Echols: I believe every person has a good side and a bad side, yes.
Davis: Were those your words when you referred, when you've got written down here, you stated there was no control of the demonic portion of people?
Echols: He asked me did I think there were some people that could not control that side. And I said, "Yes, I guess there is."
Davis: That was your -- who used the word "demonic?"
Echols: I don't know if it was me or him.157
Prosecutor Brent Davis grilled Echols on these pronouncements:
Davis: Question number 11, "How do you think the person feels that did this?" The answer was, "Probably makes them feel good, gives them power." Now, I guess Officer Ridge said that, too?
Echols: No, I used common sense on that. If someone was doing it, then they must have wanted to. And if they were doing something they wanted to, it must have made them happy. I don't think they were doing it because someone forced them to or because they didn't want to.
Davis: So in your mind the person that killed these three kids, it is common sense that killing three eight-year-olds would make you feel good?
Echols: Whoever did it, it must have.
Davis: Okay. And it gives them power. That's also another common sense perspective from you?
Echols: Pretty much...
Davis: You told the officer -- was that -- you told him you thought the person who did it would think it was funny?
Echols: Yes.
Davis: And would not care one way or the other if he got caught?
Echols: Probably not.
Davis: And did you also tell him that the killer would probably want to hear the kids screaming?
Echols: If he got off on killing people, he probably would like to hear them scream.
Davis: Those were your words, though, right?
Echols: Right.
Davis: And is that also part of the common sense that whoever kills eight-year-olds can feel good and whoever kills eight-year-olds would like to hear them scream, is that part of your common-sense philosophy?
Echols: I figured they must have if they did it.158
Although all the other statements to which Ridge had testified were reflected in his typed summary, this one was not. Doing his best to reinforce the prosecution's points for no good reason, Damien's attorney cross-examined Ridge.
Davidson: And Mr. Echols, you asked him, something to the effect of what type of books did he enjoy reading?
Ridge: Yes, sir.
Davidson: Okay and he told you I think Anton LaVey and Stephen King.
Ridge: Yes, sir.
Davidson: Okay. And in your opinion is there anything unusual about those being the type of books that Echols likes to read?
Ridge: Anton LaVey is a book of Satanic rules and involvement. Stephen King seems to be horror movies and horror books.159
Under questioning, Echols denied ever having read Anton LaVey:
Davis: Who told him Steven King was one of your favorite authors?
Echols: He asked me did I like him. I said, yes, I did.
Davis: Did he ask you about Anton LaVey?
Echols: Yes, he did.
Davis: And what did you tell him?
Echols: I said I haven't read anything by him, but I am familiar with him.160
Nothing was presented at trial to further connect Echols to LaVey, but as referenced earlier in this book, Echols' psychiatric history lists Anton LaVey as someone he said he would like to meet.
Another sinister-sounding comment was noted by Ridge.
When asked why he thought the victims were so young, Echols stated that the younger the victim then the more innocent the victim would be. That in turn meant that the more innocent the victim would be the more power that the person would have gotten from the sacrifice. Damien claimed he got this idea from books and movies:
Davis: It also states that Damien stated that the younger of the victims would be more innocent and in turn more power would be given the person doing the killing.
Echols: Right.
Davis: Did you say that?
Echols: Yes.
Davis: Those are your words?
Echols: Uh-huh.
Davis: Kind of sounds like that guy we talked about yesterday, right?
Echols: Uh-huh.
Davis: Mr. Crowley?
Echols: Yes.
Davis: Is that where you got that idea?
Echols: I saw it on several movies, books.161
The prosecution suggested he got the idea from Aleister Crowley. Like LaVey, Echols said he was familiar with Crowley, but had not read anything by him. Under continued questioning, Echols confessed to an interest in the "dark side:"
Davis: You studied and looked into the satanic side of the occult, correct?
Echols: Um-hum.
Davis: And you were familiar with it, right?
Echols: I'm familiar with about every aspect of it.
Davis: You're familiar with a fellow named Aleister Crowley?
Echols: I know who he is.
Davis: He is a guy who kind of professes -- he is a noted author in the field of satanic worship, right?
Echols: I know who he is, but I have never saw any of his books personally.
Davis: Not much of a follower of his?
Echols: I would have read them if I had saw them.
Davis: But Aleister Crowley is a guy that based on his writings believes in human sacrifice, doesn't he?
Echols: He also believed he was God so --
Davis: He also had writings that indicated that children were the best type of human sacrifice, right?
