WM3 defense attorney continues to champion wrongful conviction theories

Stidham represented Misskelley in infamous triple murder case

By TERRY BURKE

NewsDesk@news21am.com

PARAGOULD — The heartbreaking murders of three, 8-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1993 remain unsolved after DNA technology in 2007 failed to connect any of the three men sitting in prison for the crimes with evidence found at the scene. Defense attorney Dan Stidham represented one of the wrongfully convicted: 17-year-old Jessie Misskelley, who had offered up a coerced confession after 12 hours of interrogation with no parent or attorney present.

Misskelley, along with Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols, were rounded up, arrested, tried and sent to prison with lengthy sentences – Echols to Death Row. They would come to be known as the West Memphis Three in a case that remains one of the most discussed true crime stories today. Other than a false confession, no other evidence exists that links the three to the crimes.

Stidham kept his promise to free his client, but it took nearly two decades (until 2011) and a tidal wave of support from superstars like Eddie Vedder, Johnny Depp, Metallica, Winona Ryder and Peter Jackson, plus the best lawyers and forensic scientists on the planet.

“The old saying about the wheels of justice turning slowly is very, very true, and that’s very unfortunate because they didn’t deserve to be in there for 5 minutes, much less 18 years and 78 days,” Stidham said.

In Stidham’s unforgettable, chilling account, A Harvest of Innocence, he exposes new details never shared in previous documentaries or books about the West Memphis Three case – truths that only Stidham, the one attorney who worked the case from beginning to end, could tell. He hopes that exposing what happened will help exonerate the three innocent teenagers who spent decades in prison because of the malevolence of the police, prosecution and judge.

An intimate, unsettling and balanced look at what the case did to Stidham himself, to the victims’ families, and to the West Memphis Three and their families, A Harvest of Innocence is a no-holdsbarred exposition of the politics and unbridled ambition of a few men who destroyed so many lives.

“They arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned three innocent young teenagers for decades,” Stidham said. “Who really did this and why? That someone is out there still.”

About the Author

Dan Stidham has been a fulltime Arkansas District Court Judge since 2008. During his 20 years in private law practice, Stidham was engaged in a broad range of litigation, including as a public defender. It was in this capacity that he became deeply involved in one of the most well-known murder trials in American history, a triple homicide of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1993, the subject of A Harvest of Innocence.

Stidham is a frequent speaker on college campuses and at professional meetings around the country regarding the West Memphis Three case; criminal law issues including criminal justice reform, police interrogation tactics, Miranda, false confessions and forensic issues; Satanic Panic; media issues in a high-profile case; and wrongful convictions. For more information, please visit www.danstidham. com, or connect with him on Facebook (A Harvest Of Innocence).