Exonerate the WM3 Official Blog

Jessie Misskelley & Eddie Vedder in Memphis 11/21/12!

Jessie Misskelley lives life out of the spotlight #WM3

Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee

WEST MEMPHIS, AR -

(WMC-TV) - Jessie Misskelley is the lone member of the West Memphis 3, who shied away from the spotlight.

Susie Brewer Boggan, the recent former girlfriend of Jessie Misskelley, Junior, wants to set the story straight about her relationship with Misskelley. She was 13 when he was arrested, along with Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin, for the murders of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis nearly two decades ago.

Boggan appeared in the first documentary of the Paradise Lost series about the murders. She had a conversation with Misskelley, who was behind bars at the time, before he went to trial.

After the West Memphis 3 were convicted, Susie Brewer Boggan went on with her life. She got married, had children, but the dream did not die.

"We were writing each other two years before he got out. Then I came down here when he got out," she said.

But Jessie's life did not go the same direction as Echols and Baldwin.

"I said, ‘Look, you get mad because they're living a good life but they're earning. They got their GED in jail. They did college in jail. I can't help it you just laid on a bed and laid there,'" said Boggan.

Echols is married, an author, and a movie producer who travels the world.

Baldwin, who is also involved with movies about the life of the West Memphis 3, plans to attend law school.

"You shouldn't be mad about it, you could do it too," said Boggan.

"Jason sends him texts and stuff all the time asking him why don't he come to this. I don't know, he just doesn't want to," she said.

Damien Echols told Action News 5's Janice Broach that he worries about Misskelley.

Jessie Misskelley said in a short interview a few months ago that he is happy staying out of the limelight, as he lives and works in West Memphis.

And Susie Brewer Boggan says she is now out of Jessie Misskelley's life.

Jessie Misskelley is reluctant to talk, but his father us his son is working and doing fine in West Memphis.

Copyright 2012 WMC-TV. All rights reserved.

Damien Echols, of the #WM3, talks about his `Life after Death`

Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee 

(WMC-TV) – Damien Echols, one of the West Memphis 3, is trying to set the record straight with the reporter who has covered his case from the very beginning.

Three little boys were murdered in West Memphis in 1993. The case captivated the world.

Action News 5's Janice Broach covered the crimes, the trials, the convictions, and just last year, the release of the three men, who claimed innocence from the beginning.

The Damien Echols that Janice Broach sat down with is a very different man than the person she saw 18 years ago.

He spent almost two decades on Arkansas' death row, and he is now spending his time reading tarot cards for wisdom and meditation.

Hearing underway on request for #WM3 evidence

Posted by Max Brantley on Wed, Oct 24, 2012 at 1:20 PM

Mara Leveritt reports from West Memphis at a hearing on a suit seeking access to police evidence in the West Memphis Three murder case:

Circuit Judge Victor Hill said this morning that he will take under advisement two important issues concerning freedom of information in Arkansas and issue a ruling early next week.

The matters arose as the result of a lawsuit filed by two of the parents of children murdered in West Memphis in 1993. Pam Hicks and John Mark Byers want to see evidence collected by police during the murder investigation.

They have also asked to see evidence in the possession of prosecuting attorney Scott Ellington, who is currently running for Congress.

The parents attorney, Ken Swindle of Rogers, argued that Ellington did not respond to a freedom of information request on behalf of the parents within the time required by the state's freedom of information act.

Ellington was seen in court prior to the hearing, but he did not appear at it to testify on his own behalf. A deputy prosecutor from his office testified that Ellington had asked him to appear instead. Swindle complained about his difficulties in contacting Ellington, despite weeks of trying. Byers called Ellington "gutless" for not appearing in person at the hearing.

Under questioning, the deputy prosecutor, Curt Huckaby, said that there were three affidavits in Ellington's possession that constituted an ongoing investigation. These documents were turned over to Judge Hill. The first was said to have been received in December 2011.

Under questioning by Swindle, Huckaby said that no action had been taken on any of the affidavits. However, he said that interviews were planned.

Swindle argued that the "passive receipt" of documents does not constitute an "ongoing investigation."