Echols: Yes, sir.162
The Secret Alphabet
Echols was presented with some scrawling on a paper. It included a coded alphabet, his name, Jason Baldwin’s name the full name of his newborn son, and Aleister Crowley.
Davis: What kind of -- is that alphabet up there -- is that some sort of Wiccan alphabet?
Echols: I don't remember in particular what this one is.
Davis: Whose names are written on that document?
Echols: Mine, Jason's, my son's, one that says Aleister Crowley --
Davis: Who?
Echols: Aleister Crowley.
Davis: One of the names that you picked out to write about was this fellow named Aleister Crowley?
Echols: Um-hum.
Davis: Is that just a total coincidence? You just pulled his name out of the air?
Echols: It is the same book that I had with the different alphabets and it also had stuff about him.
Davis: Did you have the book out there at the time you were doing this?
Echols: This is from what I remembered myself. I was practicing, trying to memorize, getting it all in my head.
Davis: So you were going over it working on it in your head and at that point in time you write all this down from memory?
Echols: Um-hum.
Davis: Had you studied Aleister's book pretty carefully?
Echols: Never any book by him in particular. I have never saw any of his.163
Davis went on to ask Echols several accusatory questions to hammer home the connection between Crowley, LaVey, black magic and Echols.
Davis: These books where you have handwritten things and certain symbols on the books and your reference that you made to Aleister Crowley, the person that is a supporter of human sacrifice, that writing that you made while in the jail out here, that is all just as a result of your interest in black magic, not that you practice it?
Echols: That and being bored.
Davis: Do you do any satanic incantations out there while you are bored?
Echols: No, I do not.
Davis: And LaVey, the person that you indicated to the officers that was one of the persons you read a lot, that is not Wiccan or white magic, is it?
Echols: No.164
In his closing arguments, Prosecutor Brent Davis mocked Damien Echol’s twisted understanding of the meaning of common sense:
When Damien was telling us - remember about the interview? And he's talking about what Officer Ridge asked him. And he said--you know, I asked him--I said Damien, you know--'you told the officer that whoever did it is probably laughing at the police'. 'Yeah I said that'. 'Why you think that?' 'Common sense would tell you that.' And I thought at that time that that's a tad strange--now to me, common sense--but maybe I just--I hadn't thought about it, and then he started reeling off these things like the person--it would have happened out in the woods because they couldn't hear them scream. But the person who did would have really liked to have heard them scream, really enjoy hearing them scream. Why you think that? Well common sense would tell you that. And I thought, well, ok. And so it went through and he reeled off a number of things and he kept saying - just looking real flat, unemotional -common sense would tell you that.165
In addition, Prosecutor Fogleman’s closing argument emphasized the connection between Echols and Crowley:
On the sheet of paper that you wrote in jail whose names are on there? Damien Echols, obviously somebody close to him. Jason Baldwin, his best friend. Damian Seth Azariah Echols, this defendant's son. And who was the last one? On this sheet of paper that only contained these names of people close to him, Aleister Crowley. And who was Aleister Crowley? He was the guy, if you'll remember when Damien told the police--they asked him was there any significance to the fact that they were young, an Damien said, "the younger the victim, the more innocent--the more innocent the victim, the more power the killer gets from the killing". And when I asked Dale Griffis had he heard a statement like that, what did he say? He said, that's Aleister Crowley. Aleister Crowley, the proponent of human sacrifice who says that the younger the victim, the better. Now whether it was a sacrifice or ritualistic sacrifice or simply those beliefs motivating this defendant, don't matter. He's the one with the beliefs and if you think about that piece of paper with only names of people close to him on there...and then the name Aleister Crowley.166
Closing arguments were completed by the prosecution and the defense on March 17th, 1994. Jason Baldwin never took the stand in his defense. The Baldwin’s defense counsel offered no alibi for their client. They couldn’t even make one up.
The next day, on March 18th, 1994, a jury of twelve returned to court and declared a unanimous verdict of guilty. State prosecutors, in two different trials with a sum total of 24 jurors, proved beyond a reasonable doubt that all three suspects---Jessie Misskelley, Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols---were guilty of the murders of Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and James Michael Moore.
The penalty phase for Echols and Baldwin began the next day on March 19th. Brief arguments were made by state prosecutors and the defense attorneys. Baldwin received a sentence of life plus twenty years, and Echols received the death penalty.
