West of Memphis Page #5

When we were appointed

by the court in 1993,

we thought it wasn't gonna be

a jury trial.

We thought it was gonna be a plea.

As I got deeper into the case

and looked at things,

they just didn't start making sense.

Misskelley's versions

of what happened changed wildly,

and he couldn't get the story right

every time or any time.

JESSIE SR.:
Everybody round here

knew that Jessie didn't do it.

He didn't like Damien,

he was scared of him.

He, uh, stayed away from him

as much as possible.

Well, he wasn't too good in school.

Had to take him out of school

and I got him started

doing mechanic work.

He caught on pretty good.

JESSIE:
When I was growing up, my dad always

taught me, you know... Tell the truth.

Tell the police the truth. I thought

the police was there to help you.

That's when they, uhh,

started questioning me.

Gary Gitchell and Bryn Ridge was,

you know, asking me some questions.

You know, about the kids.

And I tell them,

"I didn't know nothing about it."

The only thing I knew was what, you know...

What I was told from another guy.

I kept telling them the whole time,

"I wanna go home. I wanna go home."

HILL:
Certainly one of the reasons

behind why he confessed is

that he's borderline

mentally retarded.

He was trying to compose a story

as though he was there.

He just didn't have the details.

JESSIE :
Right after,

uh, they beat up all three of them.

RIDGE:
Beat them up real bad? And

then they took their clothes off?

JESSE". Mm..hmm. And then they...

FUDGE". Then they tied them?

JESSE'. Then they tied them up.

Tied their hands up.

RIDGE:
And about what time was it

that all this was taking place?

I was there about 12.

About noon?

"Okay. Was it after school had let out?

JESSE". I didn't go to school.

It couldn't have happened at noon.

It couldn't have happened

before the kids were out of school.

So they kept leading him down the path

from noon to 4:
30, 5:30, 6:30.

Was it getting dark?

RIDGE:
Your time period might not be

exactly right, what you're saying.

STIDHAM:
Police officers don't

like the word "interrogation."

They like the word "interview."

So Mr. Misskelley wasn't interviewed,

he was interrogated.

And he was interrogated from 9:00

in the morning until after dark.

This is an entire day

that he was being interrogated,

yet we only had a few minutes

of the audio tape.

Jessie, about what time was it

when the boys

came up to the woods?

JESSE'. I'd say it was about...

It was about 5 or so. Five or 6.

Ummmm.

All right, you told me earlier it was

around 7 or 8 or... Which time is it?

JESSIE:
It's 7 or 8.

GITCHELL:
Okay.

I remember it was starting to get dark.

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