The West Memphis 3 defense team continues it work on behalf of the three defendants to point authorities to the person responsible for killing three West Memphis children in 1993.
Today, the group has released information about affidavits pointing toward Terry Hobbs, stepfather of one of the three slain children. They are from young men of college age — as yet unidentified — who are friends of Hobbs’ nephew. The young men, who responded to publicity about a tip line, say he told them that his father had said Hobbs had implicated himself. The information has been turned over to Prosecutor Scott Ellington in hopes of pushing him to reopen an investigation of the case.
A review of physical evidence in the case found no trace of DNA of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley — the three men convicted in the crime — but did find a hair that could have come from Terry Hobbs. Hobbs has been a focus of suspicion for some time and denied responsibility repeatedly. He sued Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks for defaming him with such an accusation, but the case was dismissed. His testimony in depositions for that case became a large part of the latest HBO documentary on the case.
The new information is double hearsay, from a legal standpoint. But Lonnie Soury, a spokesman for the cause, terms it the “first real connection” between Hobbs and the deaths. The hope is that it will pressure others to come forward.
The details so far: