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MISSKELLEY
STATEMENT 1994
JESSIE
MISSKELLEY STATEMENT 1994
[Note: This is
a transcription of the taped second statement of Jessie Misskelley,
Jr. regarding the murder of Chris Byers, Steve Branch and Michael Moore]
STATEMENT OF JESSIE MISSKELLEY, JR.
FEBRUARY 17,
1994
CROW: Present
MISSKELLEY: Present
STIDHAM: I'm here.
CALVIN: Present.
MISSKELLEY: Yes, I do.
STIDHAM: Over my objections.
CROW: That's correct.
(Stidham’s objection was due to the fact that the
Prosecution’s lawyer’s had met with Jessie when he was not present (unethical)
and talked him into making another statement**See further explanation in
snippet from Dan Stidham’s Synopsis of the case that
accompanies these statements.)
STIDHAM: That's correct.
________: There has been no negotiations
whatsoever primarily due to Mr. Misskelley's refusal
to talk to us.
STIDHAM: Before you get started with that I would like to make
a reference in regard to what I have and have not advised Mr. Misskelley of tonight.
STIDHAM: Ok. Jessie can you hear me.
MISSKELLEY: Yes, I can hear you.
STIDHAM: I want you to listen very carefully to what I've got
to tell you, ok. I told you earlier that I had some new evidence, is that correct ?
MISSKELLEY: That's what you said.
STIDHAM: And I told you that this new evidence may ..ah.. that I plan on filing a
motion for a new trial and that the Court could possibly grant you a new trial
based on this evidence.
MISSKELLEY: That's what you said.
STIDHAM: Ok, I also told you that giving a statement was
against my advise and wishes.
MISSKELLEY: That's what you said.
STIDHAM:
Ok. I am advising
you that I don't think it's a good idea for you to give this statement. Do you
understand that ?
MISSKELLEY: Yes, I do.
STIDHAM: OK. Do you understand that Mr. Crow is giving you the
same advise?
MISSKELLEY: Yes, I do.
STIDHAM: You need to speak up a little louder Jessie.
MISSKELLEY: Yes, I do.
_________: One second, I may have to fix this.
STIDHAM: So you understand that my advise
to you is that you not say anything. Do you understand that?
MISSKELLEY: Yes.
STIDHAM: And your 18 years old and you understand that I've
asked for a Mental Evaluation.
MISSKELLEY: I don't know if you did or not.
STIDHAM: I asked the Court if I could have an opportunity to
get you the Psychiatric help that you asked for when I was down in
MISSKELLEY: Yes, I do.
STIDHAM: You asked me to get you a Psychiatrist?
MISSKELLEY: Yes, I said I need help.
STIDHAM: And that's why I asked the Judge for the opportunity
to get you that evaluation before you make any statement. Do you understand
that?
MISSKELLEY: Yes.
STIDHAM: And you also understand that again it's my advise that
you not talk or give any kind of statement here tonight ..ah..
until we have a chance to file a motion for a new
trial and get your Psychiatric Evaluations complete. Do you understand that?
MISSKELLEY: Yes, I do.
STIDHAM:
And it is your
decision to go ahead and make this statement anyway?
MISSKELLEY: Yes.
STIDHAM: You still what to give a statement despite my advise and counsel?
MISSKELLEY: Yes, cause
I want something done about it.
(Done about
what? There has been much speculation as to what Jessie is actually referring
to here. He is not clear that he is talking about the murders and there has
been a great deal of speculation that he may be referring to deals that were
allegedly offered to him in return for his testimony in the Echols/Baldwin
trial)
STIDHAM: Ok. So ..um.. is there any part of what I just told you that you don't
understand?
MISSKELLEY: No.
STIDHAM: You understand everything?
MISSKELLEY: Yes.
STIDHAM: And you want to make my statement regardless of my advise against doing so?
MISSKELLEY: Yep.
STIDHAM: Do you want to have an opportunity to talk to anyone
else, father or anyone before you make a statement?