October 24, 1994
Michael Johnson
Letter to Prosecutor Brent Davis
Mr. Brent Davis,
I am forwarding this letter to your office simply because you were the only prosecuting attorney that I was able to get the address of. After reading this, I hope you will bring it to the attention of the appropriate persons. I may have some useful information for the prosecution in the upcoming appeal of Jessie Misskelley. Who, as you may know is one of three defendants accused of murdering the three young boys in West Memphis.
I have known Misskelley since June 9th, 1994. We are currently housed together in the A.D.C. Diagnostic Unit, Special Programs Unit. At several different occasions, Misskelley and I have talked extensively about many facts of the case. Among them, Misskelley told me that they, the defendants, cut the testicles of one of the children off. That Jason Baldwin, one of the defendants, had sex with one of the children after he had been killed. And that Damien Echols, one of the defendants, said a prayer before they threw the boys in a ditch. Misskelley also told me that they, the defendants, left a night gown at the scene so that it would look like women had committed the crime. He says now that he is trying to blame the parents of one of the children. Misskelley also told me that his confession is the only evidence that the prosecution has. And that he and his attorney are trying to have that dismissed. I once asked Misskelley what were the names of the three boys. He laughed for some time, and then said he could only remember one of them.
Mr. Davis, please do everything in your power to keep Misskelley behind bars for the rest of his life. He is a very cold, morbid person.
I thank you for your time.
Michael Johnson167
10. CONVICTED
After his arrest in 1993, Damien Echols sent letters to Glori Shettles, secretary to Ronald Lax, an investigator hired by his defense attorneys. They provide insight into the mindset of Damien Echols. Among the letters were copies of lyrics to songs by Nine Inch Nails, Alice Cooper, Metallica and Slayer. He also included recollections of his dreams:
This morning when I woke up my eyes were stuck open. I must have slept that way. My heart was beating so hard it was vibrating in my head. I went to hell. I was not a dream. I was really there. It wasn’t that bad. The old man took me there. He is my constant companion now. My new name is Baalberath. We are leaving soon now. I have set the date for October 31st, Samhain---All Hallows Eve (Halloween). I am starting to write now because one day I want my son to read about everything that happened before he was born.168
The following writing is marked August 27th, 1993. Echol’s wanted to leave a brief biography of his life before he went to trial. He included his interaction with an evil spirit, “Rosey”, who would visit him at night. He references the word Aeon a term (which he misspelled) used frequently by Aleister Crowley to denote a unit of cosmological time. The written narrative starts and stops, contains numerous misspellings and changes from cursive to print letters:
Well, now I’m sitting in jail waiting for my trial., so I thought I would write my life story. Or as much of it as I can remember. I remember bits and pieces of my early childhood but not all. I will put the parts I can remember in spots where they seem appropriate. I always knew I was different from all other children. I could always tell that my thought process was different. I always thought other children were crazy or stupid. I was always content just to watch people. The things that they did sometimes just kept me amazed for hours. Even all the way up until now, I still like to just watch people. I knew ever since I was really young that I was destined for greatness. At first I thought maybe I was an alien. I don’t know why it just seemed natural. I had a very sad and deppresing child hood. I was always sad for no apparent reason. I cried constantly. I was always scared of everything. I tried to follow every rule exactly. When I would do something that didn’t turn out exactly right I would be horrified. Sometimes I would be so upset I would make myself sick. I was always sick with something or other. I was always completely serious and thought everyone else was better than me. I would never stand up for myself. No one paid a lot of attention to things I said because they would all just say oh, that’s just Michael be nice to him, he has problems. They acted like I didn’t know what they meant or something. Even my mother thought that sometimes. I remember when I was very young one night I woke up and there was someone in my bed. It scared me so bad I couldn’t even move. When I snapped out of it, I jumped out of bed and ran to my mother’s room. I told her and she went to my room and looked. She said there was nobody there. She said there was no way someone could have gotten in without her knowing it. I still wouldn’t go back to bed so she got mad and made me sit on the sofa and just stare at the wall. Finally I agreed to go back to bed because I didn’t want her to get any more angry. I didn’t go to sleep all night. I just laid in bed scared stiff. I can remember one night when I was a little older and I woke up to see a man standing in my room. It paralyzed me. I wouldn’t even blink because I knew as soon as I opened my eyes he would be right in my face. I guess later I must have passed out because the next thing I knew it was the next morning. Anyway as you can probably figure no one believ
ed me. These things always happened at night. For awhile I thought people may be right. But I changed my mind one night when there was an old man in my room. I thought if I just ignored him he would go away. But when I looked again he was right in front of me. He licked my hand and said “Does that feel like a dream to you?” He talked for awhile of things that arn’t important yet. Anyway, I have been in three “mental health hospitals” (hell) and later finally fell in love and found out I was a father. I finally thought my life was going to change for the good. Things were finally starting to look better. Then one night while sitting at home watching T.V. the police came and arrested me for something I did not do. I listened for the first time to the sound of my surroundings. I saw the truth for the first time. I opened my eyes to see a discovery. I was the God of the New Eon [Aon], the Beast of the Apocalypse. Everyone saw it before me. I was the last to know. Now I know these idiots can never touch me. I will not stop until they have all paid for this. I did absolutely nothing. Now I’ve decided to prove myself to everyone. I will slay myself. But I will be back, I will rise again in three days, just like the first God. Only my message won’t be of peace. It will be of war. It will be a time when everyone must pay for their mistakes. It will be the Armageddon.
Well, the first thing that comes to mind to talk about is when my mom and dad got divorced. I guess I should have been sad but I wasn’t. At the time I really didn’t even really care. Me and my mother and sister moved in with my grandparents. My father came to visit for awhile but then he just disapeared. I didn’t really care about that either. Then my mother started seeing a man named Jack Echols. He was really nice at first until him and my mother got married. Then he changed. He got very, very angry over the smallest things. I think he hated me. I could not stand him. I hated him more than anything on this Earth. No matter how I tried, it was like I could never get away from him. Around this time my grandfather died. I guess that’s another time I should have been sad, but I wasn’t. Me and him were never really close. I think he hated me also. I didn’t care. I never could get along with him. He was an asshole. Jack always made me go to church every fucking sunday. I hated it there, every one stared at me like I was some kind of freak. Some times I expected them to throw peanuts. Everyone knew I didn’t belong there. They all called me Jack’s boy. I was not his boy and I hated to be called that. He was a sorry cheap bastard. He always bought shitty little car and waited untill they completely broke down to find another one. I never could figure out how he could be a christian and still hate me. Now I have finnaly figured it out. Just now. I can finnally understand. It’s because of the same reason all Christians hate me, the reason they put me here. Because they hate me because God hates me. Because he knows I can beat him so he tries to kill me. Every chance he gets. They all wear their little mask and pretend their good people and are here to help. Unmask, Unmask …. and the Red Death held sway over all. She finnally divorced him when she found out he had been abusing my sister. Around this time I got put in the hospital. By the time I got out my mother and real father got back together. We moved straight to Portland, Oregon. I became really depressed and suicidal. They put me in another hospital. Whenever I got cut I came back to Arkansas where I fell in love and found out I was a father. It was the happiest I had ever been in my life. Then this shit happened. They don’t understand. They can’t beat me and God still tried everything he can to kill me but he can’t. Death can’t stop me. I would be only the third person in history to raise from the dead. Lazarus, Jesus Christ, Damien. I will prove it very soon. Afterwards I will come to power and nothing will stop me. I wrote all this down because it is easier than trying to tell people who wouldn’t believe it anyway. They will all believe it very soon. Unmask, Unmask …. And the Red Death held sway over all. Now they’ll take their medicine. They’ll take it and they’ll like it, the stupid little shits, or they’ll have their brains bashed the fuck out. The fucking idiots, they think we’re out to get them all. They peek through the cracks in the doors and act superior. They think we want them all. Well, they’ll take their medicine now. They think I don’t know they’re watching me. They think I don’t know about the spies and bugs. I do goddamn it. Believe me I’ll know. I’ve got spies too. I can end all of you anytime now, you stupid fucks. I can see physical changes happening in my body. I can tell it’s getting ready. The abonations have already begun to be spit forth from the Earth. I have seen some of them. I will become one soon. I will be the king of freaks. I see a perfect explosion, God’s amunition dump going up in the flames of righteousness, Satan storming heaven, his artillery captain a fiercely grinning fool with red flayed cheeks, Damien by name, never to be Michael Hutchison again. The end is here. Kiss your ass goodbye. People could see if they would open their eyes and see. There are many similarities in the First and now the Second Coming. Jesus was imprisoned and executed for nothing. People even accused him of being Satanic. When he was praying for a man and the people said he cast out devils because he was the prince of devils. Look people, it’s time to pay up. Now is the Judgement. I am the Judge.169
Abomination: Devil Worship and Deception in the West Memphis Three Murders Page 23