A (9:19)
On February 19, 1994, the trial of Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols gets underway in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The town is 60 miles north of West Memphis, and the hearing has been moved there at the request of the defense. They feared it would be impossible for Baldwin and Echols to receive a fair trial in West Memphis, where almost everyone in the local community seems dead set against them. Jonesboro is about twice the size of West Memphis, home to Arkansas State University. It's slightly wealthier and better educated than most other places in the region. But if Baldwin or Eccles hope that people in Jonesboro will be more willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, then they are soon disappointed. Finding 12 people willing to act as jurors doesn't prove easy. 150 locals are summoned for jury duty, but only 62 show up, and many of them are soon dismissed. With all the rumors of cult Activity and the horrific nature of the crimes. The potential jurors tell the judge they simply can't be impartial. The jury selection process ends up taking most of the first week. But finally, on February 28, 1994, a group of jurors is seated and testimony in the trial can begin. That morning, Damien Echols takes his place at the defense table. He's wearing a striped shirt buttoned up to the collar, without a tie. His long dark hair has been cut since his arrest, but it still hangs in curtains around his face. He pushes it behind his ears. As he looks around the room, there's a soft murmur of tense conversation. Lawyers huddle together, making last minute plans. The families of the victims cling to each other for support. And off to one side, leaning against the witness box, are two children's bicycles with evidence tags hanging from their handlebars. At the other end of the defense table is Jason Baldwin. With his hair also cut short and a baggy shirt that almost hangs off of him, he looks even younger than he usually does. The pair's eyes meet for a moment as their lawyers take their seats between them. Then a door opens. There's a shout for everyone to rise, and the judge, David Burnett, sweeps into the room. From the outset, it's clear that the state knows the physical evidence against the two defendants is thin. At the scene of the crime, the police only found a few fibers that could be linked to either Echols or Baldwin. But these come from mass produced clothing that's sold in stores all over the country. There's also a knife that was found in a lake between the two boys trailers. It has a serrated edge which is consistent with the victim's injuries. But there's no way to prove it's the murder weapon. And although Damien Echols has been seen carrying a similar looking blade, there's still no proof that this particular knife ever belonged to him. So with such little physical evidence to call on, and with Jesse Misskelley now refusing to testify, it's the allegations about Satanism that form the backbone of the prosecution's case. This is where fractures start to appear between the two defense teams. Lawyer for Damien Echols know his occult interests are a weakness, and they plan to counter the prosecution's claims head on. But Baldwin's team wants to bar the prosecution from mentioning the occult at all. They point out to the court that unlike Eccles, Baldwin is not a Wiccan. In fact, he has never shown any interest in the occult, alternative religions, or magic. There's no reason to believe he's anything other than an ordinary Christian boy, and it's unfair on him to imply otherwise. Judge David Burnett can see their point of view, but he still refuses to bar the prosecution from mentioning cults. He accepts the argument that it's crucial to the case against Damien Eccles. But what he does do is instruct the jury to disregard any testimony about the occult. When it comes to Baldwin, they are only to consider Satanism when contemplating Damien Eccles. Baldwin's defense doubts the jurors can follow these directions. Their biggest worry has always been that that the jury will convict Baldwin purely on his association with Eccles. That's why they've repeatedly requested severance for Baldwin to be tried separately from Echols. But again and again, Judge Burnett has rejected that plea. Now Baldwin's attorneys have no choice but to make the best of a bad situation. Among the first witnesses called is West Memphis detective Brynn Ridge. He was on the scene when the bodies were discovered in the creek, and he describes to the court how the boys were found tied and mutilated. Under cross examination, though, he's forced to reveal that the West Memphis Police Department's handling of evidence was far from ideal. Two exhibits submitted as evidence in the trial were only recovered from the scene months after the murders, and the defense implies that this is proof that the investigation was inept. Detective Ridge is followed on the stand by the medical examiner who performed the autopsies on the three boys. Aided by photographs and diagrams, he gives detailed and often disturbing evidence about the injuries suffered by the victims. But when the discussion turns to time of death, he takes the court by surprise. When he appeared as a prosecution witness at Jesse Misskelley's trial, he refused to pinpoint the time of the killings. And at first, in this trial, he sticks to that approach again, calling such calculations more of an art and not a science. But under pressure from the defense, he eventually gives an estimate, telling the court that the killings likely took place on May 6, 1993, at some time between 1 and 5am that's radically different from any timetable suggested by either the police or the prosecution. And the state's lawyers are left seething. In the first few days of the trial, the defense has introduced doubt about both the competence of the police investigation and the accuracy of the prosecution's timeline. So sitting at the table alongside his defense team, Jason Baldwin feels a glimmer of hope. The prosecution evidence against him seems slight and circumstantial. But then, on the third day of the trial, a witness he doesn't recognize takes the stand, 16 year old Michael Carson pushes his sandy shoulder length hair away from his face. As the prosecution lawyer begins his questions. Carson tells the court that after being convicted of burglary back In August of 1993, he served a week at the same jail as Baldwin, although the two weren't cellmates. He claims he spoke to Baldwin in a common area twice. He says that on both occasions they played cards together. The first time they met, Carson states that he asked Baldwin whether he really was a killer. Baldwin denied it, but according to Carson, during a second game the following day, Baldwin casually confessed to murdering the three eight year old boys. Carson says he then went into gruesome detail. Baldwin allegedly told him about how he dismembered and disfigured his victims and how he sucked blood from their genitalia. There's shocked silence in the courtroom at that remark. At the defense table, Baldwin can only stare in disbelief at what he's hearing. He doesn't even remember meeting Carson, let alone talking to him. And if this conversation they supposedly had was so shocking and memorable, it seems strange Carson didn't mention it to anyone else until just recently. Anticipating exactly this point, the prosecutor then asks Carson why he didn't come forward sooner. Carson explains that he initially kept the information to himself, but months later he saw the families of the victims at a press conference on tv. The sight of them grieving broke his heart. So he told his father about the card game with Baldwin, and his dad encouraged him to report what he had heard to the police. Sitting beside his lawyers, Baldwin shakes his head. Head. It's all so absurd. He wants to get up there on the stand and tell everyone that this is nonsense. He was mowing his uncle's lawn when the murders happened. He's not a Satanist. He's not violent. He's just a regular kid. But he knows he can't say any of this. His lawyers have advised him against giving evidence. They say the prosecution will twist his words and use them against him. So all Jason Baldwin can do is sit and listen and try to contain his anger as his fate is decided without him.
