Exhibit B of the Search Warrant.

    In order to obtain a search warrant, the police composed and attached a statement to Misskelley's confession detailing Misskelley's inside information regarding the crime.  This was "Exhibit B."  Exhibit B is illustrative of the biased tone of the investigation and the outright dishonesty of the West Memphis Police Department.

    Exhibit B has three parts. The first describes the crime. The second describes the justification for the warrant. The third affirms that this information had been corroborated by the investigation.  Exhibit B is transcribed and displayed at the bottom of this page.  

    The justification for the warrant is made explicit.  "Misskelley gave the police information that only a person who had been involved in the homicides would have known."  Thirteen examples are then provided (the numbering is mine).  Then, at the end, the conclusion is made:  "This information given has been corroborated through the investigation conducted at the scene of the homicides by the West Memphis Police Department Criminal Investigation Division and the examination of the victims and evidence by the Arkansas State Crime Lab."

    These assertions establish three aspects by which the claims of the police can be assessed. First, that Misskelley gave the police the information.  Second, Misskelley's statements can be corroborated by the evidence.  And third, whether the details included in the warrant matched the facts of the case.

    In some cases, the police told Misskelley the details. In others, the details provided in the warrant were sheer fabrications by the police; Misskelley made no such statement. And finally, in some instances there were details that were provided by Misskelley but for which there were no corroboration or else they simply contradicted the facts of the case.  Sometimes a given statement had all of these problems.

    The first third of Exhibit B is an odd rehashing of the crime. Some facts are correct and other facts are incorrect.  Among the incorrect assertions, the document states Michael Moore was castrated and all the clothing was recovered near the victims.

    The meat of the justification of the warrant begins with the subsequent section:


#1. "Misskelley stated that he witnessed the cutting of the penis of Chris Byers by Jason Baldwin."

        Analysis.  

        Facts of the case. Chris Byers did have injuries to his penis and groin area, specifically, the removal of his testicles and the skinning of his penis.

        Problems with this statement. Lots of them. First of all, Misskelley never connects this incident to Jason Baldwin. Second of all Misskelley never states who had his penis cut. He points at a picture, the police identify the picture, and Misskelley agrees. (Misskelley had already demonstrated that he could not correctly identify the victims from pictures.) Third, Misskelley only states that a child was cut "on the bottom." The police offer that Misskelley meant groin and then penis. Misskelley relates no specific knowledge in these exchanges until the police say it first. And, finally, Misskelley ends by saying he doesn't know if he saw them cut the penis.   The excerpts below from Misskelley's confession are from a personal transcription after having found many errors with the police transcription.  From Misskelley's confession:

        Removing the police statements which filled in the information for Jessie, we have:  

*A63 MISSKELLEY: At the bottom
*A64 MISSKELLEY: Mm-hmm.
*A65 MISSKELLEY: Mm-hmm.
*A66 MISSKELLEY: (Note:  Misskelley's mm-hmm overlaps with police question)
*A67 MISSKELLEY: Mm-hmm, that's where he was cut at.
*A68 MISSKELLEY: That right there.
*A69 MISSKELLEY: Mm-hmm.
*A70 MISSKELLEY: That's the one that I seen them cutting on.
*A71 MISSKELLEY: Mm-hmm.
*A72 MISSKELLEY: That's where I seen them going down at, and he was on his back. I seen them going down right there real close to his penis and stuff and I saw some blood and that's when I took off.

        In the only other mentioning of these injuries, Ridge says:

*A134 DETECTIVE RIDGE: Okay, and the one that they were cutting the penis off of, did any of them, or cutting the penis or whatever was being done, did they have sex with him at all?

        In this instance, Ridge seems to catch himself as he is putting words into Misskelley's mouth.  However, at the probable cause hearing, Ridge doesn't hesitate to state Jessie was even more specific.


       Interestingly, Misskelley never of his own accord brings up the name of Chris (or Byers) in regards to any act of violence. Each time he is prompted by the police who tell him whose picture he pointed at. Misskelley never brings up Chris (or Byers) at all except in the statements regarding rape.


and, later:


In between the above two, Misskelley mentions "Myers" in regards to rape:


#2. ". . .the forcible rape of Chris by Damien Echols. . ."

