'West Memphis Three' Could Go Free While Step-Father Hangs B
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From the American Chronicle February 17, 2010
It is DNA evidence that four men are looking at, though not all of them in the same light. For Jason Baldwin, favorable results would mean that he will not spend the rest of his life in prison. For Jessie Misskelley, DNA testing could not only allow him to go free, but provide evidence that maybe the West Memphis Police Department really did coerce a mentally retarded teenager into a false confession of a crime he did not commit. And Damien Echols may never have to take the ride from Cell Block Four of Varner Supermax over to Cummins Unit for a date with death via lethal injection.
But for Terry Hobbs, the final results produced by DNA testing may point to something darker. If these final results mimick the findings of the preliminary evidence, a man who has spent fourteen years condemning three teenagers for the murder of his step-son and two other children may not only lead to perhaps his own wrongful imprisonment as many have proclaimed is the case with the 'West Memphis Three', but a decade and a half of secrets could come spilling out and bring this tragedy to an end.
According the preliminary results of over two years of DNA testing, no evidence has been found that links Echols, Baldwin, or Misskelley to the crime scene or the victims. This finding is all the more spectacular because not only have the results been acknowledged by the prosecution, it seemingly flies in the face of the myth that hair and fiber matches had been made linking the fabled 'West Memphis Three' to the murders, a theory that many feel largely helped Jason Baldwin into a life sentence and Damien Echols onto Death Row.
Secondary transfer occurs when a fiber or hair is physically transferred from one person to another. It should be noted that the hair and fibers that the prosecution suggests came about through secondary transfer in this case are inconclusive. There was one shirt fiber that “may be similar” to an article of clothing found in the home of a defendant. However, it has also been shown that this fiber is similar to materials found in the home of one of the victims as well. There has been a hair found that “could belong to” Damien Echols, but has not been matched. It has not been proven that either the hair or the fiber belongs to any of the WM3, and actual DNA testing refutes this suggestion, rather than solidifies it.
As far as facts are concerned, there is no physical evidence that Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, or Jessie Misskelley had ever been near Robin Hood Hills, had ever met or been near any of the victims, or committed any sort of crime. There was no murder weapon recovered, no witnesses who can place Echols, Baldwin, or Misskelley at the scene of the crime, and no DNA evidence. So if the DNA evidence doesn’t point to these three, then who does it point to?
Well that's another story entirely. According to the DNA status report filed by the defense and acknowledged by the prosecution, DNA evidence has arisen that can not be linked to either the defendants or the victims. As of this time, there is no identity match for the DNA, except for one surprising piece of evidence that managed to turn up. A strand of hair belonging to Stevie Branch's step-father Terry Hobbs was found intertwined with a knot in one of the shoelaces used to tie up one of the victims. This is no longer a case of similarity or possibility. Terry Hobbs has been genetically matched to the scene of the crime through DNA testing.
Terry Hobbs says that the children played at his home often and perhaps a hair ended up in the shoelace through secondary transfer. In all likelihood this is a possibility. But what isn't said is that a shoelace bouncing around in Robin Hood Hills, being removed from a shoe, being knotted and tied to bind an 8 year old boy, being immersed in water, and lying around for over a decade – The hair was still with the shoelace. Still intertwined in a knot in the shoelace after all this time. That's either enough to arouse suspicion, or a very durable and strong piece of hair.
This evidence does not make Terry Hobbs a killer anymore than it does the three who have been convicted of the murders. However, there is a chance that if Terry Hobbs were tried in court on this evidence and prosecuted in the same fashion as the West Memphis Three, it would most likely be Terry Hobbs holding a cell in Varner Supermax, not Damien Echols.
These are very significant results in the DNA testing. No match for Damien Echols, no match for Jason Baldwin, no match for Jessie Misskelley. There is a match for Terry Hobbs and persons unknown. While this single strand of hair may not be the stuff that solid cases are made of, the Arkansas Judicial System finds it more than enough to indict, convict, and sentence people to life in prison and the death penalty.
In addition to a scientific match between Terry Hobbs and the crime scene, there is also strange occurrences regarding his wife Pam. After 17 years of marriage, Pam and Terry divorced for one reason or another. While Pam was going through various belongings, she happened upon a knife that her son Stevie Branch always carried on his person. According to Pam, Stevie always, always had this knife with him, and it would seem strange that the knife was not with Stevie but in Terry Hobbs’ possession. It is possible that the knife could have been discovered at the scene and given to Terry Hobbs. Except that Pam knew nothing about it.
