For Those Who Believe that Jessie Maintained His Guilt for Months

New Posts

C

Compassionate Reader

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2010
Messages
2,357
Reaction score
113
For those who believe that Jessie Misskelley never said that he was innocent for months, the letter linked below was received on June 7, 1993.

http://callahan.8k.com/images3/jm_letter.jpg

This is only one of many documents, including the transcript of Jason and Jessie's Rule 37 Hearing, recently posted on Callahan's. If you haven't looked at Callahan's for a while, you might give it a shot. There's a lot of new stuff there!
 
Compassionate Reader said:
For those who believe that Jessie Misskelley never said that he was innocent for months, the letter linked below was received on June 7, 1993.

http://callahan.8k.com/images3/jm_letter.jpg

This is only one of many documents, including the transcript of Jason and Jessie's Rule 37 Hearing, recently posted on Callahan's. If you haven't looked at Callahan's for a while, you might give it a shot. There's a lot of new stuff there!
Click to expand...
What does he mean by "ruffin" (if I read correctly)?
 
did he write 'puffin'? as in puffing (inhaling fumes)?
 
"ruffin" = roofing IMO

OFSHE: Okay. Judging from the notes it looks to me like a couple of things happened before the subject of taking a polygraph came up and I'm looking at Detective Ridge's notes. Why don't you to reach behind you and just close

(Page 3)


that door up. Thank you. Uh, looks to me from these notes that, uh, Ridge asked you a number of questions about, for example, what you did on the day that the three little boys were killed. Do you remember that?

MISSKELLEY: Uh-huh. (Affirmatively indicating) I was working over Ricky Dees in West Memphis Roofing.
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/jm_ofshe.html
 
Roofing...as in doing roof work...

I've also heard the term "roughing in" in the construction trade, as in "roughing in" a room or building...before the final touches are done.
 
I'm in agreement with the notion that "ruffin" is "roofing" as working as a roofer. Just another little example of his limited intelligence. The interview with Ofshe is very interesting, isn't it?
 
I feel so much compassion...I'm a relative newbie to this sad travesty of a case...

No way to feel good about it until the killer(s?) are brought to justice. And even then...it won't give the 3 each of their 18 years back... :(
 
No, but at least they do now have the opportunity to put their lives back together, and from what I can see all three seem to be enjoying that opportunity. I'm happy for them.

But there's no opportunity for the three children who were murdered. Three little 8 year old ninja turtle fans who were riding round on their bikes having fun on a spring evening, and whoever snatched their lives off them has never served a day in prison for it. It makes me spit.
 
I've never seen Misskelley do any interviews recently since their release, it's always been the other two convicted murderers and one's wife. I just wonder if he's not been given some sort of 'gag' order in exchange for money. Some of the victims sold their life story rights to entertainment networks and signed contracts so that the network can tell whatever they like about them even if it's not the truth.
 
I've seen Jessie Misskelley interviewed since their release.

As for Terry Hobbs selling his life story rights to Dimension Films - it wouldn't have made any difference, because after his disastrous lawsuit against Natalie Maines, which made him look ten times guiltier than any amount of hairs at the crime scene, nobody was going to worry about what they said about him anyway.
 
So roofing is Jessie's alibi? Im confused. I swear Im not trying to bring other stuff up :) I always thought that Jessie's alibi was wrestling in that different town with the other guys? And then it was shown that the wrestling actually happened a week or 2 before? What was all that about? I hadnt heard about the roofing stuff. All i knew was that he said he was wrestling, in a different town close by, and that he had a receipt that said the rent was paid that day for the ring, but then after looking over the receipt it was the weekend before.
 
Jessie worked as a roofer at the time. He was apparently at work up till around lunch time on the day of the murders, and as he thinks the boys skipped school and were murdered in the morning he thinks thats his alibi.

Btw, it wasn't just Jessie who claimed he was wrestling, etc, it was Fred Ravelle, his nephew and about 3 or 4 other people whose names I forget. Its true that the date on the receipt didn't match, but at the same time I don't know why they would have all lied for Jessie Misskellley. They weren't family or in some cases even close friends.
 
