Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996)

1. Okay.

2. Where were these found, guys?

3. Green one on the left side there,

4. red one on the right side.

5. don't let nobody come up here.

6. The police in west Memphis, Arkansas

7. confirmed today that three young boys were brutally murdered.

8. The bodies of Weaver elementary school second graders

9. Steven branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore

10. were pulled from a shallow creek earlier today.

11. There are rumors that the boys may have been sexually mutilated

12. the police say that they do not yet

13. have any suspects in the case.

14. The missing 8-year-old boys were discovered

15. in an area known as Robin hood hills,

16. a secluded patch of woods

17. behind the blue beacon truck wash

18. along interstate 40 in west Memphis.

19. Imagine all the evil that you could think of,

20. how someone could be murdered

21. and that's how these three children died.

22. No family should have to go through this,

23. unfortunately, it's gonna happen again somewhere,

24. another town,

25. it's gonna happen again, I'm sure,

26. a lot of bad people out there in the world.

27. I don't know why these three little boys were murdered,

28. did they see something they were not supposed to see?

29. Did they hear things they were not supposed to hear?

30. I do not know that,

31. I see no reason, I see no motive

32. for why these three little boys were murdered.

33. Live from KAIT 8 TV,

34. good neighbors you can turn to

35. for news, weather and sports.

36. This is KAIT 8 news.

37. Good evening, I'm Diana Davis.

38. And I'm Tony Brooks.

39. In a statement given to police obtained by a Memphis newspaper

40. 17-year-old Jessie Misskelley

41. allegedly confesses to watching two other suspects

42. choke, rape, and sexually mutilate

43. three west Memphis second graders.

44. Jenna Newton reports.

45. According to the published report

46. Misskelley told police he watched 18-year-old

47. Damien Echols,

48. and 16-year-old Jason Baldwin

49. brutalize the children with a club and a knife.

50. The report says Misskelley told police

51. Echols and Baldwin raped one of the boys

52. and sexually mutilated another

53. as part of a cult ritual.

54. Misskelley is quoted as saying he did not take part

55. in the rape and mutilation

56. but that he helped subdue

57. one victim who tried to escape.

58. At a press conference, inspector Gary gitchell said

59. the case against the accused teens is very strong.

60. One a scale of 1 to 10, how solid is the case?

61. Eleven.

62. It appears satanic worship

63. may have played a role in the murders.

64. Since the very beginning of the investigation

65. people all around west Memphis have come forward

66. with stories of satanic cults.

67. Rev. Tommy Stacy's church is down the street

68. from where the bodies were found.

69. One year ago Damien Echols told the church's youth minister

70. he had a pact with the devil

71. and he was going to hell.

72. I do know that my youth director

73. talked to Damien extensively

74. at the revival that we had

75. and he told him that he could not be saved.

76. That he could not give his heart to Jesus

77. and my youth director then

78. tried to get him to take a Bible

79. and he made the statement that he could not take a Bible

80. because if he did, the rest of 'em would get him.

81. In west Memphis, Jenna Newton,

82. KAIT 8 night news.

83. Christopher never hurt anybody.

84. He had a gentle, loving and giving heart.

85. And they crucified him in those woods,

86. and they humiliated his little body.

87. They took his little manhood

88. before he even knew what it was.

89. And I hate 'em for it.

90. I've never hated anybody in my life.

91. And I hate these three.

92. And the mothers

93. that bore them.

94. I can't imagine...

95. What was going through Michael's mind.

96. Was he...

97. Calling for me?

98. How long did they leave him there tied up

99. on that ditch bank before they decided to kill him?

100. What were they doing to him?

101. Was he conscious or unconscious?

102. Did he watch the other two boys...

103. Get cut?

104. He was really being killed by real monsters.

105. On TV!

106. Pam, first of all

107. what are you holding in your hand there?

108. It's Stevie's boy scout,

109. I got it back yesterday.

110. And, I've been wearing it around my head like this.

111. Did he like scouting?

112. Oh, he loved it, he loved it.

113. He loved it.

114. Do you blame yourself for this?

115. I have, I have,

116. I have been on a guilt trip about it

117. but, it wasn't my fault

118. I was at work.

119. Have you contemplated joining Stevie?

120. Have I?

121. Have you thought about suicide?

122. Have I?

123. Uh, "suicide"?

124. I felt like dying, but not suicide, no,

125. not suicide.

126. Do you feel that the people that did this were worshipping—

127. Satan?

128. Yes, I do.

129. Why?

130. Just look at the freaks.

131. Just look at 'em.

132. They look like punks.

133. Little Jessie told me he didn't do it,

134. didn't have anything to do with it, he wasn't there.

135. I believe him.

136. I think the cops just can't find who done it...

137. And they gotta put it on somebody.

138. I wanna tell the whole world my son's innocent

139. because I know he is innocent.

140. I know where he was

141. and I know he's innocent

142. and I wanna tell the world and I want the world to know.

143. This boy is not capable

144. of the crime

145. that he has been arrested for.

146. I've seen him take a little kitten

147. and love it just like

148. you'd love a little baby.

149. It's like a nightmare,

150. a nightmare that you can't wake up from.

151. Our son is innocent.

152. We intend to prove it.

153. "Yea, though I walk through the valley

154. "of the shadow of death

155. "I shall fear no evil.

156. "And I'm not scared of the devil.

157. "I gotta know who my comforter is.

158. Thou rod and thou staff comfort me."

159. And I thank you lord for lettin' me be able

160. to believe in that with all my heart.

161. I hope y'all really believe in your master the Satan,

162. that sleuthfoot, devil himself,

163. because he's not gonna help ya.

164. He's gonna laugh at ya, mock at ya, and torture ya.

165. He didn't need your help.

166. The devil's got all the devils he needs.

167. The good lord said Lucifer,

168. and a third of the angels were cast from heaven.

169. He didn't need them, but he took their mind

170. and he manipulated 'em,

171. and they prayed to Satan and they prayed to the devil

172. and they had their satanic worship services out here,

173. and they had all types of wild homosexual orgies

174. I've been told,

175. crazy things.

176. To me, this place as I stand

177. is like hell on earth

178. because I know that three babies

179. were killed right out here were I stand.

180. I know my son was castrated

181. and possibly laid there on that bank

182. and bled to death.

183. I know he was choked.

184. I know one boy's head was beat in beyond recognition.

185. I know one little boy was skinned

186. almost like an animal,

187. cut, had to shave his head,

188. had all types

189. of injures to the head

190. where they just kept beating him

191. and poundin' on him, and killin' him and killin' him

192. it's like they enjoyed it,

193. they killed them two or three times.

194. Jessie Misskelley Jr,

195. Jason Baldwin,

196. Damien Echols,

197. I hope your master the devil

198. does take you soon.

199. I want you to meet him real soon.

200. And the day you die

201. I'm gonna praise god

202. and I make you a promise,

203. the day you die,

204. every year on may 5th

205. I'm gonna come to your grave side,

206. I'm gonna spit on you,

207. I'm gonna curse the day you were born,

208. and I'm sure while I'm standin' there

209. I'm gonna have to have other bodily functions

210. let go upon your grave.

211. I promise you as god is my witness

212. I'll visit all three of your graves.

213. The statement Jessie gave to the police

214. is a lie, it's not true.

215. I don't see why he would do something like that

216. to another person.

217. I can see why they might think I was in a cult

218. 'cause I wear Metallica t-shirts and stuff.

219. But, I'm not in nothin' like that.

220. I couldn't kill an animal or a person.

221. I don't worship the devil or anything like that.

222. I worship god

223. like every normal person around here does.

224. I got a favorite pet, my pet iguana.

225. Had her for a little over a year now.

226. I usually go fishin' by myself,

227. right in my backyard.

228. Just go out there, and my pet cat would be out there

229. his name's Charlie.

230. Whenever I catch a fish I always give it to him.

231. I didn't kill these three little boys.

232. I didn't kill those three little boys.

233. They were under a lot of pressure

234. they had to find somebody

235. to lay this off on

236. before people started losin' their jobs.

237. The public was gettin' real upset

238. seein' the cops were incompetent,

239. couldn't do their jobs, they had to do something fast.

240. And we were really the obvious choice

241. because we stood out from everybody else.

242. This all worked out to their advantage.

243. No one's gonna be saying that you're stupid or you're dumb,

244. or making fun of you,

245. but the court's gonna be very interested in determining

246. exactly at what level you were functioning,

247. how well you're able to read,

248. how well you're able to write, things of that nature.

249. Does that make sense?

250. Mm-hmm.

251. So, if the court determines that

252. you are operating

253. below average,

254. then there's a possibility that the court will not be allowed

255. or the state will not be allowed

256. to impose the death penalty against you,

257. do you understand what that means?

258. We've got about 10 weeks

259. before the trial comes up in January.

260. Are you looking forward to having the trial?

261. A little bit.

262. Not much.

263. Hello?

264. I have a collect call, your name please.

265. Jessie.

266. Will you pay?

267. Yes, ma'am.

268. Thank you.

269. Hey, son, how ya doin'?

270. Alright.

271. That's good.

272. My hand still hurts.

273. Your hand still hurts?

274. Did you ever find out if it was broke or not?

275. No, I ain't found out.

276. I can move it.

277. If you can move it, it's not broke.

278. It hurts.

279. If you can move it, it's not broke.

280. It's gonna hurt a while 'cause you bruised it pretty good.

281. You just gotta learn not to hit them walls

282. hit somebody else.

283. There was nobody in my room to hit.

284. Oh, okay.

285. I didn't hit the wall, I hit the commode.

286. You "hit the commode"?

287. Yeah, I hit it on the side.

288. I didn't even put a dent in it either.

289. That must be a hard commode.

290. I heard that.

291. What time is everyone gonna come up?

292. I don't know.

293. Y'all come up anytime, 'cause y'all be in here with me.

294. Well, uh...

295. We'll see you Saturday.

296. They're gonna have to go through the metal detector

297. when you come through the front door,

298. I want everybody to do that,

299. they've got that portable thing they can bring from little rock

300. if you need it.

301. Like the airport deal.

302. We couldn't afford no $3,000 metal detector.

303. What I planned on doin' was usin' two portables

304. at this door,

305. that's why I want everybody, outside of lawyers,

306. and I want them to come through this door.

307. There's a potential of a problem area

308. with the...

309. Strong feelings of the family,

310. and that's to be understood

311. so, security, not only coming in and out of the courtroom

312. is a problem,

313. but keeping the onlookers and the family

314. and people segregated

315. from the accused is another problem

316. that you'll have, Darwin.

317. My intention was to bring this boy in

318. before, long before court

319. and have him in sight.

320. Obviously I'm very concerned about security.

321. Simply because of the death threats

322. that have happened,

323. but I don't wanna give the jury the impression,

324. if we have 20 state troopers

325. and 50 county deputies,

326. it's gonna give the impression to the jury

327. that my client is a very dangerous person

328. which he's not,

329. and I don't want the jury to get the wrong impression,

330. I don't want there to be such a circus in the courtroom

331. with reporters and cameras

332. that the jury forgets about what they're here for

333. and that is to administer justice.

334. We expect the proof's going to show

335. that this defendant confessed,

336. that he was not coerced...

337. We do not contend that the proof's going to show

338. that every word that came out of his mouth

339. was the truth.

340. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury

341. this statement that Mr. Misskelley gave

342. the west Memphis police department

343. is a false story,

344. the interrogation techniques that were deployed against him

345. at the time of his statement on June the 3rd

346. rendered him completely incapable...

347. They broke his will, they scared him

348. beyond all measures.

349. The proof is going to show

350. that this defendant

351. was an accomplice

352. to Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin

353. in the commission of these

354. horrifying murders

355. and we will ask you

356. to return your verdict of guilty

357. on three counts of capital murder.

358. We don't know what the truth is

359. but when it really gets down to it...

360. His daddy and I are gonna look him scare in the eyes

361. and say, son, did you do this?

362. Was you even there?

363. That's when we will believe.

364. If he told me he did it...

365. Which I don't believe he did,

366. but if he told me he did it...

367. He'd have to do his time.

368. Suffer the consequences.

369. If he admits to this,

370. he would be strictly on his own.

371. We wouldn't even send him a dollar for a pack of cigarettes.

372. No, you're wrong there.

373. Yes, we would.

374. No, I would, he's my son.

375. I'll send him money.

376. But, he will have to do his time.

377. I wouldn't give him a nickel.

378. He's my son.

379. We can be talkin' about—

380. We could be talking about my son.

381. If my son did something that horrible.

382. No, I wouldn't give him a nickel.

383. Let him suffer.

384. You can't turn your blood away.

385. I don't know how you say you could,

386. and we're gonna have a problem over this.

387. But, I know how it is being up there in jail

388. without anything.