MISSKELLEY: I might need to talk to my father. But I'm not for
sure.
STIDHAM: It's your decision, your 18 years old.
MISSKELLEY: Yes, I am.
STIDHAM: Do you want to talk to your father or not?
MISSKELLEY: No I can go ahead and do it.
STIDHAM: Do you realize that once you make this statement there
is no turning back?
MISSKELLEY: I know there's no turning back.
STIDHAM: Anything you want to add to that Greg.
CROW: Jessie. You realize that I don't always agree with everything
that Dan says but this time I agree with him. I don't think you should say
anything. Do you know that? Are you aware of the fact that I don't think you
should say anything?
MISSKELLEY: Yea, I understand what your
saying.
CROW: Ok, along as you understand that. But you want to
anyway, is that right?
MISSKELLEY: Right cause I want something
done.
CROW: Ok.
CALVIN: Let me ask you a couple of questions before you get
into it ..ah.. Jessie when you were brought here ..ah.. since you've been here
with the Deputy Sheriff. I think you got here about 5:00, is that correct?
MISSKELLEY: Somewhere around 5:00.
CALVIN: Ok, now nobody has questioned you anything about what
happened is that correct?
MISSKELLEY: Nope.
CALVIN: Ok, How have we treated you?
MISSKELLEY: Nice.
CALVIN: Ok, has anybody been rude to you or anything?
MISSKELLEY: No.
CALVIN: Now we got you a Cheeseburger Sandwich and I asked Mr.
Crow on the telephone if that was alright and he said that was perfectly
alright. And I went and purchased you a Cheeseburger,
is that correct?
MISSKELLEY: Yes, sir.
CALVIN: And you had a few, I think I gave you a couple of diet
Cokes. I don't know if you drank'm all but you drank
those, is that correct?
MISSKELLEY: Yes.
CALVIN: But you haven't been promised anything for your
testimony and you want to give it free and voluntarily.
MISSKELLEY: Yea.
CALVIN: And nobody's mistreating you?
MISSKELLEY: Nope.
CALVIN: Ok.
MISSKELLEY: Jessie Lloyd Misskelley,
Jr.
MISSKELLEY: 18
MISSKELLEY: July 10, 1975.
MISSKELLEY:
MISSKELLEY: Yes sir I did.
MISSKELLEY: Damien and Jason.
MISSKELLEY: We sit there for a while and then three (3) little
boys came up.
MISSKELLEY: I was drinking.
MISSKELLEY: Whiskey and.. <inaudible>
MISSKELLEY: And do you recall whether it was daylight or dark when you got to
the woods?
MISSKELLEY: It was still daylight.
MISSKELLEY: No I don't.
(Now Jessie has
no idea what time it was when he got to the woods after stating times in two
prior statements. Recall, in his last statement when he entered the woods he
stated it was getting dark.)
MISSKELLEY: Ah.. by a bridge.
MISSKELLEY: It was on the serv, on the service
road.
(In previous statements
Jessie says he enters the woods via a path not a bridge. The only bridge that is near the service road
that would lead into woods is near the 14th Street woods, not the
woods behind the Blue Beacon where the bodies were found; this is an entirely
separate stretch of woods that is down the street.)
MISSKELLEY: ..Uhm.. (yes)
MISSKELLEY: Jason and Damien.
MISSKELLEY: Lakeshore.
(In previous
statements Jessie insinuates that he meets Damien and Jason in the woods, near the
“crime scene”)
MISSKELLEY: Nope.
MISSKELLEY: We just sit out there and started drinking
..inaudible.., we heard some noise, me and Jason hid and ..ah.. Damien just sit there and then all of a sudden he hid
and then three (3) little boys come up and we jumped'm.
(In previous
statements Jessie claims Damien or Jason called out to the boys and then the
boys came to them)
MISSKELLEY: He was just getting ..inaudible..
waiting for'm?
MISSKELLEY: Uhm.. (yes).
MISSKELLEY: He was drinking beer?
MISSKELLEY: Same thing.
MISSKELLEY: To me they was.
(No beer
cans/bottles were
reportedly found at the site the bodies were found)
MISSKELLEY: I drunk to a point I was sick.
(No vomit was
found at or near the site)
MISSKELLEY: No.
MISSKELLEY: Vicky Hutchison.
MISSKELLEY: No.
MISSKELLEY: Yea.
MISSKELLEY: During that day.
MISSKELLEY: I don't know what time.
MISSKELLEY: Well that morning I went to
MISSKELLEY: Well I got off at dinner time.
MISSKELLEY:
MISSKELLEY: Yes.
MISSKELLEY: Louie, Susie, Stephanie, Pat, Boomer ..um..
Cody, Stephanie, Bobbie, you know some cop and there was some more people I
couldn't tell you.
MISSKELLEY: I don't know what time it was. I didn't have my watch.
(This is when the was the altercation at
MISSKELLEY: I went to Lakeshore.
MISSKELLEY: Uhm..
(yes)
MISSKELLEY: By the ..um.. by the Interstate.
MISSKELLEY: Yea.
MISSKELLEY: It well Damien, I talked to him a couple times, and
he wanted me to go
MISSKELLEY: No, I didn't.
MISSKELLEY: We walked by ..ah.. Walmart
and went on the Service Road.
(There was no
report of seeing the boys and certainly no report of seeing any boys drinking
on the road or carrying alcohol)
MISSKELLEY: <inaudible>
CALVIN: You may need to speak up just a little
bit more.
MISSKELLEY: I can't remember to this day.
MISSKELLEY: No I don't, I can remember what I was wearing.
MISSKELLEY: I was wearing a white shirt,
had a basketball, something on the front of it and I had bluejeans,
greasy, and white and blue addids.
MISSKELLEY: Not very long.
MISSKELLEY: Yea, the creek that goes up under the bridge.
MISSKELLEY: Bridge.
MISSKELLEY: Out of the creek.
(Previous
statements have Jessie putting Damien and Jason in the water “playing”)
MISSKELLEY: Yea.
<PROBLEM
WITH TAPE>
MISSKELLEY: Right.
MISSKELLEY: Blue Beacon.
MISSKELLEY: I don't know.
(Previous
statements have Jessie stating the children “came up on their bikes”;
insinuating that he could see them, therefore would know what direction they
came from)
MISSKELLEY: All I know is I heard these little kids holler.
MISSKELLEY: And Damien started making some noises to get their
attention and they come over where we was
at.
MISSKELLEY: Holler a little bit.
MISSKELLEY: And then Ja,
Damien jumped on'm. And them other two (2) started
beating on Damien and me and Jason jumped on'm.
(Again, there
were no wounds of any kind found on Damien, Jason, or Jessie, even when a photo
of Damien was taken the day after the bodies were found with his shirt off
(Damien is very pale skinned).
Additionally, his hands (/fists) showed no signs of having been in a
fight or having beaten anyone.
MISSKELLEY: ..um.. one of'm had
blond hair. I don't know which one.
(In Jessie’s
first statement he gets the boys’ photos confused with their names. In Jessie’s
second statement he claims that he knows the boys’ by face and name. Now, after a trial and hearing the names and
seeing the faces over and over he does not know which child is which and who
Damien allegedly jumped? This makes no
sense)
MISSKELLEY: I can't, I can't remember that.
MISSKELLEY: Me and Jason jump out and grabbed'm.
What happened at that point? Damien jumps on one and the other two (2) jump on him, what happens next?
MISSKELLEY: ..um.. the one
that had a, a blue boy scout.
MISSKELLEY: I can't remember. I remember the one I grabbed.
MISSKELLEY: I can't remember, I was too
messed up to remember that.
MISSKELLEY: Something with the boyscouts
on it.
MISSKELLEY: We started hitting'm.
MISSKELLEY: Fist at first.
