Evidence believed lost in West Memphis Three case found at police department

An attorney involved in the West Memphis Three case, in which three teenagers were convicted of killing three boys in 1993, is claiming that evidence related to the case that was believed to be lost or destroyed has been located at the West Memphis Police Department, local CBS affiliate WREG reported.

Attorney Patrick Benca, who represents defendant Damien Echols, wrote in a Wednesday statement that he located evidence from the case after being granted access to the police department through an Arkansas state court order, according to WREG. He said the evidence, which he claims city officials previously told him was lost, destroyed or missing, was found intact and organized.

Benca said he hopes the evidence can be tested for DNA to help clear the name of his client, who along with Jason Baldwin and Jesse Misskelley Jr. was convicted of murder as a teenager in 1994. Prosecutors in the case argued that Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley had killed three boys the prior year as part of Satanic rituals. The three men spent nearly 17 years in prison before being released in 2012 after entering an Alford plea, pleading guilty while maintaining their innocence.

“We are pleased that the evidence is intact,” Benca said, according to WREG. “We are planning to move ahead and test this evidence using the latest DNA technology available to hopefully identify the real killer(s) of the three children in 1993, and exonerate Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jesse Misskelley.”

The discovery comes after West Memphis Police Chief Michael Pope resigned Tuesday. Echols claimed that Pope’s departure and the discovery of the evidence were connected.

“The chief of police was not truthful,” Echols tweeted on Wednesday. 

The chief of police was not truthful. He has now resigned, and we know that none of the evidence was destroyed. It can now be tested, to see who left DNA at the crime scene. My attorney was in the evidence room this morning and saw it with his own eyes.
Every piece is still there https://t.co/8tzxOWjZLH

— Damien Echols (@damienechols) December 21, 2021

The West Memphis Police Department denied any connection in a statement to ABC 24 Memphis.

“Chief Pope’s resignation is completely unrelated to the West Memphis three rumors being sent out on social media,” the statement reads. “We have no vested interest in trying to withhold any evidence from anyone on either side. We will fully comply with any lawful request made regarding this case.”

Benca and the West Memphis Police Department did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.