389. Well, that's beside the point,

390. if he's guilty

391. if he's guilty of doing this to these little boys.

392. No.

393. He's not.

394. Well I'm saying he's not too.

395. But,

396. if he happens to— If it's proven.

397. No, forget it, no.

398. No.

399. I don't believe he did it.

400. I'll never believe he did it.

401. This is to Jessie Jr.

402. Today's his 18th birthday.

403. And I haven't seen him

404. I don't know where to go see him at,

405. I'm gonna sing "happy birthday" to him.

406. And don't smoke too much.

407. Now, he's legal to get 'em, ain't he?

408. Yeah, he's legal to smoke now.

409. I may not be his biological mother

410. but giving birth don't make a parent,

411. and I've had him since he was four...

412. And it took me about a year

413. to assure that little boy I was gonna be here for him,

414. he wouldn't wanna go to school

415. he wouldn't go outside and play

416. because was afraid I wouldn't be here when he came in

417. and when he was in kindergarten if he'd come in

418. and I happened not to be where he can see me

419. when he first come in

420. he would be hysterical when I got to him.

421. And...

422. I've always known that...

423. He was...

424. He had a problem.

425. And I,

426. I've always been real protective of him.

427. My mom sent me this one.

428. "There are all sorts of sons

429. "sons can be slouchy

430. "sons can be sweet

431. "sons can be grouchy...

432. "Sons can be neat

433. "sons can be broke

434. "sons can be well-to-do...

435. But no son could ever be loved more than you."

436. And it says "happy birthday".

437. I cry a lot when I'm in here

438. 'cause I miss my family and everything.

439. And I just cry a lot.

440. After that, I go to bed,

441. try to sleep.

442. My name is Ella Sanders,

443. my son was Antonio Sanders,

444. and he got killed,

445. Halloween night, 1990.

446. My name is Brenda mcclaine

447. and my brother was stabbed to death.

448. I'm Brenda east

449. and my son, Robert, 23 at the time

450. was murdered in 1990.

451. My name's Anne wallen

452. my daughter was Sheila Dixon

453. she was murdered January the 12th of '91.

454. I'm Wanda rany.

455. My daughter was murdered,

456. June the 27th,

457. we think, we're not sure,

458. they're calling it a crime of passion,

459. they not only throwed her out

460. and let her lay two weeks,

461. he poured acid on her

462. to deteriorate her body.

463. I didn't have the pleasure...

464. Of telling my daughter good-bye.

465. Funeral was closed casket...

466. And this is what I had on the casket.

467. And it's still very unreal to me.

468. When the telephone rings I expect it to be her.

469. My name's Todd Moore.

470. My son was mark Moore,

471. he was murdered along with

472. Christopher Byers and Steven branch

473. may 5th, 1993.

474. I cannot describe the pain...

475. That my family has went through

476. they didn't just kill my son

477. they killed part of me.

478. They killed a part of my wife,

479. her daughter.

480. I'm so frustrated

481. because it seems like they have so much rights,

482. we have no rights,

483. they had in the paper the other day,

484. now the taxpayers in griton county

485. are gonna have to buy them a suit

486. because they don't want them to go into court

487. looking like what they are, criminals.

488. They're in jail, they should wear jail clothes.

489. Why do they need to have

490. a nice suit bought by the county

491. so they look presentable?

492. They don't want 'em in shackles and chains.

493. You know, these are not boys that murdered

494. our kids.

495. They stopped being boys

496. when they planned this,

497. and I sit there and watch their parents

498. comin' out of courts, crying

499. talkin' about their son's rights.

500. What about our son's rights?

501. Where the hell was his rights out on that ditch bank?

502. He had no rights,

503. he had the rights to be brutally murdered?

504. To be beat to death, an 8-year-old little boy?

505. Where was his rights?

506. I'm Diane Moore, Michael Moore's mother,

507. last week in flash market,

508. the echol's man was in there staring me down.

509. Like it was my fault that I had a child

510. that his child could murder.

511. We seen

512. the people that are supporting these people,

513. that look at us

514. like we're scum,

515. and these other people are just...

516. The greatest thing that they've ever known,

517. now they wanna

518. have 'em all just dressed up

519. and act like little choir boys in court.

520. Here you go, he didn't do anything wrong.

521. My son didn't do anything wrong, he's just a boy.

522. Now, on June the 3rd

523. did you have an assignment to locate a particular person?

524. My assignment was to contact

525. Jessie Misskelley Jr.

526. At that time was the defendant a suspect?

527. No, sir.

528. If he was not a suspect

529. why were you assigned to contact him?

530. He was a friend with—

531. Friends with Damien Echols

532. and Jason Baldwin.

533. What, if anything, did he tell you...

534. During this conversation before the tape recording?

535. He told us that he had attended

536. some satanic cult-type meetings,

537. that boys,

538. along with girls would attend,

539. there would be

540. sessions of sex,

541. orgies, as he called them.

542. Uh, that...

543. Dogs and animals

544. had been killed

545. and in fact those animals,

546. portions of them,

547. have been eaten by the members.

548. I believe there's angels on earth,

549. I believe there's demons on earth.

550. And I believe as angels try to help people,

551. I believe demons try to possess and hurt people

552. to do the devil's will.

553. Just how angels try to help people

554. to do god's will.

555. At this time mark is going to sing a song

556. entitled, "whatever it takes".

557. A beautiful song,

558. y'all listen to him as he comes and shares.

559. I believe the lord is gonna

560. direct me, guide me and lead me

561. and we're gonna give the glory to him.

562. There's no doubt in your mind

563. that about 5:30 P.M. Jessie was sittin'--

564. He was sittin' right down here.

565. I had seen the police over there twice.

566. I'd also seen little Jessie over there

567. and they talked to him.

568. Police officers talked to him.

569. Yes, sir.

570. They had to find somebody to pin this on.

571. This publicity was getting out of hand.

572. Can you ask those folks inside to step out for just a second?

573. I know that I've talked to each of you,

574. if not directly, indirectly,

575. we need to be very, very careful

576. about who we talk to

577. with regard to the media involved in this case.

578. There are several members of the media who apparently

579. have no ethics

580. and have decided that they're gonna do everything they can

581. to dig up mud and sling mud,

582. it's not gonna do anything but hurt Jessie

583. and his chances of receiving a fair trial.

584. You, as friends of Jessie and relatives of Jessie,

585. are prime targets for these members of the press.

586. And if we just remember the one rule is

587. don't talk to anybody, then we won't have to worry about it.

588. Does that make sense?

589. So, again I caution you not to talk to anybody in the press,

590. it's just gonna hurt us, thanks.

591. One thing I like about this right here,

592. black powder gun,

593. is they can't pull any type of ballistics on it,

594. if by some chance you was to shoot something with it,

595. every bullet rifles through the chamber

596. just a little bit different.

597. So, they just can't pull no ballistics off this one.

598. There's a few people I wouldn't mind shooting with it.

599. But, hopefully the courts and the justice system's

600. gonna take care of 'em.

601. If they reach prison, they'll get took care of.

602. Todd, I could save the state a lot of money.

603. If they just let me line them three sonofaguns up,

604. I'd say this one here is for you Jessie,

605. and we're gonna go for the jug of water.

606. Oh, Jessie, I done blowed you half in two, son!

607. This one here's for you, Damien,

608. you that black circle right in the middle.

609. Oh, you got hurt.

610. Damn, that sure looked painful, didn't it?

611. Hey, Jason?

612. I want you to smile and blow me a kiss for this one.

613. Let's go back to Jessie.

614. I just wounded him,

615. I want him to bleed a little bit like he made my baby bleed.

616. Oh, Jessie...

617. That breaks my heart thinkin' about that scum.

618. 'Cause this right here's all that needs to be done to him,

619. shot slowly,

620. with a real nice firearm.

621. And it ain't got no consideration

622. or no feeling who it's aimin' at,

623. just like they didn't care about killing my baby.

624. I'd be happy with lining them up.

625. I wouldn't have no problem with it.

626. I think old Jessie's still kickin' a little.

627. Put him out of his misery.

628. What kind of range do we got in the courtroom?

629. Probably about 10 foot right here.

630. Go ahead and waste old Jessie.

631. I don't see that bein' much of a problem.

632. No, because I can just see the scum.

633. That's good.

634. Go ahead, he's wiggling,

635. alright,

636. I could live with that.

637. During the course of these conversations

638. was anything shown to the defendant?

639. Yes, sir.

640. Alright, what was shown to him?

641. There was a picture that insp. Gitchell showed him.

642. And what was that a picture of?

643. One of the victims.

644. When I showed Jessie this photograph,

645. he took it into his hand

646. and he just went back in his chair like this,

647. and he just locked in on it,

648. fixed in on the photograph,

649. and just kept staring at it and staring at it.

650. Initially, Mr. Misskelley

651. denied any involvement whatsoever in this, didn't he?

652. Yes, sir, he did.

653. Officer Ridge,

654. the photograph that was just introduced into evidence,

655. depicting one of the boy's bodies,

656. that was shown to Jessie?

657. Yes.

658. And this was immediately prior to him

659. admitting and telling you this story

660. about being present when the boys were killed?

661. Shortly before, yes, sir.

662. Why did you guys do that?

663. There had to be a reason to do that.

664. There were times when Jessie would not be talking,

665. he's getting slower with information,

666. he's telling us things,

667. it's over and over, the same thing.

668. Those techniques are used

669. to evoke a response.

670. You and insp. Gitchell did these things

671. to evoke a response.

672. Yes, sir.

673. To evoke confession.

674. Evoke a response, keep him talking.

675. Did it ever occur to you

676. that Mr. Misskelley has a mental handicap?

677. No, sir, it didn't to me on that date.

678. Did you have any special training

679. dealing with people with mental handicaps?

680. No, sir.

681. Did it ever occur to you that this was gonna scare him,

682. showing him a picture of a body?

683. That it would scare him?

684. I don't know, I guess he's scared

685. into making a statement, yes, sir.

686. I'm getting nervous every day.

687. Why?

688. Why?

689. Oh, okay.

690. That's a stupid question.

691. Okay.

692. I can barely hold this phone.

693. It's getting closer and closer.

694. I don't wanna even think about it.

695. I can imagine what they're gonna do to me.

696. I can imagine.

697. But, I'm not gonna think that though.

698. Think good thoughts, while I'm on the phone.

699. Talk about something good while I'm on the phone.

700. Hey, you're supposed to be talking to me,

701. not your friends.

702. These people make me mad.

703. You know it?

704. Uh-huh.

705. They get to go out and screw people and I can't.

706. That's what y'all do, I can't do that.

707. Well, you will later.

708. I will later? How do you know?

709. I mean if I can get out, we will.

710. If I don't get out, we won't.

711. What I was gonna ask you that Sunday,

712. that I dreamed about you.

713. You wouldn't believe what I was dreaming.

714. It freaked me out.

715. Wanna hear it?

716. Huh?

717. Yeah.

718. We was having sex, alright?

719. O.K.

720. We went to the bathroom, we had sex.

721. When I was going out the front door

722. we had sex right there.

723. We done it out in the yard,

724. in front of everybody.

725. It freaked me out!

726. I woke up, I was sweatin' bad.

727. I said I hope that dream come true quick.

728. What are you gonna do when you get off the phone?

729. Sneak back home.

730. Go back home?

731. I'm gonna go back home too, when I get off the phone.

732. I wish you could.

733. I wish you could.

734. Yeah.

735. Well, my time's up, okay?

736. I gotta go, okay?

737. I love you.

738. I love you too.

739. Bye-bye.

740. Can you get it in there?

741. Yeah.

742. I think those two oughta do fine.

743. Yeah, I'm sure they will be.

744. Yeah, this one's good.

745. This one came out.

746. O.K.

747. Big difference from any other Christmas.

748. One I'll never forget.

749. It's the first one without him.

750. I wish you could've been here to hear me sing.

751. He liked to hear me sing.

752. This little Christmas tree will stay there real well,

753. it's in there tight enough,

754. I don't think the wind will blow it over or anything.

755. C'mere and kneel down here by me.

756. Oh, god, why did you let this happen?

757. Please help us through it.

758. God, please help us through this.

759. This is an enlarged photograph of the crime scene,

760. this is the ditch

761. where the bodies were found,

762. Michael Moore was found in this area at the bottom,

763. Steve branch was found

764. just behind

765. where these trees are in the stream,

766. and Christopher Byers was found just below,

767. that body right here.

768. This is exhibit 22,

769. which is the body of Michael Moore,

770. after removing him from the water.

771. The way he was found.

772. This is the body of Steve branch,

773. Steve branch is the one that had

774. the injures to his face.

775. Was it a particular part of his face?

776. The left side.

777. This is state exhibit 24,

778. the body of Christopher Byers.