The second subject the judge said he would consider as a result of this morning's hearing concerned evidence collected by the West Memphis police department.

David Peeples, city attorney for West Memphis, argued that documents would be made available to the parents, but that other evidence did not fall under the requirements of the freedom of information statute.

He maintained that police had an obligation to preserve evidence for possible testing in the future.

Swindle responded that his clients did not seek the return of the evidence or seek to touch the evidence. He said they only wanted to view it, "to make sure it is there."

He added, "So this is no small thing we are asking for." (Judge Hill will rule on these two matters on Monday, October 29 2012.)

Read the full Arkansas Times online story here. 

Fox Picks Up Joe Berlinger Produced West Memphis Three Series, CBS 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' & More | The Playlist

via blogs.indiewire.com

First up, Joe Berlinger, the co-director of the acclaimed "Paradise Lost" documentary trilogy, has come over to Foxto co-executive produce "Paradise Falls." Penned by Margaret Nagle (who is also working at CBS on a contemporary take on "Sense & Sensibility") the drama will center around a documentary filmmaker working for a crime reality series, who heads to the titular town in Pennsylvania to investigae a brutal slaying. What he uncovers is corruption and deceit and a town looking for its moment in the spotlight. No, it's not the West Memphis Three story exactly, but it's clearly inspired by Berlinger's work on those movies. And given that interest in the subject contiues to knock around thanks to the upcoming doc "West Of Memphis" and Atom Egoyan's dramatization "Devil's Knot," it's a pretty big no brainer why Fox picked this up. 

Paradise Lost docs released as box set November 6th! #wm3

Available for preorder now...

Damien Echols to Appear on CBS Sunday Morning #wm3

Damien Echols spent 18 years in jail for a crime he says he didn’t commit. However, life on the outside isn’t as easy as most would expect. Echols, who along with two others was convicted for the murders of three boys, tells CBS SUNDAY MORNING WITH Charles Osgood he lives in fear.

“I can’t even describe what the fear is or where it comes from,” Echols tells 48 HOURS MYSTERY correspondent Erin Moriarty in an interview airing this weekend on CBS SUNDAY MORNING. “It’s just like this free-floating anxiety. It’s what – literally my life has become – is that I’ve been injected into this whole new world. And I’m having to learn everything.”

Moriarty talks with Damien Echols and his wife Lorri, whom he met and married in prison, about his stay in jail, life after being released, and his new book, Life after Death.

Moriarty’s full interview with Echols will air Sept. 16 on CBS SUNDAY MORNING (9:00-10:30 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.

Read more: http://tv.broadwayworld.com/article/Damien-Echols-to-Appear-on-CBS-SUNDAY-MORNING-20120914#ixzz26YGFITlv

Read the full story here  

Paradise Regained #wm3

“I’m often plagued by thoughts that people will think of me only as either someone on death row or someone who used to be on death row.” So writes Damien Echols in the preface to his new book, Life After Death. Today, sitting with Echols in a sprawling Tribeca penthouse on loan from close friend Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, the sentiment is further explained: “It’s kind of a horrible thing to be remembered and to be known for something that was done to you,” he says. “It’s part of what drives me to want to succeed. I want to do something that stands on its own merit, that people see and that they care about completely independent of all the other stuff… all the case-related stuff.”

When speaking of “the case,” Echols manages to compartmentalize the agony he’s experienced over the last two decades, presenting it as something that sounds like an isolated legal concern—which is quite impressive. The case at hand is of course his false conviction for a triple homicide handed down by an Arkansas court in 1994. He was sentenced along with his friends Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr.—the trio would become known as the West Memphis Three—at the young age of 18. Baldwin and Misskelley, juveniles at the time, received life sentences. Damien, perceived as the ringleader, was sentenced to death. Rife with inconsistencies and false testimony, the trial presented the sensational theory that because the teenagers wore black, read Stephen King novels, and listened to heavy metal, they must have killed the victims, three neighborhood children, in a satanic cult ritual. The proceedings garnered widespread media attention, which led to the 1996 HBO documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. Initially focused on the public hysteria surrounding the case, the film ends up hypothesizing that the West Memphis Three are innocent, as do its two sequels, released in 2000 and 2011. last year, following a decision on behalf of the court regarding new DNA evidence, the three were released from prison—but only after agreeing to sign a controversial Alford plea, which states they will not sue the state of Arkansas.

