AR Supreme Court: Burnett Must Turn Over New Evidence

The Arkansas Supreme Court has ordered Judge Burnett to turn over new evidence in the case of the West Memphis Three (Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley & Jason Baldwin), which would require “the lower court to include a sworn affidavit by a prominent Arkansas attorney that alleges extraordinary juror misconduct in Damien Echols’s original trial.”

Known as Baldwin exhibit 76, because it is concurrently under consideration in Jason Baldwin’s hearing for a new trial in Jonesboro, the sworn affidavit reveals shocking details of improper conversations that the jury foreman, Kent Arnold, conducted with the attorney while the original trial was in progress, clearly violating the law and the rights of Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin to a fair and impartial trial. In those conversations, Arnold indicates that he had prejudged Echols’s guilt and was trying to convince other jurors to convict based upon news reports of the so-called confession of Jessie Misskelley, which was barred from admission at the Echols-Baldwin trial. In essence, the jury foreman introduced Misskelley’s false confession into jury deliberations.

In addition to the juror misconduct, new evidence includes DNA and forensic findings that link others to the crime scene

Source: WM3 blog

For the latest in the appeals of the West Memphis Three, head over to WM3.org.

Related posts:

1. Hearings for West Memphis Three Postponed
2. Judge: No New Trial For Damien Echols
3. West Memphis Three update
4. Some big WM3 updates!
5. Transcript: Larry King Interviewing Damien Echols