        Analysis.  

        Facts of the case. None of the children had anal injuries, bruises or trauma, associated with forcible penetration. Upon microscopic analysis, none of the victims had broken capillaries around the anus.  Ergo, none of them were forcibly sodomized (pretty much stated by the medical examiner at trial). Byers had an "injected anus" with "marked hyperemia." The other two did not have their rectal areas so described.   

        Problems with this statement. Lots of them. First, it doesn't match the facts of the case. Second of all, Misskelley gave all sorts of contradictory statements related to this. He said, at various times that only Echols raped Chris (B48, above), that only Baldwin did (A135), and that neither of them did (A134). 


#3. ". . .the striking of the heads by Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin (sic). . ."

        Analysis.

        Facts of the case: all three children had injuries to their heads consistent with being struck in the head.

        Problems with this statement: lots of them (remarkable for such a short statement). Misskelley does say that Damien hit a child (A30). Misskelley does go on to say that that child was Michael Moore but then points to the picture of Chris Byers (A31). The police correct his identification (A32) and then tell him "Okay, so you saw Damien strike Chris Byers in the head? (after A34)" It is the police not Misskelley who corrects the identity and tells Misskelley that he saw the child struck in the head. Blows to the head are never mentioned again by Misskelley. Misskelley never says Jason hit a child in the head.


#4. ". . .including the severe beatings of all three boys. . ."

        Analysis.

        Facts of the case: all three boys had multiple bruises consistent with being beaten.

        Problems with this statement: Misskelley gets this correct. He does say all three of the boys were severely beaten. A36 continues a discussion regarding Chris Byers and Damien Echols.


    and:


    and:


#5. ". . . the act of the victims being placed in the water by Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols. . ."

        Analysis.

        Facts of the case: all three victims were found underwater, sunk in the mud at the bottom of a creek.

        Problems with this statement: Again, this is not "insider knowledge" on the part of Misskelley. After telling the police twice that the children did not get into the water, the police tell Misskelley that they did. Only then does Misskelley agree with the premise and say they were pulled into the water. "Placed" is an odd choice of words, as it does not coincide with any of Misskelley's statements.


and:


then:


#6. "He stated that he did see one of the victims being drug into the water."

        Analysis.

        Facts of the case: There is no evidence of the manner in which the children were taken into the water.

        Problems with this statement: A bizarre statement on the part of the police. Misskelley makes no comment regarding one of the children being "drug" into the water. The only statements regarding the children and water are mentioned above.

#7. "When the beatings of the three victims began that Michael Moore ran from the scene and that he, Jessie Misskelley, Jr., did chase Michael Moore, caught him and returned him to the other two suspects who began beating him. "

        Analysis.

        Facts of the case: no supporting evidence that this happened and some evidence to the contrary. Misskelley's comments, in their entirety, say that Moore headed off to the south. Moore's body was found to the north, separate from the other two.

        Problems with this statement: There is the above problem of the contradicting evidence. Misskelley also says he held Moore until "they" got there, not that Misskelley brought Moore back. Of course, this makes no sense, because this was supposed to have happened at the beginning of the melee and Jason and Damien would have had to have abandoned Chris and Stevie. The police must have picked up on this inconsistency so they correct Misskelley in the following question, telling Misskelley that he brought the children back together (in agreement with what is in the warrant). The police also elaborate that when Michael Moore was returned "the other two suspects. . . began beating him." There is nothing in Misskelley's statement as to that, although Misskelley does state elsewhere that all three were beaten.


#8. "Misskelley stated that he did witness one one the victims to be beaten until unconsciousness." (sic) 

        Analysis.  

        Facts of the case: All three were severely beaten. No specific evidence that supports that they were beaten until unconscious, but neither does this assertion contradict the facts.

        Problems with the statement: Misskelley made no such statement especially regarding the odd particular that it is one of the children being beaten until unconscious. The police are the first to bring up the subject of consciousness, and then it is after the cutting. Again, the police provide the "inside knowledge." Nothing is mentioned as to how they became unconscious.


        The only other discussion of a child losing consciousness is presented below in regards to the police suggesting Chris was choked to unconsciousness and not death.