If that is the case, this would be the second instance in which Terry Hobbs failed to inform his wife about her son, the first being when Stevie Branch originally went missing and Hobbs delayed telling his wife for 5 hours. Pam has openly stated that she is somewhat suspicious of her ex-husband, and is praying that the three men convicted are either guilty, or given a new trial.
The West Memphis Police Department decided to investigate Terry Hobbs. They have conducted interviews with Hobbs and are now looking for any other evidence that may point him out as the killer. Between the DNA results and his ex-wife’s growing suspicion, trouble certainly seems to be brewing for Terry Hobbs. Many supporters see this as justice coming far too late. To quote one of them, "After all, didn’t the ‘West Memphis Three’ get convicted on less evidence that that?"
For those who believe the WM3 are indeed guilty, this is just a defense tactic to try and get these men a new trial. For supporters of the case, this is a cause for hope that Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley will be given a new trial, and that the real killer or killers will eventually be caught. Perhaps the final DNA results will yield the true answer to which persons decided to tie up three children, beat them to death, and leave them in a drainage ditch to die.
For Terry Hobbs, being linked to a crime scene where your step-son was found murdered, and being suspected of murder by your own ex-wife can't be a position he'd like to be in. Did a loving stepfather really plan and execute the murder of three 8 year old boys? Is the same man who shot his own brother in the abdomen, disabling him for life, guilty of capital murder?
Could it be that Terry Hobbs failed to tell his wife about her son's disappearance for five hours because he had a sinister reason to do so? For all parties involved, let's hope the final DNA test results will once and for all unmask the perpetrators of the murders and lay to rest the most famous case in Arkansas history.
Let's hope so.
It is DNA evidence that four men are looking at, though not all of them in the same light. For Jason Baldwin, favorable results would mean that he will not spend the rest of his life in prison. For Jessie Misskelley, DNA testing could not only allow him to go free, but provide evidence that maybe the West Memphis Police Department really did coerce a mentally retarded teenager into a false confession of a crime he did not commit. And Damien Echols may never have to take the ride from Cell Block Four of Varner Supermax over to Cummins Unit for a date with death via lethal injection.
But for Terry Hobbs, the final results produced by DNA testing may point to something darker. If these final results mimick the findings of the preliminary evidence, a man who has spent fourteen years condemning three teenagers for the murder of his step-son and two other children may not only lead to perhaps his own wrongful imprisonment as many have proclaimed is the case with the 'West Memphis Three', but a decade and a half of secrets could come spilling out and bring this tragedy to an end.
According the preliminary results of over two years of DNA testing, no evidence has been found that links Echols, Baldwin, or Misskelley to the crime scene or the victims. This finding is all the more spectacular because not only have the results been acknowledged by the prosecution, it seemingly flies in the face of the myth that hair and fiber matches had been made linking the fabled 'West Memphis Three' to the murders, a theory that many feel largely helped Jason Baldwin into a life sentence and Damien Echols onto Death Row.
Secondary transfer occurs when a fiber or hair is physically transferred from one person to another. It should be noted that the hair and fibers that the prosecution suggests came about through secondary transfer in this case are inconclusive. There was one shirt fiber that “may be similar” to an article of clothing found in the home of a defendant. However, it has also been shown that this fiber is similar to materials found in the home of one of the victims as well. There has been a hair found that “could belong to” Damien Echols, but has not been matched. It has not been proven that either the hair or the fiber belongs to any of the WM3, and actual DNA testing refutes this suggestion, rather than solidifies it.
As far as facts are concerned, there is no physical evidence that Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, or Jessie Misskelley had ever been near Robin Hood Hills, had ever met or been near any of the victims, or committed any sort of crime. There was no murder weapon recovered, no witnesses who can place Echols, Baldwin, or Misskelley at the scene of the crime, and no DNA evidence. So if the DNA evidence doesn’t point to these three, then who does it point to?