Read the full story at VMan.com

Updated Information Concerning the WM3 Request for Consideration of New Information

Please read the letter from Jason Baldwin's attorneys, John Philipsborn and Blake Hendrix, to Scott Ellington regarding results of forensic hair and fiber testing that were not in hand by the defense or the state when Damien, Jason and Jessie took Alford Pleas in order to be released on 8/19/11. In the opinion of Baldwin's attorneys, this new information underscores that this case should not have ended in Alford Pleas at all and further undermines the basis that AR erroneously relies on to salvage the validity of their convictions. We eagerly await Mr. Ellington's reply. 

Download WM3 Testing Letter 8-28-12

 

New tests on crime scene fibers produce no link to WM3

By Marc Perrusquia

Thursday, August 30, 2012

In yet another twist in case of the West Memphis Three, defense attorneys say new testing excludes the only crime scene evidence prosecutors had to convict defendants Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley in 1994 — a series of tiny clothing fibers.

Testing completed in May by three experts — including a former FBI crime lab scientist — found serious flaws in government's fiber testing conducted in 1993-94, says Baldwin's attorney, John T. Philipsborn, in a letter to Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel.

"What is … disturbing and clearly indicative of the problematic evidence that the State introduced in the Baldwin/Echols trial, is the clear evidence that the State's fiber evidence is flawed,'' Philipsborn says in the letter dated Aug. 28.

A report by Max M. Houck, former physical scientist in the Trace Evidence Unit of the FBI's crime lab, offers a more blistering critique of the state's fiber evidence testing.

"The sloppiness of the notes, the lack of data and documentation, the erratic nature of the color analysis data all suggest scientists who were poorly trained to do the casework they were responsible for and were operating at the margin of competency, were derelict in their assigned duties, or were otherwise unable to properly conduct this kind of scientific work,'' Houck says in the report.

Full story available at commercialappeal.com.

Damien Echols of #WM3 sits with Dawn Scott on life after prison

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) -- Echols was released from prison one year ago, following a unique plea deal in the case of the West Memphis Three.

Click HERE to watch Part 1 & 2 of the videos

In an interview with THV anchor Dawn Scott, Echols says "everything" about post-prison life feels different.

"The first two to three months out, I was in an extreme state of shock and trauma," says Echols. "This is a gradual process."

Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley left behind their jail cells in August 2011 and took a step outside in the real world for the first time in eighteen years.

All three entered an Alford plea which means they pleaded guilty while still maintaining their innocence. The judge sentenced them to 18 years, the time they've already served. Now they will have 10 years probation which means if they commit any crime during the next 10 years, they could go back to prison.

Echols is preparing to release his second book, "Life After Death," September 18. His message is to encourage people "just not to waste life."

"It's a very bizarre time in life for me right now," Echols shares. "I'm still trying to get used to the world again."

Echols lives in New York City now with his wife, Lorri Davis. He has not returned to Arkansas. "I've thought about it, talked about it" but says the thought of returning is "psychologically and emotionally distressing" and says he "can't make myself face it yet."

Echols reminds that he was completely isolated and removed from society for nearly twenty years and says he still becomes anxious at simple things such as directions and social interactions.

Echols also often thinks back on his time in prison, adding that he will be "haunted by it for the rest of my life."

Echols maintains contact with Misskelley and, until recently, Baldwin. He also keeps in contact with some of the victims' family members, sharing that the family of Stevie Branch gave him a pocketwatch engraved with the date of his prison release and the words "time begins now."

He still maintains his innocence and says he is working to uncover who killed Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers back in 1993.

"This isn't over," says Echols. "We are not going to allow officials to sweep this under the rug. We will continue to fight this case as long as we have to until the right thing is done. Really that's what the rest of our lives are gonna be dedicated to until this is finally and completely resolved. This is not gonna go away." 

