saw this on ophelia666's journal

This is a fucking TRAVESTY.

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High Court Turns Away Echols Appeal
Thursday October 16, 2003 10:47am Little Rock (AP) -
Convicted child killer Damien Echols will not get a new hearing to
determine whether he was competent during his trial in the death of
three west Memphis boys.

The state Supreme Court Thursday ruled unanimously that Echols and his
lawyers did not exercise due diligence in pursuing the point in the
nearly ten years since Echols was convicted in the 1993 slayings.

The court also rejected Echols' argument that authorities withheld
information about another possible suspect in the killings.

Had it ruled Echols' trial lawyers were incompetent, the high court
could have thrown out the conviction and ordered the new trial.

Second-graders Steven Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers
disappeared May fifth, 1993, while riding bicycles in their quiet,
tree-lined neighborhood in West Memphis. Their bodies were found the
next day in a watery ditch near their homes.

Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, all teenagers at the time,
were convicted in the murders. Echols was the only one sentenced to
death.

Baldwin is serving life without parole. Misskelley was sentenced to life
in prison plus 40 years.


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