LITTLE ROCK — The judge who has presided over numerous hearings for three men convicted in 1994 of the slayings of three West Memphis 8-yearold boys will carry the case into the new year.
Special Circuit Court Judge David Burnett will decide sometime in mid-January if Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin deserve new trials, he said. He had planned to make his decision before the end of December, but delays in attorneys obtaining transcripts of court documents dealt a setback.
Burnett has now given prosecutors and defense attorneys until Jan. 15 to present written arguments after a series of lengthy hearings that began in 2007 to determine if the two convicted men should be tried again.
“I should make a decision within a couple of days [after receiving the arguments],” Burnett said. “I hope to make it within 48 hours. I’m tired of this case.”
The delay extends the court case into a 16th year after Misskelley and Baldwin were convicted in 1994 along with Damien Echols in the May 5, 1993, slayings of Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore, all West Memphis second graders.
Misskelley was sentenced to life in prison plus 40 years; Baldwin received a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Echols was sentenced to die by lethal injection.
The three slain boys were found bound and submerged in a water-filled ditch near Interstate 40. They had been beaten and stabbed, prosecutors said.
Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley were arrested in June 1993. Misskelley confessed to the killings but later recanted. Defense attorneys have said Misskelley is mentally disabled and didn’t understand what he was saying when police asked him about the three boys’ deaths.
Burnett, who retired as a judge in December 2007, presided in each of the men’s trials.
He was appointed a special judge for this case in January 2008 after Brent Davis, a former prosecutor who tried the three men, won a seat on the Second Judicial District Circuit bench.
“I had hoped my part would have been done the first of this year,” Burnett said. “I’ve tried and tried to move it along. But with all the San Francisco lawyers, we needed to work around their schedule.”
Three attorneys from San Francisco - John Philipsborn, Michael Burt and Dennis Riordan - are representing the three convicted men.
“Initially, we thought this would be done by Dec. 1,” said Prosecuting Attorney Mike Walden of Jonesboro. “The delay is all the parties’ doing. We needed more time.”
Defense attorneys argued that Misskelley and Baldwin deserve new trials because their previous attorneys failed to do a proper job in defending the two.
During testimony this past year, the attorneys claimed animals, not the defendants, caused injuries to the three boys. They also claimed new DNA evidence exonerated their clients.
Burnett denied Echols’ request for a new trial based on inadequate counsel in 2003.
The case has drawn national attention, along with the following of several entertainers, including Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and actress Winona Ryder.
“I don’t know if my decision will end the case,” Burnett said. “It may go on forever.”
Burnett of Osceola said the attention he’s received for presiding over the case has not been favorable and could hurt him later this year if he runs for a state Senate seat. He has not formally announced his candidacy but has indicated he wants to seek the office.
“Some think I’m an ogre,” Burnett said. “Some say I’ve done everything against those three. I didn’t convict them. [Two] juries did.”
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 12/29/2009