779. What kind of injures did Chris Byers have,

780. did you observe?

781. It looked as though his penis had been removed.

782. Could you see the pictures from where you were sitting?

783. Yeah, that's why I had to leave.

784. Why?

785. Because I always—

786. Seeing my boy the way he was,

787. I'll always have that picture of what he looked like,

788. in my mind.

789. But, you never knew until now.

790. You said early on

791. you really didn't wanna know.

792. But, now you're hearing it,

793. is it a lot harder than what you thought it was going to be?

794. It's a whole lot harder than I thought it would be.

795. It like going back to may 5th

796. and reliving it all over again.

797. Inspector, let's talk about the things

798. that Jessie told you that are just absolutely incorrect,

799. on page 9 of his statement,

800. Jessie says that

801. the murders took place around noon,

802. how did you know that was incorrect?

803. Because the young boys were still in school.

804. Did at any time when he was telling you these things

805. that you knew were incorrect,

806. did it ever occur to you that what he was tellin' you

807. was false?

808. His entire story was false?

809. In Jessie's case,

810. I feel he did tell us a good bit of the truth

811. but then they also lessened their activity in a statement,

812. that's just common,

813. at least in my 20 years career.

814. Is it common for the police to simply ignore

815. these big obvious problems and just assume,

816. that everything he's telling you has gotta be correct?

817. Jessie simply got confused.

818. You and I can tell the cops

819. that we know what our rights are,

820. basically go to hell,

821. we're not gonna take this and walk out.

822. Jessie Misskelley has no concept

823. of being able to leave a police station,

824. the only thing that the prosecution

825. has put on against Jessie

826. is this wild story that he told the police,

827. and I hope the fact that there's no physical evidence

828. linking him to the crime scene

829. is gonna have a lot of impact on the jury,

830. we're talkin' about reasonable doubt.

831. I think you need to deal with lack of physical evidence,

832. not just to let them get away with the fact

833. that they were in the water and it all washed away.

834. A crime scene that clean

835. has to be purposely planned, done that way.

836. The fact they looked washed down

837. was not just happenstance...

838. Somebody intentionally...

839. Purposefully...

840. With great cunning and intelligence

841. tried to get rid of...

842. Every spot of blood, semen,

843. mud, footprint,

844. anything that may have been there,

845. they purposefully tried to get rid of all that.

846. An 18, 17, and a 16-yr-old kid,

847. don't pull that off.

848. I think there's a lot of professional killers

849. who don't leave it this clean.

850. I really do believe that if the jury

851. hears what serial killers are like,

852. and what they do and how they leave crime scenes,

853. the missing evidence, the souvenirs,

854. I have know doubt there's a serial killer going around,

855. that did these murders, he may be in Idaho now,

856. but, I don't have any doubt about it.

857. It is somebody who knew what they were doing,

858. had done it before, has probably done it since then,

859. or will definitely do it again.

860. Are you aware of any personalty traits

861. of people who are likely to falsely confess?

862. Low I.Q.

863. Highly suggestible,

864. always attempting to solve

865. the immediate stress factor...

866. Get the interrogators off my back

867. and just let me go home...

868. Naively assumes

869. that they can all straighten it out later on.

870. It's extremely difficult

871. for the average person to believe...

872. That someone would confess to a crime they didn't do,

873. what I didn't like about this confession

874. is that most of it emanated from questions right off the bat

875. without any narrative

876. of any length at all.

877. Without any descriptions about feelings,

878. or conversations or anything,

879. I just don't understand,

880. if he was involved in this crime

881. how he made a mistake on the time factor.

882. And the thing that really bothers me is the ligature,

883. what was used to tie up the victims,

884. he certainly knows the difference

885. between shoe laces and a rope,

886. that should've been a signal

887. that something was radically wrong.

888. That's when the questions should've been more probing

889. to determine whether or not he was making it up

890. or giving a valid confession.

891. Out of the 100 or more people

892. that y'all talked to,

893. are you aware of anybody other then than the defendant,

894. who told you

895. one of the victims

896. that had their genitals removed

897. and one of them had cuts to the side of the face,

898. and there'd been some grabbing of the ears?

899. There was no one else that mentioned

900. those particular injuries,

901. and, you yourself,

902. you're pointing to the wrong side of the cheek.

903. Was there any kind of emotional response?

904. He had tears coming down his eyes.

905. Had y'all yelled at him

906. or been mean to him,

907. or threatened him, or promised him anything,

908. or any of those things?

909. None of those things happened whatsoever.

910. Doctor, can you give us some examples

911. of the police being coercive, leading or suggestive

912. during the course of the interrogation?

913. Yes, I can,

914. perhaps the most powerful example,

915. in my opinion,

916. is the example of the eight revisiting

917. of the question of the time

918. at which the killings occurred.

919. The first example

920. occurs on page three,

921. det. Ridge says, "alright, when did you go with them?"

922. Mr. Misskelley says, "that morning",

923. det. Ridge asks, "I'm not saying when they called you,

924. "I'm saying what time was it

925. that you were actually there in the park?"

926. Mr. Misskelley says, "about noon."

927. Det. Ridge now says, "okay, was it

928. after school had let out?"

929. This is immediately after Jessie saying

930. "it's at noon",

931. he's now suggesting it must be later

932. by saying, "is it after school let out?"

933. Jessie says, "yes".

934. Det. Ridge follows up

935. with his victory,

936. on page 24,

937. and this time det. Ridge says,

938. and I quote,

939. "okay, the night

940. "you were in the woods,

941. "had you all

942. been in the water?"

943. Jessie replies,

944. "yeah, we'd been in the water,

945. "we were in it that night

946. playing around in it."

947. This is the first time

948. in the record,

949. that it is directly suggested to Jessie,

950. that the correct answer is

951. "this happened at night",

952. immediately upon

953. that being suggested,

954. Jessie...

955. Responds by accepting

956. and you he starts to use the word "at night",

957. where he had never used it before,

958. that is an influence tactic, it is a way,

959. of getting someone to accept something,

960. out of pressure

961. and out of suggestion.

962. But, that's one example,

963. there are many other examples of manipulation

964. on important points

965. throughout this record.

966. Mr. Ofshe,

967. is your going rate approximately $300 an hour?

968. No, that's not.

969. What is it?

970. My rate is a $150 an hour for consultation,

971. and $300 an hour for time spending in court

972. or in deposition.

973. So if you're initially asked to evaluate a case,

974. you don't get the $300 an hour

975. unless you give an opinion that's consistent,

976. with what the person asked you wants to hear.

977. They don't call you as a witness,

978. you don't get your $300 an hour, correct?

979. Incorrect.

980. I don't know what

981. the terminology is in Berkeley California,

982. but...

983. When the defendant identified

984. who it was who was castrated,

985. when he indicated

986. that one of the boys was cut in the face,

987. you don't know and you can't give an opinion

988. that any of those questions were coercive in nature?

989. No, I can't because the record that we are dealing with

990. is very incomplete,

991. because this part of the record

992. is preceded,

993. as everyone agrees...

994. By over two hours

995. of interrogation,

996. in which many subjects were discussed,

997. for which we have no record.

998. Jessie Misskelley,

999. didn't tell the police anything

1000. that they didn't already know.

1001. They led him him through this entire taped statement.

1002. And ladies and gentlemen of the jury,

1003. we don't know what happened

1004. before they turned the tape recorder on.

1005. They didn't videotape it,

1006. the officers didn't take notes on all the questions,

1007. they testified to that.

1008. They even testified that they couldn't remember

1009. some of the things they asked him.

1010. How do we know

1011. what really happened?

1012. The defense, through bringing in,

1013. so-called experts, such as Mr. Ofshe,

1014. have tried through smoke and mirrors

1015. to make it sound like,

1016. a person that confesses to such a heinous crime,

1017. and admits their involvement

1018. and gives you specific details in the involvement,

1019. that's indicative of someone,

1020. who was forced or coerced to confess.

1021. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,

1022. my client, little Jessie Misskelley,

1023. is an innocent man.

1024. He's innocent.

1025. And I would ask you to go back to that jury room,

1026. and bring back a verdict that rings of justice,

1027. truth and justice,

1028. and I would ask you to bring back a verdict

1029. that you can live with for the rest of your life.

1030. See this picture?

1031. This is the Moore boy.

1032. This defendant won't look up,

1033. he won't look at you,

1034. but this defendant's actions,

1035. you just think about it,

1036. if this defendant

1037. does not chase down Michael Moore...

1038. If he does not run through the woods and chase him down

1039. and bring him back,

1040. Michael Moore lives.

1041. Michael Moore gets to go home at night,

1042. his parents get to be with him.

1043. But, because of this defendant's actions...

1044. Because of what Jessie Misskelley Jr. Did,

1045. Michael Moore's dead,

1046. Stevie branch is dead,

1047. and Chris Byers is dead,

1048. and there's no getting around it.

1049. I think when you go back and you apply your common sense

1050. and you do what's right,

1051. and you think about the evidence in this case,

1052. you're gonna know

1053. that what the evidence shows is,

1054. that this defendant ran down Michael Moore,

1055. that this defendant was there,

1056. he was involved,

1057. and he's guilty

1058. of three counts of capital murder.

1059. 3-2-1.

1060. The jury went out at 4:20 this afternoon,

1061. they'll decide if Jessie Misskelley is guilty

1062. in the deaths of Christopher Byers,

1063. Michael Moore and Steven branch.

1064. Misskelley is charged with capital murder,

1065. and, if guilty, could get the death penalty.

1066. Two other teen-agers charged in the crime,

1067. will be tried later this month in jonesboro.

1068. In corning, Wayne Hoffman,

1069. A.R.N. News.

1070. Short but sweet.

1071. Can't you twitch your nose

1072. and make them come back with a "not guilty" verdict?

1073. If I could twitch my nose and do that,

1074. I'd have been gone a long time ago.

1075. There's still hope.

1076. I'm not giving up, though.

1077. Don't ever!

1078. Don't get in there and get mad and go off...

1079. They tell me, "how come he always keeps his head down?"

1080. Because I was told to keep my head down.

1081. If you'd raise up and look around

1082. then, they'd be saying something else.

1083. don't let it bother you.

1084. That's what they're saying about Damien,

1085. always stretchin' his neck, lookin' around.

1086. Damien's a good kid.

1087. I guess, I don't know!

1088. I didn't realize how much I loved him until this.

1089. I always loved him, but this is just—

1090. Well, thanks a lot!

1091. You know I always loved you,

1092. I'm just sayin' I didn't realize how much!

1093. You're coming home.

1094. You gotta get out of here.

1095. Just say a prayer when the jury comes out.

1096. 'Cause we'll be sitting there

1097. sayin' one

1098. for you.

1099. We hope we can carry you home.

1100. It's kind of horrible.

1101. You gotta learn to control it.

1102. Alright, ladies and gentlemen in the audience,

1103. I am acutely aware that...

1104. You're...

1105. Feelings are all on edge,

1106. that there's a great deal of emotion involved,

1107. but the court cannot tolerate

1108. and will not tolerate,

1109. any verbal outbursts,

1110. any display of emotion whatsoever,

1111. and I recognize that that's difficult

1112. and that's why I'm warning you in advance.

1113. The verdicts read as follows,

1114. "we the jury find Jessie Lloyd Misskelley Jr.

1115. "Guilty of first degree murder

1116. "in the death of Michael Moore,

1117. "we the jury find Jessie Lloyd Misskelley Jr.

1118. "Guilty of second degree murder

1119. "in the death of Stevie branch,

1120. "we the jury find Jessie Lloyd Misskelley Jr.

1121. "Guilty of second degree murder

1122. "in the death of Chris Byers,

1123. signed by T.J. Williams, foreman."

1124. Alright, Mr. Misskelley,

1125. if you could come around the front here

1126. and Dan,

1127. Mr. Misskelley, did you hear the jury's finding

1128. and the reading of the verdict in your case?

1129. Yes, sir.

1130. Do you have any legal reason or cause

1131. to tell the court why sentence

1132. should not be imposed at this time?

1133. I heard you but

1134. you need to answer out a little bit louder.

1135. No, sir.

1136. Alright,

1137. is there anything you wanna say

1138. before sentence is imposed?

1139. You have a right to make any statement

1140. you care to at this time.

1141. Are you satisfied with the service and advice

1142. of your attorneys through this trial?

1143. Yes, sir.

1144. Alright, based upon the jury's verdict,

1145. finding you guilty of first degree murder

1146. in the death of Michael Moore,

1147. you'll be sentenced to the Arkansas dept. Of corrections

1148. for a term of life,

1149. in the count involving the death of Steven branch,

1150. the jury having found you guilty of second degree murder,

1151. you'll be sentenced to an additional term of 20 years,

1152. and in regard to

1153. the death of Christopher Byers,

1154. the jury having found you guilty of second degree murder,

1155. you will be sentenced to an additional term of 20 years

1156. in the Arkansas dept. Of corrections,

1157. that is you will receive a life sentence plus 40 years.

