Arkansas Supreme Court reverses West Memphis Three ruling, allows for DNA testing

The Arkansas Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday to reverse a circuit court’s ruling could lead to additional DNA testing in the 31-year-old West Memphis Three murder case. 

Damien Echols’ appeal to the state’s high court stems from his pursuit of exoneration. When three eight-year old boys were killed in 1993 in West Memphis, Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, all teens at the time, were convicted of their murders.

Echols was sentenced to death, but DNA testing later established that neither Echols, Baldwin nor Misskelley was the source of any of the biological material tested.

All three men were released from prison in 2011 after entering Alford pleas, receiving a time-served sentence plus 10 years’ suspended sentences. Echols has continued to maintain his innocence and sought exoneration.   

In January 2022, Echols filed a petition to conduct additional DNA testing under Act 1780 of 2001, which permits those convicted of a crime to access new testing developed through technological advances to demonstrate their innocence. 

The Crittenden County Circuit Court in June 2022 denied Echols’ petition, saying it could not grant habeas corpus relief because he was not in custody at the time of his petition. Habeas corpus requires a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or court. 

Echols appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court, arguing that the plain language of the law provides that a person convicted of a crime may make a motion for additional testing. 

Writing for the majority, Associate Justice Karen Baker agreed, saying that “it is clear that ‘any person…who has alleged actual innocence of the offense or offenses for which the person was convicted’ is entitled to petition for a writ of habeas corpus.”

“Therefore, we conclude that the circuit court misinterpreted the plain language of Act 1780 and, as a result, clearly erred when it dismissed Echols’s Act 1780 petition on the grounds that he was not in State custody at the time it was filed,” Baker wrote. “Accordingly, we reverse and remand.”

Special Justice Mary Carole Young joined the majority opinion, while Chief Justice Dan Kemp and Associate Justice Cody Hiland did not participate. 

Associate Justices Shawn Womack and Barbara Webb, and Special Justice Marcia Hearnsberger dissented. 

In her dissenting opinion, Webb said “the majority’s decision obliterates any sense of finality in our criminal justice system” because their interpretation of Act 1780 means anyone convicted of crime, regardless of whether they’re in state custody, could “seek DNA or other scientific testing even if it would not prove their innocence.” 

Webb argued Echols was not entitled to habeas relief because he’s not in state custody and DNA testing would not prove his innocence because his first conviction didn’t rely on DNA evidence. Webb wrote that the jury was presented with evidence that Echols knew facts that weren’t public knowledge and multiple witnesses testified that Echols confessed to the murders. 

“In reaching its decision, the majority ignores common sense and basic legal principles to embark on a fruitless endeavor to exonerate a depraved murderer,” Webb said. “Their decision only serves to reopen old wounds for the victims’ families and the West Memphis community.”

Additionally, Webb argued, Echols is not entitled to habeas relief because “his guilty plea constituted his trial, and his conviction is not subject to collateral attack.”

Regarding the 2011 Alford plea, Baker noted in the majority opinion that “unlike a traditional guilty plea, an admission of guilt is not inherent in an Alford plea.” 

“As such, we disagree with the State that Echols’s Alford plea precluded him from later challenging his conviction on the grounds of actual innocence pursuant to Act 1780,” she wrote. 

Echols said in a social media post Thursday that he hopes the court’s decision will help the case come to a resolution.

“Hopefully this will allow us to solve this case once and for all,” he said. “Thank you to everyone who has supported us for the past 31 years. I’ll keep you posted as things move forward.”