The Commercial Appeal

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Murder suspect seeks own trial

By Bartholomew Sullivan
Wednesday, July 14, 1993

Defense lawyers for one of three suspects in a West Memphis triple-slaying have asked a judge to grant their client a separate trial.

Lawyers for Charles Jason Baldwin, 16, want murder charges against him heard in a trial other than the one in which co-defendants Michael Wayne Echols and Jessie Lloyd Misskelley Jr., both 18, would be tried.

Prosecutor John Fogleman declined comment.

Baldwin's lawyers, Paul N. Ford and George Robin Wadley Jr. of Jonesboro, argue in a legal brief that Misskelley's statements to the police constitute ''inadmissible hearsay."

Misskelley told police he helped drag one of the three 8-year-old victims into the woods and watched as Echols and Baldwin brutalized them. Misskelley told police he did not participate in sodomizing or murdering the second- graders.

The bodies of Michael Moore, Christopher Byers and Steve Branch were found in a woods behind their homes in May.

According to Baldwin's legal brief, state prosecutors must inform the court of whether they plan to use Misskelley's statement in court. Arkansas's court rules require that, if the prosecution plans to use a statement of a co- defendant, it must be admitted into evidence in a joint trial or the state must agree to delete prejudicial references to their client.

No date for a hearing on the motion has been scheduled.

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Venue change sought

By Bartholomew Sullivan
Tuesday, July 27, 1993

Defense lawyers representing West Memphis child murder suspect Jessie Lloyd Misskelley are seeking to have the case tried outside Crittenden County, according to motions filed Monday.

Court-appointed attorneys Daniel Stidham and Greg Crow of Paragould made the motion for a change of venue claiming their client cannot get a fair trial

because of the publicity the case has generated.

With a change of venue, a jury would be selected from a county other than Crittenden County where the case has been the subject of almost daily news coverage since the bodies of 8-year-olds Christoper Byers, Steve Branch and Michael Moore were found in early May.

The case is being heard by Circuit Court Judge David Burnett of Osceola, who will consider the first motions in the case next week at the Crittenden County Courthouse in Marion.

Prosecutor John Fogleman was out of town and could not be reached for comment on the defense motion. It was unclear whether the venue request would be heard with other motions that were rescheduled on Monday until Aug. 4.

Misskelley, 18, Michael Wayne Echols, 18, and Charles Jason Baldwin, 16, were charged June 4 with the murders of the 8-year-olds, who were found with their hands and feet tied in a woods behind their homes.

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Slain West Memphis boy's father to confront witches

Bartholomew Sullivan and Kenneth Heard
Friday, July 30, 1993

The Jonesboro Police Department plans to call in more than 60 officers to provide security for a self-proclaimed witch's freedom of religion march on Sunday, interim Police Chief Jack McCann said Thursday.

Terry Riley, a wiccan high priest and owner of the only occult bookstore in Jonesboro, plans to stage his march at 9 a.m. Sunday, past a row of churches on Main Street and on to the Craighead County Courthouse.

The march plans prompted Steve Branch, the father of one of the three West Memphis 8-year-olds killed in May, to say he will come to Jonesboro to show a Christian perspective on the event. He'll wait for the marchers on the courthouse steps.

One of the slaying suspects arrested last month told police he was a member of a cult that killed and ate dogs. Another is said to have told friends he worshiped the devil.

"I'm telling everybody, if they believe in God and Christianity - even if they don't go to church - to be out there," Branch, 33, said by phone from his home in Earle Thursday night. Jonesboro is about 65 miles from Memphis.

"To me, there's no such thing as a 'good witch,' " he said.

Marie Hicks of Blytheville, the grandmother of one of the slain children, said she will not attend the witch protest.

If she were tempted to go, she said, "I'd take a bunch of grenades with me."

Riley said he will hold the march despite Branch's urging for other protesters to attend. "I feel for the man," Riley said. "I can only imagine the pain he is going through. He is in our prayers."

McCann said, "Emotions are going to be real high. If it were just the witches, this would probably be no big deal. But because the parents will be there, we foresee the possibility for problems."

"We are preparing for the worst," he said.

Riley wants to protest what he considers persecution he's experienced since he opened his Magick Moon store last month.

Riley said he has commitments from 200 marchers, but expects more.

Riley has been complaining about a decision by his landlord, who ordered him out of the Frisco Street building he rents by Aug. 10. The landlord has said Riley misled him about the nature of his business and has terminated the lease.

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