1158. It's hard to think of how

1159. it would've gone any other way,

1160. but you can never tell with a jury of 12,

1161. they could've found a verdict of not guilty,

1162. and we had to sit there and tell ourselves,

1163. "god Grant us the Serenity

1164. "to accept the things we cannot change

1165. "the courage to change the things we can

1166. and the wisdom to know the difference."

1167. So we had to be willing to accept what happened,

1168. and thankfully the verdict went our way.

1169. There must be mixed emotions

1170. because you had the guilty verdict

1171. but you still have the loss to deal with.

1172. This doesn't change anything.

1173. Christopher's dead,

1174. and he was tortured to death

1175. by three murdering bastards

1176. on a ditch bank,

1177. he was 8 years old.

1178. And guilty is guilty.

1179. And I hope the little sucker, when he hits prison,

1180. they get his ass right off the bat!

1181. Because he deserves to be

1182. tortured and punished

1183. for the rest of his life

1184. for murdering three 8 year old children!

1185. How come you kept your head down the whole time?

1186. Jessie, anything you wanna say now?

1187. Did you do it, Jessie?

1188. Did you do it, Jessie?

1189. How are you feeling right now?

1190. Prison's not a safe place.

1191. Jessie, sweetie.

1192. I'm gonna mail him a skirt.

1193. One down two to go.

1194. Hopefully the same thing will happen to the next two,

1195. and we'll get the same verdict.

1196. They found my son's testicles

1197. in a jar of alcohol

1198. in Damien Echols' house,

1199. with his fingerprints on the jar.

1200. Now, how do you dispute that?

1201. Some idiot started a rumor saying that

1202. they found umm...

1203. Children's sexual parts

1204. under my bed

1205. or in my house.

1206. And there was no body parts in my house.

1207. I think maybe the police had something to do with it.

1208. If they can make us look bad in front of the public,

1209. people are gonna kinda have their minds made up,

1210. before anything ever comes out.

1211. We wanna talk to you about all this stuff in the paper

1212. about a deal with Jessie.

1213. Right now we don't know

1214. what his situation is,

1215. although we think he is more inclined to testify right now

1216. than he has been at any point,

1217. up to now.

1218. The Friday that Jessie was convicted,

1219. by questioning, the officers that took him down

1220. inquired of him what had really happened,

1221. apparently, Jessie, contrary to somebody that was innocent,

1222. that would say things like, "gee, I've just been convicted,

1223. I didn't do it, what a terrible injustice",

1224. Jessie talked all the way down there

1225. about how he committed the crime,

1226. and specific details,

1227. unfortunately we need his testimony real bad.

1228. If it was a perfect world,

1229. we would take what we have on Jessie and leave it,

1230. and we'd go and get the other two,

1231. and get them and be happy,

1232. but it's not,

1233. and, we need his testimony

1234. to be sure we get convictions on the other two.

1235. I think we're gonna

1236. negotiate his sentence down some

1237. in order to get him to testify.

1238. He's not gonna testify just

1239. out of the goodness of his heart,

1240. the only way that I think

1241. that he will be willing to testify,

1242. is if the life sentence is removed.

1243. I do wanna say, all is not lost,

1244. if he doesn't testify,

1245. but the odds are reduced significantly.

1246. We still got some evidence.

1247. What we've got, besides Jessie,

1248. we got...

1249. A fiber that was found on,

1250. it was found on Stevie's shirt,

1251. that matched the fiber

1252. from Jason Baldwin's mother,

1253. which is called secondary transfer.

1254. We've got a fiber from a shirt,

1255. or a couple of fibers from a shirt

1256. found at Echols' house,

1257. found...

1258. One of 'em was on Michael's cub scout cap,

1259. another one maybe on the shirt,

1260. that matched Damien's.

1261. Fiber evidence, in my opinion,

1262. is better than hair evidence,

1263. but they can't say that it came from

1264. that particular garment to exclusion of all others.

1265. We've got

1266. the hollingsworth clan

1267. that says they saw Damien out on the service road,

1268. we've got some...

1269. Kids that say that

1270. they heard him at a girl's softball game,

1271. overheard him say that he killed the three boys

1272. and he was gonna kill two more

1273. before he turned himself in.

1274. They haven't scared them off, like they did the other ones?

1275. No, not yet.

1276. We've got...

1277. A guy that was in jail with Jason

1278. who says that Jason made some

1279. incriminating statements to him,

1280. now, there are some things that they're gonna try to do

1281. to attack this kid's credibility.

1282. Then we've got the knife that was found

1283. in the lake behind Jason's house,

1284. so, that's what we've got,

1285. but, that's all basically we got.

1286. You asked what the odds were of convicting them without Jessie

1287. and it's 50-50,

1288. not be good.

1289. The only way he'll come up there

1290. and sit down in that witness chair

1291. and testify,

1292. is if they cut him a sweet deal,

1293. you take all the things that are wrong with his statement

1294. and then add to that recipe mix,

1295. that I'm talkin' now because I got a sweet deal,

1296. and I'm gonna get out in 10 years,

1297. hypothetically,

1298. I may get out in 10 years.

1299. Heck, who wouldn't sing?

1300. You know what I'm saying?

1301. Then, his evidence, his statement,

1302. his whole thing looks bad,

1303. if that's their best evidence, and trust me, it is,

1304. if they can't use that statement against you,

1305. they got nothin'.

1306. And this dog and pony show is over.

1307. 'Morning.

1308. Are the rumor's false about Jessie turning?

1309. Is it true that Jessie's gonna testify

1310. against Damien and Jason?

1311. That's false.

1312. I just left Jessie at the jail

1313. and he told me that he was not gonna testify,

1314. he didn't want to get up there and lie,

1315. that the officers have been working on him real hard,

1316. but, he wasn't gonna listen to them,

1317. and his decision was final,

1318. but he can always change his mind again,

1319. he has,

1320. he's a very confused and scared kid,

1321. and the officers have scared him to death.

1322. Last night I said, Jessie, if you get up there and lie,

1323. I'm gonna be in that courtroom,

1324. and you're gonna have to sit there and tell that lie,

1325. when you know that I'm sitting there listening to you,

1326. when you know I know that you are lying.

1327. Damien, are you in a cult?

1328. Are you worried about Jessie testifying against you?

1329. In looking at young people

1330. involved in the occult,

1331. do you see any particular type of dress?

1332. I have personally observed

1333. people wearing

1334. black finger nails,

1335. having their hair painted black,

1336. wearing black t-shirts...

1337. Sometimes they will tattoo themselves.

1338. Do you have an opinion as to whether or not

1339. there are occult overtones,

1340. or evidence of occult involvement

1341. in these particular murders?

1342. Well, the date being close to...

1343. Belting...

1344. A holiday, may 1,

1345. also...

1346. The day before that is a holiday,

1347. then you go into

1348. the fact that some

1349. groups,

1350. occult, cult groups,

1351. will use a full moon.

1352. In several occult books,

1353. they will talk about the life force of the blood.

1354. Usually the younger the individual,

1355. the more pure it is.

1356. The more power or force it has.

1357. A lot of times they will take blood

1358. and store it for other services,

1359. and other use,

1360. as well as consume it,

1361. or bathe in it.

1362. Now the...

1363. Item that's drawn on the front,

1364. what is that?

1365. That is a pentagram,

1366. that happens to be a "wiccan",

1367. or white witchcraft pentagram.

1368. Now, if you open the book to the front page.

1369. Yes, sir.

1370. Now...

1371. Explain what that is.

1372. That's confusion to me.

1373. The reason why is we got a white witchcraft...

1374. "Wiccan" pentagram,

1375. then we have upside-down crosses,

1376. which comes from another type of a occultism.

1377. What type?

1378. That's black witchcraft.

1379. Is it "Wicca", satanism,

1380. or both?

1381. Both.

1382. And did you notice anything in particular

1383. about the book?

1384. There's a chapter in here called "rise of the devil"

1385. and...

1386. It is underlined in red.

1387. And there are a couple of sentences in there,

1388. reference to

1389. blood,

1390. and it's life force.

1391. How were you accepted into enrollment

1392. at Columbia pacific university?

1393. I had to fill out several series of papers

1394. including all my education,

1395. background, experience.

1396. Did you ever fill out a little flyer like this?

1397. No, sir.

1398. It says, "call toll-free for information

1399. on how to become a doctor?"

1400. This is a mail order college, isn't it?

1401. What classes did you take

1402. between 1980 and 1982

1403. to obtain your master's degree?

1404. What classes?

1405. I testified—

1406. I'm asking you,

1407. what classes did you take?

1408. I answered that before, none.

1409. You did not take any classes,

1410. between 1982 and 1984

1411. when you became a PH.d.

1412. What classes did you take?

1413. None.

1414. None, o.K.

1415. Is it your opinion,

1416. and do you want to tell this jury...

1417. That these crimes,

1418. were motivated by occult beliefs?

1419. Yes.

1420. We're not trash,

1421. by no means,

1422. by son was born in west Memphis,

1423. he was raised in west Memphis,

1424. and for the life of me, I cannot understand

1425. why people have got this bad imagine of him.

1426. So what if he wore a black trench coat?

1427. He's not the only one that does.

1428. So what if he wore black t-shirts,

1429. black pants?

1430. Johnny cash wears black, doesn't he?

1431. I wear black, Michelle wears black,

1432. domini wears black!

1433. We're all just partial to black, I guess.

1434. I like black myself.

1435. And, I'm by no means no devil worshiper,

1436. nor is he.

1437. He was goin' to school,

1438. he wanted to go to school to be a priest,

1439. he was faithful in the church.

1440. He looked into

1441. a little bit of "Wicca",

1442. but, he never

1443. went to it,

1444. and I think if people looked into what "Wicca" is

1445. they would understand it a little better.

1446. The only thing wiccans do,

1447. is worship the earth.

1448. People probably think that I'm into satanism

1449. because usually what people don't understand

1450. they try to destroy...

1451. Or ridicule.

1452. Try to make it look bad or wrong.

1453. West Memphis is pretty much like

1454. second Salem.

1455. Because everything that happens here,

1456. no matter what it is,

1457. it's blamed on satanism.

1458. He's been previously sworn.

1459. Correct.

1460. Please state your name for the court.

1461. Damien Wayne Echols.

1462. Why did you change your name?

1463. I was very involved in the catholic church,

1464. and we were going over different names of the saints,

1465. St. Michaels was where I went to church,

1466. and we heard about this guy

1467. from the Hawaiian islands,

1468. father Damien,

1469. that took care of lepers,

1470. until he finally caught the disease himself and died.

1471. Was that the reason you choose Damien as your first name?

1472. Yes, it is.

1473. Did the choosing of the name "Damien"

1474. have anything to do with any type of

1475. horror movies, satanism,

1476. cultism, any of that nature?

1477. Nothing whatsoever.

1478. After the time period that you were really

1479. into the catholic religion,

1480. did you start focusing on another particular religion?

1481. "Wicca".

1482. Could you explain to the ladies and gentlemen of the jury

1483. some principals about the Wicca religion?

1484. It acknowledges a goddess in a higher regard

1485. as a god,

1486. because people have always said we are all god's children,

1487. and men cannot have children.

1488. It's basically like

1489. a close involvement with nature.

1490. Is there a difference between

1491. the Wicca religion and witchcraft?

1492. Wicca is also called "witchcraft",

1493. the word "Wicca" was bastardized,

1494. it originally meant "wise one".

1495. Did the fact that you like to wear black all the time,

1496. were you different in other ways as well?

1497. Yes, I've never had a lot of the same interests

1498. that other people have,

1499. like sports, things like that,

1500. I've never been into anything like that.

1501. Did it help you deal with other people

1502. to have people kind of stand-offish

1503. and sort of back away from you?

1504. Yeah, it was like a defense mechanism,

1505. it would make people think like,

1506. well he's weird I'm not gonna go around him,

1507. so, it kept people away.

1508. The state introduced the book

1509. "never on a broomstick",

1510. are you familiar with that particular book?

1511. Yes, I am.

1512. Where did you get that book, Damien?

1513. At the library,

1514. all the books that they were gettin' tired of

1515. or had for a long time,

1516. they had them sittin' on a rack out front,

1517. that they were selling for 10 cents each,

1518. so I got it.

1519. Did you underline any of those portions in the book?

1520. That was done when I got it,

1521. I think it was because somebody had a report to do,

1522. 'cause all during the book there's little notes,

1523. certain dates and stuff,

1524. like from the 1600's

1525. in the outside margin.

