West of Memphis Page #17

My mother raised me

better than that."

The 16-year-old refused,

not once, but twice.

HOLLY:
At 16 years old, it

never even crossed his mind

to throw somebody

under the bus to save his own skin.

So Monday night,

I get this call from him.

He says, "Neither option is really fair."

I said to him, "if you wanted to do

something you didn't feel right about",

you could have done that

18 years ago and gone free."

And he said,

"Yeah, but the difference is, this time

I can set Damien free

by my decision."

I mean, that was his best friend,

you know.

This deal sucks,

but we want their freedom.

All rise.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

Be seated, those of you who can.

We are still waiting

to find out...

I am David Laser, Circuit Judge of

Division 9, the Second Judicial District.

Continue today for this 11:00 hearing

on the West Memphis Three.

Will they be set free today?

Answer still unknown but,

of course, we will continue...

LASER:
Mr. Echols,

Mr. Baldwin, Mr. Misskelley,

if you would stand, please,

and face the court.

Spend a lot of time trying to explain it.

They had a private, closed-door hearing...

LASER:
Mr. Echols, how do you

wish to plead in this case?

Your Honor,

I am innocent of these charges,

but I'm entering an Alford guilty plea

today based on advice of my council.

And my understanding

that it's in my best interest to do so

given the entire record of the case.

LASER:
Same as relates to you, Mr. Misskelley.

How do you wish to plead?

I am pleading guilty under North Carolina

v. Alford in the Arkansas rules.

Although I am innocent.

This is...

And this plea is in my best interest.

Everybody just be patient.

We're waiting too, like everyone else.

Just gotta stay in place.

LASER:
Mr. Baldwin, how do you

choose to plead in this case?

Your Honor, first of all

I am innocent of murdering.

Christopher Byers,

Michael Moore and Steven Branch.

However, after serving 18 years

in the penitentiary for such,

I agree that it's in the state's

best interest, as well as my own,

that based upon

North Carolina v. Alford

that I plead guilty

for first-degree murder for those crimes.

All right.

The court finds that

there is a factual basis for the plea,

that the pleas are voluntary and will be

accepted and received by the court.

I'm aware of the controversy

that's existed.

I'm aware of the involvement

of the people in this case.

I don't think it'll make the pain go away

to the victims' families.

I don't think it will take away a minute

of the 18 years

that these three young men served

in the Arkansas Department

of Corrections.

What I've just described

is tragedy on all sides.

And I commend people in the case

that have assisted towards the end

of seeing that justice is served

to the best that we can do.

The tremendous judge.

Um... He didn't have to say the things

that he did at the end.

Sometimes outside help

is in fact a big help,

and for those of you who have been

a participant in that regard

that are here, I commend you

personally and publicly

for having done that.

VEDDER:
It was great to see a crowd

of people outside of the courthouse,

you know, 18 years ago

were screaming for blood.

VEDDER:
And Damien, Jessie and Jason

walked outwith their hands held high

and the crowd is cheering

and supporting them.

Some are happy, some are angry

and some are perplexed,

and that's the case at the end of

every trial, and this one is no different.

First of all, I understand

that nobody in that room

wanted to hear from me, particularly.

I needed to be heard by my voters,

and I needed to offer

some explanation.

I'll tell you, let me tell you this.

This judge was most likely

going to grant a new trial.

As far as gathering up evidence,

I hadn't gotten there yet.

I've not reviewed reams and reams

and volumes and boxes and boxes,

but the evidence I've seen,

I believe these guys are guilty.

I know they pled guilty.

With their entry of a plea of guilty,

we have removed the question

of them filing a civil law suit

against the state

that could result

in many millions of dollars.

I mean,

because you have three individuals

times 18 years is 54,

I mean, so, 60ish?

I have spoken with members

of victims' families

and I can tell you that they are still

suffering the loss of the little boys.

We put to rest a question

for these families

of the little boys that were killed.

These three individuals

pied guilty to the murder

of those three little boys that day.

That put that matter to rest.

Period. End of sentence.

Heh. I don't even know where to begin.

I guess we eat, right?

I was dead-set against this, like a mule.

And I am not moving an inch.

I was just trapped up in it,

just by myself.

You reminded me that I'm not by myself

and I gotta think of everybody.

I have absolutely no idea

what I'm doing.

I'm just enjoying

the moment, right?

I think that's cheese.

You think it's what?

There's cheese in there.

Yeah. Cheese. Have you had cheese?

Yeah, but not in a salad.

All right, I'm done with the salad.

Okay, let's move on.

And it's not just this war

between one person and the state.

It is everybody involved, you know,

and it was, like, how could I forget?

Mom! Ha-ha-ha!

I still feel like it's a dream.

I just talked to you Monday

and you didn't tell me nothing.

I wanted to. Free man.

It's my suitcase. Check it out, pretty cool.

GAIL:
I like that.

I called him yesterday and said, "I got

a little suitcase and it's all packed."

And he said,

"I've never had a suitcase before."

It's these things.

Gosh, I love you so much.

I love you too.

Every time I turn around,

you wanna talk to me.

Look, every time I turn around.

It's great. It's a great feeling.

I'm used to the guards

being around me all the time.

Every now and then,

I turn around, make sure,

you know, damn, is this really real?

Hey, man. How you doing, man?

JESSIE:
It's a blessing, you know, to

be here with my family and friends.

Last time I seen them,

we was all kids and everything.

And here we are, grown up now.

That's really what

kept me going over the years.

When are you gonna

come to the house and say hi?

Prison is really hard.

You know, if I could stay out of prison,

I could go anywhere I want to, free man.

All I just got to do is, you know,

just stay out of trouble.

That's why I'm trying

to do things different in my life.

So I know I can do it.

LORRI:
I think we all had our mental image

of what this was gonna be at the end.

Which was three of these guys

walking out of the courtroom exonerated.

DAMIEN:
Everything I had in the prison,

I carried out in one small envelope.

Everything else,

when they told me I was leaving,

they said, "Pack up

whatever you wanna take."

I just threw it all in the garbage

and left it.

LORRI:
When he first left the

courthouse, he looked at me and said:

"It already feels like it's been such

a long time ago since I was in prison."

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