I'd like to meet:
AN URGENT LETTER FROM LORRI DAVIS, DAMIEN ECHOLS' WIFE:
Sent out 22:50 Monday 6th Aug 07 BST
A Letter from Damien's wife to ALL supporters.
Please send out so as to reach as many as possible!
Dear Friends & Supporters:
For more than a decade, thousands of you from all over the world have spoken out about the grave injustice in West Memphis, where three men including my husband were wrongfully convicted of murder.
You have spoken out to raise money and awareness; you have brought widespread attention to this case and refused to let people forget that three men are in prison for a crime they did not commit; and you have made a difference, through creativity, passion and sheer force of will.
The families of the West Memphis Three (Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin) can never thank you enough. Today, I am writing to you because we urgently need your help. Whether you have supported and followed the case over the years, or you are just learning about this tragic injustice, we need you to step up today.
Over the last two years, compelling new evidence has been discovered by DNA tests, forensic pathologists and investigators. The lawyers are working to assemble what will be a dynamic appeal; one that will change forever the way this case has been perceived, and will prove once and for all -- the innocence of the three convicted.
The filing will include new evidence that is backed up with factual, hard science; a miraculous development in this error-ridden case.
Your support over the years has enabled us to achieve unbelievable progress. We are now asking for your help to put all of this effort to work in the courts. We need the resources that will enable our experts, lawyers and investigators to work full time over the next couple of months, so the appeal can be filed as quickly as possible.
Time is running out, and we need your help. Please make checks payable to
The Damien Echols Defense Fund,
PO Box 1216,
Little Rock, AR 72203.
You can also donate online, through PayPal to:
[email protected]
If you have ever considered donating, the time is NOW.
Cases like this take years and cost millions of dollars. We are in the final lap toward overturning these convictions and finally securing justice, but we simply cannot do it without the money it takes to bring all of the science and expertise and investigation into court so that the truth can finally come out.
I am not an expert on the law, science, the criminal justice system or the art of fundraising and organizing. What I know for sure is that these three men are innocent, and that we can prove it if we have the money it will take in the next four weeks to file the appeal that has been more than 10 years in the making.
Please help us, and please know that your support has already gotten us farther than many people thought possible.
Thanks very much,
Lorri Davis and the Damien Echols Legal Team
Do False Confessions really happen? Do people really confess to things they didn’t do? Sadly, the answer is “yesâ€, and it’s more common than you’d might think!
Jessie Misskelly confessed twice to the WM3 murders. Jessie went to the WMPD, voluntarily, to report rumors that he had heard, in the hopes of winning the reward money that had been offered. Jessie told Detectives that he had heard Damien Echols & Robert Burch committed them (a rumor that had already been reported). Jessie was asked to take a polygraph test, but then was told he had failed (Later, at trial, a Poly-expert, Warren, would say that Jessie had, in fact, passed the Poly). He was then told, “You’re lying, but you’re brain is telling us the truthâ€. He was also threatened with the electric chair if he didn’t confess. Jessie Misskelly is “Borderline Retarded†with an IQ of 72 (100 is average, 70 and below is retarded); he functions on some levels like a small child, and on others, like a 6th grader. So, a 17 year old kid, mentally impaired and being threatened wit the electric chair……..finally gave in after nearly four hours and confessed.
....
For a longer piece I wrote on False confessions CLICK HERE.For more information on False Confessions check out these links:
Report By Steve Drizin
Northwestern False Confession Report
Center For Wrongful Convictions
The Innocence Project
IQ Questions
Richard Conti: False Confessions
Article on Slow Learners (Low IQ)
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The Softball Girls
“The Softball Girlsâ€, Jodee Medford & Christy Van Vickle are two girls who testified that they heard Damien Echols make a statement at a Softball field. The claimed they heard him say, “I killed those boys. I’m gonna kill two more, then turn myself in. I’ve already got one picked outâ€
But the girls totally contradict one another on the stand. Read for yourself and make up your own mind. The following INCLUDE MY OPINIONS AND FACTS Did Damien Echols make a confession, in front of a crowd of people at a Softball Field or did these girls maybe want some attention, then become afraid to back out.
