Dan Stidham is the attorney who represented Jessie Misskelley, Jr. - one of the teens who was convicted for the heinous crime in 1994 along with Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin.
The attorney for one of the West Memphis Three has revealed a haunting new theory about the horrific murders of three eight-year-old Cub Scouts - with new DNA testing now underway in a bid to identify 'the real killer'.
The suspects spent the next 18 years behind bars, but were released from prison in 2011 and continue to maintain their innocence to this day. Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Stidham said he believes a long haul truck driver may be the real culprit for the triple murders. He explained: 'Truckers are required to sleep so many hours per day - so they pull into those truck stops and park.
Attorney Dan Stidham, who is now a judge, has been working tirelessly on new leads to find 'the real killer' 'I said this in my book, I am not willing to take Terry Hobbs off the suspect list,' he said. 'I cannot account where he was over the entire evening - all night and all morning- the next day.' This DNA - that may hold key evidence in the case - will now be retested with the M-Vac wet vacuum system, a forensic collection device, that investigators use to solve crimes.
Damien Echols, 18, was labeled the 'mastermind' in the boy's death and was sentenced to death in the triple murder Another lead the attorney continues to pursue is Terry Hobbs the stepfather of Stevie Branch, one of the eight-year-old victims. Hobbs has never been arrested or charged, and has denied any wrongdoingOn August 19, 2011, the remarkable plea was negotiated between the attorneys, who were facing the grueling task of giving the men a new trial after new DNA evidence in 2010 failed to connect any of them to the horrible crime.
This is why the West Memphis Police and the prosecutor have been very reluctant to allow the new DNA testing, according to the attorney. They also surmised that Jason Baldwin, his best friend, must have been in on it as well. 'The theory that emerged was that the murders were the result of a Satanic Ritual due to the wounds on the bodies that were beyond human comprehension,' he explained, 'but Ken Lanning, a former FBI profiler had debunked the theory.'
Misskelly was interrogated by police for more than 12 hours which resulted in what Stidham called a false 'compliant confession,' which means that the person being interrogated is psychologically coerced by the interrogators to confess even while believing he is innocent. 'They could have just said, “Hey, sorry we made a mistake and then exonerated them. Paid them reparations, done the honorable thing, but they just dug in deeper.'
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