adequately represent them during their separate trials. Their lawyers also say DNA evidence provided by Echols' defense team shows the men did not kill Steven Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore.
The Arkansas Supreme Court has upheld their convictions.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Circuit Court Judge David Burnett issued an order Wednesday denying the request. Lawyers for Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley - known by supporters as the "West Memphis Three" - had requested a new trial, arguing that new DNA evidence clears their clients.
Both Baldwin and Misskelley claim their lawyers failed to adequately represent them during their separate trials. Their lawyers also say DNA evidence provided by Echols' defense team shows the men did not kill Steven Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore.
The Arkansas Supreme Court has upheld their convictions.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
3 comments:
A friend of mine developed a relationship with one of them via mail. I lost touch with said friend, last I saw him he was in that movie 21.
Elsloganero, your friend is alive and well. I see him when he comes to Arkansas to visit Damien almost monthly. He recently wrapped up a role in Pacific to air on HBO as a sequel to band of brothers.
When the case gets to the Arkansas Supreme Court in Little Rock we expect to get finally get a fair trial for the WM3.
I hope you're right BP. I guess I just don't understand the legal process when you have to keep going back to the same judge who let all the mistakes happen in the original trial to ask for mercy? I mean, isn't it a little like the police investigating themselves? What are the chances of a judge ever admitting anything went wrong in their courtroom especially mistakes as monumentally huge as in the WM3? None. The system seems out of whack to me. To put it bluntly why should the wrongly convicted have to keep going back to the same guy who obviously hates that person? Where's the independent panel? An independent panel should be judging the judge, not the judge.
In fact, these 3 weren't tried in a courtroom, they were tried in a church made over to look like a courtroom. Hopefully, the AR Supreme Court is in an actual court building, one without a steeple.
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