Here is a post I made on the subject on the WM3 Ezboard. This post also shows that people did know about Jessie’s confession, that people in the community knew, before the Softball Girls made their statements to family/friends or law enforcement ANY OPINIONS STATED ARE MINE, AND ARE JUST THAT; OPINIONS. I INVITE YOU TO MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND ABOUT THIS! Where there are facts, I have backed them up with testimony and links.
The testimony I..'m quoting is not always fluid; there are “snipsâ€.
Jodee Meford..'s mother testifies that the date her daughter heard Damien at the ball field was around Memorial Day, which was th 24th of May.
Jodee Medford (Softball Girl)
CLICK HERE FOR JODEE..'S TESTIMONY
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Medford: No, I was just walking around the corner, gonna go talk to some of my friends and I saw him and I heard him.
Davidson: Ok. Who were you with?
Medford: Noone. By myself.
Davidson: Nobody. Um - were you with uh - uh - Miss VanVickle that just testified?
Medford: No, we weren..'t together.
Davidson: You weren..'t together?
Medford: No sir.
CLICK HERE FOR TESTIMONY
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Ok, notice here that Jodee CLEARLY states that her and Christy Van Vickle were NOT together when she heard Damien say this.
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Davidson: Is she a friend of yours?
Medford: Yes sir.
Davidson: And did she come home with you all that night?
Medford: Yes sir.
Davidson: Did you see her when this was said?
Medford: I saw her telling my mom when I went to tell my mom.
Ok, here she says when she see’s Christy is when she goes to tell her mother about what Damien said.
Davidson: Ok. Did - when you say you heard this conversation, did you see, uh - Christy?
Davidson: Ok. Did - when you say you heard this conversation, did you see, uh - Christy?
Medford: Uh uh.
Davidson: She wasn..'t around?
Medford: No sir.
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Ok, again, she repeats that she was ALONE when she heard Damien.
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Davidson: 6 or 7. And who were these 6 or 7 people?
Medford: I don..'t know.
Davidson: Don..'t know ..'em at all?
Medford: No sir.
Davidson: Could you pick them out today, if they were in the courtroom?
Medford: No sir.
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Medford will say that this night was the first night she had EVER seen Damien; she could remember him, and what HE looked like, but NO ONE else? I find this odd.
Medford: No sir.
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Davidson: So, what time was it that you heard this statement?
Medford: Probably about 6:30.
Davidson: At 6:30?
Medford: Yes sir.
Davidson: Do you know what day this was?
Medford: No sir
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Here she now does not know what DAY it was that she saw Damien and heard him.
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Davidson: Who else did you see there?
Medford: That..'s - just them two.
Davidson: Who?
Medford: Just them two.
Davidson: Nobody else?
Medford: Umm.
Davidson: Think about it.
Medford: No, that..'s all.
Davidson: In your earlier statement, didn..'t you say that uh - Heather was there standing right by him? You want to look at this?
Medford: Oh, yes sir, she was - she was standing right by him.
Davidson: Oh ok, so now you - now you..'re remembering that?
Medford: Yes sir
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Ok, now she starts to change her testimony from what she gave in her statement. Now she says Heather was standing BY him, whereas earlier in testimony AND in her earlier statement, she states over and over, that she was alone.
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Medford: Yes sir.
Davidson: In your earlier statement, you said you were with your sister, Jackie, didn..'t ya? You want to look at that? Right under the pink part.
Medford: I wasn..'t with her, but when I walked around, I saw - like at the corner with my mom. Talking to my mom.
Davidson: Oh, so - so when you made this earlier statement, this just wasn..'t right then, is that right? You weren..'t with her, is that right?
Medford: Right.
