Exonerate the WM3 Official Blog

Jason Baldwin and Jessie Miskelley at November Hearing

Jason Baldwin

Jessie Misskelley

Next Hearings: 01/28/09 ...

No end today, of course. Next round will go as long as the hearings take to conclude. More later!

Thursday, Day of Outrage

This might have been the most infuriating day we ever spent in the courtroom
since we've been coming to Rule 37 hearings. One reason was that—we heard
this was going to happen even before yesterday's hearings and didn't believe
it could be true—the state is purposefully dragging out Dan Stidham's cross
examination in an effort to prevent Jason and Jessie's lawyers from calling
their expert witnesses to the stand. Today they *might* call psychologist,
Dr. Derning, today because Judge Stidham has a speaking engagement this
morning.

The other reason for our rage, after a day of Davis' flabby noodle
questioning such as "was calling Ricky Deese a trial strategy on your part?,
was that Judge Burnett allowed an audio tapes of Jessie "confessing" after
he'd already been convicted. It had nothing to do with ineffective counsel
which is what he said these proceedings must be restricted to and Jessie's
attorney, Michael Burt, and his Arkansas lawyer, Jeff Rosensweig,
strenuously objected and cited many cases of the inadmissibility of immunity
induced-statements when the statements were not used.

In the end it turned out to benefit Jessie tremendously, in the future I
believe that Davis will listen to a tape in it its entirety before entering it
into the record. Then again, he's tagged to take Judge Burnett's place when
he retires on December 31 so that probably won't be a necessity. This
particular tape was recorded on February 8, 1994. On the stand, Dan offered
"I'm delighted this tape is being played because it proves my client wasn't
there." And how.

The tape also completely contradicts nearly all the details from another of
Jessie's "confession" tape from August 19, 1993 that we heard on Thursday
morning. You will recall that the tape from February '94 was already hotly
contested: Stidham and Crow thought Jessie was in lock up when they got a
call from Deputy Prosecutor Joe Calvin saying their client was in his office
in Rector! This was an abuse of Jessie's fifth and sixth amendment rights but
what the heck, he was "ready to give a statement."

I don't know who anyone who listened to this yesterday could possibly think
that Jessie was there, it was the most ludicrous free-styling of incorrect
information yet. And obviously poorly cobbled together from nonsense
testimony from state's witnesses he heard at his trial that were just as
false then as they are now. First off he said he was wearing a grey t-shirt
when in August he said he was wearing a white t-shirt, so Dan was right in
that every detail would change whenever Jessie was asked specifics.

Jessie said that there was indeed a black clubhouse with the top open on the
other side of the bank, something alleged by Aaron Hutcheson months
earlier. He said the drainage pipes were about as big in diameter at his
thigh. He said there was a wheat field leading up to the "driveway" to Robin
Hood Hills. When asked how deep the water was, Jessie replied "over his
head." He had no idea where the bodies were found. He said they were tied up
after they were murdered, though he wasn't there when that happened.

And Dan was skeptical about a COMPLETELY incorrect answer, Jessie say it was
his first time to Robin Hood Hills so he really wasn't paying
attention. He said Damien choked one of the boys yet we always knew none were
choked; this was an original theory by the wizards at the WMPD. He said
Jason threw either a penis or a gun to the other bank, he couldn't really
tell what it was. He said there was ejaculate on one of the boys' jeans,
something DeGuglielmo alluded to but Brent Davis stated as fact in his
closing argument at Jessie's trial, though it's 100% false.

When Dan asked why this time Jessie wanted to "tell the truth" it was
because his hand was on the bible. And here we go again… More later.

Misskelly Lawyer Shows Confession Tape

KATV

Jonesboro - A trial lawyer for Jessie Misskelley says the defendant was so easy to manipulate that police would have had little trouble persuading him to confess to a role in the 1993 slayings of three 8-year-old West Memphis boys.

Former Misskelley defense lawyer Dan Stidham testified in Jonesboro before Circuit Judge David Burnett. To buttress his claim about how easy it was to lead Misskelley into error, he provided the judge with a videotape that was played in court.

On the tape, Stidham and a psychologist convince Misskelley in just a matter of minutes to say that he robbed a convenience store near his home, though no such robbery ever occurred.

The judge is presiding over a hearing in which Misskelley is seeking a new trial. His new lawyers claim that he was inadequately represented by his defense team in his 1994 trial, a claim that Stidham doesn't dispute.

Tape With Post-Trial Confession Played In Court

Associated Press - November 20, 2008 11:44 PM ET

JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) - Four days after his trial ended, 1 of 3 teenagers convicted of killing three 8-year-olds in West Memphis in 1993 related to his lawyer details of how the killings occurred.

The conversation with Jessie Misskelley Jr., now 31 years old, was taped by his defense lawyer, Dan Stidham, and played today at a hearing before Circuit Judge David Burnett in Jonesboro.

Burnett is presiding over a hearing at which lawyers for Misskelley and codefendant Jason Baldwin are seeking new trials. They claim the two were inadequately defended in their 1994 trials, a claim Stidham does not dispute in Misskelley's case.

