Devil's Knot_ The True Story of the West Memphis Three - Mara Leveritt [145]
The counselor said that when he “found out what was going on,” he was unsure what to do, fearing that he could be sued for revealing confidential information about his discussions with Michael Carson. Finally, however, the counselor had contacted Paul Ford, Jason’s attorney, who’d asked him to testify. “I agreed,” the counselor wrote, “but later learned that I would not be allowed to tell the Court what had happened. I cannot tell you why because I do not know. They said it had something to do with the fact that the information was privileged.” For all of this the counselor expressed profound regret. “I was completely out of line and very stupid for engaging in conversation of that nature,” he wrote. “I would give anything in the world if I could take back the comments that I made or change what happened.”306
By now, only a court ruling could change what had happened. Toward the end of Jason’s first year in prison, Paul Ford filed a motion for a new trial. Ford did not cite the counselor’s claim; he actually lodged a much more serious charge. In an affidavit accompanying his motion, Ford alleged that at a crucial point in the trial, Judge Burnett had met privately with prosecutors Davis and Fogleman to discuss the prosecutors’ trial strategy.307Since lawyers for all sides are supposed to be present during any communication with a presiding judge, instances where that does not happen are regarded as improper, ex parte communications.308Ford’s charge was a serious one. Neither Burnett nor the prosecutors denied that the meeting had taken place. The charge placed Burnett in the position of having to rule on his own conduct as judge. He dismissed Ford’s motion for a new trial—and Jason’s life in prison wore on.
Jessie: Seventeen and in “The Hole”
Jessie had a harder time adapting. He was disciplined frequently for cussing, refusing to work, fighting, and drinking, because liquor can always be made in a prison. He spent a lot of time in isolation, “the hole,” as it’s known. He blamed his problems on stress. Years later he would explain, “I get a lot of stuff on my mind. It’s hard for me to do anything, thinking about my family, thinking about am I ever going to get out, thinking about what I’m going to do if I ever do get out. It gets me down. It makes me think about stupid stuff, then I try to get into a fight. I try to go to the hole, so that I can be by myself to try to ease my mind. To me, being in the hole ain’t so bad. At least you do get a little peace and quiet.”309Over time, Jessie learned to control his impulse to fight. He was put to work in the kitchen. For fun, he took up dominoes, read wrestling magazines, and slept.
Damien: Nineteen and on “The Row”
Damien’s prison experience was markedly different from that of both Jason and Jessie. Damien was driven straight to death row, a cell block in the state’s maximum security unit, near Varner, Arkansas. There, he was hustled into a single-man cell, and his antidepressant medication was immediately stopped.310During those first few months, the effect of the cold-turkey withdrawal from his medications, on top of the tensions of being placed on death row, was severe. The cell block was constantly noisy. Mentally disturbed inmates ranted. Others shouted angrily from cell to cell. Inmates yelled at guards. Violence occasionally erupted. Guards in riot gear burst into cells. Punishments were meted out. Within a month or two after Damien’s arrival, guards came to his cell, searched it, and found a knife. Damien insisted he knew nothing about it, but he was sent to the hole for a month—a month during which, he later claimed, he was denied food and beaten.
In the months that followed, one of the most seasoned criminals in the place took Damien under his wing.311Damien would later claim that this inmate had had the knife planted