Damien Echols was sentenced to death, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. was sentenced to life imprisonment plus two 20-year sentences, and Jason Baldwin was sentenced to life imprisonment.

At the time of their arrests, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. was 17 years old, Jason Baldwin was 16 years old, and Damien Echols was 18 years old.

Misskelley and Echols had dropped out of high school ; however, Baldwin earned high grades and demonstrated a talent for drawing and sketching, and was encouraged by one of his teachers to study graphic design in college.

The sighting of a black male as a possible alternate suspect was implied during the beginning of the Misskelley trial.

On June 3 police interrogated Jessie Misskelley Jr. Misskelley, whose IQ was reported to be 72 ( making him borderline intellectual functioning ), was questioned alone ; his parents were not present during the interrogation.

Misskelley was questioned for roughly twelve hours ; only two segments, totaling 46 minutes, were recorded.

Misskelley was a minor when he was questioned, and though informed of his Miranda rights, he later claimed he did not fully understand them.

Misskelley specifically said he was " scared of the police " during his first confession.

Aaron's further statements were wildly inconsistent, and he was unable to identify Baldwin, Echols or Misskelley from photo line-ups, and there was no " playhouse " at the location Aaron indicated.

Misskelley was tried separately, and Echols and Baldwin were tried together in 1994.

On February 5, 1994, Misskelley was convicted by a jury of one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder.

In October 2003, Vicki Hutcheson, who played a part in the arrests of Misskelley, Echols and Baldwin, but did not testify at the trial, gave an interview to the Arkansas Times in which she stated that every word she had given to the police was a fabrication.

The first trial to be covered in the film is that of Misskelley, a trial which was severed from those of Echols and Baldwin since it was Jessie who submitted a confession.

Because Misskelley had provided police with a confession, his trial is separated from that of Damien and Jason, and is covered in the first half of the film.

Misskelley's father gave permission for Misskelley to go with police, but did not explicitly give permission for his minor son to be questioned or interrogated.

Eight months after his original confession, on February 17, 1994, Misskelley made another statement to police with his lawyer Dan Stidham in the room continually advising Misskelley not to say anything.

Misskelley ignored this advice continually and went on to detail how the boys were abused and murdered.

Following their convictions, Echols, Misskelley and Baldwin submitted imprints of their teeth that were compared to alleged bite-marks on Stevie Branch's forehead not mentioned in the original autopsy or trial.

She noted that when she visited the police station they had photographs of Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley on the wall and were using them as dart targets.

The boys on trial for the crime were Jessie Misskelley, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin.

On June 2, 1993, Hutcheson told police that about two weeks after the murders were committed, she, Echols and Misskelley attended a Wiccan meeting in Turrell, Arkansas.

* Jessie Misskelley ( born 1975 ), one of the West Memphis 3

Misskelley quickly recanted his confession, citing intimidation, coercion, fatigue, and veiled threats from police.

Baldwin and Echols had been arrested for vandalism and shoplifting, respectively, and Misskelley had a reputation for his temper and for engaging in fistfights with other teenagers at school.

Baldwin and Echols were acquainted with Misskelley from school, but were not close friends with him.

Misskelley agreed to introduce Hutcheson to Echols.

She claimed she implicated Echols and Misskelley to avoid facing criminal charges and to obtain a reward for the discovery of the murderers.

But her prettiness was what he had noticed first, and all the other things had come afterward: cruelty, meanness, self-will.

There was an artificial lake just out of sight in the first stand of trees, fed by a half dozen springs that popped out of the ground above the hillside orchard.

The first part of the road was steep, but it leveled off after the second bend and curled gradually into the valley.

No one was behind it, but in the rear wall of the office I noticed, for the first time, a door which had been left partially open.

The herd was watered and then thrown onto a broad grass flat which was to be the first night's bedground.

Once again, Tom Horn was the first and most likely suspect, and he was brought in for questioning immediately.

For Matilda, it was the first she had known in many a night.

Even the knowledge that she was losing another boy, as a mother always does when a marriage is made, did not prevent her from having the first carefree, dreamless sleep that she had known since they dropped down the canyon and into Bear Valley, way, way back there when they were crossing those other mountains.

Stevens was grunting over the last empty pocket when Russ abruptly rose and lunged toward Carmer's hat, which had tumbled half-a-dozen feet away when he first fell.

The Indian's arm whipped sidewise -- there was a flash of amber and froth, the crash of the bottle shattering against the side of the first car.

It was her first smile.

At first, I thought he was out of his head, talking wildly like this.

Hell, I gave him the first decent job he ever had, six, seven -- how many years ago was it, Rob ''??

Miss Langford ( her first name was Evelyn ) was an attractive girl.

School began in August, the hottest part of the year, and for the first few days Miss Langford was very lenient with the children, letting them play a lot and the new ones sort of get acquainted with one another.

It was just as well that the ignorant Dandy enjoyed himself to the hilt that first evening, for the room was to become his prison cell.

`` Bastards '', he would say, `` all I did was put a beat to that Vivaldi stuff, and the first chair clobbered me ''!!

In 1961 the first important legislative victory of the Kennedy Administration came when the principle of national responsibility for local economic distress won out over a `` state's-responsibility '' proposal -- provision was made for payment for unemployment relief by nation-wide taxation rather than by a levy only on those states afflicted with manpower surplus.

The first systematic thinking about this Pandora's box within Pandora's boxes was done four years ago by Fred Ikle, a frail, meek-mannered Swiss-born sociologist.

The smell at first was more surprising than unpleasant.

His collaboration with Washington, begun when he was the general's aide during the Revolution, was resumed when he entered the first Cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury.