JONESBORO — Prosecutors challenged Damien Wayne Echols' calm demeanor on the stand Thursday, suggesting that an anti-depressant drug keeps fits of rage in check.
The 19-year-old capital murder defendant denied the suggestion, saying that when he misses his medication for manic-depression, he becomes suicidal, not violent toward others.
With the jury out of the courtroom, defense attorneys also called to the stand a 20-year-old West Memphis man who told Oceanside, Calif., police that he may have "blacked out" and killed three West Memphis boys. He later recanted that statement.
Echols, of West Memphis, and Charles Jason Baldwin, 16, of Marion, are charged with three counts each of capital murder for the May 1993 slayings of 8-year-olds Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Steve Branch.
Testimony in the trial entered its eighth day at the Craighead County Courthouse. A third defendant, Jessie Lloyd Misskelley Jr., 18, of Marion, already has been convicted of first- and second-degree murder in the case.
In morning testimony, Echols told Prosecuting Attorney Brent Davis of Jonesboro that the drug, imipramine makes him "sleepy."
"I can't tell if I'm any calmer taking it," Echols said.
Also Thursday, Davis tried to ask Echols about a ninth-grade fight in which he reportedly tried to claw his foe's eyes out, as well as an argument with his father in October 1992.
One of Echols' attorneys, Scott Davidson, objected, saying the incidents were unrelated to the boys' deaths.
Circuit Judge David Burnett of Osceola upheld Davidson's objection, but allowed Davis to ask Echols how the drug effected him.
Davis also questioned Echols closely about comments he gave police May 10 about how and why the killings occurred.
Searchers found the boys' nude bodies May 6, bound hand and foot and submerged in a drainage ditch near their homes off Interstate 40 in West Memphis. All three had been severely beaten. One had been sexually mutilated.
Prosecutors presented evidence this week linking the slayings to the occult --a point hotly contested by defense attorneys.
During eight hours of questioning May 10, Echols said the killers probably liked to hear victims' screams and it probably "makes them feel good."
Echols said Thursday his responses about the location of the crime and injuries amounted to "common sense."
"Is that also part of the common sense that whoever kills 8-year-olds would feel good and whoever kills 8-year-olds likes to hear screams?" Davis asked.
"I figure they must have if they did it," Echols responded.
Echols testified that other responses, such as water having a "demonic" nature and the killer being `'sick or a satanist," were suggested by police. He said he only agreed that it was possible.
While Echols testified Wednesday that he had never been in the woods where the bodies were found, he testified Thursday that he and Baldwin frequently walked in the neighborhood where the victims lived.
Echols' attorneys also called Christopher Morgan, 20, of West Memphis to the stand to bolster their contention that someone else killed the boys.
With the jury out of the courtroom, Morgan testified that he lied when he told Oceanside police May 17 that he may have killed the three boys.
He said he either worked that day at a carwash or spent it jumping off sand cliffs near the Mississippi River. He then spent the evening at a Memphis nightclub.
Morgan testified that he once had a job selling ice cream in the victims' neighborhood and knew Steve Branch.
Morgan said he went to California to bring back a car, learned that West Memphis police wanted to ask him questions about the killings and so he went to the Oceanside police station. He said he told officers there what he thought they wanted to hear during 17 hours of questioning over two days.
Morgan faces a federal charge of possession of LSD in Memphis.
Morgan at first refused Thursday to answer questions about whether he made a statement to police. He asked for an attorney while on the stand.
When Burnett told him to answer whether he gave a statement, Morgan then responded to answer all questions posed to him.
Davidson asked Morgan, "In your statement, did you say, `Well, maybe I freaked out, blacked out, killed the three little boys' " and sodomized them?
"Yes," Morgan said.
"Then you said, `Maybe I could have. There's no telling what happened,' " Davidson asked.
"Yes," Morgan responded.
Morgan later testified that he also told police anyone could have blacked out and committed the murders.
Burnett asked Morgan about a portion of his statement in which he told police he intended to lie.
"From what I recall, I may have told them, `Are you happy?' They said, `Is that the truth?' I said, `No.' " Morgan said.
Oceanside police eventually let Morgan go without pressing charges.
Morgan told one of Baldwin's defense attorneys, Robin Wadley of Jonesboro, that he told police he "made it up" just to be able to leave. He said police locked him in a small room during questioning, but didn't physically abuse him.
Davis labeled Morgan's testimony as "unreliable" because Morgan told Oceanside investigators "that he wasn't telling the truth."
Defense attorneys want the jury to hear Morgan's testimony "to throw it in a hopper to create a smoke screen," Davis said. "There's absolutely no relevance for somebody to say, `I'm going to lie,' and then make a statement."
But a second Baldwin attorney, Paul Ford of West Memphis, said police questioned Misskelley under similar circumstances.
Misskelley's statement led police to arrest him, Echols and Baldwin on June 3.
"Jessie Misskelley denied that he did it, denied that he did it, admitted that he did it, denied it, denied it, and he's in prison," Ford said. "This may be the same thing."
Burnett ruled later in the day that Morgan could testify before the jury. He instructed Morgan to return to court Monday morning and appointed an attorney to represent him.
"Even though it may be prejudicial to the state's case, it may become relevant," Burnett told reporters.
Jonesboro attorney Jim Lyons said either he or his partner, Scott Emerson, would represent Morgan.
Davidson and co-counsel Val Price of Jonesboro worked to bolster Echols' alibi that he spent May 5 --the day the boys disappeared -- with his parents or at home.
Jennifer Sanders, 12, of Turrell, testified that Echols, his sister Michelle and their parents, Pamela and Eddie Joe Hutchison, visited at the Sanderses' former home in West Memphis around 7 p.m. May 5.
Her father, Randy Sanders, testified that he and his wife, Susan, traveled to the Splash Casino in Tunica, Miss., around that time with a friend, Don DeWitt. While he could not recall the specific date, he remembered seeing another friend, Gail Sharp of West Memphis, win $10,000 playing slot machines.
Sharp confirmed the date in her testimony.
However, prosecutors are expected to challenge the date. Witness lists include casino employees responsible for keeping track of sign-in sheets.
West Memphis police inspector Gary Gitchell also testified about procedures used during the investigation, including an attempt to eavesdrop on Echols at the home of Victoria Hutcheson of Marion.