Anyone who is familiar with the WM3 case - DNA testing concludes

[johnnie]

I mentioned this case a few weeks ago and a few people are familiar with it. Basically it is about three men who were convicted of killing three 8-year old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas in 1993. Two documentaries were made about this for HBO. One was called "Paradise Lost" and the second was called "Revelations".

To many people, these three men (teenagers at the time) were nothing more than victims of a modern day witch hunt. They liked heavy metal music, had long hair, wore earrings and seemed to display other "satanic" rituals such as dressing in black :eyes:.

There has been some heavy support out there in the last few years and within the last few days DNA testing has finally been completed. I believe this testing has been a two-year long ordeal. The conclusion is, out of all the evidence that was tested, not one came back as a match for any of the three men in prison.

It seems to me that at least one of them would have left a bit of DNA after brutally beating and slicing up three little kids. Well, here is what was found:


THIS IS A CAPITAL CASE
IN THE ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT
DAMIEN WAYNE ECHOLS Defendant,
STATE OF ARKANSAS, Plaintiff.

Case No. CR 94 -928
Case No. CR 99 -1060
Craighead Co. Circuit Court Nos 93 -450, 450A
DEFENDANT ECHOLS

SECOND STATUS REPORT RE: DNA TESTING

DENNIS P. RIORDAN

(CA SBN 69320)

DONALD M. HORGAN

(CA SBN 121547)


523 Octavia Street


San Francisco, CA 94102


Telephone: [phone]

DEBORAH R. SALLINGS

(AR SBN 80127)

Cauley Bowman Carney & Williams

11001 Executive Center Drive, Ste. 200
Little Rock, AR 72211
Telephone: [phone]
(Local Counsel)
Attorneys for Defendant DAMIEN WAYNE ECHOLS


In response to this Court’s letter of June 27, 2007, counsel for
Petitioner/Defendant Damien Echols provides the following report on the
status of DNA testing being conducted in support of his motion for
relief under 16 -112 -201, which motion is now pending in the Craighead
County Circuit Court.

(1) The extensive DNA testing which was the subject of an initial
agreement by the parties and which was embodied in the Circuit
Court’s First Amended DNA Order for DNA Testing filed on February 23, 2005 has
essentially been completed. Such testing has been conducted at Bode
Laboratories in Virginia.

(2) The DNA testing results returned to date disclose that none of the
genetic material recovered at the scene of the crimes was attributable
to Mr. Echols
Echols co -defendant, Jason Baldwin, or defendant Jessie Misskelley
Arkansas v. Misskelley
).

(3) Although most of the genetic material recovered from the scene was
attributable to the victims of the offenses, some of it cannot be
attributed to either the victims or the defendants.
Counsel for Petitioners/Defendants Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley
Craighead County Prosecuting Attorney Brent Davis have entered into
discussions concerning how best to determine the evidentiary
significance of the laboratory’s results returned in the initial
round of testing. These discussions have resulted in a recent agreement to
subject certain critical evidentiary items to more extensive testing in
light of their potential significance to establishing the identity of
the perpetrator(s) of the offenses. In addition, the parties are
presently discussing whether, in light of the current test results, a
limited number of other items impounded during the investigation should
be subjected to testing by Bode. We will inform the Court within sixty
days of the outcome of those discussions.

Counsel for Echols is, of course, prepared to provide the Court with
any further information it should request concerning this matter.

DATED: July 17, 2007
Respectfully submitted,
DENNIS P. RIORDAN
DONALD M. HORGAN
DEBORAH R. SALLINGS
By DENNIS P. RIORDAN
Attorneys for Defendant DAMIEN WAYNE ECHOLS

[bicentennial_baby]

1. Oh wow, that is great news

Here's to hoping they can get out...What a disaster of a case.

[ghostsofgiants]

2. Might want to source that with a link.

This means things should begin to look up for them, though, which is excellent.

[johnnie]

3. Well, it was released on the "Free the West Memphis 3" site

http://www.wm3.org/splash.php



But, there WAS an interesting article posted yesterday:

New evidence in West Memphis murders

Reviving an investigation that ended 14 years ago, West Memphis police recently questioned the mother and stepfather of Stevie Branch, one of three 8-year-old boys murdered in 1993. Three teenagers were convicted of the killings.

In a telephone interview on Monday, Stevie’s stepfather, Terry Hobbs, confirmed that West Memphis police had videotaped an interview with him within the last three weeks. Pam Hobbs, Stevie’s mother, also said she had been interviewed by police. The Hobbses are now divorced.

Terry Hobbs, who lives in Bartlett, Tenn., said police requested the interview with him as a result of recent DNA tests on items found with the bodies. Prior to the police interview, he said, he had been informed of the test results by Ron Lax, a Memphis private investigator."

More:
http://www.arktimes.com/Articles/ArticleViewer.aspx?ArticleID=f1b058c2-82ac-455c-b193-83cfce18215d

[flamingyouth]

4. Thanks for posting.

I have to say I'm not surprised.

[johnnie]

5. Not surprised about Hobbs?

Or that they found none of the three's DNA with the evidence?

From what I understand, they tested over 180 things from the crime scene. It seems hard to believe those three could have done all that and not left any DNA at all.

[flamingyouth]

6. Not surprised that there's no DNA evidence from the three.

And I totally agree with you; it does seem very hard to believe that they could have done this and left no DNA evidence at all.