According to Lisa Fancher of WM3.org., and Holly Ballard of Arkansas Take Action, both of whom are  monitoring the hearings, the pathologists testified that  the wounds on the bodies (except for the blows to the head which contributed to their deaths) were caused by animals, not knives. That the state pathologist’s autopsy was not competent and that his opinions and testimony at the original trial were incorrect, and the case the state presented was false, as no knives were used to create the injuries on the bodies. They are not the cause of death. Blunt force trauma and drowning caused their deaths and animals damaged their bodies.

This is very powerful testimony that in itself should be enough for any unbiased judge to grant a new trial for Jason and Jessie.  Generally, the standard for a new trial consists of whether new evidence presented at the time of trial would have resulted in a different decision by the jury. If the standard for granting a new trial in this hearing is that their original trial attorneys failed to utilize expert pathologists and therefore the jury was not exposed to crucial testimony that the cause of death and the wounds found on these youngsters was wholly inconsistent with the prosecution’s case, then Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley should have their convictions overturned and be granted a new trial.  The Arkansas Supreme Court should then follow suit and grant Damien Echols a new trial.

Lonnie Soury

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at 9:38 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.