1526. So was that book kind of like a history of witchcraft

1527. and how it's developed over the ages?

1528. Yes.

1529. Are you familiar with the contents of that notebook?

1530. Yes, I am.

1531. I noticed on the inside of the front cover

1532. there appears to be a couple of quotes there,

1533. could you read each of those to the jury

1534. and tell them where that came from?

1535. "Life is but a walking shadow,

1536. "it is a tale told by an idiot,

1537. full of sound and fury signifying nothing."

1538. That's from a "midsummer's night's dream",

1539. by William Shakespeare.

1540. "Pure black looking clear,

1541. "my work is soon done here,

1542. try getting back from me, that which used to be."

1543. That is off a Metallica tape,

1544. called "and justice for all",

1545. talks about how warped the court systems are,

1546. and stuff like that.

1547. On may the 5th...

1548. Did you kill Michael Moore?

1549. No, I did not.

1550. On may the 5th,

1551. did you kill Stevie branch?

1552. No, I did not.

1553. On may the 5th,

1554. did you kill Chris Byers?

1555. No, I did not.

1556. Have you ever participated in any type of human sacrifice?

1557. No, I have not.

1558. 19 year old Damien Echols

1559. admits he stands out in a crowd.

1560. He says he loves heavy metal music—

1561. 3-2-1...

1562. 19 year old Damien Echols says—

1563. 3-2-1...

1564. 19 year old Damien Echols admits he stands out in a crowd.

1565. He says he likes to wear black most of the time,

1566. practices the "Wicca" religion,

1567. and loves heavy metal music,

1568. but he says he's definitely not a killer.

1569. I believe they did it,

1570. and if they were to be

1571. set free on the street,

1572. then they would have to look behind their back,

1573. watch behind their back,

1574. to see if Pam Hobbs wouldn't follow 'em.

1575. Because I'm just saying this as a human.

1576. I would,

1577. I believe I'd try to kill them two,

1578. if they ever walked the street,

1579. and I'm still alive.

1580. I believe I'd be stalking them.

1581. To do to them...

1582. Probably shoot 'em, and then cut 'em up.

1583. When I was down at the courtroom and Damien walked past me,

1584. I wanted to go over there, and take my hand

1585. and just claw down his face,

1586. inflict any kind of pain,

1587. that I could inflict on him.

1588. I know, eventually, we're gonna have to forgive 'em,

1589. I understand that,

1590. but when it happens in your home

1591. and you watch your wife lose her mind,

1592. and whatever happened to her,

1593. your home is tore apart and busted up,

1594. I don't feel it's fair

1595. right now,

1596. for someone to ask me to forgive the ones that caused it.

1597. It'll take some time,

1598. a long time,

1599. before I could forgive 'em.

1600. You say that it's gonna take time,

1601. we don't know how much time we got,

1602. and we wouldn't be able to see Stevie again,

1603. we have to forgive in our heart,

1604. because the lord,

1605. forgave us,

1606. he forgave us,

1607. he shedded his blood

1608. for us.

1609. He shedded his blood for them.

1610. And he just asked us

1611. to have a...

1612. Forgiving spirit.

1613. Now, I refuse,

1614. to serve sin and Satan.

1615. Because I'm gonna see Stevie again,

1616. I'm gonna be with Stevie again,

1617. I'm gonna be with my mother again.

1618. I'm gonna be with your grandmother,

1619. both of them.

1620. I'm gonna be with all of my loved ones,

1621. that have passed on and went to heaven.

1622. If you could speak to the families...

1623. Of these kids who think you did it,

1624. what would you say to them?

1625. I don't know.

1626. Jason was my best friend,

1627. we did about everything together.

1628. It was kind of like we even lived together most of the time,

1629. stayed at each others houses,

1630. wore each other's clothes.

1631. It was more like we were brothers.

1632. We used to go out and snake hunt all the time.

1633. Snakes and music

1634. were about our whole life really.

1635. We were all the time lookin' for new groups,

1636. that we would like.

1637. Our favorite kinds of music

1638. were like slayer, Metallica, megadeth.

1639. U2...

1640. Would we would do just about everything together.

1641. I wanna draw your attention

1642. back to August of last year,

1643. were you were in the craighead juvenile detention facility?

1644. Yes, I was.

1645. And what were you in there for at the time?

1646. Burglary.

1647. And, when you were there,

1648. was there a Jason Baldwin

1649. in the juvenile detention facility

1650. at the same time?

1651. Yes.

1652. While you were in contact with this Jason Baldwin,

1653. was there anything mentioned about his involvement

1654. in the murders of the three eight year olds?

1655. Yes, we were sitting there playing spades

1656. and I wanted to get to know everybody off in there,

1657. I don't know what you'd call it,

1658. but, I just wanted to get to know him,

1659. and I just straight out asked him if he did it

1660. and he denied it the first time.

1661. Did you have an occasion again while you were there

1662. to ask him was he involved

1663. in the murders of the three eight year olds?

1664. Yes.

1665. I think it was like the next day.

1666. I believe it was the next day.

1667. And can you tell us what was going on,

1668. what was happening at the time that occurred?

1669. Me and Jason were scrapin' up the cards,

1670. goin' to our cells for lunch,

1671. and I said, "just between me and you, I won't say a word,

1672. did you do it?"

1673. And he said "yes", and he went into detail.

1674. What did he tell you?

1675. He told me

1676. how he dismembered the kid,

1677. or I don't know exactly how many kids,

1678. he just said he dismembered 'em,

1679. he sucked the blood from the penis and scrotum,

1680. and put the balls in his mouth.

1681. Now Michael,

1682. when was it

1683. that you...

1684. Came forward with this information?

1685. I'm not really sure,

1686. I believe it was like a couple of months later.

1687. What caused you to come forward

1688. at that point in time,

1689. why did Michael Carson no longer wanna stay uninvolved,

1690. why did you come forward in February this year?

1691. 'Cause I saw the family on TV,

1692. I saw how broken-hearted they were

1693. about their children being missing,

1694. and I got a soft heart, I couldn't take it.

1695. Now, he tells you this and then you're silent...

1696. From August,

1697. until February, is that right?

1698. Yes, sir.

1699. And in the second conversation you've ever had

1700. with this young man in his entire life

1701. he tells you all this stuff?

1702. Yes, sir.

1703. After he's had one conversation with you.

1704. Yes, sir.

1705. One day when I was up here workin',

1706. the phone rings, secretary says,

1707. you won't know who he is but he needs to talk to you,

1708. I pick up the phone, he says I'm Danny Williams,

1709. I'm embarrassed to tell you what I need to tell you,

1710. he said but I work with the juvenile department here,

1711. and I do drug and alcohol counseling,

1712. and there's a guy named Michael Carson

1713. who's gonna testify that

1714. Jason confessed to him in jail

1715. and I know he's lying.

1716. I said, what are you talkin' about?

1717. He said, well, several months ago,

1718. Michael Carson was

1719. one of the kids that I worked with,

1720. and...

1721. He and I had a conversation where I told him

1722. that this Jason Baldwin

1723. had been accused of killing three boys

1724. and sexually mutilating them.

1725. And basically,

1726. he gave Michael Carson the details

1727. that he testified to at the trial.

1728. At the time Carson says nothing...

1729. And then Carson later tells him,

1730. "hey, by the way Danny,

1731. "I'm tellin' the police

1732. that Jason confessed to me",

1733. so he calls me up and says no, no,

1734. this kid's a liar, he's no good,

1735. I know he's lying,

1736. and the only reason he's got this information

1737. is because I gave it to him.

1738. The counselor of this kid called the prosecution

1739. and told 'em what a liar he was

1740. and the prosecution still used the kid,

1741. and now they're tryin' to keep out the fact

1742. the background of the kid.

1743. Obviously we wanna get that information out

1744. but the judge acts like he might not let us use it at all.

1745. We should absolutely be able to

1746. let that jury know that he is

1747. LSD dependent,

1748. because it does effect his ability to recall.

1749. The judge takes all that away from us

1750. and says, the kid looks pretty believable.

1751. Not only are they keeping out the background of the kid

1752. when he testifies, so the jury doesn't have all the eggs,

1753. but now they're keeping out the counselor,

1754. who even knows about this kid,

1755. who told him the story in the first place,

1756. prior to him ever telling the police.

1757. All that goes to the credibility.

1758. I think that would've shown the jury that he doesn't have

1759. quite that kind heart.

1760. That soft heart.

1761. Det. Allen, I want to direct your attention

1762. to November the 17th, 1993,

1763. were you asked to

1764. make contact with some

1765. property owners at lakeshore trailer park,

1766. and also get with

1767. the Arkansas state police dive team?

1768. Yes, sir I was.

1769. And after a period of time of...

1770. Searching,

1771. do you know whether any items were recovered?

1772. Yes, sir.

1773. Mark for identification purposes,

1774. the state's exhibit 77,

1775. and I ask if you can identify that.

1776. Yes,

1777. I can identify this by my...

1778. "11-17 of '93,

1779. m. Allen", that I put here.

1780. Where did you get the knife?

1781. I got this knife from

1782. the diver with the state police.

1783. How long did this search take?

1784. "How long?"

1785. From memory, I'm thinking, maybe 10:30 A.M.

1786. Is the time they got suited up and started to look.

1787. You quit at when?

1788. They located the...

1789. Knife,

1790. at 11:35 A.M.

1791. 11:30, 11:35.

1792. About an hour.

1793. About an hour—

1794. Are you telling this jury

1795. that this knife is the murder weapon?

1796. Is that what you're tellin' this jury?

1797. No, sir, I'm not telling the jury that.

1798. Okay, now that we understand that.

1799. What day were these individuals charged?

1800. What did day did y'all charge Damien Echols

1801. with this crime?

1802. Was it June the third?

1803. Yes, sir.

1804. And what day was it that you were out there

1805. searching this lake?

1806. This was on 11-17 of '93.

1807. November 17 of 1993?

1808. Yes, sir.

1809. That's all.

1810. As long as they get an arrest, they don't care.

1811. The damn system stinks!

1812. They're playing with our lives,

1813. and there's nothing right about it.

1814. It's kind of like the Nazi's,

1815. they can just take somebody's word

1816. and come in your house, and take you away.

1817. And basically that's what they did

1818. because of what Jessie told them,

1819. even though it had all those inconsistencies in it.

1820. If we had money, do you think these 3 boys

1821. would've been picked up?

1822. They found people they knew didn't have Ne

1823. the boys have been in a little bit of trouble,

1824. they thought we didn't care,

1825. they were wrong.

1826. They're bad wrong.

1827. I don't believe that children

1828. could be

1829. that cold-blooded,

1830. as what happened to those boys.

1831. On the state's exhibit, 67-a,

1832. it shows the...

1833. Hog-tying fashion,

1834. the hands were hog-tied,

1835. to the feet, behind the back,

1836. and this is the photograph,

1837. showing the shoe laces...

1838. That injury, you say,

1839. is typical of a belt injury,

1840. the belt has a little buckle,

1841. and that's one that goes back and forth

1842. left to right, that's the base of the latch.

1843. Here, this red area here,

1844. this is the shaft of the penis,

1845. and here is where the scrotal sac

1846. and testes should be and they're missing.

1847. So what we have is the skin overlying the penis,

1848. the head of the penis,

1849. has been carved off, it's gone, it's not there.

1850. In layman's language,

1851. that I understand,

1852. with respect,

1853. his penis has not been cut off, has it?

1854. No, the skin has been taken off the penis.

1855. And basically it would take some skill

1856. and precision

1857. to do that, wouldn't it?

1858. I would think so.

1859. If this was to be done,

1860. this dissection,

1861. where the skin is cut off,

1862. that would take a very sharp instrument

1863. would it not?

1864. I think it would.

1865. Such as a razor.

1866. Or a sharp knife.

1867. A very sharp knife,

1868. doctor, if you were to do this,

1869. with the skill and precision and knowledge that you take,

1870. how long would it take you to do that?

1871. It would take me some time.

1872. It would take you longer than 5 to 10 minutes?

1873. I would think so.

1874. And that's in your lab.

1875. I would think so.

1876. With a scalpel.

1877. Is that correct?

1878. That's correct.

1879. Now, doctor if we added to the equation

1880. that you were in the dark,

1881. could you do this in the dark?

1882. You, doctor, could you do it in the dark?

1883. It'd be difficult.

1884. Could you do this in the water?

1885. You, doctor, could you do this in the water?

1886. I think it would be very difficult to do.

1887. If you were doing it in the dark,

1888. in the water,

1889. with mosquitoes all around you.

1890. Would that make it even much more difficult?

1891. I would think so.

1892. It would be a very tedious task for you,

1893. a skilled pathologist.

1894. It would.

1895. Now, isn't it true, doctor,

1896. that people have about 5 pints of blood?

