WM3 are guilty- Evidence.

[claudicici]

Jessie was Aaron's traumatized playmate.

 

[Compassionate Reader]

Confessions are evidence. Damien Echols bragged to other teens that he killed the little boys and Jessie confessed numerous times even with his attorney telling him to stop confessing.

Damien Echols did not "confess" to LE. Again, statements made to a group of people and overheard by some tween girls do not a confession make. Plus, the word "bragged" is very telling as Damien was prone to making outlandish statements just to get a reaction. Those types of statements are not real "confessions" IMO.

Again, as to Jessie, he has an IQ of 72 and is therefore highly suggestible and susceptible to police manipulation. Also, the statements he made on June 3, 1993 do not match the evidence from the scene, and the other statements he made were post conviction statements, which means that he had heard the State's theory presented at his trial. The fact that he continued to make the post conviction statement against the advice of his attorneys doesn't prove his guilt, IMO, it proves just how confused he was. He thought if he said what they wanted to hear, that they'd let him go home. That's how a five or six year old child would think, and that's how Jessie thinks.

 

[claudicici]

Aaron's and jessie's statements are comparable.They were all made with the same mindset.Each Aaron and Jessie wanted to be helpful to the prosecution by making these statements.If you believe Jessie's statement you have to see Aaron's as just as credible.I don't understand the pick and choosing.

 

[Pensfan]

Jessie was Aaron's traumatized playmate.

From the PETITIONER DAMIEN ECHOLS’S MOTION FOR A NEW TRIAL:

"Her son, Aaron, was good friends with the three murder victims."
http://www.freewestmemphis3.org/petition.html

 

[claudicici]

Aaron was also good friends with Jessie.They were all traumatized.They made Jessie listen to Aaron saying "I'm the only one that knows what happened"

 

[Pensfan]

Aaron's and jessie's statements are comparable.They were all made with the same mindset.Each Aaron and Jessie wanted to be helpful to the prosecution by making these statements.If you believe Jessie's statement you have to see Aaron's as just as credible.I don't understand the pick and choosing.

No, they were NOT made with the same mindset. One was from a grieving/traumatized person who had suffered the loss of three playmates.

From the PETITIONER DAMIEN ECHOLS’S MOTION FOR A NEW TRIAL:

"Her son, Aaron, was good friends with the three murder victims."
http://www.freewestmemphis3.org/petition.html


__________________

 

[claudicici]

Jessie just looked at a picture of one of the victims.Jessie was also traumatized.
So you will make false statements only when grief stricken? Being grief stricken is the reason for false statements? Not pressure or the urge to please?

 

[Pensfan]

Jessie just looked at a picture of one of the victims.Jessie was also traumatized.

Jessie participated in the murders and he wasn't grieving for the loss of his playmates.

So you will make false statements only when grief stricken? Being grief stricken is the reason for false statements? Not pressure or the urge to please?

The immediate and acute symptoms following the death of a loved one are usually shock, disbelief, tearfulness and a sense of unreality; combined with a spectrum of emotions such as sadness, fear, anger, helplessness and anxiety. Often, there is loss of appetite, sleep disturbances and aching pain in the pit of the stomach. Bereavement is accompanied by disturbances in thinking with decreased concentration, diminished capacity for problem solving and inability to think about consequences or plan for the future.
http://www.deep.med.miami.edu/DOCUMENTS/CSTD CH 6 (379KB).PDF

 

[claudicici]

Aaron made that peticular statement January 1994.Yes he was traumatized but that did not cause him to lie.
Where is the prove that Jessie was not traumatized by seeing a picture of a dead boy and being told people he knows did this and hearing Aarons voice that he knows what happens?

 

[Cappuccino]

Aaron made that peticular statement January 1994.Yes he was traumatized but that did not cause him to lie.
Where is the prove that Jessie was not traumatized by seeing a picture of a dead boy and being told people he knows did this and hearing Aarons voice that he knows what happens?

Aaron's tape recorded voice was misrepresented to Jessie as an accusation from the child that Jessie did it. (LE in America are allowed to lie to people during interrogations).

That's one of several reasons why I said that Aaron reminds me of the Pendle Witch Child - some of her nearest and dearest confessed too after the prosecutors had gotten their hands on her.

 

[Pensfan]

Her nearest and dearest confessed?

Gudjonsson, Sigurdsson, Bragason, Einarsson, and Valdimarsdottir (2004) assessed 1,080 university students in Iceland. They found that 10% had made a false confession to teachers or parents in the past. Interestingly, false confessions tended to occur among those who acknowledged delinquency, impulsivity, and antisocial personality characteristics. In addition, 1% reported making a false confession to the police; the most frequently cited explanation was to PROTECT somebody else from prosecution.
Gudjonsson, G. H., Sigurdsson, J. F., Bragason, O. O., Einarsson, E., & Valdimarsdottir, E. B. (2004). Compliance and personality: The vulnerability of the unstable introvert. European Journal of Personality, 18, 435-443.

 

[Cappuccino]

Her nearest and dearest confessed?

Her grandmother and her two siblings confessed. Her mother screamed at her to stop when she started giving evidence in court, and she burst into tears and refused to continue, so the judge had her mother removed from the court. After that, she calmly stood up on a table and gave damning evidence against her entire family, her neighbours, and several other people she hardly knew. They were all executed the next day, and the child was taken to watch.