#9.  ". . .and that one of the victims was choked to what he thought was death with a piece of wood."

        Analysis.  

        Facts of the case: no physical or bruising evidence that any child was choked. This lack of evidence basically says that no child was choked.

Problems with the statement: it contradicts the facts of the case. Furthermore, Misskelley told the police the child was choked to death with hands, then a stick. The police then correct him, telling him that he just thought the child was dead. This correction was necessary because the means of death did not match Jessie's statement.


#10. "Damien had grabbed one of the victims around the head with his hands on either side of the head forcing the boy to perform oral sex on him. "

    and

#11. "The victims were being held by their ears while being forced to perform these acts. "

        Analysis.  

        Facts of the case: All three children had bruises on their ears that can be argued with being consistent with a perpetrator using this as a means of forcing oral sex. They could also be caused by holding ears for other reasons. No semen was found in the oral cavities, and no bruising was found in the back of the mouth. Peretti indicated that the such bruising would be expected with forced oral sex.  Although Jessie states forced oral sex happened to two of the children, all three children had bruising on the ears.  

        Problems with this statement. As in items #1, 2, 6 and 7 the warrant is particular, where Misskelley is not particular or else contradictory. Misskelley clearly says both Echols and Baldwin received oral sex (B50). Furthermore, when Misskelley goes into how the children were held during the oral sex, Misskelley refers to both Damien and Jason (the warrant statement only mentions Damien). There are other problems with this statement centering around the 12 exchanges before Jessie finally is led to say that they held the children by their ears. This was argued in court that the police extensively lead Jessie to get to the ultimate specific conclusion, but suffice it to say, Jessie did not spontaneously display insider knowledge in this matter. He was laboriously taken there by the police, saying held by the head (four times), by the arms  (once), before finally saying by the ears (italicized below).  This is only after four times in which Gitchell asks if they were held "up here"  (B66, B68, B74, B75, emphasis mine).   What Gitchell was demonstrating when he said "up here" is not mentioned.


 
#12. "He saw the bicycles that the victims had ridden to the scenes on to be parked on the south bank of the bayou by the victims as they approached the scene where the murders occurred. " (sic)

        Analysis.  

        Facts of the case: the children were last seen on the bicycles about a quarter mile east from the above described place. The bicycles were found on the north half of the bayou, under water, about thirty feet from the south bank, suggesting that the bikes were first taken across the pipe.

        Problems with this statement. Jessie makes no such comment. Jessie's comments regarding the bicycles are:


        The children didn't skip school, they didn't take their bikes to school, and they didn't take a bus to school.  

    and:


Here Jessie clearly says he doesn't know. Furthermore, this statement doesn't match the geography when taken with his other statements, particularly that Damien and Jason were in the creek when they saw the kids and hollered to them to come over.  The south bank of the bayou was not visible from the creek, nor for that matter was the north bank where the banks were found.  The police asked Jessie again:


        "Close to right where there before you come in" is Jessie's definitive statement on where the bicycles were left and sufficient to put in the search warrant Jessie's inside knowledge regarding the bicycles that the bicycles were left on the south side of the bayou (for which there was no evidence, anyhow).

#13. "Misskelly also described the area where the murders occurred very specifically as to the high bank on the west side of the ditch where the bodies were placed and the flat area on the east side of the ditch where the murders actually took place."

        Analysis.

        Facts of the case: the flat area on the east side of the ditch was alongside where Michael Moore's body was found and about 10 yards from where the other two bodies were found. Too long an argument to go into here as to whether this was the murder scene. According to the police's own case summary, the lack of blood at the site where the bodies were found indicates that it was not where the murders took place and the initial ACIC bulletins stated in this crime "their bodys (sic) had been dropped in a remote place."  

        Problems with this statement:  There is no evidence that Misskelley knew anything about the interior of the woods in which the bodies were found. The police supplied him with these details on tape with Misskelley either agreeing to what the police said or parroting back single words or choices, telling him he stood on a tall bank, etc.


and:


        This is an incomplete list of the police's description of the inside of the woods.  The only detail provided by Misskelley during the interview was that the path to the crime scene was "little."

Additional claims made in the probable cause hearing.  

        In the probable cause hearing, Ridge made one other claim as to the insider information.  