Davidson: Ok. And you also said that you were with her friend, Christy VanVickle.
Medford: Um hmm.
Davidson: Well, is that not right either?
Medford: They were talking to my mom, at the corner.
Davidson: So when you heard this, you weren..'t with them?
Medford: Right.
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Here she is changing the statement again, but not really making any sense.
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Davidson: You don..'t remember. Did uh - did you and your mom go to the police station then?
Medford: Yes sir.
Davidson: That night?
Medford: No, not that night.
Davidson: When did you go to the police station?
Medford: I guess like, (pausing)
Davidson: Was it the day you made this statement?
Medford: Um - no, the day I went, she wrote it.
Davidson: Would it been - have been on the 7th day of June?
Medford: Yes sir.
Davidson: So, that..'s after you had seen this on tv, isn..'t it?
Medford: No sir.
Davidson: No sir?
Medford: Uh uh.
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Ok, here she says that SHE HAD NOT SEEN DAMIEN ON TV before she made her statement to police.
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pause)Medford: Well, I think -
Davidson: When was the first -
Medford: - Yes, yes it was, ..'cause I was like, babysitting and I saw him on tv and I called my mom and told her that that was him and she said .."Ok..."
Davidson: Ok, so only after you saw something on tv did you contact the police, is that what you..'re telling us?
Medford: But, I had told my mom, yes sir.
Davidson: You had told your mom. You and your mom hadn..'t talked with the police before then, had ya?
Medford: No sir.
Davidson: Ok
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Now, her statement and testimony changes, and she remembers seeing Damien on tv before giving her statement to police.
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Davidson: In the statement that you gave to the police, is it true that you said, .."That was the first time I ever seen Damien and the next night, he was there, too..."
Medford: Um hmm.
Davidson: Well, did you see him that next night?
Medford: Yes sir.
Davidson: Well that..'s not true then, now is it? You saw him more than once then.
Medford: No, the first night I saw him was the night that he said that.
Davidson: And - but earlier, I can..'t, uh - in our testimony, in what you said here today, you said that..'s the only time you..'ve ever seen him. Now, which is it?
Medford: It was the first time I seen him, not the only time.
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Now, she changes AGAIN. This is getting really confusing to me now.
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Davidson: What about uh - who else was there with you?
Medford: With me?
Davidson: Yes.
Medford: At the girl..'s club?
Davidson: Um hmm.
Medford: Jessica and Jackie and Christy and my mom.
Davidson: Who is Katie Hendrix?
Medford: My cousin.
Davidson: And wasn..'t she there, too?
Medford: Yes sir, but we didn..'t bring her or anything.
Davidson: Ok. What did he say the next night?
Medford: He didn..'t - I didn..'t - I wasn..'t around him.
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Again, she..'s changing, possibly. You can..'t tell: is she saying he was at the ball park again the next night and she just wasn..'t near him (what she seems to be saying to me), or he wasn..'t there at all? You can..'t really tell for sure.
Testimony of Christy Van Ickle
CLICK HERE FOR CHRISTY..'S TESTIMONY
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Fogleman: Ok. And did you hear somebody say something about the murders of the three little boys?
VanVickle: Yes sir.
Fogleman: Alright. What did you hear the person say?
VanVickle: I heard, um - Damien Echols say that he killed the three boys.
Fogleman: Ok. And where were you, was he saying that to you or what were you doing?
VanVickle: I was walking by with my friend.
Fogleman: And who is your friend?
VanVickle: Jackie Medford
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Here, Christy Van Vickle says THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE OF WHAT JODEE MEDFORD TESTIFIED TO; and that is that she was WITH Jodee; Jodee says she wasn..'t.
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Davidson: Ok. Um - first of all, do you remember what day this was that you heard this?
VanVickle: No sir.
Davidson: Don..'t remember when it was, what day of the week was it on?
VanVickle: I don..'t know.
