Defense, Experts Discuss New DNA Evidence In West Memphis Three Case
Frank Brooks
Criminal defense attorneys Dennis Riordan and Don Horgan presented what they believe to be fatal flaws in the prosecution’s case which led to the conviction of Damien Echols and helped sentenced him to death while leading experts hammered away at the evidence brought forth during the trial. The defense team exposed what they believe to be perjury on the part of prosecution witness Michael Carson, who claimed that alleged accomplice Jason Baldwin admitted to murdering the children in a jailhouse confession.
Riordan contended that Carson’s false testimony on the stand helped set the stage for self-described “occult expert” Dale Griffis to introduce the idea that the murders contained elements of Satanic ritual, directly provoking waves of panic and hysteria in the public. Since his 1994 appearance at the trial, Griffis has been discovered to possess fraudulent credentials issued from a now-defunct mail order university that required no sort of classes to be taken.
The defense reprimanded the prosecution for producing a knife found in a lake behind Jason Baldwin’s house, and introducing it as evidence suggestive that the serrated edge of the knife coincided with wounds suffered by the three children. Defense experts continued on to state that the prosecution was misleading for further claiming a grapefruit to be akin to human skin and attempting to correlate knife cuts into the grapefruit and cuts and scratches found on the bodies at the crime scene.
Expert pathologists and odontologists such as Dr’s Baden, Dimaio, and Spitz offered their professional opinion that no sort of knife was used during the murders and that the various cuts, scrapes, and even the supposed-castration of Christopher Byers was caused post-mortem by animal predation. If such claims are correct, the contention of animal predation being responsible would effectively cancel out the state’s insistence that the three boys were injured by a knife, and would further dispel the already erroneous taped confession of Jessie Misskelley, which many believed was coerced from the beginning. This would also serve as a plausible explanation as to why so little blood was found at the scene of the murders.
Pioneering Criminal profiler John Douglas stated that not only were satanic elements absent from the murders, but the very nature of the events seemed to be the work of a seasoned killer with some degree of criminal intelligence, who was prone to rage, and probably lived close to the crime scene. Douglas makes the strongest case for suspicion against step-father Terry Hobbs, calling him a liar and offering descriptions of a murderer with means, motive, and opportunity which could be directly applied to Hobbs, and referring to what is now believed to be hair found during DNA testing which belongs to Hobbs, or another member of his family. Also mentioned was a hair found that is believed to belong to David Jacoby, an acquaintance who was with Hobbs the night of the murders.
The second part of the press conference featured a question and answer session with members of the media, in which the defense explained that they believe they have an extremely strong case for their claim of actual innocence for Damien Echols and further testing that could be done to possibly identify a definite person at the scene of the murders. Riordan also stated that the defense has no interest in a movie deal and have in fact attempted to block films from being made at this time, and offered explanation as to why new evidence is being discovered and introduced now instead of during the original trials. A reply from the state to the defense’s filings, as well as a response from the federal court is expected in the coming weeks.
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