The Commercial Appeal
AT A GLANCE
Date: February 5, 1994 Section: News Page: a8 Memo: The Miskelley Verdict Edition: Final
THE CRIME: Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore, all 8 years old, were killed on May 5, 1993, in a wooded area near their homes in West Memphis.
THE DEFENDANT: Jessie Lloyd Misskelley Jr., 18, of Marion, Ark. He was 17 when he was arrested four weeks after the killings, but ordered to stand trial as an adult.
THE JURY: Seven women and five men, residents of Clay County.
THE CHARGES: Three counts of capital murder. Conviction calls for a death sentence or life in prison.
THE VERDICTS: Guilty of first-degree murder of Michael Moore and guilty of second-degree murder of Christopher Byers and Steve Branch.
THE PUNISHMENT: For the murder of Michael Moore, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Only a governor's grant of clemency can make him eligible for parole. He received consecutive 20-year terms for the second-degree murders. The sentences were the maximum. He could have gotten as little as 10 years on the first-degree murder and 5 years each on the second-degree murders.
ALSO ACCUSED: Damien Wayne Echols, 19, of West Memphis, and Charles Jason Baldwin, 16, of Marion. Their capital murder trial is to begin Feb. 22 in Jonesboro.
AT A GLANCE
Date: February 5, 1994 Section: News Page: a8 Memo: The Miskelley Verdict Edition: Final
THE CRIME: Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore, all 8 years old, were killed on May 5, 1993, in a wooded area near their homes in West Memphis.
THE DEFENDANT: Jessie Lloyd Misskelley Jr., 18, of Marion, Ark. He was 17 when he was arrested four weeks after the killings, but ordered to stand trial as an adult.
THE JURY: Seven women and five men, residents of Clay County.
THE CHARGES: Three counts of capital murder. Conviction calls for a death sentence or life in prison.
THE VERDICTS: Guilty of first-degree murder of Michael Moore and guilty of second-degree murder of Christopher Byers and Steve Branch.
THE PUNISHMENT: For the murder of Michael Moore, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Only a governor's grant of clemency can make him eligible for parole. He received consecutive 20-year terms for the second-degree murders. The sentences were the maximum. He could have gotten as little as 10 years on the first-degree murder and 5 years each on the second-degree murders.
ALSO ACCUSED: Damien Wayne Echols, 19, of West Memphis, and Charles Jason Baldwin, 16, of Marion. Their capital murder trial is to begin Feb. 22 in Jonesboro.
