Devil's Knot_ The True Story of the West Memphis Three - Mara Leveritt [195]
139. Bray acknowledged this in an undated three-page typed report that he gave to the West Memphis police.
140. At one point, in the interview on June 8, 1993, Bray asked Aaron if he’d seen any of the assailants “abusing” Michael Moore. Aaron answered, “I didn’t know he was abusing him.” Bray then asked, “Well, you told me they raped him at one point. Is that what they did? Who raped him?” Aaron responded that Jessie did.
141. Author interview with Lax, May 2001.
142. Eight years later, Jason recalled: “I was there for two weeks before I could talk to my mom. They put me in an orange jumpsuit that said ‘Craighead County’ on it. But I didn’t know where that was at. I didn’t know where I was. My mom didn’t know where I was, either. For two weeks, she visited jails—two whole weeks. Once she came to the jail where I was at and they told her I wasn’t there. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, guards would come around and wake me up, to show me off to other police. They’d point and say, ‘Yep, that’s him.’”
143. When assigned to write about who he’d be if he could be someone else, Jason had reflected: “I am satisfied with being who I am. I admit I have certain flaws I wish I didn’t have, but that’s life. Everyone has at least one thing about them that makes them special. My special quality is art. I have always been able to entrance people with my artwork, and I like that. It is the one thing that I can do that mostly no one else can do. So I am happy with being myself.” Another assignment called for him to contemplate his future. Jason had reflected: “Well, in my immediate future, I plan to graduate high school and go to some art college, and major in commercial art. Within the next ten years, I plan to be doing art for MTV on their videos and stuff, or doing album covers, T-shirts, etc. Within the next thirty years, I’ll probably be mellowed down and be reduced to doing wildlife paintings at home and selling them. Or I may have my own tattoo business somewhere. Well, I guess that’s just basically it with my career.” Asked to describe his musical tastes, he’d written: “The kind of music I like mostly is heavy metal. But I listen to all kinds of music. My favorite groups are Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Testament, Slayer, and Ozzy Osbourne. But I also like Guns n’ Roses, Pink Floyd, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pigface, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam. The reason I like this music is that it sounds good. Most of them make a point or statement in their lyrics, and I like that.”
144. The three defendants had been taken to jails in different towns, and though families were told where they were being held, authorities refused to make the locations public, claiming that the secrecy was for the defendants’ protection.
145. As reported in theCommercial Appeal , June 9, 1993.
146. The drug Echols took was amitriptyline, an antidepressant sedative that must be prescribed by a physician. Overdoses can cause an erratic heartbeat or coma. The 1993Physicians’ Desk Reference stated that “potentially suicidal patients should not have access to large quantities of this drug.” Arkansas law requires that prisoners be seen by a physician, who must approve any prescription medications, but in this case that precaution was not taken.
147. Lax and Shettles soon learned that the information they’d been given about Damien’s name was incorrect. But since Damien didn’t care which name they used, and since they’d already gotten to know him as Michael, that was the name that stuck.