The point about the wrestling is that Jessie went wrestling in Dyess every Wednesday night. Since May 5, 1993 was a Wednesday night, Jessie was wrestling in Dyess. That's why the wrestling alibi was presented.

The way I understand the whole receipt thing is that each person signed on the day/date they first began to wrestle. So, some had signed before 5/5/93 and some signed later. Some even may have signed on 5/5/93. It was an ongoing thing and more of a contract than a receipt.

Also, some people claim that there was no wrestling match in Dyess on the night of May 5, 1993, and attempt to use that fact to try to prove the wrestling alibi (based on the last sightings of the boys, the wrestling was Jessie's alibi) false. However, the truth of the matter is that the May 5, 1993 wrestling was a practice, not a match - and several people say that Jessie was there.
 
Has anyone read anything else about Jessie's roofing alibi? To me, him having been working doing roof work wouldn't exactly give him an alibi. It's clear that all 3 boys were in school that day which would be for the time that Jessie was working.
 
UdbCrzy2 said:
I've never seen Misskelley do any interviews recently since their release, it's always been the other two convicted murderers and one's wife. I just wonder if he's not been given some sort of 'gag' order in exchange for money. Some of the victims sold their life story rights to entertainment networks and signed contracts so that the network can tell whatever they like about them even if it's not the truth.
Click to expand...

I think he realizes he's not as articulate as the others. I also suspect he carries around some guilt for having falsely confessed and is embarrassed by it.
 
Venom said:
Has anyone read anything else about Jessie's roofing alibi? To me, him having been working doing roof work wouldn't exactly give him an alibi. It's clear that all 3 boys were in school that day which would be for the time that Jessie was working.
Click to expand...

See the post above. Jessie had no idea what time the boys were murdered. He had been roofing for the first half of the day and probably assumed that that was the time frame in question.
 
Venom said:
Has anyone read anything else about Jessie's roofing alibi?
Click to expand...
I figure Misskelley told his father that he was roofing at the time because he didn't want to admit what he'd done to his father, and because when he actually was roofing is the closest thing he had to a legitimate alibi which wouldn't place him with Baldwin and Echols. After all, among Misskelley's garbled timeline in his first confession he offers "all this stuff happened that night", and in his clarification statement later that day where he cuts Gitchell off to offer "It was starting to get dark" and immediately cuts Gitchell off again to insist "I remember it was starting to get dark". In the next few days he wrote the letter pleading innocence to his father, but then a few days later Misskelley confessed again, in detail, to the murders to his lawyer Dan Stidham. Curiously, Stiddam's own website offers this account of when he came to believe Misskelley is innocent:

Around the first of July, Dan arranged for Jessie Sr. to visit his son in jail. He let them have a few minutes together, and then Dan raised the subject of whether Jessie would testify against the others in exchange for leniency. "What kind of deal are they going to offer?" asked Jessie Sr.

"It'll depend on how bad they need him," Dan said.

Suddenly, Jessie Jr. sprang to his feet. "Daddy!" he said, "I wasn't there! Them cops made me say that ****! You gotta get me out of here!"

It made Dan furious. "Why did you tell me you were there if you weren't?" he demanded. "Are you afraid to admit it in front of your father?"

"I ain't afraid of nothing!" screamed Jessie.

The day ended with Dan and Jessie Sr. leaving, and Dan telling Jessie he'd be back when he was ready to tell the truth.

KIM CAN STILL see the look on Dan's face the night he told her the news. They'd sat down to supper, and then Dan had rolled up his sleeves and helped got the kids bathed and ready for bed. Life seemed remarkably normal--except for the expression on Dan's face. All evening long, he had looked, in Kim's word, "dazed."

And then, once the children were down, he told her. "Kim," he said, "Jessie Misskelley is innocent. He didn't do it. I don't think any of them did."
Click to expand...