Download "Golden State" by Vedder & Maines, Benefit Freedom Fund #wm3

The itunes and Pearl Jam website links to this inspiring live recording from the 2010 Voices for Justice concert in Little Rock, AR are now live. Download now! 100% of the proceeds go to the WM3 Freedom fund, which helps the three with their living and educational expenses.

Status Update: Jason Baldwin #wm3

As most of you already know, this past year began with a tremendously difficult decision for me and those around me. I am not entirely aware of what went on before the Alford plea was brought to me and to my incredibly dedicated and hard-working attorneys, Blake Hendrix and John Philipsborn. So I can only say I originally turned down the deal after Blake explained it in-depth to me the evening after he first learned of it. I maintained from the start that Damien, Jessie and I are innocent, and though I know nothing was certain, I believe we stood a good chance of that fact being proven in court. Being fully informed of all the ramifications of both choices, I decided I did not want to plead guilty with the possibility of complete exoneration so close at hand.

Ultimately, I changed my mind for Damien and Jessie and their families. I gave no real credence to the idea that I wouldn’t be supported if I chose to stay in while Damien and Jessie walked free (which was not an option anyway). The truth is, I am fortunate enough that both of my parents are still in good health, and I could have survived another couple of years. But I knew that even when we were exonerated, it was likely that Damien’s mother and Jessie’s father—perhaps even Damien himself—wouldn’t be alive to see it. I couldn't make that decision for them, and that is why I took the deal, after Holly and I both spent the few short days we were given agonizing over this impossible choice.

Having said that, this has truly been a year of miracles and wishes come true. At the age of 35, I learned what most kids in America do at the age of 14 to 16, and that was to drive. I bought my first vehicle and earned my first paycheck, beginning work at a construction job three days after my release. (I am now working at a husband and wife law firm here in Seattle.)

A Year of Freedom in Pictures #WM3

A random sampling of photos from our personal archives of Jason, Jessie and Damien in the free world... 

Memphis rooftop party after Damien, Jason and Jessie's release.

 

Could anything define freedom more than this picture of Jason Baldwin?

 

 

 The big news.

 

 NY Brunch the weekend of the NY Film Festival premiere of Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory.

 

We take Jessie shopping for some new shades.

 

Burk and Grove with lawyer, Steve Braga, at the HBO After-Party for the NY Film Festival premiere of Paradise Lost 3.

 

Jason and Kathy at the Memphis rooftop party.

 

The whole gang with Jason at Damien's first Halloween Party in NYC as a free man.

 

Burk hanging out with Jason at a cool bar on Broadway.

 

 Eddie Vedder says a few words at the Memphis rooftop party that he threw for the WM3 after their release.

 

Jessie goes shopping for his favorite cereal.

Damien and Jonathan Silberberg.

Jason and Mike Bonfiglio in Memphis post rooftop party. 

 

 Lots of smiles at the Memphis rooftop party.

 

Hanging out with Jessie on Broadway. 

Jessie finally breathing easy, so much time has passed  he's babysitting Stephanie's grandkid(s)...

At the press screening for Paradise Lost 3 in NYC.

 

Damien's first Halloween party in NYC as a free man.

 

 Jason and Holly in NYC.

 

 Damien and the gang play the longest game of pool ever at the HBO After party.

 Chad and Kathy have dinner with Jason and Holly on Broadway at a place that served pasta in plates bigger than your head.

 Jason getting beamed up at Disneyland.

Paradise Lost 3 screening in Los Angeles.

 

Jason and Kathy at the pre-Oscar party.

 

 Jessie consults with a tattoo artist about getting his clock tattoo finished (and touched up).

Lisa's best birthday ever:  Lalo Yunda finished  the hands on Jessie's clock at Sacred Heart Tattoo!

 

Jessie gets his clock tattoo finished.

 

Damien and Burk at the HBO After Party in NYC.

 

 

Kathy and Chad with Jason and Jessie at the NY Brunch the weekend of the NY Film Festival.

We're going to Disneyland!

