Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory Page #9

The Jessie Miskelly

testimony.

What we now know

is that in fact

Jessie Miskellys

statements

Played a pretty

major part

In the way

that the jury

In the Echols

and Baldwin case

Came to understand

the case

And came to have confidence

in the notion

That they should

convict,

Which is wrong.

Griffis:
Id like to show you something.

Approximately a year

Before the Echols case,

I lectured in little rock,

Arkansas.

One of the people

who attended that course-

I believe his name was

jerry driver-

Had contacted me

about kids

That were active

in the west Memphis area.

So the year prior,

I started seeing

some of the materials.

These were drawings

from the area.

That's how

it came to me. And...

you could see...

here

Death symbols

and use of a-

What was called a ceremonial

sword or an athame.

And all of a sudden

you start to see

Symbols, this symbology

Often used

as a satanic symbol.

A year ahead of time, they knew

they had a problem in the area.

They knew that it was

getting worse.

You had some good police

officers down there

Concerned what the heck

next is going to happen.

John Fogelman:
anything

wrong with wearing black

In and of itself?

No.

Anything wrong with

the heavy metal stuff

In and of itself?

No.

But when you

look at it together

And you begin to see

inside Damien Echols,

You see inside

that person,

And there's not a soul

in there.

Echols:
when I was that

age- I was a kid basically-

In court, hearing the things

that people were saying,

I don't think

I registered

The full importance

of what was going on then,

Because I always felt-

I knew I didn't do it.

So therefore

it's impossible for them

To prove you've done

something you haven't done

With no evidence,

Nothing but a bunch

of rumors

And ghost stories

and smoke screens.

I didn't think there was

any way in hell

They were gonna be able

to get away with that.

Lorri Davis:
we're

heading to Grady, Arkansas,

Where the Varner unit is.

It's Damiens birthday

today, yeah.

Time has been an odd thing

in this situation,

Because it seems like

it just drags on forever

And then, when you think back

on it, it's been fleeting.

In the past 17 years,

I've made friends

That have stuck with me

through thick and thin,

That have been here

Beyond what even my blood family

members have been with me beyond.

I met Lorri.

We've been together

for about 14 years now.

We just had our 10th wedding

anniversary last week.

I'm sure it's different

from everyone else's marriage.

But then I don't know what

everyone else's marriage is.

I just know that ours is

a good one.

In the very beginning,

I would wake up

In the middle

of the night sometimes,

Cursing her, literally

cursing her out loud

For making me feel

the way she made me feel,

Especially in here,

you know.

It's one of those things

that whenever you really,

Really love somebody,

It's not all, you know,

flowers and poetry,

Like the songs

try to make you think.

It hurts.

It gets its claws

into you

And it just rips.

And I felt like

that was the last thing

I needed to be

dealing with

On top of trying to deal

with all of this.

But it turned out

to be

The absolute

best thing

That has ever happened

to me in my life.

Terry Hobbs:

what kind of person

Would come

from across the country

To a death row inmate

And marry this man?

This is a known

convicted child killer

Right here.

He killed three little

eight-Year-Old boys

In west Memphis, Arkansas,

in 1993.

What kind of mind

Does this

young lady have

Who would come down here

and marry somebody like that?

This whole thing

has gone from

What happened

to three little boys

To more like a circus

of some kind.

Our investigators

were obtaining

D.N.A. Samples in the form

of hairs, cigarette butts,

Oral swabs

from people who had

Some connection

to the events.

These included samples

from several people,

Including Steven branch's

stepfather terry Hobbs.

We gave all these samples to

Thomas Fedor, who's here today.

He's an independent

forensic serologist.

The result of that analysis

in May 2007

Showed that a hair

from a ligature

Used to tie up

Michael Moore

Could be associated

with terry Hobbs.

The biggest bombshell of

the new defense investigation

Is that an unexplained hair that could

be from another victim's stepfather

Was found on shoelaces

at the crime scene.

Lorri Davis:

over the last

Three weeks

or four weeks,

A group of people

From here in Arkansas

Have formed a campaign

Called "Arkansas

take action. "

Capi Peck:
we're on our way to

the state capitol for a rally.

There's been such

an outpouring of support

For a decade,

Supporting

the west Memphis three.

But Arkansas has been

relatively quiet.

We hope that with our

grassroots movement

"Arkansas take action,"

That Arkansans from across

the state will speak out,

Asking our elected

officials

To take a look

at this new evidence

And to get these guys

out of prison.

None of the d. N.A. From any

of the crime scene evidence

Could be associated

with Mr. Echols

Or Mr. Baldwin

or Mr. Miskelly.

Terry Hobbs could be

the source

Of that hair

on the ligature.

Approximately 11/2%

of the population at large

Could be the source

of that hair.

None of the defendants

could be

The source of that hair

on the ligature.

Female reporter:
take a look at

just how much support they have-

Thousands of postcards,

Some as far away

as Los Angeles, California,

And Europe, all supporting

the west Memphis three.

Woman:
did you murder the little boys?

Well, Id have to

laugh at that and say

There's something wrong with

someone who would think that.

Male reporter:
that stepfather

denies having anything to do

With the murders. And the

Arkansas attorney general's office

Said in the statement

it will review and respond,

But warns "the legal process

could take months

And possibly years. "

Female reporter:
do you feel

that you're as close as ever

To actually getting

a new trial?

Lorri Davis:

we get closer every day.

Yeah, so with the work

that we're doing

And the evidence that

we're finally uncovering,

I think we're getting

closer all the time.

It's sad to see that

there's people out here

Trying to get some

killers out of prison

That deserve, every one,

to be hung by a rope.

Natalie Maines:
I just wanted to

say thanks for being here today,

And I think it's important

for all elected officials

To know that we are

watching them.

It's not about

opinion anymore.

It's not about debate.

It's about science.

And I urge you all

to go to wm3.Org

And donate

to the defense fund.

The donations is

what has paid

For the forensic tests

And the d. N.A. Testing

That's going to

set these men free.

I just want to say

Im honored to be here.

Lorri's a wonderful,

wonderful person.

And she's what has kept

this going for 14 years

And made people not forget

about the west Memphis three.

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