I say curiously because it supposedly happened in early July, and while Stidham offered the plea of not-gulty for Misskelley in early August, later that month Misskelley again described his involvement in the murders to Stidham without any notable protest from Stidham, let alone any mention of Misskelley being off wrestling at the apparent time of the murders as was argued at trial. Beyond that, there are transcripts from December of Misskelley's conversations with two defense experts who argued against the one confession from Misskelley to police which available to the prostitution at trial, Dr. William Wilkins and Dr. Richard Ofshe. Those present another curiosity, as while the do show Misskelley say his confession was false in some parts, in other parts he breaks back into the murders as having actually participated in them. This is perhaps the most notable example of that, and note how Ofshe responds:

OFSHE: Now, in your recorded statement, at one point you told them that you saw Damien and Jason having sex with these little boys. Having anal sex and oral sex with the
boys. Do you remember that?

MISSKELLEY: Yeah. That's after they told me that - Ridge told me that he seen Damien and Jason have sex, then I started talking to him, and then that's when — Damien will
have one, and then Jason would have one, and they said what happened to the other one, and I said, I was holding him beating him up.

OFSHE: You did what? [15:32]

(Page 75)


MISSKELLEY: I was holding him and beating him up - beating that one up.

OFSHE: That you were beating him up?

MISSKELLEY: Yeah.

OFSHE: When did you tell him that.

MISSKELLEY: That's when - that's when - after - when Damien was messing with one and Jason was messing with the other one, then he said what happened to the other one? And I told him that I was beating him up. [Uh-huh.] And then, uh, Damien and Jason would switch to a different boy. And then, after that one was messed up pretty bad then
they'd beat on that one. Jason and Damien on that same boy.

OFSHE: But was it - the way you just described it to me, they told you that they had seen Damien and Jason having sex with each other. And then you just assumed that they
would have had sex with the little boys as well?

MISSKELLEY: Right.

OFSHE: Is that how it happened or did they suggest to you that maybe Damien and Jason had sex with the little boys?

MISSKELLEY: That's what they was assumed.

OFSHE: Pardon?

MISSKELLEY: That's what they was assuming. Cause after they told me that they seen Jason and Damien have sex, then I figured well, maybe Jason and Damien had sex with the
little boys.

OFSHE: Well, but did Ridge or Gitchell suggest to you that maybe Damien and Jason had sex with the little boys and you agreed? Because they'd told you that they had had sex with one another, or was that something that you came up with on your own?

MISSKELLEY: I came up with the one that Jason and Damien and the little boys. [Okay.] I made that up.

(Page 76)


OFSHE: Okay. Now, I mean, I don’t give a damn that you made it up. I understand about that. I think this - I mean - what we're here for is to try to find out what led up to the story however it came about. But it makes a difference to me whether they tried to get you to say that Damien and Jason had sex with the little boys, or whether you just made it up. You understand the question I'm asking?

MISSKELLEY: Yeah. [17:56]

OFSHE: Okay. The only reason I'm going back over is I want to make absolutely sure that I understand what you're saying because I'm happy that no matter what you tell me,
there's no right answer except what really happened. I just need to make sure that I get a good grip on what really happened.

MISSKELLEY: Well, I made it up with them having sex with the boys, cause that - after Ridge told me that he seen Jason and Damien. And then, -

OFSHE: If [Ridge] and Gitchell didn't do anything to kind of lead you to say that they - that Damien and Jason had sex with the little boys. That's what I want to know. That's fine. No problem. I just need to know what happened.

MISSKELLEY: I know. They didn't- they didn't lead to it, or nothing. I - I - I just made it up, I just - you know, figured up in my head, you know, that they said they'd seen Jason and Damien have sex and I assume that they'd have sex with the little boys. I made that up.

OFSHE: Okay. Now. Did you know which boys had been - well for example, here, they're asking you about which boys were raped. And you say, uh, Byers and Branch. And then they ask you, did you see the Moore boy raped and you say, no. And, all right, who raped those two boys? Jason and Damien. And that's all stuff that you just made up?