Prosecutor Brent Davis questioned Stidham, who testified for a second day that he was too inexperienced to handle the case and lacked enough money to pay for expert testimony.

On the audiotape, Misskelley said he, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin were drinking alcohol next to a ditch when the boys approached. He said Echols grabbed 1 of the boys and started hitting him and that, within moments, Misskelley and Baldwin attacked the other boys.

At one point, Misskelley said, Baldwin pulled out a knife. He said that's when he realized the boys were going to be killed.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

“Highlights” from Dan Stidham Cross Examination

Grove, Burk and I arrive to find no news trucks, reporters or cameras there
for day one of the second round of Jason and Jessie's Rule 37 hearings. It's
like some kind of alternate Paradise Lost reality at the ol' Craighead annex
with Val Price slipping in the front doors while we're gabbing with Mark
Byers and John Fogleman presiding in a courtroom across the street.

Today was entirely devoted to Brent Davis' cross examination of Dan Stidham,
with the goal of getting him to admit that indeed Dan had adequately
represented Jessie Misskelley at his trial in early 1994.

After lunch, we watched a video from Dan's vault, one we've heard so much
about over the years -- Dr. William Wilkins and Dan were said to spend less
than 15 minutes pressuring Jessie to falsely confess to robbing the Flash
Market in West Memphis. On the tape they manage to get Jessie so agitated
that he stomps out of the room but he never confesses to the OTHER crime
that he didn't commit. Hopefully the original vhs tape will provide the
missing minutes of this highly anticipated footage.

It seemed to me that Brent's questions didn't prove his point but actually
allowed Dan to further elucidate upon why, though Greg Crow and he did the
best they could, they were too inexperienced in criminal law to represent
Jessie properly. There were plenty of examples from Michael Burt's
questioning, but under Brent Davis, Stidham managed to add these examples
stunners to the record:

Peretti was the first expert he had ever questioned on the witness stand.
Should have retained his own medical examiner to dispute Frank's sexual
abuse allegations.

Dan basically ignored Jessie Sr's alibi witnesses because Fogelman said he
had a DNA match for Jessie blood on a t-shirt so he reckoned his client was
guilty and would plead out. Later he found out it was Jessie Sr's blood, in
fact the t-shirt wasn't even admitted into evidence, but Dan still didn't
track down the alibi witnesses until days before his trial began. Dan also
withdrew his motion to test DNA.

Didn't use Dr. Wilkins to get Jessie's statement suppressed in pre-trial '94
by demonstrating that Jessie didn't have the reading comprehension to
understand his Miranda rights or what waiving them meant.

Allowed Dr. Ofshe to beg off testifying at the aforementioned January '94
suppression hearing because after hearing the officers' testimony, Ofshe
wanted to go back and prepare more.

Failed to produce mitigating testimony at Jessie's sentencing regarding his
background including having a mental handicap, coming from a broken home,
and being abandoned by his birth mother.

Things got a little heated when Brent wanted to know if failing to raise
rule 2.3 in a timely fashion was a trial strategy of Dan's because it might
be such a great avenue for appeal. Dan said he wouldn't have given the
motion to the prosecution if it was a secret. As raising rule 2.3 in a
timely fashion would have automatically caused Jessie's statement to
suppressed, and by extension getting Jessie off the hook as well Jason and
Damien for there would be no statement with which to arrest them to begin
with. It was a sorrowful error with epic repercussions, not a strategy. No
one practicing law would do something like that deliberately, c'mon.

Davis then asked Dan if he was admitting to being ineffective counsel
because he's spent the last fifteen years speaking out against the verdict
would gain him more celebrity in the unjustly convicted field. That fell
flat as one of Davis' earlier questions: was it not a victory that his
client didn't get the death sentence? Dan replied that he never considered
life plus 40 a victory, no. In fact he was absolutely devastated by the
verdict.

J&J 11_19.JPG

Dan Stidham Cross by Brent Davis

State exhibit #3 is a video of Jessie's interview with Dr. Wilkins and Stidham from 12/3/93. Will it go toward proving ineffective counsel? Check back when court adjourns!

WM3: Justice Served?

Justice Served Video

KATV

15 years after being arrested for the horrific murders of three eight year old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, death row inmate Damien Echols says he finally has the evidence needed to prove he, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley - known around the world as the West Memphis Three - are innocent.

Channel Seven News Investigator Heather Crawford examines the case and sits down with Echols and the parents of the murder victims.

Damien Echols Speaks Part II

Damien Speaks Part II

Damien Echols Speaks

Damien Speaks KATV

Two part taped interview on Arkansas'KATV with Damien Echols on the eve of Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley's new hearings.�

WM3 Event: Human Resources

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SATURDAY NOVEMBER 22, 2008

OPENING RECEPTION 6 – 9PM

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Featuring:

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Damien Echols

John Espinosa

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Lisi Raskin

Gareth Spor

Chris Verene

The Company was co-founded by curator Anat Ebgi and artist Annie Wharton. A few steps from Chung King Road,

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Reminder

This is just a quick reminder for those of you who might be considering a last minute plan to attend Jessie and Jason's Rule 37 hearing in Jonesboro this week. November 19-21, 2008.

Jason Baldwin