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315. Though prison officials later confirmed that a block in the wall between the cells had been removed, serious questions were raised about whether the opening was large enough for Damien or Gardner to have passed through. A state police report concluded that, though items could have been passed between cells, the opening was not large enough for a man.

316. In addition to publicizing his situation, Damien filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against prison officials, alleging emotional, mental, and physical torment. A hearing was held at the prison, during which Damien told a U.S. magistrate, “The reason for this lawsuit, basically, is that I just want to be left alone. I was sent here to die. I would just like to be left alone until that time comes.” In 1996, a settlement was reached in the lawsuit. Its terms assured Damien that he would not be punished for calling attention to conditions in the prison and that he would be treated like any other inmate. Damien had appeals of his death sentence pending at the time this book was written. Upon the advice of his attorneys, he declined to discuss this and other aspects of his life in prison. Gardner was executed by lethal injection in 1999. He maintained to the end that he had concocted the rape allegation, that Damien had cooperated in it, and that he and Damien remained friends.

317. The opinion, No. CR94-848, was written by Chief Justice Bradley D. Jesson. It was delivered on February 19, 1996.

318. The opinion cited an earlier case in which it had held that “a fifteen-year-old with an IQ of 74 and a second-grade reading level was capable of comprehending his Miranda rights and of waiving those rights.” Justice Jesson wrote, “The appellant’s situation is similar. In fact, he was two years older than [the other boy] and had a slightly higher reading level.”

319. The Arkansas legislature eliminated that requirement the following year.

320. Stidham knew of the earlier decision. He’d argued that it was absurd to require parental involvement when a juvenile was charged with a minor crime, but not when a juvenile was charged as an adult, with a crime that might result in a sentence of life in prison or even the death penalty. The court recognized the problem, but ruled against the juveniles, in favor of the state. “The appellant urges us to overrule [that earlier decision] and its progeny,” the opinion in Jessie’s case noted, “but it would be the height of unfairness for us to tell the prosecutors and law enforcement officials of this state that a parental signature was not necessary, then declare nearly three years later that lack of such a signature was fatal to an accused’s confession…. We therefore decline the invitation to overrule this line of cases.”

321. While Arkansas law requires that interrogations of police officers must be taped in their entirety, the state has no law affording that special protection to children—or to adults who are not police officers.

322. “The question regarding Dr. Peretti’s opinion is whether it would have impacted the outcome of the trial,” the justices wrote. “We think it would not have.” As Justice Jesson wrote, “The appellant’s statements were already filled with mistakes, inconsistencies and gross inaccuracies regarding the time that the murders took place. It is obvious that the jury disregarded the appellant’s time estimates, as it was their right to do. Dr. Peretti’s opinion could only have served to reinforce what the jury already knew: the appellant was either mistaken or not telling the truth regarding the timing of events on May fifth.”

323. This opinion was written by Associate Justice Robert H. Dudley.

324. The only argument that the court deemed significant with regard to severance concerned the different ways that Damien’s and Jason’s lawyers wanted to treat allegations relating to the occult. “Echols contends that his strategy would have been to openly admit all evidence of Satanic worship in order to show its absurdity,” Dudley noted, “while Baldwin contends that he wanted to exclude all