Damien Echols’ legal team reviews ‘lost’ evidence in 1993 murders

Evidence West Memphis Police Department claimed was destroyed found ‘ intact, catalogued, organized and ready for DNA testing’

ralphhardin@gmail.com For years, Damien Echols, twice convicted in the murder of three 8-year-old West Memphis boys, has claimed his innocence. On Tuesday, Little Rock attorney Patrick Benca, of McDaniel Wolff & Benca, said that his team finally had the opportunity to review existing evidence in the so-called “West Memphis 3” case that was believed lost, damaged or destroyed. They believe that the evidence will point toward someone other than Echols and the two others, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, who were convicted of the murders in 1994 and freed on a plea agreement in 2011.

“Echols' legal team was mysteriously misinformed and actually stonewalled for 18 months by the West Memphis Police Department and other law enforcement entities in Crittenden County,” said Lonnie Soury of Soury Communications, Inc., in a news release. “After 18 months Echols was informed that the evidence was likely not available, but after a state court order, Echols' team was invited to the West Memphis Police Department to review what evidence remained. What they discovered was a very organized, catalogued and intact body of evidence.”

Added Beneca, “'We are pleased that the evidence is intact. We are planning to move ahead and test this evidence using the latest DNA technology available to hopefully identify the real killers of the three children in 1993, and exonerate Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jesse Misskelley.'

Echols submitted a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request months ago seeking all records relating to the missing evidence in the West Memphis 3 case.

That FOIA request had gone unanswered, a violation of Arkansas state law.

After being informed that evidence in the West Memphis 3 case had been most likely “lost or destroyed,” Echols, who was freed from death row 10 years ago and was seeking to perform new DNA tests on the evidence, filed a complaint in the Circuit Court of Crittenden County asking the court to “declare that the WMPD violated its statutory obligation to respond to the FOIA request” and “direct the WMPD to respond to the FOIA request within three days.”

In explaining his desire to have the evidence properly reviewed, Echols said, 'Ten years ago I had no choice but to take an Alford plea to get off death row. I needed to fight for my innocence, and that of Jason and Jesse, outside of the prison walls. And that is why I sought to test the evidence in the case to exonerate us and lead to the real killers. Once we made inquiries to the West Memphis Police to turn over the evidence in the case for advanced testing, we were told that the evidence disappeared.”

'We did not give up, and hopefully now we can move ahead with all due haste to have this evidence DNA tested, said Soury.”

Echols' attorneys had filed a Motion for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief in the Circuit Court of Crittenden County First Division, as well as seeking an expedited hearing.

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