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Christy, just like Jodee, can..'t remember the date or even the day of the week they heard this.
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VanVickle: I had - we were walking back from the concession stand.
Davidson: Walking back from the concession to - what did you have with you?
VanVickle: I don..'t know.
Davidson: Did you buy anything there?
VanVickle: I can..'t remember
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Now, she can’t even remember if she bought something at the concession, and if she did, what it was.
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Davidson: All the people there. And, uh - what else did he say?
VanVickle: That..'s all I heard him say ..'cause it scared me so I ran off.
Davidson: You took off running?VanVickle: Um - I went on.
Davidson: You went on or did you run? Which one did you do?
VanVickle: I don..'t know, I can..'t remember.
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Davidson: Can..'t remember that. Did - what did he say before you say that he said he killed those three boys, what did he say before that?
VanVickle: I don..'t know.
Davidson: What did he say after that?
VanVickle: I don..'t know.
Davidson: And how close were you to him?
VanVickle: I wasn..'t close.
Davidson: You weren..'t close. Did he scream it?
VanVickle: I don..'t know.
Davidson: Did he yell it?
VanVickle: I don..'t know.
Davidson: So you don..'t know how close you were to him?
VanVickle: Uh uh.
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I think this part speaks for itself. She can’t remember anything he said before OR after the statement, nor can she recall what tone of voice he said it in; did he yell?……she also says she doesn’t even know how close she was to him.
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Davidson: Ok. Now, there was a police officer out there that night, wasn..'t there?
VanVickle: Yes sir.
Davidson: After you heard this, did you walk over to the police officer and tell him that?
VanVickle: No sir.
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Now THIS is the oppostie of what Jodee says; Jodee testifies that she DIDN.."T see a police officer.Once again, stories totally different. I also find it a tad bit odd that a police officer was standing RIGHT THERE, and she could have told him. Earlier, she says she ran away in fear……but if she was scared, why not tell the cop? But, then, after that, she says she can’t remember if she ran away, in fear, or just walked off.
Davidson: When did you finally tell somebody about this?
VanVickle: About a few weeks or a week after I heard it.
Davidson: Ok. And it was after, uh - Damien had been arrested, is that correct?
VanVickle: Yes sir.
Here, I have a hard time believing that these girls heard that he committed these murders, and then didn’t go to police until weeks afterwards.
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Fogleman: About where I am?
VanVickle: Um hmm.
Fogleman: So maybe uh, 15 or 20 feet,
something like that?VanVickle: Yes sir.
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Think about 15 to 20 feet. Anyone would need to be speaking at a fairly good volume of voice for you to hear them clearly, as they were surrounded by up to 10 people, and also, the ballpark was full of people…all of whom would’ve been making noise that he had to speak over, loud enough, to get to Christy, who’s 15-20 feet away.
For a point of reference, Damien made his statements to the WMPD on May 10th, and only FOUR days later, is when Joni Brown hears this
The Statement of Joni Brown (not a Softball girl, btw)
FOR JONI..'S STATEMENT CLICK HEREQuote:
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On Friday night, May 14th, about 8:30 p.m. or 9:00 p.m. Whitney Nix told me that Robert Burch had told her that him and Dameon Echols had murderd them three boys and that they were gonna murder 2 more kids before they turned themselves in to the police. And Jennifer Ashley told me before Whitney did. And then a guy came up to me and told me that he suggested that I stay away from them guys.
J.E.B.
I have written this statement consisting of 1 page(s), and I affirm to the truth and accuracy of the facts contained therein.
This statement was completed at 3:39 p.m.,
on the 22 day of May, 1993.
