Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory Page #4

Mike Allen asked me, wouldn't

it be nice if I knew who done it?

That way I could buy

my dad a truck.

'Cause at the time, I think,

the reward was like $30,000.

I said yes, I could use that- You

know, that money- The reward money,

But I- You know,

But I didn't know

who done it, though.

Younger Gitchell: our intentions for

wanting to talk to Jessie Miskelly

Were for the purpose

of giving us some names

Of individuals that

he may know firsthand of

Or ever heard of

who were involved

In the cult activity

or Satanism.

In the course of

What was a very long day

of interviewing,

Jessie Miskelly

goes from being

A source

of information

To being a suspect

who has,

According to the tape-Recorded

statements,

Confessed to involvement

in this crime.

( Recorder clicks )

Ladies and gentlemen

of the jury,

This statement that

Mr. Miskelly gave

To the west Memphis

police department

Is a false story.

Dan Stidham:

no one in 1993 understood

The phenomenon

of false confessions.

We now know we're not

gonna let the police

Take a kid

off the street,

Interrogate him

for 12 hours,

And yet only have

41 minutes of audiotape

To support this

so-Called confession.

Jessie:

well, in a year from now,

Hopefully I can be out

and be with my family.

I'll hopefully be

married to Susie.

Hopefully Ill have

a kid.

You know,

I love kids a lot.

I think

Ill have some.

Younger Dan Stidham:

Jessie is mildly retarded.

It's much easier

To get a confession

out of someone

Who is 17

and operating

At maybe a five-

Or six-Year-Old level

Of intellectual

functioning

Than it is someone

who graduated from Harvard.

The police, you know-

They questioned me

For, like,

11 or 12 hours.

And finally I just got

tired, you know?

My mind was,

you know,

Draining me out.

You know what Im saying?

I couldn't- I couldn't

focus no more.

My body was draining.

I wanted to go home

and be with my dad.

You can tell

the difference

Between a real,

bona fide,

Valuable confession

and a false confession

By looking at

How well do the things

the suspect tells you

Stack up with the objective

facts of the crime?

And what Jessie Miskelly

talked about

Doesn't stack up to

what the evidence shows.

Don Horgan:
with, you know, persistent

police follow-Up questioning,

He keeps moving the time of the

offenses later and later in the day

Until finally,

with leading questions,

The police get them-

Get Jessie to place

the time of the crimes

After the time

the kids disappeared.

Jessie:
it was my voice that you heard.

I was saying what the

police wanted me to say.

Everything that I said

really came from the police

Like, "well,

you told me earlier

Something about this

and this and that. "

That's when I said,

"okay. "

That's when I repeated

what they said.

A lot of good cops

are gonna press hard

To try to get

an answer to

Who's responsible

for a terrible crime.

So, certainly, you know,

pushing hard-

There's nothing wrong

with pushing hard.

It's having your end

in mind so fixed

And you're so determined to

ensure that a particular person

Be held responsible

for a crime,

That you

lose sight of-

Of, you know, how

coercive your tactics are.

That's where you-

You step over the line.

And I think it's clear they

overreached with Jessie Miskelly.

The presence

of false confessions

And how frequently

they play a key role

In securing convictions

for the prosecution-

It's been very

well-Documented now.

And that's what happened

in this case.

And it continues to happen all over the

country, and it's gone on for decades.

But it's only now

that people are beginning

To really, you know, understand

the scope of that problem.

I said what the police

wanted me to say.

That's the reason

why I said that.

Was it true?

No, it was not true.

Did I run anybody down?

No, I did not.

I didn't kill nobody.

I have nothing to hide.

I have nothing

to be ashamed of.

All right, your verdicts

are in good form

And read as follows:

"We the jury, having found

Jessie Lloyd Miskelly JR,

Guilty of first-Degree murder

in the death of Michael Moore,

Fix his sentence

at a term of life

In the Arkansas

department of corrections.

Count two - We the jury, having found

Jessie Lloyd Miskelly

Guilty of second-Degree murder

in the death of Steven Branch,

Fix his sentence

at a term of 20 years

In the Arkansas

department of corrections.

Count three - We the jury, having found

Jessie Lloyd Miskelly Jr,

Guilty of second-Degree murder

in the death of Christopher byers,

Fix his sentence

at a term of 20 years

In the Arkansas

department of corrections. "

Is this your unanimous

verdict, ladies and gentlemen?

- Yes.

- All right,

You will receive a life

sentence plus 40 years.

And that will be

the judgment of the court.

Prison's not

a safe place,

Jessie, sweetie.

I'm gonna mail him

a skirt.

One down, two to go.

Hopefully the same thing

will happen to the next two

And we'll get

the same verdict.

All right, gentlemen, if you'd

have your clients stand, please.

Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Echols,

if you'd stand.

In your case,

Mr. Baldwin,

You'll be

adjudicated guilty

Of three counts

of capital murder.

You'll be sentenced

To the Arkansas

department of corrections

To a term of life without

possibility of parole

On each

of the three counts.

Damien Echols shall be sentenced

to death by lethal injection.

You'll be administered

a continuous intravenous

Injection of

a lethal quantity

Of an ultra short-Acting

barbiturate

In combination with a

chemical paralytic agent

- Into your body until you are dead.

- ( Woman sobbing )

It's my obligation

to let you know

You do have

a right to appeal,

And you need to consider

that with your attorneys.

He'll be in your custody,

Mr. Sheriff,

For immediate transportation

to the department of corrections

To carry out the orders

of this court.

Male reporter:
questions about

whether justice was served

Has loomed in this case

since the verdicts.

The HBO documentary

"paradise lost"

Gave the case

worldwide attention.

Since the films, thousands are

questioning the convictions.

16 years ago,

I believe,

I saw the documentary

"paradise lost. "

It was on HBO.

I got involved in the case

thinking that

There was maybe some way

I could make a difference.

Is there something

about the way

Damien Echols was

treated as a teenager

That you can

relate to?

I can remember being

kind of looked upon

As a freak or,

you know, different,

Because I didn't dress

like everybody else.

So I can empathize

with being judged

By how you look

as opposed to who you are.

- I'd like to say something,

if you don't mind. - Woman: sure.

I would love to sit down

with some people

That I have heard

make statements,

That are

in the public eye,

And actually talk

to them and say,

"This is what

really happened

That was not shown

on the documentary. "

And I think they'd have a

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes