West Memphis convict: I wanted to testify
Posted on Friday, September 26, 2008
JONESBORO — Jason Baldwin, one of three men convicted in the 1993 killings of three West Memphis second-grade boys, unsuccessfully urged his attorneys to allow him to testify during his trial 14 years ago, he said Thursday.
Baldwin, 31, said he wanted to let jurors in his March 1994 capital-murder trial know “who I was” and dispel prosecutors ’ claims that he was a killer.
“They didn’t hear anything from me,” Baldwin testified Thursday during the second day of a Craighead County Circuit Court hearing held to determine whether he received adequate legal counsel during his trial.
Brent Davis, 2 nd Judicial District prosecuting attorney, asked Baldwin during cross-examination if he told the judge in the 1994 trial that he was satisfied with his attorneys when that trial was over.
In 1994, Baldwin said, he was.
On Thursday, Jessie Misskelley, 33, attended the hearing in Jonesboro; he will have a similar proceeding to determine his attorney’s effectiveness. His new attorney, Michael Bert, said Misskelley and Baldwin will share witnesses.
Baldwin, Misskelley and Damien Echols, now 33, were convicted of the May 5, 1993, slayings of three 8-year-old West Memphis boys. Echols was sentenced to die by lethal injection. Baldwin and Misskelley were sentenced to life in prison.
Misskelley talked briefly with Baldwin in the courtroom before the proceedings began Thursday morning, mentioning Baldwin’s weight loss. Misskelley said that the tattoo of a clock with Roman numerals on his shaved head is a reminder of his incarceration. “It’s because I’m doing time,” he told a reporter during a recess.
On the stand Thursday, Baldwin said his attorney, Paul Ford, systematically denied him the chance to testify.
“I was always wanting to, but he never called me,” Baldwin said.
Several witnesses, including his mother, uncle, brothers, Marion schoolteachers and friends, could testify about his whereabouts on the day of the slayings, he said.
He went to school that day, he said, returned to his Marion home and went to West Memphis to mow his uncle’s yard. That night, he talked to three girls and his mother on the telephone and then went to bed, he said.
“I told them [his attorneys ] the same thing over and over without any results,” he said.
During cross-examination Thursday, Davis asked Baldwin why he didn’t complain at the time.
“I tried to let them know that I wanted to testify,” Baldwin said. “I thought [Ford ] would tell me when it was time. I thought he’d say, ‘Here it comes.’ Then it was over.” Earlier, Ron Lax, a Memphis private investigator, testified that Echols’ defense team couldn’t afford an adequate investigation.
Lax wanted to hire a pathologist and a private medical examiner to review autopsy reports from the state Crime Laboratory, he testified, but Echols’ lawyers didn’t have the money.
“We didn’t do nearly enough investigation,” he said.
Lax billed the state for more than $ 100, 000 for his investigative services, but the state paid him only $ 7, 890, he said.
The hearing resumes Monday.
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