LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — The Arkansas State Supreme Court reversed and remanded a Crittenden County Circuit Court ruling in the West Memphis Three case Thursday afternoon.
Special Justice Mary Carole Young of the Arkansas State Supreme Court stated in the ruling that the circuit court misinterpreted the plain language of the law and erred when it dismissed Damien Echols’ petition for new testing. That means testing of DNA gathered at the crime scene can go forward with the latest technology.
Echols had petitioned the First Judicial Circuit Court in January 2022 to have newly discovered DNA retested by using a wet vacuum method. That petition was denied.
Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley pleaded guilty but maintained their innocence using an Alford Plea in the 1994 deaths of three eight-year-olds in West Memphis.
