New forensic evidence shows that three West Memphis boys murdered in 1993 were mutilated by wildlife after their deaths - not by a knife during ritualistic occult killings, according to federal court documents filed Monday by attorneys representing one of the men convicted in the slayings.
The petition to vacate Damien Echols' capital murder convictions is a new attempt by Echols' attorneys to redirect the case from its most sensational element - accusations of satanism - and re-direct the focus to hard science, according to an second amended petition for writ of habeas corpus,filed in the Eastern District of Arkansas at 4 p.m. Monday.
Echols, now 32, was sentencedto death. He has exhausted all of his state appeals.
San Francisco defense attorney Dennis Riordan was reluctant to discuss the specifics of Monday's filing, but did say, "The hard scientific evidence presented in the petition presents a stark contrast to the meager evidence of guilt offered at trial."
For more information see today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
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