in september, judge david burnett, who preside over both trials ruled he would not hear any new evidence in the case. so damien echols is now appealing his case to the arkansas supreme court, which has previously upheld the conviction. this is the first time that the arkansas supreme court is going to interpret the dna statute. so it s going to have enormous implications for anybody who comes in their wake. i m thinking about when we argue this in the arkansas supreme court, the approach we want to take, justices, you may be aware that this specific case has garnered a lot of interest, but the interests at stake here are a lot broader than the three individuals before the court, even though one of those literally has his life on the line. good morning, your honors. if it please the court, obviously, since my client is sentenced to death, the resolution of this case is of
And i urge you all to go to wm3.org and donate to the defense fund, the donations is what has paid for the forensic tests and the dna testing that is going to set these men free. i just want to say i m honored to be here. lorri is a wonderful, wonderful person, and she is what has kept us going for 14 years and made people not forget about the west memphis three. so thank you very much. [ applause ] kelly s court is back in session. on the docket today, meet terry hobbs. this man sued the dixie chicks for defamation. why? natalie maines has been very vocal about this case, saying that new dna testing would prove hobbs was involved in his own step-son s death. raise your right hand. do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but
Court. prison is not a safe place. jessie, sweetie. one down. two to go. hopefully the same thing will happen to the next two and we ll get the same verdict. all right, gentlemen, if you would have your clients stand. mr. baldwin and mr. echols. in your case, mr. baldwin, you ll be adjudicated guilty of three counts of capitol murder. you ll be sentenced to the arkansas department of corrections to a term of life without possibility of parole on each of the three counts. damien echols shall be sentenced to death by lethal injection. he will be administered a continuous injection of an acting barbituate in combination with an agent into your body until you are dead. it is my obligation to let you know you do have a right to appeal and you need consider
Close to the whole issue about what happened in the jury room. as an officer of the court, i m not permitted to talk about certain things with regard to this case. i had started working for lloyd warford at that point in time as a law clerk. i met the jury foreman, ken arnold. the first time i encountered kent was when he hired lloyd to represent his brother on a different case. but at that time, kent already knew he was being called for jury duty for baldwin and echols trial. during misskelley s trial, he talked about all of the things that had been printed in the newspaper. kent arnold was passionate about what he thought he knew. he believed that they were guilty and they had been caught and they should be convicted. i was sitting in lloyd s office, and he was talking to kent on speakerphone, and he was saying,
The truth so help god? i do. mr. hobbs, can you tell the ladies and gentlemen why you sued by client? for statements she made against me on the internet. what do you hope to get out of the lawsuit? justice. how do you define justice? in a court of law. you want money, don t you? i want justice as the courts deem. an apology? is that enough? whatever the courts decide. i m not i m asking what you want to get out of this lawsuit, mr. hobbs. if i was to sit here and be honest that s what i want you to be, totally honest. would like to see the dixie chicks humiliated. i d like to have caused pain. i think that s a little fair. mr. hobbs, i m going to have to go into some material now that may be sensitive. and i want you to know that i m not trying to make you uncomfortable or embarrass you. it s just the fact that you have placed your reputation in issue by bringing this lawsuit.