The ruling in Echols v. Arkansas is available in Adobe .pdf format, as well as, Baldwin v. State and Misskelley v. State.
"Arkansas Supreme Court orders new hearing for Echols," is the AP report by Jill Zeman Bleed, via the via the Northwest Arkansas Times.
The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a judge to consider whether newly analyzed DNA evidence might exonerate three men convicted in the 1993 murders of three West Memphis Cub Scouts.
The justices also said a lower court must examine claims of misconduct by the jurors who sentenced Damien Echols to death and Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin to life in prison. The eastern Arkansas murder case has drawn the attention of Hollywood celebrities and civil rights activists.
At a hearing in September, lawyers for Echols said Circuit Judge David Burnett should have considered DNA test results in deciding whether to grant him a new trial. In 2008, Burnett rejected Echols' request for a new trial without holding an evidentiary hearing.
"While there is a significant dispute in this case, as to the legal effects of the DNA test results, it is undisputed that the results conclusively excluded Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley as the source of the DNA evidence tested," the court wrote Thursday.
The justices also directed new hearings for Misskelley and Baldwin. The Arkansas Supreme Court has previously affirmed all three convictions.
Prosecutors maintained that the absence of their DNA wasn't enough to prove the three men are innocent and that a jury convicted the men on other evidence.
The court also said defense claims of juror misconduct must be addressed — Misskelley's confession was not introduced at Echols' trial but defense lawyers believe jurors considered it anyway. The state argued any new hearing should address only the DNA.
Echols has been on Arkansas' death row since 1994, when he was 20, after being convicted in the deaths of 8-year-olds Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore. He's maintained his innocence since his arrest and argues that he would be acquitted if retried on the charges.
The Arkansas News Bureau posts, "High court orders new hearings for West Memphis Three." It's written by John Lyon.
The state Supreme Court today ordered new evidentiary hearings in the case of three men convicted in the 1993 deaths of three West Memphis 8-year-olds.
The high court ruled in the case of death-row inmate Damien Echols that a circuit judge incorrectly interpreted Arkansas’ DNA statute in denying Echols’ motion for a new trial based on new evidence. The court sent the case back to circuit court for a hearing to determine whether the evidence merits a new trial.
In separate opinions, the court said that in light of its ruling in Echols’ case, the cases of Echols’ co-defendants, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, also must go back to circuit court for hearings on the new evidence.
Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said he was reviewing the decisions.
CNN has, "West Memphis 3 cases to receive hearing, possible new trial."
Three men who were convicted of killing three Cub Scouts 16 years ago will have their cases reviewed in a court hearing to see whether they should be granted a new trial, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were convicted in the 1993 deaths of 8-year-olds Michael Moore, Christopher Byers and Steven Branch. The boys' bruised and mutilated bodies were found in May 1993 in West Memphis, Arkansas, their arms and legs hogtied with their own shoelaces.
The court Thursday remanded the cases back to the lower court. The ruling means Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley will be able to present new evidence that could exonerate them. Echols' attorneys said at a hearing in September that they want to present DNA evidence not available at the time of the trial, as well as testimony that supports arguments that Echols and the two others are innocent.
"We are very pleased that the Arkansas Supreme Court ordered a new evidentiary hearing to review the convincing evidence of the innocence of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley," Echols spokesman Lonnie Soury said. "These young men were convicted of a brutal crime someone else committed, and we hope the state moves quickly to overturn their convictions and seek to prosecute those responsible."
The case, known as the West Memphis 3, has gained advocates including some of the victims' parents. Pamela Hobbs, Branch's mother, said last year that she was once convinced of their guilt but began to consider the DNA evidence and believes the prosecution's case was flawed.
Caroline Black writes, "'West Memphis 3' Get New Hearing in Murders of Three 8-Year-Old Cub Scouts," for CBS News.
The eastern Arkansas murder case has drawn attention of Hollywood celebrities and civil rights activists.
Actor Johnny Depp has fervently thrown his support behind the West Memphis 3 in hopes of clearing the three men he believes were wrongly convicted of heinous crimes. Depp told 48 Hours | Mystery, "They were easy targets," and that, "There was a need for swift justice at the time to placate, understandably, an angry and frightened community."
Jessie Misskelley, Jr., Jason Baldwin, and Damien Echols have been in prison for 17 years after they were convicted of murdering Steve Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore whose bodies were found bound and mutilated in a creek.
"I don't believe this is just a random tragic thing. I have to hold on to the faith, the belief that this is for a reason and that something good will come out of this somehow," Echols said in an interview with 48 Hours | Mystery in February.
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