Updated: Thursday, 04 Nov 2010, 10:00 AM CDT
Published : Thursday, 04 Nov 2010, 9:49 AM CDT
By JILL ZEMAN BLEED Associated Press Writer
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a judge to consider whether newly analyzed DNA evidence might exonerate three men convicted in the 1993 murders of three West Memphis Cub Scouts.
The justices also said a lower court also must examine claims of juror misconduct in the eastern Arkansas murder case that has drawn the attention of Hollywood celebrities and civil rights activists.
Lawyers for Damien Echols say Circuit Judge David Burnett, at a recent hearing, should have considered DNA test results in deciding whether to grant Echols a new trial.
"While there is a significant dispute in this case, as to the legal effects of the DNA test results, it is undisputed that the results conclusively excluded Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley as the source of the DNA evidence tested," the court wrote.
In separate orders, the justices also directed new hearings for two other men sentenced to life in prison in separate trials: Jesse Misskelley and Jason Baldwin.
Echols has been on Arkansas' death row since 1994 after he was arrested as a teen for the deaths of the three boys. The Arkansas Supreme Court has previously affirmed all three convictions.
Prosecutors maintained that the absence of their DNA wasn't enough to prove the three men are innocent and that a jury convicted the men on other evidence.
The court also said defense claims of juror misconduct must be addressed -- Misskelley's confession was not introduced at Echols' trial but defense lawyers believe jurors considered it anyway. The state argued any new hearing should address only the DNA.
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