Devil's Knot_ The True Story of the West Memphis Three - Mara Leveritt [98]
“They can,” Ofshe replied. “And sometimes they get to the point at which they can no longer do that and so they simply give up.”
The Verdict
Fogleman presented his closing argument, stressing the confession in a controlled, unemotional voice. Stidham cited the inconsistencies in Jessie’s statement and the lack of physical evidence in hopes that the jury would find reasonable doubt. He concluded, “Killing one human being by another is only exceeded by the state killing an innocent man.” Then Davis, who had the final argument, used it to lash out. Vehemently and emotionally he reminded the jurors of what the police had concluded was the motive for the crime. “I don’t know what the definition of a cult is,” Davis sneered. “I don’t know if it has to mean that they go once a week and worship the devil or what. But when the evidence is that all three of them are involved in this type of activity—that’s a cult in my book.” Then, standing behind the defendant, where he held a photo of Michael Moore over Jessie’s head, he told the jury emphatically, “He chased him down like an animal and brought him back. And, as a result of his action, Michael Moore is dead, Stevie Branch is dead, and Chris Byers is dead.” He asked the jurors to find Misskelley guilty of three counts of capital murder, a verdict that would allow the state of Arkansas to execute him.
By noon the next day, the jury had reached its verdict. Jessie kept his head bowed as Judge Burnett read the forms. In the death of Michael Moore, he was found guilty of first-degree murder. In the deaths of Christopher Byers and Stevie Branch he was found guilty of murder in the second degree.
Stidham felt the breath knocked out of him. The verdicts of first-and second-degree murder meant that the death penalty could not be imposed, as Fogleman and Davis had wanted. But Jessie had been found guilty. In the sentencing phase of the trial, the jury sentenced Jessie to life in prison without parole for the murder of Michael Moore. The jurors tacked on an additional twenty years each, to be served consecutively, for the murders of the other two boys.231When Judge Burnett asked Jessie if he had anything to say, the teenager answered, “No.”
Afterward, one of the jurors said that allegations about Jessie’s ties to the occult had not factored into the verdict. “To be honest with you, it wouldn’t have mattered to us if there was a cult or not,” juror Lloyd Champion told theCommercial Appeal .232Champion said that jurors considered Stidham’s arguments that Jessie’s confession was coerced, but that they’d concluded Jessie’s statement about chasing Michael Moore and holding him had not been solicited. “The police didn’t ask him that,” Champion said. “Boom! That was out of nowhere.” In the same interview, Champion added that he was not surprised that Stidham didn’t have Jessie testify. With irony that was apparently not intentional, Champion explained, “I think that prosecuting attorney could have tore him apart and made him say anything.”
Gitchell exulted that the conviction had vindicated his department. Jessie’s stepmother told reporters that she hoped the prosecutors would be able to sleep at night. “They’re all a bunch of liars,” Jessie Sr. said. The elder Misskelley added that Jessie had been terrified and near despair as sheriff’s deputies had led him away for his trip to prison. Jessie was crying, Jessie Sr. said. “He told me, ‘I’ll never make it down there. I’ll never get out and come home.’”
Years later, sitting in prison, Jessie would recall, “When that verdict came in—eeee-yewww!—I just knew my life was over right then.”
Chapter Sixteen
The Allegations of Official Misconduct
TODD ANDDANAMOOREwere characteristically reserved as they left