Devil's Knot_ The True Story of the West Memphis Three - Mara Leveritt [119]
But Burnett asked why Morgan’s testimony would be relevant. Price was incredulous. “A man who confessed to these murders? A man who knew all three of the victims? A man who left West Memphis within a week after the murders? I think it is definitely relevant, the fact that he went out to California and confessed.” Moreover, the defense teams argued, they wanted to question other witnesses whom the police had viewed as suspects. But Burnett had heard enough.
“Gentlemen,” he said, “this is getting to be absurd. I mean, I’m not going to let you drag in every possible suspect in this case, unless you’ve got something to tie those persons to some event in this case.”
The defense lawyers argued that a suspect’s confession, even if retracted, ought to suffice as a tie-in. But Burnett ruled that testimony about other suspects would not be allowed. He told the defense attorneys that he was not going to let them “confuse the issue” with “things that aren’t relevant.”
Chapter Nineteen
The Motive
THE TRIAL WAS ENTERING ITS THIRD WEEK. Prosecutors Davis and Fogleman had welcomed the judge’s decision to bar evidence about other suspects. Still, their case was thin. In Jessie’s trial, they’d had a confession. Here they did not. Unable to call Jessie and unwilling to call young Aaron Hutcheson, the prosecutors had no eyewitness to the crime. And for physical evidence all they had were a few ordinary sticks from the woods, a couple of “similar” fibers, and the knife that was taken from the lake—nothing that directly linked the defendants to the murders. To some observers, their case was looking tenuous. Then, abruptly, Fogleman announced a motive.PROSECUTION SAYS KILLINGS CULT RELATED , theJonesboro Sun proclaimed.
The prosecutors had not suggested a motive in their opening statement to the jury. But now, the paper reported that Fogleman was expected to call “an expert in cult-related crimes” to testify. The decision triggered anotherin camera hearing, as Jason’s lawyer Paul Ford tried to block the approach. With the jury out of the room, Detective Ridge testified that he had believed from the start that the boys’ murders were linked to the occult. “The fact that there was overkill, more injuries to the boys’ bodies than what was needed to kill them,” he said, had led him to suspect a cult-related crime. The boys’ ages—eight, which Ridge said was a number used by witches in the Wicca religion—and his observation that “in cult-related killings, the victims will be males,” had supported his suspicion. Aaron Hutcheson’s statements had reinforced his belief. “Plus,” he said, “there was damage to the left side of one of the boys’ faces, which is a sign of the occult.” Ridge testified that when he’d questioned Damien, the teenager’s responses had further heightened his suspicions.
Burnett asked Ford and Fogleman, “Can either one of you define ‘occult’ for me?”
“Well,” Ford said, “we can get Webster’s dictionary, Your Honor.”
“I don’t know what an occult is,” Burnett grumbled. “It sounds like something bad, but I’m not sure what it is.”
Price asked, “Is the state now stating that the motive is occult killing?”
“We have not made a final, firm decision,” Fogleman replied, “but at this point, I would say yes.”
Burnett asked Fogleman if he expected to link Jason “to occult activities.”
“Your Honor,” Fogleman said, “that is something that will have to be talked about with the expert. It is my understanding that part of the involvement deals with obsession with heavy metal music, change in forms of dress, wearing all black. And I believe the proof would show that he had fifteen black T-shirts with the heavy metal thing.