The West Memphis Three
Monday morning the trial will continue to determine if 2 of the West Memphis Three will get a new trial. Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin are trying to prove they deserve new trials due to ineffective counsel when they were convicted in 1994 of murdering three eight-year-old-boys in West Memphis.
Victims of the Robin Hood Hill Murders
I have blogged about this case once before here and I will tell you that beyond a shadow of a doubt do I believe that Misskelley, Balwin and Damien Echols are all innocent in what essentially became a witch hunt with no proof of evidence to convict these boys of such a hennas crime.
On May 5, 1993 three 8-year-old boys were reported missing; Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore. The boys were last seen together entering Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Arkansas around 6:00PM. The next day the bodies of all three boys would be found near a creek. They had all been stripped naked, hog-tied with their own shoelaces and killed.
All of the boys had been severely beaten in their face and head and the Byers boy had a fractured skull. He seemed to be targeted the most because he also had deep lacerations and injuries to his private areas. Eventually it was found that some of the wounds may have been credited to animals after the child was deceased.
Much controversy surrounds this case in that three Memphis teenagers were tried and convicted on little or no evidence (and mainly because of their Goth style look).
More recently, new DNA evidence points to Steve Branch’s father, Terry Hobbs.
“The new DNA evidence is that one hair that was found in the ligature of the shoelaces that bound Michael Moore is consistent with the DNA of Terry Hobbs, who is the father of Stevie Branch,” Lax told CNN.
He continued: “Another hair that had been found at the crime scene, which had been unidentified for all these years, has just recently been tested. And the DNA on that hair is consistent with the DNA of David Jacoby. David Jacoby is a good friend or was a good friend of Terry Hobbs, and Terry Hobbs was at his house just that afternoon and evening.”
Also, now the parents of some of the boys also back The West Memphis Three.
Pam Hobbs, Stevie Branch’s mother is now in support of a new trial for the West Memphis 3 and publicly states her ex husband Terry Hobbs may have something to do with the murders.
“Do you think honestly in your heart that he might have had something to do with this,” I asked. “Honestly in my heart…I have to be honest. Possibly,” replied Pam Hobbs.
(Mark Byers, Victim Chris Byers’ Father) “I believe this is going to be made right. I do not believe Damien Echols will get the death penalty. I believe Jason and Jessie will walk free.”
The trial will resume on Monday.
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Colton Levi Clark 