The thing that gives me the most pause

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[78334]

78334 Posts in 6920 Topics by 699 Members
Latest Member: ric2pd

[flexj]

I worked for a Machinery Company and we had several customers in WM and I have met many good people. To give a blanket statement as was given is just plain ignorant

[pete zahut]

i agree. My apologies.

[pete zahut]

if it makes you feel better, i couldn't even spell 'makes' correctly in the sentence in question.

Dog, #'s 6 and 7 are really good.

[pete zahut]

also, Dog, number 5 - the blood on the necklace - this site is the first time i ever read anything about that. I don't get that if they have this, and it's been analyzed why people wouldn't bring this up more.

Like the wm police department etc must be inundated by people saying the wm3 are innocent - but that one thing - the blood on the necklace - really goes above and beyond in saying the opposite... i don't see why it's not referenced more

[Rudder]

why people wouldn't bring this up more.

At this point, the necklace evidence is inconclusive. As the murderers have been convicted, and the convictions stand, there is no reason for the state to do more thorough dna testing on it.

Since the necklace wasn't used to convict any of the three, the defense has no reason to test it either.

As it stands, the necklace is like an ace in the hole in case there is ever a retrial. At least that's the way I look at it.

[flexj]

i agree. My apologies.

Thank you for acknowledging it.
It is unfortunate how the media focused in on just a small section of people in WM.  And of course JMB really didn't help matters.  But it really is a mix of people, you have your "ART'S and Croissant" group, as well as your hard working mechanic and everything between, just like ANYTOWN, USA

I have been in the machinery & machine tool industry since 1988, and have traveled 32 of our 50 states.  I have seen all walks of life, WM is not all that different, maybe the accent, or as I tell my friends in Washington St, "I don't have an accent, Yall just hear funny"

[Storm]

Also something to look at Pete...  on callihans  the transcribed hearing for Jessie. His trial transcripts.  Look at his alibis..  all of his friends say one thing to the police..their first of interviews .. saying, no we didnt wrestle that nite   no we didnt see jessie.. I saw Jessie the next day and he seemed upset and gave me his shoes he was wearing the nite before. But then the next day or hours later after talking to defense private eye all of a sudden, the stories change. Oh ya i was wrong earlier, we did go wrestling.. Jessie was with us.  and when asked why they said at first no they hadnt seen them, some of the guys had the balls to say, Oh no I never said that, the person taking notes was wrong. Even with their signature on the paper.

[TJM]

i agree. My apologies.

Thank you for acknowledging it.
It is unfortunate how the media focused in on just a small section of people in WM.  And of course JMB really didn't help matters.  But it really is a mix of people, you have your "ART'S and Croissant" group, as well as your hard working mechanic and everything between, just like ANYTOWN, USA

I have been in the machinery & machine tool industry since 1988, and have traveled 32 of our 50 states.  I have seen all walks of life, WM is not all that different, maybe the accent, or as I tell my friends in Washington St, "I don't have an accent, Yall just hear funny"

I just find it funny how WM Arkansas was portrayed...........and some of the comments that I have seen over the years about 'backwoods' Arkansas, etc...........

That bothers me alot............but it's kind of like a double edged sword for me....................I also view the 'black tshirt and Metallica music' ploy as ridiculous.  I am a little familiar with W.M. too and the mere thought of them just picking the poor aimless teenager that wore black and listened to Metallica crap out almost makes my blood boil.  Like out of all of the criminals in W.M.  they would just set their sights on a goofy assed, weird-o  teenager.   Bleh !  That makes me so insanely pissed when they imply that. 

[flexj]

I agree TJM,
 I love R&B, Classic Rock, and Some of the modern groups as well.  The whoe "They wore black"
Is taking it way out of context...but that seems to be the supporter (leg humper) m.o.

It was in the context of murder investigation, as there had been reports of practicing satinist in WM  and guess what, they typically wear BLACK.  It is very common to use profiling during a murder investigation, and guess what, it was proven that Damien was into satanism.

 Now it may not have been what you would expect in the movies, but it is clear when you look at all the evidence, that he wanted to kill, wanted this power, and although it seems to be more of a murder of opportunity, his motive is clear.  He wanted to do this because he believed in this great power he was going to get.

 I just wish that instead of lethal injection, he would get the "power" of the electric chair minus the wet sponge
 

[ank]

...Jessie was never offered any deals for testifying against the other two...