MISSKELLEY: Right. [20:09]
Click to expand...
Ofshe was clearly intent on getting Misskelley to say he was coerced into describing the details of the murders as he did, but failed miserably in his attempts press Misskelley into claiming as much. Rather, and contrary to the many claims that Misskelley was coerced, those transcripts with Wilkins and Ofshe don't show Misskelley insisting he wasn't subjected too anything which could rightly be described as coercion.

And finally, there are Misskelley's three documented post trial confessions: to Clay County deputies on the way back from the trial, to his lawyer yet again a few days later, and to the prosecution in the presence and against the advice of his lawyers about a week and a half after that. I've yet to find any attempt to dispute Misskelley's many confessions which come anywhere close to acknowledging all that aforementioned evidence, let alone explain it away.
 
I'm really not following. What am I missing? I'm not seeing how the quoted portion advances your position. Ridge told Jessie that they saw Damien and Jason having sex with the boys so Jessie made it up and said "Yeah, they had sex with the boys." Not to mention the fact that now Ridge actually saw Damien and Jessie having sex with the boys. I suppose we need to bring the FBI or someone else in to investigate the WMPD because apparently their officers were present at the time of the murders??? I truly may be misreading something, so please tell me where I'm off.
 
So Misskelley didn't give a full account of his day at first? Just for when he "thought" the murders occured? And he confessed 3 times after trial? Why would he confess that many times, even after his trial?
 
Venom said:
Has anyone read anything else about Jessie's roofing alibi? To me, him having been working doing roof work wouldn't exactly give him an alibi. It's clear that all 3 boys were in school that day which would be for the time that Jessie was working.
Click to expand...

Here is part of Ricky Deese's testimony at Jessie's trial:

Q: Okay. Did, uh, the week -- do you remember what day May 5th was on?
A: Wednesday.
Q: Okay. That week did Jessie Misskelley do any roofing with you that week?
A: He worked with me Tuesday and half a day Wednesday.
Q: Okay. Wednesday morning, how did Mr. Misskelley get to the roofing job?
A: I went by and got him. He was at Little's Trailer Park --
Q: Okay. Who, who's --
A: With Josh, Josh Darby and Little Jessie.
Q: Okay. So, Mr. Misskelley was where that morning?
A: Uh, Little's Trailer Park.
Q: Okay. Where is that?
A: End of Avalon.
Q: Where?
A: End of Avalon.
Q: Okay. That's a different trailer park than --
A: Yeah, where I live at.
Q: Okay. Alright. You picked up Mr. Misskelley and who else?
A: Josh Darby.
Q: Okay. And do you know what time you picked them up?
A: About nine.
Q: Okay. Where did y'all go?
A: On Woodlawn in West Memphis over on Ingram.
Q: What were you doing?
A: Roofing.
Q: Okay. How long did you use Jessie that day?
A: I used him all day Tuesday.
Q: Okay. What about Wednesday?
A: Half a day. I dropped him off about one o'clock.
Q: Okay. Where'd you drop him off at?
A: His daddy's --

After 2:00 pm, according to Stephanie Dollar's testimony, Jessie was at her house:

Q: On the day of May 5th, when was the first time you remember seeing Jessie that day?
A: At, uh, 2:00.
Q: What happened?
A: I had a parent-teacher conference meeting and he had come over and I asked him if he could watch my children until I got home.
Q: How many children do you have?
A: I have three.
Q: Were all those at home at that time?
A: No, they weren't. My four-year-old at the time - he's now five - was home and then my other two was going to be getting off the bus and I knew I would not be home in time to get them.
Q: Who was the parent-teacher conference with?
A: Justin's teacher, Mrs. Stewart, Dr. McGrew, and myself.
Q: Where was that conference to be at?
A: At Felix Elementary School.
Q: Okay, if Jessie hadn't been there at around 2:00, what were you going to do with your children?
A: I was going to bring them to my father in law's house.
Q: Okay, was it unusual for Jessie to babysit for you?
A: No.
Q: He babysat for you how often?
A: A lot - at least four times a week.
Q: Do you remember what time you got back from the parent-teacher conference?
A: It was about 4:00.
Q: Okay. Who was at your home when you returned?
A: Susie Brewer and Jessie.
Q: Okay, what happened at that point with Jessie? Did he stay, leave, or what?
A: Well, we stayed for a few minutes and then Susie and Jessie left.

