West of Memphis Page #6

"GYYCHELL".

Okay, well, that clears it up.

DRIZIN:
We all have our breaking points. I

think it's important that people realize

that this is not just about a person

with disabilities

falsely confessing to a crime.

This is about police misconduct.

That's what this is about.

Once police convince

the person to make a statement

against their interest, how does

that person know what to say?

GITCHELL:
Did anyone use a

stick, and hit the boys with?

JESSIE:
Damien had a kind of a big old

stick when he hit that first one.

It's because of this phenomenon

known as contamination,

the police will suggest facts

about how the crime happened.

RIDGE:
What was to keep these

little boys from running off?

Were their hands tied in a fashion to where

they couldn't have run? You tell me.

NIRIDER:
They're sitting there

listening to the police.

Listening to their interrogators

ask those leading questions.

"Weren't these boys sexually assaulted?"

Then they know what story to tell back.

RIDGE:
Another boy was cut, I understand.

Where was he cut at?

"JESSE". At the bottom?

FUDGE'. On his bottom?

GYYCHELL". Do you mean right here?

In his groin area?

FUDGE".

Do you know what his penis is?

Yeah, that's where he was cut at.

Did it ever occur to you

that what he was telling you was false?

His entire story was false?

Jessie simply got confused. That's all.

DRIZIN:
I mean, Jessie was not convicted

on the basis of his confession.

And neither was Damien and Jason.

They were convicted on the basis

of Gary Gitchell's confession.

That was his story.

All they had to do

was get Jessie to agree to it.

STIDHAM:
It's not particularly difficult

to get a confession from someone

who's mentally handicapped.

It's like interviewing a 3- or 4-,

5-year-old child.

BURNETT:
People don't tend to confess

to crimes that they didn't commit.

You know, I'm sure

there may be circumstances

where a person might

have a low mentality.

He's slow-minded, is what it is,

you know what I mean?

It took a while for him to, you know,

get things straight in his mind.

Kind of slow-minded, you know.

Well, hell, everybody's a little bit

slow-minded anyway.

I just have better faith

in our law enforcement

than to force somebody

to make a statement that's untrue.

HILL:
I think that it was essentially

poisoned from the very beginning.

The most basic things

about the investigations,

talking to the family members.

Getting statements from police

that evening.

You know, whether they had these alibis

or not, but it wasn't done.

And it's why the case went bad.

GAIL:
Y'all need to be

investigating some of these people

who've been arrested

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