The first to testify on day four of Jessie and Jason's Rule 37 hearings was
Joyce Cureton, who ran the Juvenile Detention Center where Jason was locked
up while waiting for trial. She said the boys were monitored by employees
day and night and their every move relentlessly logged for federal and state
records. She remembered Jason at first because his case was so notorious.
She then came to remember Jason because "you couldn't ask for a better kid".
She said he never complained, never demanded anything or went around
demanding to talk to his lawyer.
According to Joyce, Jason pretty much kept to himself and she knew this
because her office was almost across the hall from his room. Blake Hendrix,
Jason's Arkansas attorney, asked her if she remembered Michael Carson and
she did. The court laughed when she described him as a "smart ass" that was
in and out of her facility. Carson was there for about six days during
Jason's stay— three in lock-down as all new intakes are, then on day two of
their alleged acquaintance, Carson claimed Jason confessed though he kept to
himself and NEVER discussed his case. Joyce recalled Jason saying he wasn't
allowed to talk about his case many times, though he did "confess" to her
that he was innocent.
At Jason's trial, Paul Ford didn't call on Joyce testify that Jason was a
model inmate but he did ask Joyce to speak on Jason's behalf during
sentencing. Straight out of "Walking Tall", when Cureton asked if she could
testify, the Sheriff (who also said Jason should never be let out of his
room at juvenile) told her to leave the county and not return until after
sentencing. And she didn't.
Next, and last to testify on day four was Judge Daniel T. Stidham. Even
though Dan was a public defender in Greene county, he was asked to represent
Jessie Misskelley Jr because the Crittenden county public defender, a
Christian, said he had a conflict—he wouldn't represent a Satanist. Stidham
was 30 and had been practicing all of five years. He'd never tried a jury
case, let alone a murder case, and all of them had plead out. Dan wasn't
aware the American Bar Association had guidelines regarding lead counsel in
death penalty cases, let alone meeting these guidelines. (If the same
scenario occurred today, Stidham would have been rejected for a capital case
because he didn't meet minimum public defender standards established in
1997.)
Dan's first step in defending Jessie was buying a copy of the Commercial
Appeal, as his "confession" was leaked by the police or prosecution and
appeared on the front page. Next he had to try to find his client… Then he
had Jessie transferred to Clay County so he wouldn't have to drive hours to
meet with him.
Discovery came slowly and sporadically, disheveled and out of order, as if
to confuse him. He said the legal teams worked in tandem just once—to file a
discovery motion because information simply wasn't being shared with him.
Big shock that Gary Gitchell lied and said he didn't have an FBI profile of
the suspect or suspects, Dan got a copy of it after Jessie's trial was over.
Despite the obvious hindrances of the WMPD and prosecution, he had to
admit—though he did his best to defend Jessie—that his greatest liability
was his inexperience. Having never been provided with Kermit Channell's
bench notes stating "no semen found on any items", he would have hired a
forensic serologist of his own to testify regarding his lab tests and
results. Paul Ford faxed Dan Dr. Peretti's findings that there was no proof
the boys had been sexually assaulted six days before Jessie's trial but he
failed to use it to impeach his testimony anyway.
Stidham and Crow's initial strategy was to have Jessie testify against Jason
and Jessie to get a lesser sentence in light of the fact that he
"confessed." No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't get Jessie to tell
them the time, place, events or circumstances of May 5th the same way twice.
They didn't develop Jessie's alibi witnesses because they figured his case
would never go to trial. In September of '93, they completely switched
strategies because Jessie said he only "confessed" because Gitchell and
Ridge told him he was going to get the electric chair and he was terrified
to die that way. He had always told his father he hadn't done it and when
they realized Jessie really didn't know what happened that day, they
realized in a panic they would have to make their trial strategy one of how
false confessions occur, and disproving everything in said false confession.
Grand errors were made regarding requests for funding experts, not paying
attention to discovery information, and hiring an investigator. Not calling
witnesses they should have, calling witnesses (like Wilkins) they never
should have… Mistakes-- not tactical or strategic in anyone's book. Then
again, Dan got two world-class experts to testify gratis—Dr. Ofshe (who
Burnett neutered completely) and Warren Holmes.
Rule 2.3 will probably haunt Dan the most: Rule 2.3 was a bright line rule
requiring "when a law enforcement officer requests someone to accompany him
to the police station, he shall make it clear that there is no legal
obligation to comply with such a request." The detectives did not tell
Jessie that he didn't have to go with them to the police station. Since the
detectives did not comply with 2.3, Jessie was considered seized and his
rights violated under the Fourth Amendment unless the detectives had
probable cause to arrest him.
If Stidham had raised Rule 2.3 in a timely fashion either pre-trial or
post-conviction, it would have automatically suppressed Jessie's statements.
Without his "confession", Jessie probably would have been acquitted. There
were obviously no grounds to arrest or try Jason and Damien without it.
Michael Burt put Dan Stidham and Greg Crow on the stand to prove Jessie
received ineffective counsel and he more than succeeded. Maybe even
regretfully so.
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