Editing West Memphis Three (section)

==Trials==
Misskelley was tried separately, and Echols and Baldwin were tried together in 1994. Under the "[[Bruton v. United States|''Bruton'' rule]]", Misskelley's confession could not be admitted against his co-defendants; thus he was tried separately. All three defendants pleaded not guilty.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers|title=Teens Plead Innocent In Boys' Deaths|newspaper=[[Times Daily]]|date=August 4, 1993|access-date=December 4, 2010}}</ref>

===Misskelley's trial===
During Misskelley's trial, [[Richard Ofshe]], an expert on [[false confessions]] and police coercion, and Professor of Sociology at [[University of California, Berkeley|UC Berkeley]], testified that the brief recording of Misskelley's interrogation was a "classic example" of police [[coercion]].<ref name="courttv">{{cite web|url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/memphis/index_1.html|title=The West Memphis Three|first=Fiona|last=Steel|publisher=[[Turner Broadcasting System]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140314174108/http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/memphis/index_1.html|archive-date=March 14, 2014}}</ref> Critics have also stated that Misskelley's various "confessions" were in many respects inconsistent with each other, as well as with the particulars of the crime scene and murder victims, including (for example) an "admission" that Misskelley watched Damien rape one of the boys.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/magazine/a-death-row-love-story.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/magazine/a-death-row-love-story.html |archive-date=January 1, 2022 |url-access=limited |title=A Death-Row Love Story |first=Geoffrey |last=Gray |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 13, 2011 |access-date=March 10, 2018 |quote=Then a teenager, Jessie Misskelley Jr., told the police that he saw his friend, Jason Baldwin, and another teenager, Damien Echols, go into the woods with the boys and rape them. Misskelley later recanted }}{{cbignore}}</ref> Police had initially suspected that the victims had been raped because their anuses were dilated. However, there was no forensic evidence indicating that the murdered boys had been raped. Dilation of the anus is a normal post-mortem condition.<ref name="Leveritt03"/>

On February 5, 1994, Misskelley was convicted by a jury of one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder.<ref>"Arkansas Teen Found Guilty On Three Counts Of Murder," ''Gainesville Sun'', February 5, 1994</ref> The court sentenced him to life plus 40 years in prison.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Youth Is Convicted In Slaying of 3 Boys In an Arkansas City|work=The New York Times|date=February 5, 1994|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980CE5DA1E39F936A35751C0A962958260&scp=11&sq=west+memphis+3+murder+case&st=nyt}}</ref> His conviction was appealed, but the [[Arkansas Supreme Court]] affirmed the conviction.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.davidjauss.com/miscellaneous_essays_and_interviews_51285.htm|title=Miscellaneous Essays and Interviews – David Jauss|website=www.davidjauss.com|access-date=January 30, 2017}}</ref>

===Echols' and Baldwin's trial===
Three weeks later, Echols and Baldwin went on trial. The prosecution accused the three young men of committing a Satanic murder. The prosecution called Dale W. Griffis, a graduate of the unaccredited [[Columbia Pacific University]], as an expert in the [[occult]] to testify the murders were a Satanic ritual.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/1994/mar/09/witnesses-call-boys-deaths-work-group-trappings-oc/?print=1|title=Witnesses call boys deaths work of group with trappings of the occult|newspaper=[[The Commercial Appeal]]|date=March 9, 1994|access-date=February 23, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018000152/http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/1994/mar/09/witnesses-call-boys-deaths-work-group-trappings-oc/?print=1|archive-date=October 18, 2012|first=Bartholomew|last=Sullivan}}</ref> On March 19, 1994, Echols and Baldwin were found guilty on three counts of murder.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wuYyAAAAIBAJ&pg=5353,3505240&dq=baldwin+echols+and+misskelley&hl=en|title=Teens Found Guilty In Boys' Slayings|work=[[Free Lance-Star]]|date=March 19, 1994|access-date =December 4, 2010}}</ref> The court sentenced Echols to death and Baldwin to life in prison.<ref name="CB"/>

At trial, the defense team argued that news articles from the time could have been the source for Echols' knowledge about the genital mutilation, and Echols said his knowledge was limited to what was "on TV".

The prosecution claimed that Echols' knowledge was nonetheless too close to the facts, since there was no public reporting of drowning or that one victim had been mutilated more than the others. Echols testified that Detective Ridge's description of their earlier conversation (which was not recorded) regarding those particular details was inaccurate (and indeed that some other claims by Ridge were "lies"). [[Mara Leveritt]], an investigative journalist and the author of ''[[Devil's Knot]]'', argues that Echols' information may have come from police leaks, such as Detective Gitchell's comments to Mark Byers, that circulated amongst the local public.<ref name="Leveritt03"/><ref name = "courttv"/> The defense team objected when the prosecution attempted to question Echols about his past violent behaviors, but the defense objections were overruled.<ref>{{cite book|title=Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three|last=Leveritt|first=Mara|year=2003|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=0-7434-1760-7|page=245}}</ref>