Father of victim says he will fight release of West Memphis 3

Father of victim says he will fight release of West Memphis 3
Sep 06, 2011  WEST MEMPHIS, AR -

(WMC-TV) – Steve Branch, the father of one of the three 8-year-old boys killed 18 years ago, said he will do everything in his power to overturn the law that allowed the West Memphis Three walk free.

Nearly three weeks ago, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, known as the West Memphis Three, were granted freedom with a rare Alford plea….
Branch said the release of the West Memphis Three is an abomination of the justice system.

“I couldn’t believe that the justice system, the D.A. and the prosecutor would let this happen,” he said.

After 18 years in prison, Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley walked free, despite the fact that a jury found them guilty of the murders of Christopher Byers, Michael Moore, and Branch’s son Stevie Branch.

“All of a sudden, they called us the day before this happened,” said Branch.  “We didn’t even have a chance to try to stop it.”

Branch said the rare legal maneuver that set the men free is a danger to society.  An Alford plea means a defendant admits guilt, but asserts innocent.

On the day of the West Memphis Three’s release, Branch said he could not hold back and spoke out in court.

“I stop up in court and I tried to explain to the judge that if he followed through with this, that he was going to be opening Pandora’s Box,” he said.  “He’s going to be giving the key to every inmate that’s on death row to those cell block doors to walk out, and all they have to do is admit that they killed somebody and they could be set free.”

Branch said he fears this ruling will impact other cases.

“That’s every state in the country,” said Branch.  “How many baby killers, rapists, serial killers are going to be set free because of this law?  Because of what they’ve done.  They’re all going to come out here with us.”

Branch criticized the celebrities who supported the defendants.

“Johnny Depp?  A person who starred in the Ninth Gate in which he had to find clues in three books to raise Satan.  Who? Wynona Ryder, who played in Bram Stoker’s Dracula who fell in love with Dracula – who is the spawn of Satan.  Marilyn Manson?  Is he a poster boy for good will?” he asked.

Branch said they never spent a day in court, knew nothing about the case and garnered attention for the wrong three boys.

“The West Memphis Three were the three little boys,” said Branch.  “My son, little Stevie, and his two little buddies, Michael and Christopher.”….

http://www.kait8.com/story/15400491/father-of-victim-says-he-will-fight-release-of-west-memphis-3

Prosecutor: ‘We made right call’ in WM3 case

Prosecutor: ‘We made right call’ in WM3 case
By George Jared Paxton News Bureau Tuesday, August 23, 2011

JONESBORO — For perhaps the first time in U.S. judicial history a death row inmate was allowed to plead guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and immediately leave the courtroom a free man.

It happened Friday morning in a Craighead County courtroom when Damien Echols, along with his cohorts, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr., pleaded guilty to killing three West Memphis youths on May 5, 1993. At the same time, the men professed to the court that they were innocent, using an arcane legal device known as an Alford plea….

Scott Ellington, prosecuting attorney for the 2nd Judicial District. “I feel comfortable we made the right decision,” Ellington told The Jonesboro Sun on Monday. “At the end of the day we’ve got three guilty pleas in the deaths of three dead children.”

….At that point the prosecution would charge Echols and Baldwin with three counts of first-degree murder, while Misskelley would be charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder.
The men were originally charged with capital murder.

The defendants would then enter Alford pleas. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1970s that a defendant can enter a plea in which he admits there is enough evidence to possibly convict him, but at the same time he doesn’t have to admit guilt.

….A knife prosecutors said was potentially used to emasculate Byers was found behind Baldwin’s home, and fibers collected from the victims might have matched fibers in Baldwin and Echols’ homes.

http://www.paragoulddailypress.com/articles/2011/08/23/local_news/doc4e53ab9e3ee7f111086957.txt

Arkansas: No Pardons in ‘West Memphis Three’ Case

Arkansas: No Pardons in ‘West Memphis Three’ Case
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS August 23, 2011

Gov. Mike Beebe said Tuesday that he did not plan to grant pardons in the “West Memphis Three” case unless evidence showed that someone else was to blame for the murders of three young boys in 1993.

The three men who were convicted, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr., now have 10 years of what amounts to unsupervised probation after being released from custody on Friday in a swiftly arranged plea deal. Mr. Beebe said he did not consider pardons until all sentences were completed, and his term will have expired long before the probation ends. After an HBO documentary detailed their case in 1996, the men garnered celebrity support and hefty donations.

The original murder convictions were set aside amid doubts about the evidence. The three pleaded guilty to lesser charges on Friday in exchange for sentences of the 18 years that they had already served. As part of an Alford plea, the men were allowed to maintain their claims of innocence. Scott Ellington, a prosecutor, said he did not expect that proof would be found of anyone else’s involvement.

“The state believes that this case is concluded by the convictions of the three individuals who committed these heinous murders,” he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/us/24brfs-NOPARDONSINW_BRF.html