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Authors: Mara Leveritt
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police had found a poem that was “of a questionable nature.”
Still trying to suppress items found in the search, the defense lawyers called to the stand Lisa Sakevicius, an analyst from the state crime lab. She revealed that, in yet another unusual turn of events, she had driven from her office in Little Rock to assist the police in their search. Under questioning by Paul Ford, Sakevicius acknowledged that she would have been “surprised” if any of the fibers found with the dead boys’ bodies had been found at Jason’s house. 173
When Ford asked, “Was there any scientific reason that this search needed to be conducted at night?” Sakevicius answered, “Not to my knowledge.”
To refute the assault on the warrants, Fogleman called Judge Rainey to the stand. The municipal judge contradicted the testimony by Ridge. Though Rainey admitted that he had been called to the police station after police finished questioning Jessie, he insisted, “I had no participation in the preparation of the affidavit. I had no participation whatsoever.” Rainey told Judge Burnett that he had approved the search warrant because of the “close relationship between the alleged perpetrators” and “the fact that the evidence possibly could be removed or destroyed if it was not attempted to be gathered immediately.”
Ford argued further that, as a judge, Rainey had not been independent and detached enough to properly rule on the warrant. He insisted that the U.S. Supreme Court “has been quite strict” in setting limits on nighttime searches. But Judge Burnett rejected both arguments. “It is the court’s opinion and ruling,” he declared, “that Judge Rainey was on very sound ground.”
“A Level Playing Field”
Nevertheless, Ford pressed on. Arguing that all he and the other defense lawyers wanted was a “level playing field,” he pointed out that Fogleman had recently taken the unusual step of issuing prosecutor’s subpoenas, a seldom-used tool that allowed him to question witnesses under oath before the trials. “It’s rare that you do what I did in that case,” Fogleman later acknowledged. 174 But he added, “The prosecutor has a right to conduct their own investigation…and through the subpoena power, a prosecutor can compel people to give testimony, just like in a grand jury…. And there were things that I needed to know.” Most of Fogleman’s mandated interviews were conducted in September, four months after the murders. First, he questioned members of the family that the Echols family had reported visiting on the evening of May 5. The Echolses’ friends confirmed their account. Fogleman next questioned members of Damien’s and Jason’s immediate families. They too supported the boys’ accounts of their whereabouts on May 5. Fogleman then questioned L. G. Hollingsworth, the teenager who, after being polygraphed by Detective Durham, told police that he believed Damien was the killer. But L.G. told Fogleman that he knew nothing about the crime. When Fogleman questioned Damien’s girlfriend, Domini Teer, she testified that contrary to what her aunt Narlene Hollingsworth had claimed, she had not been with Damien on the service road near the Blue Beacon on the night the boys disappeared.
Lax attended the interview when Fogleman questioned Damien’s family, along with a lawyer from West Memphis who had been appointed by Burnett to represent them for that procedure. 175 Lax later wrote in his notes that when he introduced himself to the court-appointed lawyer, the attorney informed him that he knew that Damien was guilty. “When I asked him what knowledge he had to lead him to believe this,” Lax wrote, “he stated, ‘They found that boy’s penis and testicles in a glass jar in Damien’s bedroom.’ I attempted to explain to him that that was not true, and he repeatedly told me I needed to check my sources, because it was true.” In fact, Chris Byers’s severed body parts never were recovered. Lax
Still trying to suppress items found in the search, the defense lawyers called to the stand Lisa Sakevicius, an analyst from the state crime lab. She revealed that, in yet another unusual turn of events, she had driven from her office in Little Rock to assist the police in their search. Under questioning by Paul Ford, Sakevicius acknowledged that she would have been “surprised” if any of the fibers found with the dead boys’ bodies had been found at Jason’s house. 173
When Ford asked, “Was there any scientific reason that this search needed to be conducted at night?” Sakevicius answered, “Not to my knowledge.”
To refute the assault on the warrants, Fogleman called Judge Rainey to the stand. The municipal judge contradicted the testimony by Ridge. Though Rainey admitted that he had been called to the police station after police finished questioning Jessie, he insisted, “I had no participation in the preparation of the affidavit. I had no participation whatsoever.” Rainey told Judge Burnett that he had approved the search warrant because of the “close relationship between the alleged perpetrators” and “the fact that the evidence possibly could be removed or destroyed if it was not attempted to be gathered immediately.”
Ford argued further that, as a judge, Rainey had not been independent and detached enough to properly rule on the warrant. He insisted that the U.S. Supreme Court “has been quite strict” in setting limits on nighttime searches. But Judge Burnett rejected both arguments. “It is the court’s opinion and ruling,” he declared, “that Judge Rainey was on very sound ground.”
“A Level Playing Field”
Nevertheless, Ford pressed on. Arguing that all he and the other defense lawyers wanted was a “level playing field,” he pointed out that Fogleman had recently taken the unusual step of issuing prosecutor’s subpoenas, a seldom-used tool that allowed him to question witnesses under oath before the trials. “It’s rare that you do what I did in that case,” Fogleman later acknowledged. 174 But he added, “The prosecutor has a right to conduct their own investigation…and through the subpoena power, a prosecutor can compel people to give testimony, just like in a grand jury…. And there were things that I needed to know.” Most of Fogleman’s mandated interviews were conducted in September, four months after the murders. First, he questioned members of the family that the Echols family had reported visiting on the evening of May 5. The Echolses’ friends confirmed their account. Fogleman next questioned members of Damien’s and Jason’s immediate families. They too supported the boys’ accounts of their whereabouts on May 5. Fogleman then questioned L. G. Hollingsworth, the teenager who, after being polygraphed by Detective Durham, told police that he believed Damien was the killer. But L.G. told Fogleman that he knew nothing about the crime. When Fogleman questioned Damien’s girlfriend, Domini Teer, she testified that contrary to what her aunt Narlene Hollingsworth had claimed, she had not been with Damien on the service road near the Blue Beacon on the night the boys disappeared.
Lax attended the interview when Fogleman questioned Damien’s family, along with a lawyer from West Memphis who had been appointed by Burnett to represent them for that procedure. 175 Lax later wrote in his notes that when he introduced himself to the court-appointed lawyer, the attorney informed him that he knew that Damien was guilty. “When I asked him what knowledge he had to lead him to believe this,” Lax wrote, “he stated, ‘They found that boy’s penis and testicles in a glass jar in Damien’s bedroom.’ I attempted to explain to him that that was not true, and he repeatedly told me I needed to check my sources, because it was true.” In fact, Chris Byers’s severed body parts never were recovered. Lax
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