Gudjonsson, Sigurdsson, Bragason, Einarsson, and Valdimarsdottir (2004) assessed 1,080 university students in Iceland. They found that 10% had made a false confession to teachers or parents in the past. Interestingly, false confessions tended to occur among those who acknowledged delinquency, impulsivity, and antisocial personality characteristics. In addition, 1% reported making a false confession to the police; the most frequently cited explanation was to PROTECT somebody else from prosecution.
Gudjonsson, G. H., Sigurdsson, J. F., Bragason, O. O., Einarsson, E., & Valdimarsdottir, E. B. (2004). Compliance and personality: The vulnerability of the unstable introvert. European Journal of Personality, 18, 435-443.

This is fascinating stuff, thank you for posting it. However, the most frequently cited explanation from self-confessed liars with "anti social personality characteristics" may not be the true explanation, it may just be the most self serving explanation.

Also, would you mind providing links to your sources? They sound fascinating, so I would love to read them, in their entirety, for myself.

 

[hello people]

I'm a long time lurker short time pro'er, short time fence sitter and even shorter time non

I haven't done a 180 I've done a 350

In the beginning I had 10% of my brain operating now I have full faculty.

They are guilty

But my brain is not smart enough to answer why they were offered an Alford plea

I guess though, given the age of the perps at the time of the crime they probably would have been out in much, much less time than 18 years anyway or however long they were rightly locked away

Yay justice system

 

[Nova]

I'm a long time lurker short time pro'er, short time fence sitter and even shorter time non

I haven't done a 180 I've done a 350

In the beginning I had 10% of my brain operating now I have full faculty.

They are guilty

But my brain is not smart enough to answer why they were offered an Alford plea

I guess though, given the age of the perps at the time of the crime they probably would have been out in much, much less time than 18 years anyway or however long they were rightly locked away

Yay justice system

That was not the reason for the Alford Plea. Death row inmates don't get parole as a rule and neither of the other two defendants was up for parole in the near future, I don't believe. (I'm not sure they would have ever been eligible.) And even if they were eligible, that doesn't mean it would have been granted.

No, the state realized a new trial was about to be granted and the prosecutor was unlikely to win a second time, given the new evidence. So the Alford Plea was a way for Arkansas to save face, while allowing the wrongly convicted to get on with their lives.

 

[Nova]

Her grandmother and her two siblings confessed. Her mother screamed at her to stop when she started giving evidence in court, and she burst into tears and refused to continue, so the judge had her mother removed from the court. After that, she calmly stood up on a table and gave damning evidence against her entire family, her neighbours, and several other people she hardly knew. They were all executed the next day, and the child was taken to watch.



This is fascinating stuff, thank you for posting it. However, the most frequently cited explanation from self-confessed liars with "anti social personality characteristics" may not be the true explanation, it may just be the most self serving explanation.

Also, would you mind providing links to your sources? They sound fascinating, so I would love to read them, in their entirety, for myself.

I don't think "confessions" to sympathetic figures like parents and teachers tell us anything about confessing to hostile LE interrogators.

The Innocence Project's figure of 1 in 4 only applies to the wrongly convicted, but it is quite telling.

 

[easongt]

First time on this board. I haven't read this thread completely. I must say that in the beginning many years ago, I felt they were innocent. I feel comfortable now with their guilt. The very simple thing that stands out more than anything is that it is my belief it would have taken three people to commit to murders. As the father of two boys, I can't imagine trying to round both of them up at the same time. If you add a third boy, I just think it would be impossible for one or even two individuals to round up 3 boys. OK I will not use the word impossible. Instead I will say unlikely or extremely difficult.

 

[easongt]

I have conducted over 1000 interviews. Interviews is a less threatening word for interrogations. I am a regional loss prevention manager/investigator. It is not beyond the realm of possibility to obtain false confessions, it happens often. Especially with extremely aggressive interrogators who are not properly trained. But it also works the other way too. I have obtained confessions, and had them recanted. Then a polygraph is administered and they revert back to their original confession. If the information is correct about a female by the name of "true romance" who was supporting Jesse, then I am inclined to believe their guilt even more. She was a big supporter until private conversations with Jessie.

 

[Userid]

I remember hearing about True Romance -- was she JM's girlfriend and/or pen-pal? Did she ever reveal what JM told her that her believe he was guilty?

 

[easongt]

To my knowledge she never revealed what was said. You should be able to find a link to her original message which was to my knowledge she never rebuild what was said. You should be able to find a link to her original message which was move to a nother bulletin board on some site. It seems pretty legit. And if you google it you should find it relatively easy

 

[Graznik]

First off, welcome to the board easongt!

I, too, have heard about this TrueRomance person but I wasn't around when all of that actually happened. It bothers me that she won't disclose any information about what was actually said. If she was so hell bent on their guilt after what she was told, then why bother with their integrity? Would she not want to change other people's minds?

Furthermore, you said this crime must've been committed by three people. I happen to disagree. The perp could have rendered all three boys unconscious rather quickly with blows to the head. It would've been even easier if the boys where somehow in or around a confined space. Anyhow, that's just my two cents. But why the WM3? If you were there at the time, investigating this crime, what would've led you to that conclusion?