1897. A little more than that, yes.

1898. Okay, now,

1899. if I poured out five pints of blood

1900. out here on on the floor,

1901. it would make a big mess, wouldn't it?

1902. Yes.

1903. And it would be almost impossible to clean up.

1904. You can do it but,

1905. not very easily.

1906. It's not easy to clean blood.

1907. Does blood soak into the ground?

1908. Yes, it does.

1909. Doctor, with this homicide,

1910. we're talking about here today,

1911. would you agree with me that,

1912. this could've happened in one of three ways,

1913. these injuries could've happened in the water,

1914. these injures could've happened on the bank,

1915. or could've happened somewhere else.

1916. Would you agree with me those are the three possibilities

1917. of how this could've happened?

1918. Yes.

1919. Now, with your knowledge of the amount of blood that was lost,

1920. from, not only Chris Byers, but these other boys,

1921. they're gonna bleed as well, won't they?

1922. Oh, yes.

1923. Do you have an opinion as to whether or not

1924. you could clean up that amount of blood?

1925. At a scene, in the dark?

1926. Do you have an opinion as to that?

1927. I think it would be quite difficult to do,

1928. to have...

1929. Injuries of this nature,

1930. without having any blood...

1931. I would question that about the blood.

1932. Unless it happened in the water

1933. or it happened some other place.

1934. And you again, doctor, stated that you couldn't

1935. do this in the water?

1936. Personally, I don't think I could.

1937. I don't get off on hurtin' people,

1938. or inflicting pain

1939. on the rest of the human race,

1940. or just...

1941. Causing destruction for the purpose of destruction.

1942. I've probably been in

1943. one or two fights my entire life.

1944. And especially a child...

1945. Because they didn't do anything to deserve

1946. what they got.

1947. And I believe whatever you do to someone else,

1948. whether it's good or bad,

1949. is eventually gonna come back around to you.

1950. Even the person who did this,

1951. if they're not caught and punished,

1952. something will happen in their life

1953. where they will be punished.

1954. People kept tellin' me not to go out with Damien

1955. because he was like some kind of devil worshiper,

1956. and I met him in Wal-Mart...

1957. And he followed me around like a puppy dog...

1958. And we started talking and he was real sweet,

1959. not like everybody else was making him out to be,

1960. that night we starting going out,

1961. and it was like a month,

1962. and he called me up on the telephone

1963. at my dad's girlfriend's house

1964. and he goes, "will you marry me?"

1965. And I'm like, "what?"

1966. And he goes, "will you marry me?"

1967. I said, "can you repeat that one more time?"

1968. And he goes, "will you marry me",

1969. I said, "yeah",

1970. and when I got pregnant

1971. I had this big picture painted in my mind,

1972. Damien's gonna be there,

1973. and I get to yell at him when I have the baby.

1974. And instead I was yelling at her.

1975. I miss him so much.

1976. And he hasn't yet to see the baby,

1977. they won't let him touch the baby.

1978. It makes me so pissed off.

1979. I felt different when he was born it was—

1980. It made me feel like,

1981. I guess just real good inside...

1982. To think that I gave life

1983. to another human being.

1984. Something completely separate from me

1985. but still part of me.

1986. I just hope that I'll be there when he grows up.

1987. To watch him.

1988. You are familiar with a fellow named

1989. aleister Crowley?

1990. I know who he is.

1991. He's the guy who kindly professes,

1992. he's a noted author

1993. in the field of satanic worship.

1994. I know he is

1995. but I never saw any of his books, personally.

1996. You're not really much of a follower of his?

1997. I would've read 'em if I would've saw 'em,

1998. but, I just never...

1999. But, Aleister Crowley,

2000. is a guy that based on his writings,

2001. believes in human sacrifice, doesn't he?

2002. He also believed he was god, though.

2003. And he also

2004. had writings that indicated

2005. that children were the best type

2006. of human sacrifice, correct?

2007. Yes, sir.

2008. But, Aleister Crowley doesn't have any

2009. particular significance to you?

2010. I know who he is,

2011. I've read a little bit about him,

2012. but, I never read anything by him.

2013. Let me show you

2014. a copy of documents,

2015. do you recognize that?

2016. Yes.

2017. What is that?

2018. It was this paper I had on different alphabets

2019. for like translations,

2020. where you can write things that nobody could read,

2021. and this was one of the forms.

2022. Oh, okay,

2023. where'd you have that at?

2024. When did you write those things out?

2025. Some time before I was arrested I guess.

2026. Are you sure that you hadn't done those

2027. since you were arrested while you been staying in jail?

2028. I don't know, I might have.

2029. Who's names are written on that document?

2030. Mine, Jason's,

2031. my son's,

2032. one that says Aleister Crowley—

2033. Wait, wait! Who?

2034. Aleister Crowley.

2035. This is a document that you've written while you've been

2036. waiting in jail for trial, right?

2037. If you say so.

2038. You wrote it, it's your writing?

2039. Mm-hmm.

2040. Do you recall when you wrote it?

2041. Not really.

2042. What I'm gonna ask you is,

2043. that this Damien Echols, your son,

2044. he wasn't born until after you were placed in jail, correct?

2045. Yes.

2046. So if you've got his name listed on this document,

2047. then this document had to be generated after he was born?

2048. Yes.

2049. So this is something you've written

2050. since you've been sitting in here in jail

2051. waiting for trial.

2052. Yes.

2053. And what you were doing was writing out various names

2054. in different types of alphabets, correct?

2055. From the way it looks here I was practicing,

2056. trying to memorize them.

2057. And one of the names that you picked out to write about

2058. was this fella named Aleister crowely, correct?

2059. Mm-hmm.

2060. Is that just a total coincidence,

2061. you just pulled his name out of the air?

2062. No, it's the same book that I had

2063. with the different alphabets

2064. and it also had stuff about him in there.

2065. Did you have the book out at the time you were doing this?

2066. This was just from what I remembered myself,

2067. I was practicing, trying to memorize,

2068. get it all in my head.

2069. So you were going over it and working on it,

2070. and at that point in time,

2071. you write all this down from memory?

2072. Mm-hmm.

2073. The people that are listed here,

2074. you got your name on here, right?

2075. Mm-hmm.

2076. And Jason Baldwin, which is your best friend, right?

2077. And then you got Damien Seth Echols,

2078. that's your son?

2079. Yes, it is.

2080. And the only other name on this document,

2081. besides yourself, your best friend, and your son,

2082. is Aleister Crowley, correct?

2083. Yes, sir.

2084. I believe this witness has

2085. requested not to be photographed.

2086. That's correct, your honor.

2087. Would you state your name for the jury?

2088. Christi vanbickle.

2089. Do like you just did

2090. and speak up best you can, okay?

2091. Are you nervous?

2092. Yes.

2093. Did you hear somebody say something

2094. about the murder of the three little boys?

2095. Yes, I heard Damien Echols say

2096. that he killed the three boys.

2097. Where were you, was he sayin' that to you,

2098. what were you doin'?

2099. I was walking by with my friend.

2100. Christi, I'm Scott Davidson,

2101. I've got a couple of questions to ask you too, okay?

2102. First of all, do you remember what day this was

2103. that you heard this?

2104. No, sir.

2105. That's the first time you'd ever seen him in your life?

2106. Yes, sir.

2107. What did he say before he said

2108. he killed those three boys,

2109. what did he say before that?

2110. I don't know.

2111. What did he say after that?

2112. I don't know.

2113. And how close were you to him?

2114. I wasn't close.

2115. Did he scream it?

2116. I don't know.

2117. Did he yell it?

2118. I don't know.

2119. Call Jody medford.

2120. Again, this witness

2121. has requested not to be photographed.

2122. Jody, I want to direct your attention to

2123. may of 1993, after the murders

2124. of the three little boys.

2125. Did you have occasion to be at the softball field

2126. and hear a comment in regard to the murders?

2127. Yes, sir.

2128. Tell the jury first,

2129. what you heard.

2130. He said "I killed the little boys

2131. "and before I turn myself in I'm gonna kill two more,

2132. and I already have one of 'em picked out."

2133. You didn't recognize anybody else that was with him?

2134. I saw Jason Baldwin there.

2135. Had you heard people talking about Damien before this?

2136. Yes, sir.

2137. Did you think,

2138. do you think he was kind of weird or something?

2139. Yes, sir 'cause he was dressed all in black

2140. and his hair was jet black and long

2141. and shaved on the side.

2142. Two teen-age girls took the stand this morning

2143. and they said they heard Damien Echols

2144. confess to the murders of three 8 year old boys last may,

2145. one of the girls said she overheard Damien Echols say,

2146. "I killed the three boys, and I'm going to kill two more,

2147. I already have one picked out."

2148. Later in the afternoon,

2149. when the defense began presenting it's witnesses,

2150. Damien Echols, himself took the stand,

2151. he said he thought the girls were lying

2152. and that they were making up those statements.

2153. He also said he did not practice satanism,

2154. and denied any involvement in the murders of Chris Byers,

2155. Michael Moore and Stevie branch.

2156. Were you working at Bojangles restaurant

2157. on the evening of may 5th

2158. of 1993?

2159. Yes, sir.

2160. Could you tell us what happened?

2161. Well, it was about 9:30 at night,

2162. I found a black gentleman sitting in the in the woman's restroom

2163. on the commode,

2164. and there was blood dripping off of his forearm,

2165. but, he had mud on his feet,

2166. and he seemed to be

2167. disarrayed when I talked to him.

2168. I called the police then.

2169. What happened then?

2170. It was a female officer for the west Memphis police,

2171. and she pulled on the lot and I saw her coming

2172. so, I went up to the front door.

2173. She kept comin' around, she went to the drive through window.

2174. You did not go in the restaurant?

2175. No, sir, I did not.

2176. Did you ever find this bleeding black man?

2177. No, sir, I did not.

2178. Do you have a report that you made regarding this incident?

2179. No, sir, I do not.

2180. And you're out looking for some boys,

2181. you're out in that area and you hear about someone bleeding,

2182. did anything go through your mind thinking,

2183. something may be going on?

2184. You gotta understand, it's a different area I went to,

2185. it was a different ward,

2186. I did not connect the two at all.

2187. It may have been outside your ward,

2188. but, distance-wise between the area where you were looking

2189. and where this restaurant was,

2190. it's not a long distance, is it?

2191. No, sir, it's really not.

2192. Did any other officer come out there that evening?

2193. Not that evening.

2194. Were you working on the day of may 6th of 1993?

2195. Yes, sir,

2196. two detectives came out

2197. and they took a report as far as what I'd seen,

2198. description of the gentleman,

2199. and then they took blood scrapings off the wall.

2200. What is the date that you sent the blood scrapings

2201. off to the crime lab to be analyzed?

2202. They were never sent.

2203. They were never sent?

2204. That's correct.

2205. Where are the blood samples at this time?

2206. I don't know, they're lost.

2207. That's my mistake, I lost a piece of evidence.

2208. Most of the time he came up with the stupid ideas.

2209. I guess I influenced him

2210. about as much as he influenced me.

2211. Most of the time we didn't really,

2212. set out to do anything in particular.

2213. We just starting hanging around,

2214. whatever happened just usually happened.

2215. Sometimes good, sometimes bad.

2216. We're just sitting on the couch watching TV

2217. the night we were arrested.

2218. Pigs busted in,

2219. starting runnin' all over the house.

2220. We tried to hide in the bedroom when the cops first came.

2221. They wouldn't leave!

2222. We were in the bedroom, turned the light off,

2223. maybe they'll go away.

2224. I know you're in there, open up!

2225. We saw all the lights go out.

2226. And Domini turned 'em back on.

2227. No, it was my sister.

2228. The interesting thing about it is the one knife,

2229. that we know somebody owns

2230. is the Byers' knife.

2231. We know he owns that knife.

2232. He's got the motive,

2233. his son who he's upset with,

2234. his son was the only one mutilated,

2235. the other two weren't mutilated,

2236. he's got knowledge about the area,

2237. he knows when the search is over with,

2238. he's big enough that he can carry the boys there

2239. and throw them in,

2240. he's a jeweler,

2241. he's precise enough to have

2242. committed that mutilation,

2243. all of the pieces fit together

2244. with somebody in a different location,

2245. killing the boys in a different location,

2246. because there's no mosquito bites on 'em,

2247. so we know that after the boys were killed,

2248. and during,

2249. they weren't outside.

2250. They had to be inside 'cause there's no bites on 'em.

2251. So that means they were carried from a death scene someplace,

2252. unconscious,

2253. and brought down to the river,

2254. and they had to be killed

2255. shortly before they were brought down there,

2256. because they all died within a short period of time.

