JONESBORO — In a firm voice, Damien Wayne Echols denied in testimony Wednesday that he killed three West Memphis 8-year-old boys in May 1993, but he acknowledged an interest in the occult.
Echols, 19, is the first of three teen-agers charged with capital murder in the deaths of Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Steve Branch to testify in his own defense.
While on the stand, Echols said two girls who testified earlier in the day about overhearing him say he killed the boys and planned on killing two more made up the story, possibly to get attention.
Defense Attorney Val Price of Jonesboro surprised courtroom spectators by calling Echols to the stand.
Echols is being tried at the same time as Charles Jason Baldwin, 16, of Marion. A third co-defendant, Jessie Lloyd Misskelley, 18, of Marion, has been convicted of first- and second-degree murder in the case.
"On May 5, did you kill Michael Moore?" Price asked.
"No, I did not," Echols said as he shook his head. Price repeated the question twice more, substituting the names of the other two victims. Each time, Echols repeated his first response.
Echols testified that he had "never even heard of them before I saw it on the news."
He also denied ever being in the area where the bodies were found -- a ditch in a small wooded area known as Robin Hood Hill.
During more than an hour of testimony, Echols said he changed his name to Damien when he became interested in becoming a Catholic priest. He did it after reading about a priest who worked with lepers in Hawaii. Acquaintances had suggested he did so because of his interest in the occult and horror movies.
Echols said he used razors and pins to tattoo a pentagram and ankh on his chest, a cross on his chest and the word "evil" on his knuckles "because I thought it was cool."
Echols also testified that some traits attributed to satanists include arrogance, conceit and self-importance.
"I might be that, but I'm not a satanist," Echols said as he was questioned by Price. "I don't believe in human sacrifice."
Echols also testified that he once owned a knife different from the one investigators recovered from a pond near Baldwin's home in Lakeshore Trailer Park. He said his knife had a camouflage handle with a black blade where the one police found had a black handle and silver blade.
He also confirmed that he takes medication for depression.
Echols said he has trouble remembering details, but likes to read books by Stephen King and Anne Rice, as well as listen to music by Metallica.
"I was told I look good in black. If I'm not dressed in a way I like, I get a headache because I'm worried about it," Echols said.
Echols admitted it gave him "a distinctive look" that kept people at a distance.
Prosecuting Attorney Brent Davis worked to poke holes in Echols' testimony. He suggested Echols was interested in a different religion.
Davis noted that Echols told police he went with his family to a friend's house sometime from 3-5 p.m. May 5. In testimony Wednesday, his mother, Pamela Hutchison, and sister, Michelle Echols, said they went around 7 p.m.
"Your story changes to fit the facts you need to cover?" Davis said.
"Yes, sir," Echols responded.
Davis challenged Echols about a framed print of a goat-headed man standing on a pedestal that police seized from his room during a juvenile crime investigation in May 1992.
Echols said the picture was a gift from an old girlfriend, not a personal satanic symbol.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys fought when Davis offered as evidence several pages of handwritten material that Echols wrote while in jail.
Echols said the pages contained several alphabets he gleaned from books, including one by Aleister Crowley, a satanic author who founded the Ordo Templi Orientis, a sex-magic group. He died in 1947 and favored human sacrifice.
Davis asked why Echols had used Echols' name and those of Baldwin and Crowley in cryptic writings. Echols claimed it was a coincidence from being bored in jail that Crowley's name was listed.
"Do you practice satanism?" asked Davis. Holding up a book containing incantations and prayer taken two years ago from Echols, Davis asked, "Do you do any satanic incantation while out there being bored?"
Echols answered no.
Price and co-defense attorney Scott Davidson objected to the pages being used as evidence. They demanded an investigation into how Davis obtained copies of the handwritten document, suggesting jailers improperly searched Echols' belongings.
Davis said he couldn't remember who gave him the document.
Circuit Judge David Burnett of Osceola allowed Echols' testimony about the pages to stand. However, he barred Davis from using the pages as evidence.
Just before the state rested its case, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Fogleman read part of a passage found in a notebook kept by Echols two years ago.
Fogleman read, "I have always been in the black and in the wrong. I tried to get into the white but almost destroyed it because the black tried to follow me. This time, I won't let it. I will be in the middle."
Echols later testified that he wrote the passage.
For reporters, and later for the jury, Echols also recited a passage in the notebook quoting Shakespeare.
The passage: "Life is but a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Just before the state rested, two softball players testified that they overheard Echols saying he killed the three boys and planned to kill two more.
Christy VanVickle, 12, and Jody Medford, 15, both of West Memphis, testified that they overheard Echols talking to a group of people at the Girls Club softball field sometime after the May murders. While one said Baldwin was with the group, the other said he was near a concession stand.
Jody told Fogleman and Davidson how she overheard Echols as she walked past.
"He said, `I killed the three little boys and, before I turn myself in, I'm going to kill two more and I already have one of them picked out," Jody said.
Christy also testified that she heard the same comment as she walked past the group. Neither girl knew Echols.
The two girls then told Jody's mother, Donna. Donna Medford said the two girls told her when they got ready to leave the ball field but she didn't report it until after the victims were found. She said her daughter called her at work when she saw Echols on television after his arrest to tell her it was the same person.
Davidson pointed out several inconsistencies in the statements. Both girls said they stood within 20 to 25 feet of Echols, but didn't see each other. In addition, Jody's testimony that she was alone conflicted with a police statement that she was with another sister, Jackie, at the time.
Defense attorneys called Echols' mother, Pamela Hutchison, to testify. She said her son spent the evening and night of May 5 with her, either visiting friends or at home.
Hutchison said she divorced and later remarried Echols' biological father, Eddie Joe Hutchison.
Prosecutors objected when Davidson tried to argue that West Memphis police prevented state Sen. Mike Everett of Marked Tree, a lawyer, from seeing Echols when he was questioned a few days after the killings.
With the jury out of the room, Davis said Everett's role is irrelevant because any statement from late in the interview had not been used as evidence.
"It's relevant to the way they harassed this kid," responded Davidson. He and Price said jurors need to know that police denied Everett access to Echols toward the end of nearly eight hours of questioning.
Burnett noted that if the investigation is challenged, then literally hundreds of people could be called to testify. "This is getting absurd, gentlemen," he said.
When the state rested, Burnett denied defense motions for a directed verdict and to sever the trials.
While defense attorneys argued that the evidence didn't tie either defendant to the killings, Burnett ruled enough evidence had been presented to send the case to the jury.
Baldwin attorney Paul Ford argued that the case should be severed because Burnett had to caution jurors too many times to apply evidence and testimony only to Echols.