Well that's another story entirely. According to the DNA status report filed by the defense and acknowledged by the prosecution, DNA evidence has arisen that can not be linked to either the defendants or the victims. As of this time, there is no identity match for the DNA, except for one surprising piece of evidence that managed to turn up. A strand of hair belonging to Stevie Branch's step-father Terry Hobbs was found intertwined with a knot in one of the shoelaces used to tie up one of the victims. This is no longer a case of similarity or possibility. Terry Hobbs has been genetically matched to the scene of the crime through DNA testing.
Terry Hobbs says that the children played at his home often and perhaps a hair ended up in the shoelace through secondary transfer. In all likelihood this is a possibility. But what isn't said is that a shoelace bouncing around in Robin Hood Hills, being removed from a shoe, being knotted and tied to bind an 8 year old boy, being immersed in water, and lying around for over a decade – The hair was still with the shoelace. Still intertwined in a knot in the shoelace after all this time. That's either enough to arouse suspicion, or a very durable and strong piece of hair.
This evidence does not make Terry Hobbs a killer anymore than it does the three who have been convicted of the murders. However, there is a chance that if Terry Hobbs were tried in court on this evidence and prosecuted in the same fashion as the West Memphis Three, it would most likely be Terry Hobbs holding a cell in Varner Supermax, not Damien Echols.
These are very significant results in the DNA testing. No match for Damien Echols, no match for Jason Baldwin, no match for Jessie Misskelley. There is a match for Terry Hobbs and persons unknown. While this single strand of hair may not be the stuff that solid cases are made of, the Arkansas Judicial System finds it more than enough to indict, convict, and sentence people to life in prison and the death penalty.
In addition to a scientific match between Terry Hobbs and the crime scene, there is also strange occurrences regarding his wife Pam. After 17 years of marriage, Pam and Terry divorced for one reason or another. While Pam was going through various belongings, she happened upon a knife that her son Stevie Branch always carried on his person. According to Pam, Stevie always, always had this knife with him, and it would seem strange that the knife was not with Stevie but in Terry Hobbs’ possession. It is possible that the knife could have been discovered at the scene and given to Terry Hobbs. Except that Pam knew nothing about it.
If that is the case, this would be the second instance in which Terry Hobbs failed to inform his wife about her son, the first being when Stevie Branch originally went missing and Hobbs delayed telling his wife for 5 hours. Pam has openly stated that she is somewhat suspicious of her ex-husband, and is praying that the three men convicted are either guilty, or given a new trial.
The West Memphis Police Department decided to investigate Terry Hobbs. They have conducted interviews with Hobbs and are now looking for any other evidence that may point him out as the killer. Between the DNA results and his ex-wife’s growing suspicion, trouble certainly seems to be brewing for Terry Hobbs. Many supporters see this as justice coming far too late. To quote one of them, "After all, didn’t the ‘West Memphis Three’ get convicted on less evidence that that?"
For those who believe the WM3 are indeed guilty, this is just a defense tactic to try and get these men a new trial. For supporters of the case, this is a cause for hope that Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley will be given a new trial, and that the real killer or killers will eventually be caught. Perhaps the final DNA results will yield the true answer to which persons decided to tie up three children, beat them to death, and leave them in a drainage ditch to die.
For Terry Hobbs, being linked to a crime scene where your step-son was found murdered, and being suspected of murder by your own ex-wife can't be a position he'd like to be in. Did a loving stepfather really plan and execute the murder of three 8 year old boys? Is the same man who shot his own brother in the abdomen, disabling him for life, guilty of capital murder?
Could it be that Terry Hobbs failed to tell his wife about her son's disappearance for five hours because he had a sinister reason to do so? For all parties involved, let's hope the final DNA test results will once and for all unmask the perpetrators of the murders and lay to rest the most famous case in Arkansas history.
Let's hope so.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
That's beyond belief.
It's a travesty.
I agree that it may not give Damien, Jessie and Jason the lost years back, but at least it will give them some description of a future and even more hope until that day comes.
The stupidity and stubborn bloody-minded blindness in this case never fails to astound me... Nor does the support they have. This is great news for both them and their supporters.
Here's hoping something really does come of it... and soon.
... and I still think Drive-By Truckers are better.
What a fucked up situation.....