This is confirmed, in part, by Susie Brewer's testimony at Jessie's trial:

Q: Do you remember the day of May 5th?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: You gave that day a lot of thought in the last few months?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Okay. You go to school that day?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: How'd you get home from school?
A: I walked home.
Q: Okay. Do you know what time you got home?
A: About 3:30.
Q: And what'd you do when you got home?
A: I went to Stephanie's, that's where Jessie was cause he was babysitting Stephanie's kids.
Q: Okay.
A: And she got back about 4:00 and we went walking.
Q: Okay. Did you go home before you went to Stephanie's?
A: No, my momma drove by and I told her I was there with Jessie.
Q: Okay. And you went walking around the trailer park?
A: Mmm-hmm. We went to Johnny Hamilton's.
Q: Okay. You know about what time that was?
A: About 4:15, 4.
Q: Did you have a watch on?
A: No, sir.
Q: Okay. That afternoon, did you keep Jessie in your sight the whole time that afternoon?
A: Not the whole time. He was probably out of my sight about 15, 20 minutes.
Q: That happen one time or several times, was he out of your sight?
A: Well the first time he went to McNease's to talk to him and then I was standing in his yard when he was talking to Louis.
Q: Okay. So during the course of the afternoon, you were around Jessie?
A: Most of the time.
Q: Most of the time, okay. You remember going to Johnny Hamilton's house for a while?
A: Yes, sir.

In confirmation of some of Susie's story, we have Louis Hoggard's testimony that places Jessie in his sight at 6:00 or 6:30 pm, talking to a policeman (which the police deny, BTW):

Q: Okay. Now, on May the 5th, do you remember seeing Jessie Misskelley?
A: Yes, I do.
Q: Okay. Where did you see him?
A: At -- in front of my house and at my neighbor's house across the street.
Q: Which neighbor is that?
A: Stephanie Dollar.
Q: Okay. Do you know what time it was when you saw him?
A: It was near 6:30.
Q: Okay.
A: 6:00pm.
Q: Okay. Had you -- you, you had been at work and then what happened? You came home?
A: Came home and started mowing my yard.
Q: Okay. Start mowing your yard. What kind of mower were you using? Push mower, riding mower?
A: It was a riding mower.
Q: Riding mower? Okay. What happened? What did you observe?
A: I observed a police car going into Stephanie's yard and saw Jessie approach the car. I assumed they were talking.
Q: But you don't know that?
A: I don't know that.
Q: Okay. All right. Then, what happened?
A: The police car left and, shortly after that, Jessie started walking toward his house, down the street. I stopped --
Q: -- Stopped him and asked him a question?
A: Yes.
Q: Okay.

At this point, Mr. Hoggard's testimony is interrupted by Fogleman, with an objection. A bench conference ensues. Then, Mr. Hoggard continues:

Q: What did Mr. Misskelley indicate that he was talking -- that was going on and had the officer in the park?
A: Some lady down the street had slapped one of Stephanie's young sons.
Q: It was Stephanie's son that had been slapped?
A: That's correct. That's what I was told.
Q: Okay. Did you see him anymore that day?
A: No.

Finally, there's the wrestling practice in Dyess, Arkansas, which is Jessie's alibi for the rest of the night. Several people testified that Jessie was there on May 5, 1993. During cross-examination, the prosecutor confused these teenagers, and this confusion caused enough doubt in the minds of the jurors to allow them, based also on Jessie's false confession, to wrongfully convict him of these murders. However, he did have an alibi. His time can be accounted for from 9:00 am until midnight, with very few gaps, and none of the gaps are of sufficient duration for him to have committed the murders, IMO.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is Escambia County John Doe (1989)?

Members online

... and 86 more.
Total: 1,186 (members: 87, guests: 1,099)

Online statistics

Members online
87
Guests online
1,099
Total visitors
1,186
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
591,791
Messages
17,958,926
Members
228,607
Latest member
wdavewong
Back
Top