The above statement is false. The prosecutors spoke to the victims' families and told them they needed Misskelley to testify. They said, "He's not going to testify out of the goodness of his heart. The only way we're going to get him to testify is to take off the life sentence."

Jessie WAS offered a reduced sentence for testifying at the Baldwin/Echols trial and he refused.

[Farm]

The above statement is false.

No, it isn't.

The prosecutors spoke to the victims' families and told them they needed Misskelley to testify. They said, "He's not going to testify out of the goodness of his heart. The only way we're going to get him to testify is to take off the life sentence."

That's right.

Davis went on to say "We are going to try and negotiate his sentence down some"

You know why?

Because the Prosecution didn't have the ability to modify Misskelley's sentence - it had already been imposed.

You know what else?

They went to the judge to try and negotiate just like they said they would.

Know what he said?

THE COURT: There's one other thing. There's been some talk about the Court's power to reduce the sentence, and we have talked about that indirectly. And for the record, I have never said I would do anything one way or the other. In fact I tried to tell each of you that I wasn't going to make any commitment that I'd do anything, one way or the other, whether he testifies, doesn't testify or what.

End of negotiation.

Jessie WAS offered a reduced sentence for testifying at the Baldwin/Echols trial and he refused.

No, he wasn't.

Anything else I can help you with?

[ank]

They went to the judge to try and negotiate just like they said they would.

Know what he said?

THE COURT: There's one other thing. There's been some talk about the Court's power to reduce the sentence, and we have talked about that indirectly. And for the record, I have never said I would do anything one way or the other. In fact I tried to tell each of you that I wasn't going to make any commitment that I'd do anything, one way or the other, whether he testifies, doesn't testify or what.

Anything else I can help you with?

Yes. Where did you find that? Will you send me a link to it, please?

Also, I wasn't trying to be rude in my first post... just meant to correct something I thought was wrong.

[Farm]

Yes. Where did you find that?

In the transcripts of the Feb. 22 Prosecutorial miscondict hearing.

Will you send me a link to it, please?

Sure.

http://www.callahan.8k.com/wm3/prefeb22.html

It's an interesting read to say the least:

At that point we got in our vehicles, and one of the things to corroborate his client's statement was to determine if there was an Evan Williams whiskey bottle under an overpass in West Memphis.

To quote Mr. Stidham, I believe at that time, "If we can find a bottle like he says, then that will convince me that it happened."  At 9:30 or 10:00 at night we drive -- ten o'clock in the evening -- we proceed, the four of us, to roam underneath the overpasses of West Memphis and lo and behold find a broken bottle in the location indicated by his client.

We then take the bottle to a local liquor store where we proceeded to spend the better part of an hour matching the bottle with certain items, and lo and behold it matches with the brand name bottle Mr. Stidham had indicated that we should be looking for in the first place.

I guess 48hrs had to cut that bit for time considerations -  along with Echol's mental health history.

Also, I wasn't trying to be rude in my first post... just meant to correct something I thought was wrong.

I understand.

But you have to understand how many times we've had to correct things we KNOW are wrong.

[whitelilly]

I just got through reading that link you provided Farm.

Holy Shit. Mara tells a VERY different story in Devil's Knot.

She was very economical with the facts!

[whitelilly]

I have a question for the legal minds. In the transcript Farm provided a few posts up, the one where they discussed prosecutorial misconduct, they keep referring to "use immunity" with regard to Jessie and whether or not he will testify against Echols and Baldwin.

I looked up the term and I am now confused. I can't work out the difference between 'use immunity" and plain old 'immunity'. Not to mention, these conversations were going on after Jessie was convicted.

Can anyone explain what this all means? I'm sure I will feel quite stupid once somebody does 

I found this, but I still don’t quite get it in relation to Miskelly...

The tension between self-incrimination risks and the right of allocution compromises the ability of capital punishment defendants to participate fully in the penalty phases of their bifurcated trials.

The traditional right of defendants to confront their sentencers, known as allocution, is rarely exercised because defendants anticipating appeals do not want to waive their right against self-incrimination.

Providing them with use immunity would ensure that their allocution rights would be genuine and would make capital cases more just and merciful.
http://www.faqs.org/abstracts/Law/Encouraging-allocution-at-capital-sentencing-a-proposal-for-use-immunity.html