Devil's Knot_ The True Story of the West Memphis Three - Mara Leveritt [139]
“Dark Passages”
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” John Mark Byers exclaimed, despite Burnett’s warning. Byers and other family members of the victims began hugging and crying. A reporter noted that “Baldwin appeared to cry as the verdicts were read” but that “Echols did not.” A hysterical Domini Teer was led from the courtroom clutching her baby.
As exultation livened some parts of the courtroom, grief subdued others. Judge Burnett told reporters that members of the jury had asked not to be questioned about their decision. The jurors’ job was not over. They still had the trial’s sentencing phase to go. It would begin in the morning. Burnett warned the courtroom, “I don’t want anybody to even attempt to talk to or interfere with any of the jurors whatsoever.” Turning to the jury panel, he added, “In fact, I’m going to have an officer escort you to your vehicles.” Deputies led Damien and Jason away. Burnett pounded his gavel, adjourning the trial for the day. The spectators rushed from the courtroom.
“Those guys took a life, let them lose a life,” Stevie’s stepfather, Terry Hobbs, told reporters. Hobbs added that he wished the families could have “ten minutes alone in a room” with the defendants “to do to them what they did to the boys.” Stevie’s mother, Pam Hobbs, said, “God did get his vengeance. I’ve got to take a trip to a little boy’s grave and tell him, ‘We won. Our God didn’t let us down.’” Michael’s father, Todd Moore, said he was “completely satisfied” with the verdicts, but that they did not relieve his pain. “My son still don’t come home,” he choked. Melissa Byers called for executions. “If you take a life in a vicious murder—my child was tortured to death,” she said, “then I believe they should pay with their lives.”
Damien’s mother blamed the verdicts on the police investigation. “The lives of three little innocent boys were taken,” she said, “and the West Memphis Police Department botched it up, and they had to find somebody. So they take the lives of three more innocent boys.” Jason’s mother echoed the condemnation, saying her son had been “framed.” Noting the lack of evidence, she added, “I don’t know how a guilty verdict came about, but I know Jason is innocent.” Jason’s brother Matt told reporters, “I don’t think he’s innocent. Iknow . They’re not devil worshipers. That’s just a bunch of bull they said so they could mess up the jurors’ minds.” Domini had taken refuge in an old station wagon parked near the courthouse. Passersby saw the seventeen-year-old mother sobbing in the backseat of the car, in the arms of Michelle, Damien’s fifteen-year-old sister.
A few minutes later, Damien and Jason were escorted from the courthouse under heavy police guard. They were shackled and wore bulletproof vests. “I love you, son,” Jason’s mom called out. Jason kept walking but looked at her and quietly said, “I love you too.” One of Damien’s relatives shouted, “Hold on, there, boy. You’ll be getting out.” Damien nodded, “I know.”
“Where’s your God now, Damien?” Pam Hobbs shouted.
“I think you’re innocent!” someone else yelled.
“You’re going to fry!” another onlooker exulted.
Gary Gitchell watched as police led the convicted teenagers into unmarked cars. “I feel like we’ve definitely been vindicated in this case,” he told reporters. “We knew our case. We felt it was strong.” When asked about the absence of evidence, he explained that between the murders and the arrests, the defendants had had time “to get rid of a lot of items.” TheCommercial Appeal reported that “Gitchell’s eyes filled with tears as he hugged Detective Bryn Ridge. ‘There’s a bonding that I can’t explain. I can’t explain it,’ he said, choking back tears.”
TheArkansas Times reporter covering