Article author:
Associated Press
West Memphis, Associated Press — A Judge in Arkansas rejected a request on Thursday to allow new genetic testing of evidence of crime scenes from killing three boys nearly 30 years ago. did.
Crittenden County Patrol Judge Tonya Alexander seeks access to evidence from a 1993 crime scene where three eight-year-old boys were brutally killed in a drain near West Memphis. The allegations were denied, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported. Additional testing was sought by Damian Ecoles, one of the three men convicted of the murder.
Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jesse Misskelley were convicted in 1994, but pleaded guilty while remaining innocent in exchange for an 18-year sentence. Released in 2011 under a rarely used judicial transaction that permits. And credit for the time provided.
Echols' lawyer said he would appeal the judge's decision.
Alexander quoted an Arkansas law requiring people seeking new DNA tests to be still in prison, the newspaper reported.
There was no DNA evidence linking the three men to the killings of Christopher Byers, Steve Branch, and Michael Moore. A male lawyer said more sophisticated genetic testing equipment could detect fragments of DNA that could not be detected when the evidence was first examined. The evidence sought for the retest included the clothing and laces used to tie the boy.