MISSKELLEY: He <inaudible> first he cut one of'm on a face on his left side
just a little bit like a scratch. Then ..ah.. he went to the other one and got on top of him, started
hitting him and then <inaudible> pull one of'm
pants down and get on top of'm and cut'm.
MISSKELLEY: To my knowledge, yea, a different
person.
MISSKELLEY: I was still hitting that one.
MISSKELLEY: My fist.
MISSKELLEY: ..Um..<inaudible>
MISSKELLEY: Face.
MISSKELLEY: Head.
(Jessie claims
continuously throughout this statement that he beat Michael Moore with his
fists. It would seem that Michael was
punched for a long time; Michael’s wounds did not indicate such a beating; such
as, broken nose, knocked out teeth, fractured facial bones, etc.))
MISSKELLEY: Well the one that got cut on his face, he stuck his finger on his
cheek and slicked the blood off of it.
MISSKELLEY: He grabbed one of'm by the ear, I don't
know which one, he grabbed on of'm by the ear trying
to pull his ear off or something. He grabbed'm pretty
tight. It turned kind of red.
(This “grabbing
of the ears” was suggested to Jessie in the second statement. When asked if the anything happened above the
neck to the children Jessie stated that one was put in a “headlock”; a
wrestling term. Jessie still claims that
he was going to wrestling this night.
This is the first time Jessie is graphic about ear pulling)
MISSKELLEY: They were saying Stop, Stop.
MISSKELLEY: Yea, he was telling me stop and then I stopped and Damien told
me, no, no don't stop. And I got on'm again.
(There were no
reports that night of any disturbance of any kind in that area, even though the
site where the bodies were found is very close to the back of the Blue Beacon
MISSKELLEY: Even when we hitting.
MISSKELLEY: Stick.
MISSKELLEY: Damien, I hit, I hit one of'm with a
stick and
(No blood was
found on any of the children’s discarded clothing)
MISSKELLEY: No, I didn't look at them. I know there's a stick
<inaudible> craved something into it or something. You know part of the
bark off of it.
MISSKELLEY: it was longer than a baseball bat.
MISSKELLEY: Like a piece of the bark off of it.
MISSKELLEY: I can't remember.
(Jessie has
never made these statements about the sticks before. The sticks were brought into evidence as
“possible murder weapons”; there was no DNA to link them to the crime and the were brought into evidence months after the murders.
Jessie is now describing the sticks that were in court, approximately)
CALVIN: Jessie in order to make sure that picks it up you need to talk up a little.
MISSKELLEY: Oh. I can't remember.
MISSKELLEY: Yea.
MISSKELLEY: No.
MISSKELLEY: ..Uhm.. (yes).
MISSKELLEY: I was pre, pretty good ways from'm.
MISSKELLEY: Bout from here to that door over there.
MISSKELLEY: No the door to the next room over there.
MISSKELLEY: Something like that, maybe not even that far.
MISSKELLEY: I didn't pay any attention to them,
I just kept on hitting that one.
MISSKELLEY: Uhm..
(yes).
MISSKELLEY: Well Damien
<inaudible> screw one of'm.
(Still no evidence
of rape of the children)
MISSKELLEY: Well he was gonna stick his penis in that little boys behind.
MISSKELLEY: As far as I am concerned he did.
MISSKELLEY: I don't understand what....
MISSKELLEY: They didn't do it, he was going to it, then they didn't
(When
pressed for details, Jessie switches gear completely and now for the frist time says no rape actually occurred, switching gears
completely from his statement two sentences earlier that “As far as I’m
concerned he did.” Easier to switch gears
than to admit he had no idea because it didn’t happen)
MISSKELLEY: Well I seen the boys pants
down.
MISSKELLEY: He pulled'm.
MISSKELLEY: Damien.
MISSKELLEY: Well he was kicking his feet.
MISSKELLEY: What, what'd you mean?
MISSKELLEY: ..um..
(Again, when
pressed for details, Jessie can do more than “ummm.” How about if we just start making
suggestions, Brent?)