        Misskelley had said one of the children was cut on the face.  


       Misskelley never identified which victim had cuts in the face.  He never associated any wounds with Steve Branch.  Before the taped interrogation, the police showed Misskelley an autopsy photo of Michael Moore, who had several minor cuts on his face.  Furthermore, Misskelley did not describe the degree of cutting that took place on the child mentioned above nor did he describe it as stabbing or gouging.   However, when the police asked him if he did say the wounds were severe, he agreed (although there was no record he had previously said it).  


        A final false claim was made in the probable hearing cause, although it did not relate to insider knowledge.  Ridge claimed Jessie had said they had homosexual sex in cult orgies.  Jessie never described homosexual sex in the orgies.  


        In summary, of the 13 statements made regarding Jessie's inside knowledge of events that were also corroborated by evidence, only number 4 was correct. Jessie correctly stated that all three were beaten up badly. The other statements were provided by the police during the interrogation, were unsubstantiated, contradicted the evidence or were simply invented when composing the search warrant.

A final note from Ridge's conversation with Gail Grinnell:

        Ridge:  "We don't put words into people's mouths.  And it's all on tape, exactly what he said."


EXHIBIT "B"  - transcribed

The following is a summary regarding the investigation of the murders of Steve Edward Branch - age 8, Christopher Byers - age 8, Michael Moore - Age 8.

Branch, Byers, and Moore, were last seen riding two bicycles towards a wooded area known as Robin Hood Hill. This wooded area is located at the dead end of McAuley Street and North of Ten Mile Bayou in West Memphis, Arkansas. The last time of sighting was about 6:00 p.m. 05-05-93.

The victims were reported missing by their parents at approximately 8:10 pm 05-05-93 at which time a search was initiated.

At about 1:30 p.m. 05-06-93, the body of Christopher Byers was located by Sgt. Mike Allen after he sighted a black tennis shoe located in a creek approximately 60 yards south of Interstate 55.

Byers body was submerged in approximately 2-3 feet of water. Byers hands and feet were bound by shoe strings from tennis shoes and he had an obvious trauma wound to his left forehead and other locations on his body.

Branch and Moore's bodies were located submerged in water approximately 5 feet from Byers. Both Branch and Moore were bound in the same manner as Byers. Branch had obvious injuries and gouge wounds to his left cheek. Moore had been obviously castrated and had susstained other injuries. All three victims' were nude when located.

All clothing belonging to the victims including shirts, shoes, pants, and underwear were located in the creek in close proximity to the victims.

On 06-03-93, Jessie Misskelley Jr. was asked to come to the West Memphis Police Department where he was advised of his rights according to the Miranda rule and gave a voluntary statement concerning his involvement in the above noted homicides. A copy of a transcribed statement will be attached hereto. Misskelley gave the police information that only a person who had been involved in the homicides would have known. Misskelley stated that he witnessed the cutting of the penis of Chris Byers by Jason Baldwin, the forcible rape of Chris by Damien Echols, the striking of the heads by Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin including the severe beatings of all three boys, and the act of the victims being placed in

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water by Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols. He stated that he did see one of the victims being drug into the water. Misskelley stated that when the beatings of the three victims began that Michael Moore ran from the scene and that he, Jessie Misskelley, Jr., did chase Michael Moore, caught him and returned him to the other two suspects who began beating him. Misskelley stated that he did witness one one the victims to be beaten until unconsciousness and that one of the victims was choked to what he thought was death with a piece of wood. He further stated that Damien had grabbed one of the victims around the head with his hands on either side of the head forcing the boy to perform oral sex on him. Misskelley stated that the victims were being held by their ears while being forced to perform these acts. Misskelley stated that he saw the bicycles that the victims had ridden to the scenes on to be parked on the south bank of the bayou by the victims as they approached the scene where the murders occurred. Misskelly also described the area where the murders occurred very specifically as to the high bank on the west side of the ditch where the bodies were placed and the flat area on the east side of the ditch where the murders actually took place.

This information given has been corroborated through the investigation conducted at the scene of the homicides by the West Memphis Police Department Criminal Investigation Division and the examination of the victims and evidence by the Arkansas State Crime Lab.

Exhibit "B"