 

Jason in Hollywood with Kathy, Chad and Weston.

 

 Jason pulls a Dr. Doolittle in Los Angeles. 

 Jason in the Hollywood Hills.

 

 Jason with Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky at the Oscar pre-party.

 Kathy and Chad with Damien at the HBO afterparty in NY.

 The gang with Holly and Jason at the Oscar pre-party.

Jason and Jessie on Broadway.

 Jason accepts award on behalf of WM3 at Death Penalty Focus dinner in Los Angeles.

#WM3, a Year Out of Prison, Navigate New Paths

By KIM SEVERSON

Read the full story at NYTimes.com

ATLANTA — The list of things you learn about yourself when you get out of prison after 17 years is long: You’re allergic to shrimp, or you’re paralyzed by the choices in a grocery store or moved to tears by the softness of the night sky.

From left, Jessie Misskelley, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin, the West Memphis Three, after their 1993 arrests in the murder of three boys.

The men known as the West Memphis Three thought they would die in prison, linked forever as the torturers and killers of three young boys. They have been free for a year now, living as little more than acquaintances in a world flooded with possibilities.

Yet they are still linked, not only by a series of coming books and movies but by a legion of fervent supporters who hold them as a symbol of a flawed legal system.

“Honestly, we all lived through this horrible time in our own way and got through it differently, so now I guess we all have a different way of healing,” said Jason Baldwin, 35, who went into prison a quiet, heavy metal-loving teenager ready to start a job as a grocery store bagger and came out — much to the amazement of most people who meet him — a sweet, optimistic and slightly goofy man who wants to help people who have been wrongly accused.

Vedder & Maines Release "Golden State" on 8.19, Benefits WM3 Freedom Fund

From RollingStone.com:

August 19th marks the one-year anniversary of the release of the West Memphis Three, three men who were controversially convicted as teenagers in 1994 for the murder of three young boys. About a year before Jessie Misskelley, Charles Baldwin, and Damien Echols gained their freedom, Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam and Natalie Maines from the Dixie Chicks joined forces onstage at the West Memphis Three Rally in Little Rock, Arkansas. On this new track, Vedder and Maines cover the John Doe track "Golden State," a Vedder favorite, in the spirit of freedom.

This version of "Golden State" will be available for download on August 19th on iTunes and Pearl Jam's website, but you can stream it on RollingStone.com now. All proceeds go to the WM3 Freedom Fund.

Group fights to abolish death penalty #wm3

“There are those of us who will not give up until the death penalty has ended, until this country is about saving lives and not killing people and throwing them away for making mistakes,” said Jason Baldwin to more than 100 people sitting on the rooftop of the Saranac Building on Saturday.

Baldwin, one of the West Memphis Three, was released from prison 11 months ago after being incarcerated 18 years for a crime he didn’t commit. He and two of his friends were sentenced as teenagers for killing three 8-year-old boys. Baldwin was sentenced to life imprisonment, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. was sentenced to life imprisonment plus two 20-year sentences and Damien Echols was sentenced to death.

 

Read the full story here.

HBO's 'Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory' Nominated for Two Emmys #wm3

Congratulations to Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky for their two Emmy nominations-- Documentary Filmmaking and Directing for Nonfiction Filmmaking!

Officials Expect Pam Hicks to Pay Subpoena Fees #wm3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Damien & Jason Support SAFE California Initiative to Repeal Death Penalty #wm3

Please vote YES on 34 on November 6th!

On June 1st, Jason Baldwin wrote a letter backing the state ballot initiative, SAFE California, which will repeal the state's death penalty and replace it with life without parole. The SAFE California Act qualified for the ballot after submitting 800,000 petition signatures earlier this year. The initiative is supported by innocent men and women who were wrongfully convicted, family members of murder victims, law enforcement and thousands of other advocates for justice.

Jason had this to say to WM3 supporters:

"Damien, Jessie, and I know that we are free because of people like you. You stood up and fought for us—you are the reason we never gave up and you are the reason we finally came home. Without the support of thousands of people across the country and the world, Jessie and I would still be in prison and Damien would still be facing execution."

