Jason Baldwin Videos : West Memphis Three Freedom Rally

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West Memphis Three Freedom Rally

We head down to Little Rock, Ar. to cover the WM3.org Freedom Rally and listen to Dixie Chick Natalie Maines speech on the West Memphis Three. The West Memphis 3 are three teenagers tried and convicted for the murders of three children in West Memphis, Arkansas. Damien Echols was sentenced to death. Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin were sentenced to life imprisonment. The case has received considerable attention. Their supporters believe the arrests and convictions were a miscarriage of justice and that the defendants were wrongfully convicted during a period of intense media scrutiny and so-called "Satanic panic." The defendants remain imprisoned, but legal proceedings are ongoing; as of July 2007, new DNA forensic evidence is being presented in the case. A status report issued by the State and the Defense team on July 17 states, "Although most of the genetic material recovered from the scene was attributable to the victims of the offenses, some of it cannot be attributed to either the victims or the defendants". In September, 2008, Judge David Burnett denied Echols' application for a hearing on the new DNA evidence. Hearings for Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley are scheduled to be heard September 23rd through October 1st. Damien Echols' next stage in the legal process is an appeal to the Arkansas Supreme Court. Unless that court reverses the conviction, he will proceed to federal court on his pending writ of habeas corpus.

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