Devil's Knot Page #5

Jessie simply got confused. That's all.

JUDGE:
I repeat. I am acutely aware

there's a great deal of emotion involved.

But this court will not

tolerate any verbal outburst,

any display of emotion whatsoever.

The verdicts read as follows.

"We the jury find

Jessie Lloyd Misskelley Junior guilty

"of murder in the first degree

in the death of Michael Moore.

"And of second degree

murder in the deaths of Christopher Byers

"and Steven Branch."

(SPECTATORS MURMURING)

It's almost over, Pam. We're gonna win.

The sentence.

How do you feel about the sentence?

Do you think it was

a just and a proper sentence?

Life plus 40? Well, it's fine with me.

It's one down, two to go.

And the good Lord said

Lucifer and a third of the angels

were cast out of heaven. He didn't need 'em.

'Cause he took their minds

and manipulated them.

And they prayed to their Devil

and they prayed to their Satan,

and did all kinds of Satanic worship services.

Wild, crazy orgies, I've been told.

There's a war going on.

It's a war between Satan,

Lucifer and the Lord.

Mrs. Hobbs?

TERRY:
Hey.

You stay away from us.

You don't talk to her. Understand?

You hear me?

You bother my wife, and by God, it's on.

All right, Terry, let's go home.

Come on. Come on.

JOHN:
...and I say bring it on.

For me this place is like hell on Earth.

'Cause I know three babies were killed.

I know my son was castrated.

And lay on that bank and bled to death.

I know he was choked.

How's the documentary coming along?

Y'all been here every day, right?

Interviewing families. Must be fascinating.

Yeah. We're, uh, getting some

pretty good stuff.

Especially John Mark Byers

seems to like the attention.

Well, he's not shy, that's for sure.

Did he ever do or say anything unusual?

I don't just mean holding

forth for cameras and reporters.

I mean, like something suspicious or strange?

Yeah. He did do something strange.

Very strange.

He gave this as a gift

to the documentary crew.

So when were you planning

on telling us about it?

Mr. Fogleman released the

records concerning this knife yesterday.

But you've known about it for months.

How could you not tell us about it?

Well, we had to send it to the lab first.

DNA testing.

There was blood on the knife.

Just a little bit.

I'll show you right here.

Lock joint where the blade folds back.

Just not much.

Where you might miss it

if you're trying to wipe the blade clean.

That did cross my mind.

On January 26, 1994, Gitchell asked

you, "Have you used the knife?"

And you said, "I never used it.

Hopefully I was going to use it

"for deer hunting, but I never

had the opportunity to use it on a deer."

That's right. But the reason that I said that

was 'cause I never hunted with it.

I didn't mean that I didn't try to use it

to cut some venison.

Did Inspector Gitchell

tell you, "We found blood on this knife"?

I don't remember.

Check your transcript. Page 7.

Now, I'll ask you again. Did Gitchell tell you,

"We found blood on this knife"?

Yes, sir.

Did Gitchell tell you

the blood on the knife was Chris' blood?

I don't remember. It might be in here.

Did you tell Gitchell, "I have no idea

"how Chris' blood could be on that knife"?

Yes, sir. I would not have any idea.

Did you have any idea

how human blood was on the knife?

Well, yes. As I was trying to use the knife

to cut some venison

and make some beef jerky with it,

I cut my thumb.

Mr. Byers, do you recall saying,

"I don't even remember nicking myself with it

cutting the deer meat or anything"?

- Is that the answer you gave?

- Yes, sir.

And is it the truth?

At the time that he was

questioning me, I didn't...

I mean, I might not have remembered.

But then later on in the clay, I could have

remembered and talked to him about it then.

You all right, buddy? You did great.

-(CHURCH BELLS TOLLING)

- JOHN:
I wasn't expecting that.

I ran and Jessie caught me. Uh, he tied me up.

How did they tie you up?

Rope.

Then he grabbed my hands

and made me cut Chris.

Jessie and Damien picked him up

and put a bucket where he was bleeding.

Then they poured it in a glass

and made me drink it.

GITCHELL:
They poured his blood in a glass

and made you drink it?

Yes, sir.

Aaron, you're not... You're

not making this up, are you?

No.

- I mean, you and I are buddies, right?

-Yeah.

We're buddies. You wouldn't be

telling me a story, would you?

No.

How do I know that you're

telling me the truth?

I don't know.

Good afternoon. My name's Ron Lax.

I'm an investigator working with the attorneys

who represent Damien Echols

and Jason Baldwin.

Um, please, I can't talk to you. Okay?

I don't want to get involved.

Mrs. Hutcheson, you're already involved.

You feature prominently

in the prosecution's case.

And from what I can tell,

you're the only real link

between Jessie Misskelley

and Damien Echols.

No.

(CHUCKLES) No, I can't talk about it.

You gotta ask Don.

- Detective Donald Bray?

- Yes.

Yes, he... You just ask Don.

I gotta go now, I'm sorry.

So why did Vicki Hutcheson come see you?

Was she in trouble?

She, uh, looked to be part of a credit card

scam at a truck stop where she worked.

So I called her in.

She brought her kid in

the day after those boys went missing.

I just wanted to let you know

that my boy, Aaron,

is a close friend of them missing boys.

Michael Moore and Chris Byers

are his two best friends.

You think you might know something

to help the police find them boys?

I'd say it's very possible. Right, honey?

It is possible.

We questioned Aaron.

He told us about the meetings in the woods.

It made sense to me.

I already knew about the Satanic cult.

You knew about the cult?

We been expecting something like this

to happen around here for quite a while.

How did you confirm Aaron's story?

Questioned Vicki.

Asked her if there was anything she knew

about an occult or devil worshippers.

She said no.

But then she said,

"How about I go play detective

"to see what I can find out?"

VICKI:
Jessie!

You're a real sweetie to come over here today

and do this in this heat.

It's all right.

Do you know that boy, Damien Echols?

Yeah. He's kind of weird.

Mmm.

Well, I really want to meet him.

Do you think you could fix us up?

(HEAVY METAL MUSIC PLAYING)

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

JESSIE:
Vicki!

Vicki, this is Jason Baldwin

and Damien Echols.

Come on in, boys. Let's have a drink.

Thanks, Jessie. I'll see you around.

I told Damien that I want

to learn more about Satanism.

And, um, and he invited me to an esbat.

What the hell is that?

I had to look it up. It's a...

It's a gathering of witches.

It was in an open field, under the full moon.

Damien drove me there in his car,

it was a red Ford Escort.

So me, Damien and Jessie...

The people were dressed all in black,

and you couldn't see their faces.

- And they started to undress each other.

-(CHANTING)

And I asked Damien to drive me home.

I couldn't stay 'cause I was so afraid.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes