The West Memphis Three, 30 years later: A Q&A with Mara Leveritt (2024)

DEVILS (NOT): Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin, collectively known as The West Memphis Three.

When the bodies of 8-year-olds Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Steven Branch were discovered in a muddy creek behind the Robin Hood Hills neighborhood of West Memphis in May 1993, “satanic panic” was in full swing in the U.S. and Arkansas. Overzealous parents were constantly on the lookout for movies, books and (especially) music that might push unsuspecting kids into the arms of the devil.

While fear of the occult doesn’t vindicate West Memphis officials, it helps make sense of why police quickly targeted Damien Echols — an 18-year-old high school dropout who listened to heavy metal music — as a suspect.

Combine the simmering public panic with the so-called confession of suspect Jessie Misskelley, a 16-year-old with an IQ of 72, implicating Echols and 17-year-old Jason Baldwin, and police and prosecutors had everything they needed to get convictions of all three. Misskelley was tried separately and sentenced to life without parole in February 1994. The following month, Baldwin and Echols were tried together and convicted, with Baldwin sentenced to life and Echols sentenced to death.

Criticism of the entire investigation and prosecution surfaced almost immediately. One of the first people to dive into the background of the West Memphis Three story was the Arkansas Times’ Mara Leveritt. What started with an investigation into the 12-hour interrogation of Misskelley, a minor without his parents in attendance, in which officers fed him facts about the murders to obtain a confession and which he recanted later — turned into dozens and dozens of articles about the case, as well as a book, “Devil’s Knot,” which is required reading for anyone interested in the West Memphis Three.

Leveritt spoke to the Times via email recently about the case and her role in covering it.

What can you tell me about the first story you wrote for the Times about the West Memphis Three? What was it about this case that warranted further examination?

One of my first pieces on the case was a column written in October 1994, months after the trials. I could not understand what had persuaded the juries, so I’d FOI’d the police files and went to West Memphis to see them. That’s when I saw the transcript of the portion of Jessie Misskelley’s confession that was recorded. I wrote that it was the scariest story I could relate that Halloween. That began my decades of reporting on a case that’s still unresolved — and still scary.

This was such a polarizing case, with many people truly convinced that Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley were murderers. What kind of pushback did you get through the years from people who were (or still are) sure that the WM3 were guilty?

As attention to the case spread, local authorities dismissed it as concern being hyped by people on the east and west coasts who didn’t know the facts. I maintained that I was an Arkansan who knew them pretty well. Support for the verdicts intensified the closer one got to West Memphis. Once, when I’d been invited to speak at a bookstore in Jonesboro, the staff told me that announcements of my appearance were torn down as fast as they were posted. Other than that, I’ve received a fair bit of anonymous email advising me I was heading to hell.

Even with all the attention through the years, so much of this case happened in the nascency of internet news that many of the specifics seem to have been lost to the broader narrative. Is there something you wish more people knew about the WM3?

I wish more people understood how hard and how long the state has resisted pleas for reason. To cite three examples: The Arkansas Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the convictions in the Echols-Baldwin trial — one of them to death — weighing arguments about “the occult” over the lack of physical evidence. Later, when testing of the ligatures produced DNA from the stepfather of one of the victims but none from the convicted men, a new prosecutor said he would pursue leads in the case, but that was not done. And last year, when Echols asked to have the ligatures tested again with newer, more powerful technology, the state refused. Echols’ recent appeal on that is now before the state Supreme Court.

Is there some larger takeaway from the WM3 story about the impact that journalists — especially local journalists — can have?

I give the greatest credit for reporting in this case to Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, the two documentary filmmakers who recorded the trials for HBO. Thanks to their diligence, people around the world witnessed the sleaziness that occurred and were shocked. Unfortunately, I don’t think courtroom misconduct is rare. Our trials are public, but the days of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” when most of a town could pack the courtroom, are gone. Instead, we have technology that could see every trial recorded, just as transactions at banks and gas stations are. I wish reporters and all the public would demand we use it.

The West Memphis Three and the state of Arkansas reached an agreement in 2011, with Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley pleading guilty while maintaining their innocence in exchange for getting out of prison. What is your opinion on this “Alford plea”?

Alford pleas allow a defendant to say, “I did not commit the crime yet I plead guilty to the crime.” I think that undercuts the idea that courts are trying to arrive at the truth. You’re saying you’re innocent at the same time you’re saying you’re guilty? Which is it? I think that, as in this case, the Alford plea denied justice to the victims’ families (as well as to everyone in Arkansas) by bringing a false closure to the case, thereby foreclosing further investigation. I recognize that, after the men’s convictions, when the new physical evidence was found that implicated others but not them, both the state and two of the three men in prison were anxious to settle on an Alford plea, particularly as it let both sides avoid the risk of a new trial. Additionally, the state would be let off the hook for damages, in case the men were found innocent, and the men would be quickly released from prison.

While I understand these motives, I abhor the pressure that was put on Jason Baldwin, who did not want to accept the plea. He had told the truth throughout and did not want to sign onto the untruthful plea. But state prosecutors stipulated that their offer was for “all or none.” While Jason was willing to wait in prison while a new trial played out, he was placed in the position of forcing that misery on Damien and Jessie, too, as well as putting Damien at possible risk of another sentence to death. I have likened the situation to offering a person a “choice” while holding a gun to someone else’s head. The men were charged and convicted individually. They should not have been offered the plea as a group.

Baldwin is pretty outspoken about his experiences and struggles, and Echols remains the celebrity of the three, but I haven’t heard much about Misskelley. Have you had any contact with them recently?

I keep in relatively close touch with Jason, who, by the way, regrets his decision on that plea. I have been happy to see that Damien is doing well. I think Jessie wanted a life outside the spotlight and I’m glad it seems he’s had that.

***

The West Memphis Three were sentenced to time served (18 years, 78 days), given a suspended 10-year sentence and released from custody on Aug. 19, 2011.

Damien Echols now resides in New York City. Jason Baldwin moved first to Seattle, then to Texas, where he continues to live. Jessie Misskelley remains in Arkansas.

Times contributing editor Mara Leveritt now calls the Pacific Northwest home, and we miss her quite a bit.