The trials for Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin were held together on February 28th, 1994. Jessie Misskelly, Jr. recanted his confession and refused to testify against Echols and Baldwin so the prosecution was not allowed to use his confession in court. This time, the prosecution had to come up with real physical evidence that would link the teens to the crime scene. The prosecution entered into evidence books and writings found at Damien Echols’ home that allegedly suggested he was involved in a satanic cult. The prosecution called upon a supposed “expert witness” in the occult, by the name of Dale Griffis. In his testimony, Dr. Griffis stated that in his opinion, the books and writings found in Damien’s home (along with the fact that he had …show more content…
was his confession. Since the original trial, there has been much investigation and research done on false confessions and the coercive tactics that police officials use to obtain false confessions. Due to the overwhelming research conducted on this issue, the forensic team was able to safely conclude that Jessie Misskelly’s confession was in fact not true and was a result of aggressive and coercive tactics on the part of the WMPD (Berlinger & Sinofsky, 2011). One of the other main pieces of evidence from the original trial was the survival knife that was found behind the Baldwin’s home. The original forensic expert claimed that this knife was responsible for the cuts and scrapes on all of the victims’ bodies, including the castration of the Byers boy. However, Dr. Werner Spitz, a forensic and anatomic pathologist conclude that this was not true. He concluded that these scrapes and lacerations did not come from a knife but from a carnivorous animal (Berlinger & Sinofsky, 2011). Dr. Spitz’s opinion is backed up by a large amount of animal hair that was found on the victims and at the scene. The original trial also included the prosecutions elaborate motive, claiming that the murders were part of a satanic occult ritual. However, John Douglas, a former FBI criminal profiler stated that, in his opinion (backed up by thirty years’ experience), these murders were not done by three teens …show more content…
In the case of the West Memphis Three, forensic analysis and expert witness statements were used both inappropriately and appropriately. The inappropriate use of forensic evidence and expert witnesses put two teenage boys in jail for life and one on death row. Fortunately for these three young men, the case gained publicity, ensuring that the case stayed in the public eye for over 18 years. This publicity helped to raise much needed funds and in turn, made unbiased forensic analysis and experts available to all three defendants, a key missing ingredient in the original trials. In this case, justice may have not been served in the form of an exoneration, but it was able to force the state of Arkansas to offer a plea deal that allowed these men to work on clearing their names outside of a prison, and more importantly, off of death row. While the West Memphis Three are finally free men and the Arkansas state courts claiming the case is officially closed, it raises the question as to whether or not the real killers will ever be brought to