WITNESS: Bill Durham
[signed] Joni Brown
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Here is a bit from Robert Burch’s statement:Quote:
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ROBERT STATED THAT HE HAD HEARD THAT THE WRENS HAD DONE THE MURDERS. ROBERT FURTHER STATED THAT HE HEARD THAT FRANKIE KNIGHT HAS SAID THAT DAVID WREN IS THE PERSON WHO KILLED THE BOYS ALONG WITH SOME OF HIS FRIENDS BUT THAT THIS WAS ONLY A RUMOR THAT HE HAD HEARD. ROBERT ALSO STATED THAT HE THOUGHT THAT FRANKIE MAY HAVE WATCHED THE MURDERS BUT, AGAIN HE SAID THAT WAS ONLY A RUMOR.
ROBERT STATED THAT HE WAS AT THE SKATING RINK LAST NIGHT AND THAT HE SAID JASON BALDWIN WAS THERE. JASON BALDWIN STATED THAT SOME PRIVATE DETECTIVES HAD STATED THAT HE AND JASON WERE THE ONES WHO DID THE MURDERS. ROBERT SAID THAT HE KNEW JASON FROM WHEN HE USED TO LIVE AT HIGHLAND TRAILER PARK AND THAT HE ALSO KNOWS ANOTHER JASON BALDWIN WHO LIVES IN THE AREA OF STEWART STREET IN WEST MEMPHIS. THE JASON BALDWIN WHO MADE THE STATEMENT ABOUT THE MURDERS LIVES IN LAKESHORE TRAILER PARK AND IS A LOT SKINNIER.
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A great example of how the rumors were flying.
Ok, this is what those statements give:
1) The rumor that Damien had said ‘I killed the three boys; I plan to kill two more, then turn myself inâ€, was already being repeated. So, it CANNOT be said that the Softball Girls were the only ones to have heard this. Joni is saying that on May 14 she was told about this…….the Soft Ball girls said they heard him say this, approximately two-three weeks later (date is not clear, but the Mother states she thought it was before Memorial Day). So, it is now CLEAR that it is POSSIBLE that these girls could have heard about Damien’s “confessionâ€, through the very active grape vine.
2) Jodee and Christy completely contradict one another
CLICK HERE FOR TLCHICKEN
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From Cho’s Blog on her website:
3/2/2004
West Memphis Three
"Here is something you can't understand, how I could just kill a man." - Cypress Hill
I love this song, and of course, the lyrical mayhem and murdering rhymes of the great Cypress Hill. Be Real's sneery, cheery cadence lends lightness to the incomprehensible idea of taking another life. But then again, is that act so incomprehensible? Cypress Hill also speaks to me, because I have such rage inside me, having asked myself the question - could I kill someone? I think we all have that killing instinct, that fire within. It is an animalistic yet highly human response. If I visualize going to the post office, where the lines are too long, and the window on the end is about to close, leaving only one window open, out of the dozen that should be in operation, it assures me to know that I have a seven day waiting period in order to purchase a firearm, and that would inevitably place me in another long line, so that killing a clerk would do no good except to expedite my own death by firing squad. If I am behind someone at a toll booth, and they do not have the exact change, I shudder to think what their fate would be if I were packing heat.
What is that saying, "Judge not, lest ye be judged?" I can't help but to judge, and that is why I hate judgment. I dare not cast the first stone because I am so down with sin. Looking into my own prejudices and biases, which might be different than those of the status quo, yet still exists as hatred within my heart, I hate to think that I am guilty of the same crime as those whose ideas I try so desperately to fight. If I have the capacity for such hideous thinking, I don't want to know the thoughts of those who might be less compassionate. Which is why I don't think that the government should have the power to enforce the death penalty, in any situation. If my own murderous tendencies can be felt on the surface, how could I in good conscience put the power of life or death in the hands of a bureaucracy, or worse, a theocracy?
So many people on death row do not belong there. We kill the innocents time and time again. The American judicial system is guilty of more crimes than any criminal - yet the issue never seems to get anywhere. The prisons are so racially imbalanced, what could the reason for that be, if it is not clear and present racism?