You think this kind of thing only happens in the south? Honestly? Based upon what? Cartoonish ideas that the south is full of barefoot, inbred morons who live in 1950? Being from Tennessee, I've never understood that kind of idiotic label placed upon the south when this country, and trust me I've travelled this sucker, is peppered with folks who fit the southern stereotype from Idaho to Maine to Washington to Arizona. And for the record, it would take a 3 second google search to see that corruption of this kind is pretty widespread. The "good ol' boy" system doesn't just thrive in Tennessee, my friend.
A young woman was murdered and the cops focused on the teenage kid who lived near by and liked violent comics. No physical evidence! Plus they ignored evidence pointing to someone else. I guess it's easy to railroad a teenager :(
He was finally released last year and just recently received a $4 million settlement. Which doesn't seem like enough compared to what was taken from him.
http://www.denverpost.com/mediacentervideo/ci_6369280
I apologize, that was ignorant of me to say. I've been to Tennessee and I loved it. You're 100% right, please except my apology, offending anybody was not my intention.
i've searched and searched their website, but can't find this article on their website. can you provide a direct link please? thanks.
a beacon on dry land
eyes above the horizon
in the dark before the dawn..."
"i am a donut"
I may be wrong here.....
But this news is 3 years old???
The hair in the shoelace??? That goes back to 2007....right?????
If you want some recent news go read how the Judge just denied Jason Baldwin a retrial......That happened 3-4 weeks ago....
Go read how Jasons lawyers were blaming turtles for the bite marks on the kids....
Yeah thats right.....Jason Baldwins lawyers are now blaming turtles.......
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
Here is some more recent info for you West Memphis 3 supporters......
http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/lo ... 4JXcA.cspx
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
Hasnt a judge already reviewed the DNA findings....
And DENIED a retrial for all 3 of the convicted murderers?????
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
Because I am pretty sure the article is 1-3 years old..........
Again, all 3 convicted murderers have been denied a retrial........
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
Hobbs' story is beyond weird. His backstory, the sneaking into his female neighbors house to watch her shower, the fact he lied flat out for years saying he never was with his stepson or the other 2 boys on the day of the murders, and he is a wife beater and when his own brother tried to stop hobbs from hurting his wife, he shot his own brother. He has had problems with drugs. And his own wife, or rather ex wife has changed her own mind reguarding the murders, once firmly in the "wm3 are guilty" camp, now pam Hobbs regularly posts on the WM3 message board and has provided details about terry and his behavior, that dont look to favorable for him.
makes a hell of a lot more sense than the idea that 3 teens, presumably inexperienced first time killers, somehow, murdered 3 little boys, and despite their inexperience they left no dna whatsoever behind. These teens were never seen by friends with the 3 boys. as any teen would be expected to, the wm3 never bragged to friends about killing the little boys. that in my mind is almost unbelieveable, if you have any knowledge of crime history or crimes in general. Beyond that, if we are gonna deal with this case, lets deal in facts. those facts show the introduction of the fact that the WM3 listened to heavy metal, wore black shirts, supposedly were satanists, and read Stephen King. To deny these things basically made it so the wm3 would never get a fair trial, is to deny the truth. lets try this case on facts, not rumors or whispers of satanism. long hair, metal, stephen king, black shirts and even satanism itself mean nothing, many people, many on this board fit the profile i just laid out, yet, the majority arent killers. if you are gonna say they are guilty, wheres the evidence. wheres the dna? how did 3 teens pull off this crime and not get one speck of blood on their clothes? How did they kill the boys and not have their own dna found at the scene, in the woods, on the clothes of the boys etc..,
its much easier to swallow the idea that 3 teens who look, and dress like the wm3 killed the boys, after all they are satanists, than it is to believe that a stepfather of the boys flew off the handle, murdered all 3 and has walked free for 15 years.
Yeah an Arkansas Judge, it's now going to the Supreme Court. They were convicted on pure suspicion, no facts, no DNA, no weapon, and no motive other than they listened to heavy metal and wore black, so they must be evil. Have you ever seen a picture of Terry Hobbs? The fucking guy looks like a psycho. And now even his wife is changing her story, and providing evidence against Hobbs like the fact she found her sons knife packed away in his stuff. This guy REEKS of guilt, and I can't understand why this is taking so fucking long? I can't help but think there is no justice in Arkansas, despite an obvious need for a re-trial and the admittance of the new evidence. And Baldwins lawyer's aren't blaming the murders on turtles, just the marks found on the bodies.
