EXHIBIT A-IOI - West Memphis Three Case - Document Archive

Case 4:09-cv-00008-BSM Document 30-5 Filed 07/17/2009 Page 120 of 297
SECTION: Part A; Page 4; Column 3; National Desk
LENGTH: 337 words
Copyright 1994 The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times
All Rights Reserved
Los Angeles Times
March 20,1994, Sunday, Home Edition
HEADLINE: 19-YEAR-OLD MURDERER OF 3 BOYS SENTENCED TO DEATH;
COURTS: A l6-YEAR-OLD ACCOMPLICE IS GIVEN A LIFE TERM IN ARKANSAS. THE BATTERED
VICTIMS WERE ALL SECOND-GRADERS.
BYLINE: By from Associated Press
DATELINE: JONESBORO, Ark.
BODY:
A teen-ager was sentenced to death Saturday for the murder ofthree 8-year-old boys whose bodies were found naked,
battered and hogtied. An accomplice was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Damien Echols, 19, and Charles Jason Baldwin, 16, each were convicted Friday ofthree counts ofcapital murder.
The same jury that convicted them recommended death by injection for Echols and life in prison without parole for
Baldwin.
The victims, second-graders Steve Branch, Chris Byers and Michael Moore, disappeared May 5 while riding bicycles
through their West Memphis, Ark., neighborhood. Their bodies were pulled from a drainage ditch the next day.
When Circuit Judge David Burnett asked Baldwin ifthere was any reason he should not impose the sentence,
Baldwin said: "Because I'm innocent."
When asked the same question, Echols replied: "No, sir."
A witness said two ofthe 8-year-olds were raped and one was castrated. Prosecutors presented evidence suggesting
that Echols was a devil worshiper and Baldwin was his loyal follower.
Burnett set Echols' execution for May 5, exactly a year after the boys were killed. However, an appeal is automatic
and the execution date was set as a matter ofrecord only.
The jury heard about 2 1/2 hours oftestimony from defense witnesses for Echols before beginning deliberations on
the sentences. No one testified for Baldwin.
Echols' father, Joe Hutchison, said he blamed himselffor his son's problems. "I've had regrets for eight years. I didn't
do what I should have done."
The prosecution pointed out that in interviews with a psychologist, Echols referred to himselfas another Ted Bundy
or Charles Manson and said "people will remember me."
Echols and Baldwin were arrested on June 3 after a friend, Jessie Lloyd Misskelley Jr., made incriminating statements
to police. Misskelley, 18, was convicted in a separate trial ofone count offirst-degree murder and two counts of
second-degree murder. He is serving a prison sentence oflife plus 40 years.
LOAD-DATE: March 21,1994