I am now 29 years old. I knew Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie
Misskelley in 1993. I was living in Bartlett, Tennessee at the time. I was 12 years
old and going to school at Ellendale Elementary. (BMHR 2346) Currently, I still
live in Arkansas, and I am a paralegal for the Ellings Law Firm in Little Rock. I
graduated from the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, with a bachelor’s degree
in criminal justice. I am studying to take the law school entrance examination.
I met Damien and Jason at a skating rink in West Memphis. I usually went
there with Holly George. I believe I met Jason and Damien in February, 1993.
From that point on we spoke almost daily by phone until they got arrested in June
of 1993. (BMHR 2348). Back in 1993, we would see them at the skating rink. I
remember we also saw them once at Lakeshore and once at the Esperanza
Bonanza. That would happen on weekends.
We talked by phone pretty much every day. Sometimes it was Holly and me
who called them. Sometimes all of us were on the phone, sometimes it was just me
and Damien. They did not have my phone number. (BMHR 2349). Holly and I
would talk to Jason. Sometimes Damien and I talked. I usually talked to Jason
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when Holly was on the phone. Holly would talk to Damien, but usually not
without me on the phone. We would initiate the calls because I never gave out my
phone number. If Damien wanted to talk to me he usually called Holly. Also,
Holly had three-way calling. (BMHR 2349-50).
Usually when I spoke to Damien he was at his house, though sometimes he
was at Jason’s. Holly talked to Jason a lot at Jason’s house.
I thought that Damien was a nice guy though he was kind of vain. Jason was
very nice, kind of quiet, and very sweet. I didn’t see any evidence of either of
them being interested in Satanism or witchcraft or anything like that.
I knew Jessie Misskelley a little bit. My sense is that Jessie did not hang out
with Jason and Damien. Jessie was louder than they were. He liked to cause more
trouble. (BMHR 2351). I remember there was an incident where he stole an 8-ball
from the skating rink and Jason and Damien ended up being blamed for that and
kicked out. I never saw them interact other than that.
Normally I used to get home from school at 3:15 or 3:30. I was supposed to
be off the phone until about 9:30, though sometimes I stayed on it up to 10 PM.
(BMHR 2352-3). My parents didn’t know that I was talking to those guys on the
phone.
I remember May 5, 1993–that was a traumatic time for me. I remember that
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Holly had called me and she had gotten home and we called Damien. We had to
get off the phone because Holly’s Mom needed it. (BMHR 2353-4) Damien told
me to call him later at Jason’s. I called over to Jason’s at about 4:30 or 5 pm and
Jason answered. I also spoke with Damien who said that he and Jason had to go to
Jason’s uncle’s. Later on, around 8:30 I called Damien’s house. It was busy once,
and the next time, I spoke with his grandmother. He was not there. I called at
about 9:20 and reached Damien at his house. Jason wasn’t there. Damien and I
talked until about 10 p.m. There was nothing unusual about the call. (BMHR
2357). He didn’t say anything about having been with Jason and Jessie.
I spoke to Damien the next day, May 6. I don’t remember talking about
what had happened to those three boys. After that, I ended up talking to the police
about the matter. Nobody from Baldwin’s defense team spoke with me. Nobody
from Misskelley’s defense team talked to me either, though I was on the witness
list for Jessie’s trial. I never testified. (BMHR 2359)
Between May 6 and the date that Damien and Jason were arrested we
continued to talk by phone every day just the way we had been talking to that
point. We would still see them on the weekends. I didn’t recall anything unusual
coming up that caused me concerns or suspicions. (BMHR 2359)
If I had been called as a witness, I would have testified truthfully, and
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consistently with what I am testifying now.
I also knew Heather Cliett. Heather and I would talk by phone. Heather had
a girlfriend type interest in Jason Baldwin. (BMHR 2360-61).
The Esperanza Bonanza happened in May. It was kind of a festival. The
skating rink we have been talking about was called Skate World. About once a
month, they would have all night skating there. I remember being at one all nighter
with Damien and Jason.
As far as I know, neither Holly nor Heather was ever called as a witness
either. (BMHR 2362)
CROSS EXAMINATION BY KENT HOLT
I never testified in any proceedings in this case before, either trials or
hearings. I had been supposed to testify at a hearing in October of 1998, but I was
never called. (BMHR 2362-63). I recall that time because it was very traumatic for
me. I recall a lot about it.
The calls continued until Damien and Jason were arrested, which was about
another month after the 3 boys were killed. My parents were not aware that I was
talking to Damien and Jason. I was 12 years old at the time. I didn’t tell them
anything when Damien and Jason were arrested. I only told my parents when the
police asked to talk to us. (BMHR 2364).
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I used to get driven to the skating rink in West Memphis by my mother when
we lived in Bartlett.
We didn’t talk to them about religion, or horror movies or things like that.
We had a common interest in music. We knew some people in common. We were
trying to set Holly up with Jason.
Holly was 13 at the time.
I have never visited Jason Baldwin in prison, or in the jail. (BMHR 2366)
REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY BLAKE HENDRIX
I remember the phone calls on May 5, 1993 because that time had a
profound impact on me. It was traumatic. I lost a lot of friends because of it.
(BMHR 2366) People heard that I was supposed to be a witness at Jessie’s trial.
Some of my friends’ parents read that, and some of my friends were forbidden to
speak to me, because people were convinced they were all evil. The whole
experience solidified my desire to work in the criminal justice system. (BMHR
2366-7).
I do remember being interviewed by a private investigator named Ron Lax
in 1994. I gave both he and the police information about the phone calls. (BMHR
2367)
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