Today we have Damien Echol's backing for the intiative:

"I spent seventeen years on death row and was scheduled to be executed by the State of Arkansas for a crime I did not commit. Please help prevent this from happening in California by joining me in supporting SAFE California's initiative to repeal the death penalty in November."

As Jason also points out in his letter, winning an initiative takes more than people power-- it takes money, and lots of it, to reach every California voter. WM3 supporters' fundraising goal is $5,000 and we've fallen woefully short so far. Please click this link in order to donate to this groundbreaking effort to repeal the death penalty in California! 

#WM3 Case – Pam Hicks’ Lawsuit

An Arkansas mother is playing hardball with authorities there. She says she’s entitled to see the evidence in her son’s murder case. So she’s filed a lawsuit, to make it happen. Pam Hicks is the mother of Stevie Branch, one of the young boys killed in the West Memphis Three case, nearly 20 years ago.  She’s here with her attorney Ken Swindle.

AR Supreme Court declares execution law unconstitutional, siding with death row inmates #wm3

From the AP

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Arkansas Supreme Court struck down the state’s execution law Friday, calling it unconstitutional.

In a split decision, the high court sided with 10 death row inmates who argued that, under Arkansas’ constitution, only the Legislature can set execution policy. Legislators in 2009 voted to give that authority to the Department of Correction.

“It is evident to this court that the Legislature has abdicated its responsibility and passed to the executive branch, in this case the (Arkansas Department of Correction), the unfettered discretion to determine all protocol and procedures, most notably the chemicals to be used, for a state execution,” Justice Jim Gunter wrote in the majority opinion.

Two justices of the seven-member court dissented, arguing that the correction department’s discretion is not “unfettered” because it is bound by the federal and state constitutions that guard against cruel and unusual punishment.

“In addition, Arkansas is left no method of carrying out the death penalty in cases where it has been lawfully imposed,” Justice Karen Baker wrote in the dissent.

The 2009 law says a death sentence is to be carried out by lethal injection of one or more chemicals that the director of the Department of Correction chooses. The law also says that in the event that the lethal injection law is found to be unconstitutional, death sentences will be carried out by electrocution.

It wasn’t immediately clear what the court’s ruling will mean for the 40 men on death row in Arkansas. There aren’t any pending executions, and the state hasn’t put anyone to death since 2005, in part because of legal challenges like this one.

Death row inmate Jack Harold Jones Jr. sued the head of the correction department in 2010. Nine other inmates later joined the suit, asking that the law be struck down.

The state, meanwhile, asked the court to free up several executions it had halted because of this lawsuit.

Josh Lee, an attorney for the death row inmates who challenged the law, declined to comment Friday.

During oral arguments last week, Lee said the state would have two options if the court found the law unconstitutional.

“The Legislature could either choose to stick with the 1983 statute, which everybody concedes is constitutional, or the Legislature could decide we want to amend it.” Lee said last week.

A spokesman for Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The state adopted lethal injection as its method of capital punishment in 1983. There have been legal challenges to the way the state kills its condemned prisoners since then. In 2009, in the midst of a legal battle over lethal injection, the state Legislature passed the law that the court struck down Friday.

Joseph Cordi, an attorney for the state, told the Supreme Court last week that he thought the state would fall back on the 1983 law if the court struck down the entire 2009 statute.

Prisons spokeswoman Dina Tyler said Friday that she hasn’t seen the ruling.

Read the Full Ken Swindle/Pam Hicks Lawsuit Here #WM3

Petition for Declaratory Judgment and Complaint for Violation of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act of 1967

Download HIcks Lawsuit

Jessie Misskelley Jr's Birthday is July 10! #wm3

Jessie is the last one to have his birthday on the outside since they were released last August 19. He's the one that's almost never in the limelight so please remember his happpiest of birthdays with a card or a letter to him c/o PO Box 1354, West Memphis AR 72303. You can also make a donation to the WM3 Freedom Fund plus there are a few items on his amazon wishlist so think about sending him a little something else if you are able!

Jonesboro Sun Editorial- Justice Unserved 06/06/12 #wm3