2257. So after they were bled to death,

2258. after they were bludgeoned,

2259. and unconscious,

2260. somebody had to take those three,

2261. take 'em to the scene, and dump 'em.

2262. In order to do that,

2263. you gotta be physically strong enough

2264. to carry

2265. an unconscious kid...

2266. Who's hog-tied.

2267. Jason couldn't have done it,

2268. in his best day,

2269. he couldn't carry a little baby,

2270. with those little skinny arms of his.

2271. So when we look at this whole thing,

2272. all the pieces that they tried to put together,

2273. none of it fits with Jason

2274. and just about all of it fits

2275. towards a person like Byers.

2276. When did you receive that knife?

2277. I believe it was on the 8th,

2278. I've got— It's hard to make this out,

2279. "January the 8th, 1994."

2280. Alright, and,

2281. who did you receive this knife from?

2282. I received it from...

2283. How did I actually receive it?

2284. No, who did you receive the knife from?

2285. I received it from...

2286. Joe and the people

2287. with hbo productions.

2288. O.K.

2289. Bruce and...

2290. Wherever he is.

2291. Upon receiving that knife, what did you do with it?

2292. I saw what I thought to be

2293. some type of substance on the knife,

2294. and naturally I did not know what it was,

2295. I, in turn,

2296. sent this knife to genetic design.

2297. When the knife was received by your firm,

2298. did you or your lab,

2299. run tests on that particular knife?

2300. There was a small amount of what appeared to be

2301. blood that was dried,

2302. or tissue in a crevice on the knife,

2303. where the knife folds when it locks.

2304. The results of the test showed us that

2305. there was DNA

2306. present on the knife,

2307. and that we were able to get a type,

2308. using a test called

2309. "hla-dq Alpha".

2310. And Mr. Byers had the same type that was detected

2311. from the specimen from the knife.

2312. Okay, and what was the "dq-Alpha" type

2313. for Christopher Byers?

2314. It was also the same type.

2315. So, the blood on the knife,

2316. and Christopher byer's blood,

2317. and John mark byer's blood

2318. all had the same type.

2319. Correct.

2320. Judge, if I can approach the witness?

2321. Alright.

2322. Take a look at that knife.

2323. I will call that, for identification purposes,

2324. the "John mark Byers' knife".

2325. Doctor, did you make a comparison with this knife,

2326. "e-6",

2327. and compare that with some of the wounds

2328. that you found on Chris Byers?

2329. Yes, I did.

2330. Does that knife appear to be a serrated knife?

2331. Yes, this is a serrated knife.

2332. Do you have an opinion

2333. if some of the wounds that you found on Chris Byers

2334. were consistent with wounds which would've been caused

2335. by that type of serrated knife?

2336. Some of the wounds that have

2337. the smaller serrated patterns,

2338. could have been

2339. inflicted with a knife

2340. having this type of serration.

2341. How do you think this has gone over so far

2342. on the mark Byers' aspect?

2343. Obviously we thought long and hard

2344. about mentioning a father

2345. as a possible suspect.

2346. I hate having to do that,

2347. but the way the circumstances are,

2348. it's just coming out whether we want it to or not.

2349. We had suspicions even before the knife showed up.

2350. Do you think anybody realizes the reason

2351. for the three day delay in Jessie's trial was

2352. waiting on that DNA test

2353. to come back on Byers' knife?

2354. I doubt it, and even after the results came back,

2355. and it showed that it could be mark's blood,

2356. as well as Chris' blood,

2357. that doesn't alleviate

2358. the fact that he said

2359. no one had ever cut themself on the knife.

2360. And it shouldn't have had blood on it at all.

2361. Do you think the argument at least

2362. that it wasn't that the blood was found on the blade,

2363. which could be easily wiped off,

2364. but it was back in the hinges that you normally wouldn't think

2365. if you were wipin' off the blood,

2366. you wouldn't think the blood would be inside the hinges,

2367. and that's where they found that particular blood.

2368. How do we get that in?

2369. Just ask gitchell?

2370. Ask Byers, we can put Byers up on the stand.

2371. I think the jury expects to see him now.

2372. They wanna see what he has to say,

2373. don't you think so?

2374. I think so.

2375. Mr. Byers, I need to ask you about,

2376. defense exhibit number "e-6",

2377. this particular

2378. folding lock-blade knife.

2379. If I can approach the witness your honor?

2380. Yes.

2381. Take a look at that knife, please.

2382. Had that knife ever been used before?

2383. Used for what?

2384. Used for any purpose?

2385. I had...

2386. Trimmed me toenails with it,

2387. I had attempted to

2388. trim on

2389. some venison that I had.

2390. You attempted "to trim on some venison",

2391. when was it that you attempted to trim on some venison?

2392. Some time around the Thanksgiving holidays.

2393. Do you recall being asked on January the 26th,

2394. this is on page 3,

2395. by insp. Gitchell,

2396. "had you ever taken that knife hunting,

2397. or used it recently?"

2398. Do you remember being asked that question by gitchell?

2399. Specifically, no, sir, he asked me a lot of questions.

2400. Do you remember giving the answer "no,

2401. "that knife had not been used at all,

2402. "it had just been kept up, put in my dresser,

2403. "and I didn't use it,

2404. and the reason why was because of the serrated edges."

2405. Do you recall giving that answer

2406. to gitchell on the 26th?

2407. No, sir, I don't recall

2408. giving him that exact answer.

2409. I'm sure his question wouldn't have been asked

2410. exactly like your question.

2411. Did gitchell tell you,

2412. "let me explain a problem we had,

2413. "and you need to answer this from me,

2414. we have found blood on this knife",

2415. did gitchell ask you that question?

2416. I don't remember if he said there was or not.

2417. Did you tell gitchell you had no idea

2418. how Chris' blood could be on that knife?

2419. Yes, sir, I would not have any idea,

2420. if his blood was on that knife,

2421. I would not know how it got there.

2422. Did you have any idea

2423. how human blood was on that knife?

2424. Yes, I would have an idea,

2425. I cut my thumb.

2426. Alright,

2427. isn't it true that you never told gitchell on jan. 26th

2428. that you ever cut your thumb with that particular knife,

2429. did you?

2430. Yes, sir, it seems like during the course of the day

2431. I did tell him that.

2432. Was that during the taped conversation or was that after?

2433. I don't remember.

2434. Okay, on the top of page 8,

2435. do you recall being asked the question,

2436. "I have no idea, no idea,

2437. "how it could have

2438. any human blood on it",

2439. do you recall giving that answer?

2440. Yes, sir.

2441. Then do you recall stating,

2442. "I don't even remember nicking myself with it,

2443. cutting the deer meat or anything."

2444. Is that the answer you gave?

2445. Yes, sir.

2446. And is that the truth?

2447. At the time when he was questioning me,

2448. I might not have remembered,

2449. we were getting ready to go into a trial...

2450. Did you remember on this date

2451. cutting yourself with the venison,

2452. or not cutting yourself?

2453. The date that Gary questioned—

2454. Yes, sir.

2455. I might not have remembered it at that time,

2456. when he was questioning me,

2457. but, I could have remembered it later on in the day

2458. and talked to him about it.

2459. Earlier that afternoon,

2460. had you given Chris a whipping?

2461. Approximately around 5:30.

2462. About 5:30, was this with a belt?

2463. Yes, sir.

2464. How many times did you hit him with the belt?

2465. I spanked him two or three times.

2466. And what part of the body did you spank him?

2467. It would've been just on his behind.

2468. Was he wearing his paints,

2469. or did you have him pull his pants down?

2470. No, he had on blue jeans.

2471. The judge back there during that last recess

2472. before you were recalled here,

2473. says that you have a brain tumor

2474. and you're being treated,

2475. do you wanna talk about that, is it true?

2476. It's been rumored.

2477. Yes, I have a brain tumor.

2478. And you're being treated?

2479. Yes, I'm being treated for it.

2480. I need to ask you one question

2481. and I hope you won't get angry,

2482. but has even the suggestion

2483. that you may have had

2484. something to do with the murders of these boys

2485. caused any problems within your family

2486. or with any of the other

2487. victim's families?

2488. No.

2489. They all the know the truth and, no.

2490. Did you have anything to do with these boy's deaths?

2491. No more than you did.

2492. Someone said you're buying a new house,

2493. that you're leaving west Memphis?

2494. I didn't say that.

2495. We might try to move.

2496. Out of west Memphis?

2497. Well, somewhere,

2498. you would probably wanna move.

2499. You know?

2500. Did you say where you were gonna move?

2501. No.

2502. Let me ask you a question,

2503. would you wanna live in a house

2504. that your baby died less than 3/4 of a mile from?

2505. I wouldn't, no.

2506. That answers the question.

2507. You're talking about your whole family, right?

2508. You're not just talking about you?

2509. You wouldn't move and leave your wife and children somewhere

2510. would you?

2511. Not if we were gonna stay together.

2512. O.K.

2513. Some of the questions you ask are kind of ridiculous,

2514. some of 'em are kinda

2515. odd or strange or different,

2516. how ever you'd like to comment on 'em,

2517. but, some of 'em seem like you just use a little common sense

2518. and think about what you would do

2519. or how you would feel.

2520. Some of the questions you wouldn't have to ask.

2521. We have to ask them,

2522. we can't quote ourselves.

2523. I know, but a lot of times things are printed in the paper

2524. that people did not say and the news media,

2525. I'm not stating which individual,

2526. says they got it from a confidential informer,

2527. and you don't like to turn your confidential informer over,

2528. when you're confidential informer is your imagination.

2529. There's a lot of things that printed in the paper

2530. that people did not say.

2531. But the media has the rights to print

2532. what they wanna print.

2533. Victims don't have any rights.

2534. Now that I've heard him talk...

2535. I kinda had an idea of what he was like

2536. before he talked,

2537. but after he talked

2538. he wasn't anything like I thought he would be.

2539. How is he?

2540. I see him now as more like a human being

2541. than I did before.

2542. Now I see him as having a personality.

2543. From a defense standpoint,

2544. I've never been a defense attorney, but,

2545. to put him on the witness stand,

2546. sure seems to be an awful big gamble.

2547. I can't understand that mindset that puts you in the position

2548. where you're willing to take that gamble.

2549. Especially when you follow it up

2550. with Mr. Bojangles'

2551. accusations.

2552. It didn't make any sense.

2553. 'Cause to me, if I were on the jury,

2554. it would look like something desperate,

2555. they're gonna cast blame on anybody

2556. and everybody they can.

2557. And the defense didn't have the the guts

2558. to actually ask him did he do it?

2559. The song that I really

2560. can relate to by metallica

2561. is "sanitarium".

2562. 'Cause I feel like all those times I was put in the hospital

2563. I didn't need it.

2564. It was just the police,

2565. another way for them setting me up,

2566. when they couldn't send me to prison.

2567. We'll get him out of our way for a little while,

2568. by sending him somewhere else.

2569. I like metallica because,

2570. well, all...

2571. Hard music like that, because,

2572. it gives me an adrenaline rush.

2573. Makes me feel more alive.

2574. Now during the course of,

2575. talking to Mr. Echols,

2576. did you ask him,

2577. who did he think did it and why?

2578. In one area he says

2579. he had an opinion

2580. for who could've done the murders,

2581. as being someone sick,

2582. and it was some type of thrill kill,

2583. he also stated that the penis

2584. was a symbol of power in his religion,

2585. known as "wicca",

2586. he also stated that the number 3

2587. has a sacred number in the belief.

2588. Did he tell you anything about demonic forces?

2589. Yes, he said that all people have a demonic force in them

2590. and that a person would have no control

2591. over that demonic force.

2592. Mr. Echols was not the only person that told you

2593. that the kids probably died of mutilation, was he?

2594. No, sir.

2595. And, when, Mr. Echols, you asked him,

2596. what type of books did he enjoy reading?

2597. Yes, sir.

2598. Um...

2599. And he told you Anton Levy

2600. and Stephen king?

2601. Yes, sir.

2602. In your opinion is there anything unusual

2603. about those being the type of books that he likes?

2604. Anton Levy,

2605. is a book of

2606. satanic rules and involvement.

2607. Stephen king's

2608. seems to be horror movies,

2609. horror books.

2610. You're asking if I felt that was strange, yes I did.

2611. Now let me refer you back to your statement

2612. that you gave officer Ridge.

2613. Did you tell him in that statement

2614. that you had been a member

2615. of a white witch group for 5 years?

2616. No.

2617. I've never been a member of any group.

2618. If he put that in his report you're saying that's inaccurate.

2619. Yes, I am.

2620. He made that up.

2621. Yes I am.

2622. On question number nine,

2623. how do you think

2624. the person feels that did this?

2625. The answer was, "probably makes them feel good,

2626. gives them power."