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/35197
The original article was written in 2007, but has recently been updated to include new information.
Again, all 3 FALSELY CONVICTED murderers have been denied a retrial............from a corrupt backwoods redneck hillbilly judge. There that's much better.
The same also goes for those that condemn these 3.
I remember at the Lollapalooza with Audioslave & Queens of the Stone Age I met Tom Morello. I asked him to sign my poster and write "Free the West Memphis 3". He politely declined and said "The jury is still out on that one". So I thought to myself that if Tom Morello who is a brilliant man is unsure I shouldn't be so certain. Now this was 7-8 years ago so his opinion may have changed.
Again, all 3 FALSELY CONVICTED murderers have been denied a retrial............from a corrupt backwoods redneck hillbilly judge. There that's much better.[/quote]
IF they ever admit to it and they are the true killers, I will say I was wrong. But I don't take these things lightly or throw my support blindly behind the WM3 because PJ and Jack Black and the Dixie Chicks do, I do it because I have heard both sides of the story and I BELIEVE they are innocent. If I am wrong, it wouldn't be the first time or last. And I will admit it.
IF they ever admit to it and they are the true killers, I will say I was wrong. But I don't take these things lightly or throw my support blindly behind the WM3 because PJ and Jack Black and the Dixie Chicks do, I do it because I have heard both sides of the story and I BELIEVE they are innocent. If I am wrong, it wouldn't be the first time or last. And I will admit it.[/quote]I have done some research myself....
I have read Damien Echols hospital records, I have read all about his stay in a mental hospital, I have read all about his threatening to kill and eat his father, I have read all about him threatening to kill a police officer.
One thing is for certain....
Damien Echols is a piece of garbage......
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
I'll admit that the only reason I know anything about this case is because I saw Ed wearing his "Free the WM3" shirt. However, as left the porch said, I didn't throw my support behind them based on that. But I have studied this case a LOT. Actually, I would say that for a couple of months last year, I OBSESSESED over it. I watched the movies, read Mara Leveritt's book "Devil's Knot", studied all the documents that are available online, court transcripts, police records of interviews and polygraph tests. You can even listen to Jessie's alleged "confession", at least the part that the police decided to record. I did all this objectively, as I really, honestly wanted to know the truth. I wasn't just looking for reasons to justify supporting the West Memphis Three. And after all my research, i have to say that I am convinced of their innocence.
Not only is there no evidence to support their conviction, but there are a tons of things that either point to other people, other events that are not linked to the WM3 at all, and also evidence of police incompetence or deliberate obfuscation. What about Mr. Bojangles? A mysterious african american man with blood all over him came stumbling into the Bojangles restaraunt, 100 yards from where the boys were murdered, on the same night. The police were called, they took blood samples, but then the detective admitted on the witness stand that those samples were "lost." Really? Possibly the best evidence you had for the whole case and you lost it?
It has also been well documented that since the trial, a large number of people at the West Memphis police dept, including the ones that worked on this case, have been busted for corruption charges relating to drugs. There's just too much that doesn't add up.
Wow. Pretty harsh Speedy. You have read all these things about Damien, all of his dirty laundry, BECAUSE of the position he is in. His life has been a very troubled one indeed but that dosen't make him a "piece of garbage." Like I said the only reason you know all of these things about him is because he was falsely accused. I'm sure that the same reasons you don't like him are also the reason the police had such an easy time locking him and his friends up and throwing away the key. It's called prejudice, and you're guilty of it too. Do you know his father? Do you know what their relationship was like? Do you think that anyone who has to stay in a mental hospital should be ridiculed for it? Do you know the cop who he wanted to kill? He was a kid when this all happened, do you not think people can change? Have you never said something you regret? I wonder if your life is so pure and clean and that you have the right to judge anybody without having walked in their shoes? Do you think so Mr. High and Mighty? You are entitled to your opinion, I just wonder if you would welcome the same if you were in his shoes and your whole life was disclosed for the world to see?
One thing is for certain.......none of what you mentioned links him to the murders of those boys. I guess I should've clarified that was what I meant by falsely accused of murder, not of having some character flaws. My apologies.
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
You sir, have made your point. You may want to get some help for those anger issues. You wouldn't want anyone judging you based on your harsh comments about somebody you don't like.
That's a little bit rich coming from your good self isn't it?!