Why is there such a thing as "hip hop cops?" There are not law enforcement specialists for other "non-ethnicity" driven music. Could you imagine the "Emo-enforcers?" Narcs in "Jesus is My Homie" t-shirts and reddish-brown vintage Levi's cords, alternating between riding skateboards, hiding in shrubs and documenting Conor Oberst's every move? "Okay, he is leaving his girlfriend's house. I believe that the suspect is crying. copy that. We will be requiring back-up. Tell them to bring Kleenex."
He is sweet, I love that little white boy, he is very sensitive. I am just trying to find out why there has to be a Special Unit for rap stars.
Even if it is not a racially motivated reason, bigotry is still in full effect. Currently, Damien Echols is on death row in Arkansas. He has been there for almost eleven years for a crime he did not commit. He is part of the West Memphis Three, accused of the murder of three little boys, and caught up in the insanity of one community, who sentenced Echols to death and the other two, Jesse Misskelly and Jason Baldwin, to life without parole. No evidence was ever found to connect the then teenagers to the killings. It was all hysteria over the possibility of a Satanic cult living in their midst, and a complicit court system, which glossed over the facts in order to placate the outrage of the locals, and to this day, cannot admit what they have done wrong.
There have been two documentaries, "Paradise Lost," I & II, and two feature films currently in production, as well as several books and numerous writings about the case, websites dedicated to the innocence of the West Memphis Three. Celebrities like Eddie Vedder and Winona Ryder have tried to help to no avail. What right to their lives do we have if it has been shown time and time again that their innocence is real? Not only have the initial terrible crimes still gone unpunished, their effects have merely grown and spread like a cancer into the lives of these young men and their families.
I say 'we' because unless they are free, none of us are free. Of course there are criminals who have been justly apprehended and jailed for their crimes. I am not asking for all the prisons and institutions for the criminally insane to open their doors like school is out forever, but how can we let those who do not benefit from the technological advancement of forensic science in the last decade still wither behind bars? DNA evidence is proving to be the real deal, the be all end all of who is lying and who is not. It is better than Wonder Woman's golden lasso. Unfortunately, it is expensive and therefore mostly unavailable to those serving time for crimes they didn't commit years ago. The only reason they probably were incarcerated in the first place is that they couldn't afford anything but a court appointed attorney, more like a public offender than defender.
I have followed this case for many years, and just recently, I am stepping up my game. I send Damien books from his Amazon Wish List and write about what life and the world is like out here. He's a bright and gentle young man, and very apologetic when he gets behind in his correspondence. He is very much a Kerry supporter, although he preferred Wesley Clark to anyone else so far. Of course, he will not have a chance to vote, since they don't let people who have been in jail do so, even if they do get out, at least not for a really long time.
When you go to the polls, think of him, and all the injustice that exists in our nation today. Know that your voice has to count for many who have been silenced. Don't take freedom for granted, because we don't have it yet.
~Margaret Cho~
THE DEVIL IN WEST MEMPHIS?
LOCATION OF THE KNIFE: LAKESHORE
The dark square in the middle is a man-made lake, where the knife was found behind Jason Baldwin's trailer in only an hour or so.
JAILHOUSE SNITCH: MICHAEL CARSON (click)
LUMINOL PHOTOS: WHERE'S THE BLOOD?
(click for all shots)
LAB REPORT ON SOIL FROM THE SITE
PROSECUTION WITNESS RECANTS
STATEMENT YEARS LATER
Vicki Hutcheson testified during the trial that she had been taken to a "Satanic Esbat", orgy included, by Damien and Jessie. Years later, she would recant that testimony, claiming the police had pressured her.
Her son had given a statement as well, claiming he had actally been there when the murders occurred. Part of his taped statement was played for Jessie at one time, IMO, no doubt to frighten him (he had no idea who it was), as the police later did not take Aaron seriously or believe him.
Click below to read where Vicki recants and her son complains about his his words being "messed with".
Stacy, Mia & Marek
WAD, June 2007, Raleigh, NC