2627. Now, I guess officer Ridge said that too.

2628. No, I used common sense on that.

2629. If someone was doing it, they must've wanted to,

2630. and if they were doing something they wanted to

2631. it must've made them happy.

2632. I don't think they were doin' it 'cause someone forced them to

2633. or because they didn't want to.

2634. So, in your mind...

2635. The person that killed these three kids,

2636. it's common sense that killing three 8 years olds

2637. would make you feel good.

2638. Whoever did it, it must have.

2639. Did you also tell him

2640. that each person had a demonic side to them?

2641. I believe every person has a good side and a bad side.

2642. Were those your words,

2643. what he's got written down here, you stated that

2644. that there was no control of the demonic force

2645. in a people?

2646. He asked me did I think there were some people

2647. that could not control that side,

2648. I said yes, I guess there is.

2649. It also states that you stated that the younger the victim

2650. would mean more innocent,

2651. and in turn more power

2652. would be given the person doing the killing.

2653. Right.

2654. Did you say that?

2655. Yes.

2656. Those are your words.

2657. Did you pick that up when studying to be a catholic?

2658. No.

2659. I saw that on several movies, books.

2660. Question ♪11,

2661. when he asked you, how do you think they died,

2662. the answer is,

2663. "mutilation, cut up all three,

2664. "heard they were in the water drowning,

2665. cut up one more than the others..."

2666. Is that again what officer Ridge said

2667. and you just agreed?

2668. No, I saw that on TV, newspapers,

2669. people talkin'.

2670. And...

2671. You knew about the drowning, correct?

2672. I knew that they were in the water,

2673. I didn't know that they drowned.

2674. You knew that one was cut up more than the others?

2675. He said, "do you think one was hurt worse than the others?"

2676. Oh, so again, that particular area's,

2677. one of those things where officer Ridge told you

2678. and that wasn't your response,

2679. you just responded about the drowning and mutilation.

2680. If he didn't get the answer he liked,

2681. he would go back and try to get me to say something else.

2682. And it's your testimony, specifically,

2683. that you weren't the one who said

2684. that one was cut up more than the other,

2685. that it was officer Ridge who said that.

2686. I agreed with him when he said that.

2687. And if he says something different,

2688. he'd be lying about it, right?

2689. You're the one tellin' the truth.

2690. I wouldn't put it past him.

2691. Damien, we're getting close to the end now.

2692. How do you feel so far?

2693. I feel good so far.

2694. To me it looks like we got it beat.

2695. What do you think the worst thing for us has been?

2696. In the three weeks we've been here,

2697. what has hurt the most?

2698. I only know of two things that have really hurt,

2699. that one kid gettin' up there for Jason,

2700. and those girls.

2701. The Thursday's newspaper

2702. which addressed you testifying on Wednesday,

2703. was real good,

2704. it talked about that you did well,

2705. but Friday's, regarding your thurday testimony

2706. wasn't as good, what do you think?

2707. I think I did real good the first day,

2708. the second day it didn't look as good,

2709. because they kept trying to trip me up or something.

2710. There was one point in there where he asked you

2711. he says "it looks like your just changin' your story,

2712. to fit whatever comes up",

2713. and you said "yeah".

2714. I was just like halfway listening to him.

2715. I was real nervous when I first got up there,

2716. enough to keep my attention focused,

2717. after I was up there a few minutes,

2718. I just started day dreaming.

2719. "Day dreaming".

2720. Maybe they'll only halfway kill you when they convict you.

2721. "Halfway"?

2722. How do they do that?

2723. I don't know,

2724. maybe they'll start day dreaming.

2725. Anything wrong with wearing black in and of itself?

2726. No.

2727. Anything wrong with the heavy metal stuff?

2728. No...

2729. The book, anything wrong with that?

2730. No, but when you look at it together,

2731. you begin to see inside

2732. Damien Echols,

2733. you see inside that person,

2734. and you look inside there and there's not a soul in there.

2735. My client is a teen-ager,

2736. and we certainly didn't hide that fact from ya.

2737. And the fact that my client did some writings,

2738. take these back, go back and read 'em,

2739. but this, in and of itself,

2740. is no evidence of murder,

2741. and even if you added all the other things,

2742. "trappings of occultism",

2743. according to Dr. Griffis,

2744. that has nothing to do with this case whatsoever.

2745. Is it a coincidence...

2746. That this knife is found, in the lake,

2747. hidden...

2748. Behind Jason Baldwin's house?

2749. There are marks on Christopher Byers,

2750. where you got like a dash,

2751. where it's a cut,

2752. a cut, an open space,

2753. a cut, an open space.

2754. And if you take this knife

2755. and you do that,

2756. you can see it leaves

2757. a cut and an open space, a cut and an open space.

2758. Now, if you take...

2759. This knife...

2760. Exhibit...

2761. Defense exhibit six...

2762. And even with the slightest pressure,

2763. it makes a straight line.

2764. Crime scene...

2765. It doesn't fit for a kid

2766. to bleed to death,

2767. and not leave a drop behind.

2768. For all the other injuries to their faces,

2769. these other injuries are gonna bleed too.

2770. And there's not a drop of blood?

2771. Not a drop of blood?

2772. Look at history,

2773. look at hundreds of years of religious history.

2774. There have been hundreds of people killed

2775. in the name of religion.

2776. It is a motivating force,

2777. it gives people who want to do evil,

2778. want to commit murders,

2779. a reason to do what they're doing.

2780. Satanic panic.

2781. Yeah, that's a scary thing.

2782. It's a scarier thing to convict someone with no evidence,

2783. if you can't figure it out, if it doesn't make sense,

2784. let's call it a cult killing,

2785. and find somebody weird!

2786. Find somebody who wears black!

2787. But, they let one thing

2788. go by the wayside...

2789. Is that there's nothing that links Jason

2790. to these activities.

2791. Not one witness says,

2792. "that's what he does,

2793. that's his beliefs".

2794. We don't have a writing, a drawing, a picture,

2795. not a person, nothing...

2796. Links him to it.

2797. But that doesn't matter.

2798. That doesn't matter to them!

2799. Because he's sittin' over there with Damien,

2800. they want you to convict him.

2801. Guilt by association

2802. is a horrible thing.

2803. Damien, do you think he looks like you?

2804. I don't know, not really.

2805. I think he's got domini's ears.

2806. Can you change his diapers, Damien?

2807. Do you think you'll be spending

2808. more time with your child?

2809. I hope.

2810. C'mon, Damien, it's time.

2811. What's his first words gonna be, "not guilty"?

2812. His first words will be "capital murder".

2813. What's it feel like to go through a month long trial

2814. accused of something you didn't do?

2815. Horrible.

2816. Are you nervous now?

2817. Yeah.

2818. There's nothin' we can do now but sit around and wait,

2819. but, you got anything

2820. you wanna ask me?

2821. Where do we go when the jury comes back out

2822. and says I'm not guilty?

2823. Where do you wanna go?

2824. Disneyland maybe.

2825. Would you like to go to Disneyland?

2826. Have you ever been on a trip at all?

2827. The Springs.

2828. Well I tell you what, my man,

2829. it would be a Joy to take you.

2830. Would you like to go?

2831. Yeah.

2832. Do you understand now

2833. why we didn't want you to testify?

2834. Yeah.

2835. Do you see how that hurt Damien, I think it did.

2836. Did you see how they talked about his witnesses?

2837. They didn't have anything to talk about us,

2838. they didn't have anything to talk about,

2839. 'cause we didn't give 'em a chance.

2840. And...

2841. Oh, man.

2842. It's heavy.

2843. Do you think that

2844. this will change at all...

2845. How you choose your friends?

2846. Yeah.

2847. What do you think this will do

2848. to you and your friendship with Damien?

2849. Stop it, I guess.

2850. Would you stop being his friend?

2851. I wouldn't be his enemy,

2852. but, I probably wouldn't be around.

2853. You heard what was said about him.

2854. Do you think he could've done it?

2855. About what they said?

2856. Do you think Damien could've

2857. killed those little boys?

2858. They made it seem like he did.

2859. What do you think?

2860. I don't know.

2861. If you were on that jury

2862. would you have a hard time letting him go?

2863. Based on what you heard?

2864. Yeah.

2865. I would too.

2866. Would you let yourself go?

2867. Yeah.

2868. If I was...

2869. Up there I'd let myself go.

2870. That's the answer I wanna hear.

2871. 'Cause you know you didn't do it, don't you?

2872. Yeah.

2873. Did Paul surprise you on his closing?

2874. I think Paul should've left out

2875. the guilt by association part.

2876. He came out hard on that, didn't he?

2877. Did you have any idea he was gonna do that?

2878. Mm-mmm.

2879. I thought he'd be smart enough to stay away from that.

2880. Hurt your feelings?

2881. I wanted to strangle him.

2882. Were you watching the jury?

2883. Mm-hmm.

2884. How do you pick it?

2885. With my finger.

2886. Now, I think it was probably about 60-40.

2887. 40 for us,

2888. and 60 against us.

2889. Once you get outta here, you gonna buy the beer?

2890. The whiskey.

2891. I don't want beer.

2892. And I'll buy the bojangles' chicken.

2893. I wanna get a cigar,

2894. cut it open and dump all the tobacco out,

2895. fill it up with marijuana,

2896. smoke the whole thing.

2897. We gotta get you out of here,

2898. you gotta go to work and pay my bill.

2899. I'll get a job at a gas station or something,

2900. change my name to "Bob Smith".

2901. Alright, ladies and gentlemen,

2902. the bailiff's informed me that you've arrived at verdicts,

2903. if you have, pass them to the bailiff or the sheriff.

2904. The first verdict reads at as follows,

2905. "we the jury find Damien Echols guilty of capital murder

2906. "in the death of Stevie branch,

2907. "we the jury find Damien Echols guilty of capital murder

2908. "in the death of Chris Byers,

2909. "we the jury find Damien Echols guilty of capital murder

2910. "in the death of Michael Moore.

2911. "We the jury find Jason Baldwin guilty of capital murder

2912. "in the the death of Chris Byers,

2913. "we the jury find Jason Baldwin guilty of capital murder

2914. "in the death of Stevie branch,

2915. "we the jury find Jason Baldwin guilty of capital murder

2916. in the death of Michael Moore",

2917. all of the verdicts were signed by the foreman,

2918. ladies and gentlemen,

2919. it's necessary at this time that the court

2920. poll the jury,

2921. as to all six verdicts,

2922. so when your name is called,

2923. if these six verdicts

2924. represent your individual verdict,

2925. then answer "yes" as your name is called.

2926. Juror number one.

2927. Yes.

2928. Juror number two.

2929. Yes.

2930. Juror number three.

2931. Yes.

2932. Juror number seven.

2933. Yes.

2934. The prosecution didn't have any evidence,

2935. but they don't care.

2936. Just because somebody wears black

2937. and has different beliefs,

2938. they're gonna convict them of something.

2939. Poor, poor parents, yeah, I'm sorry for 'em—

2940. I ain't, I ain't sorry for 'em.

2941. I don't give a damn about the parents,

2942. but I'm sorry for the kids.

2943. I ain't,

2944. ain't sorry for an.

2945. There's no reason to

2946. kill three more boys.

2947. That didn't do a damn thing.

2948. Right now I wish I was a witch,

2949. talk about a spell on somebody.

2950. Boy, I'd put a good one on.

2951. I guess gitchell goes out with a big "bang",

2952. you know he's fuckin' gonna retire.

2953. Now he's probably gonna run for office.

2954. I got an office for him.

2955. Mayor of hell.

2956. As far as I'm concerned west Memphis can go to hell.

2957. West Memphis is hell.

2958. I have put my 20 years in,

2959. and hopefully this is the last case

2960. I'll have of this magnitude,

2961. hopefully, it's my last case.

2962. And...

2963. I'm leaving on a high note.

2964. So there's no better way to leave

2965. than your head up, high and proud.

2966. Well you know, I don't—

2967. I'm not surprised, if that's what you're asking.

2968. I told you earlier,

2969. I thought the evidence was more than sufficient

2970. to make those findings.

2971. They won't kill no more babies.

2972. No more babies will they kill.

2973. Let's go.

2974. You're gonna get out!

2975. You're gonna fry, Damien!

2976. You're gonna fry, Damien!

2977. We know you're innocent, Jason!

2978. I knew from when I was real small,

2979. that people were gonna know who I was,

2980. I always had that feelin',

2981. but, I just never knew how

2982. they were gonna learn.

2983. I kinda enjoy it, 'cause now even after I die,

2984. people are gonna remember me forever,

2985. they're gonna talk about me for years,

2986. people in west Memphis will

2987. tell their kids stories,

2988. it'll be sort of like

2989. I'm the west Memphis boogey man.

2990. Little kids will be lookin' under their bed,

2991. "Damien might be under there."