CBS News‘ 48 Hours Mystery, the award-winning news magazine show, will broadcast a feature story on the West Memphis 3 case on Saturday evening, February 27th at 10 p.m. EST.
Correspondent Erin Moriarity and producer Gail Zimmerman spent over six months developing the story, conducting original research and interviewing new witnesses. Many of the principals in the story will appear on camera, including Damien Echols, who was wrongfully convicted of murdering three young boys and is on death row in Arkansas, Lorri Davis, Mark Byers, Pam Hobbs and Terry Hobbs. Echols’s attorney Dennis Riordan will discuss the legal basis for their innocence and explain why the three men deserve a new trial. Actor Johnny Depp, a strong supporter of the WM3, will also be interviewed.
Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were convicted in 1994 for crimes they did not commit, and have served 16 years in prison. There was no credible physical evidence, eyewitness testimony or motive tying the three local teens to the murders. Damien Echols was sentenced to death and Jason Baldwin to life imprisonment at their joint trial. Misskelley was tried separately and sentenced to life in prison plus 40 years.
CBS 48 Hours will highlight new DNA and forensic evidence, as well as shocking juror misconduct that contributed to the convictions.
See preview of CBS 48 Hours, A Cry for Innocence, http://www.cbsnews.com/48hours
Lonnie Soury