WM3 have reason for hope
For those concerned with the fate of the "West Memphis Three," some very good news:
The Arkansas Supreme Court has ordered new hearings for the West Memphis Three that could pave the way for a new trial.
Continuing to quote from arkansasmatters.com:
The action follows a hearing before the high court in September for Damien Echols.
Echols, who was sentenced to death in the 1993 killings of three boys, went before the court to seek a new trial.
Two other men convicted in the case, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin, are also in prison but received life sentences. The high court today also ordered new hearings for them.
Echols, Misskelley and Baldwin were convicted of the killings of three West Memphis boys back in 1993. The young victims' bruised bodies were found in a drainage canal, naked and hogtied with their own shoelaces.
DNA testing conducted years after the trial matched a hair at the crime scene to the father of one of the slain boys but failed to turn up any DNA from the West Memphis Three.
Defense attorneys for Echols claimed that was enough reason to grant a new trial to the now 35-year-old. And today, the Arkansas Supreme Court agreed, saying the Circuit Court "erroneously interpreted the Arkansas DNA testing statutes", ordering the lower court to hear Echols' motion for a new trial and consider the DNA test results "with all other evidence in the regardless of whether the evidence was introduced at trial" to determine if Echols has "established by compelling evidence that a new trial would result in acquittal."
Also, Here's the AP story via Washington Post site.
The Arkansas Supreme Court has ordered new hearings for the West Memphis Three that could pave the way for a new trial.
Continuing to quote from arkansasmatters.com:
The action follows a hearing before the high court in September for Damien Echols.
Echols, who was sentenced to death in the 1993 killings of three boys, went before the court to seek a new trial.
Two other men convicted in the case, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin, are also in prison but received life sentences. The high court today also ordered new hearings for them.
Echols, Misskelley and Baldwin were convicted of the killings of three West Memphis boys back in 1993. The young victims' bruised bodies were found in a drainage canal, naked and hogtied with their own shoelaces.
DNA testing conducted years after the trial matched a hair at the crime scene to the father of one of the slain boys but failed to turn up any DNA from the West Memphis Three.
Defense attorneys for Echols claimed that was enough reason to grant a new trial to the now 35-year-old. And today, the Arkansas Supreme Court agreed, saying the Circuit Court "erroneously interpreted the Arkansas DNA testing statutes", ordering the lower court to hear Echols' motion for a new trial and consider the DNA test results "with all other evidence in the regardless of whether the evidence was introduced at trial" to determine if Echols has "established by compelling evidence that a new trial would result in acquittal."
Also, Here's the AP story via Washington Post site.