May 18, 2010 marked not only a victory for the state of Arkansas but also a symbolic victory for the victims in the West Memphis 3 case: John Fogleman lost his bid for a seat on Arkansas’s highest court.
John Fogleman was a prosecuting attorney in the case against Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley. While he “won” the case, the taint of prosecutorial misconduct still haunts the credibility of the verdict. He accepted and used a false confession as well as argued an incorrect theory as to how the victims were killed. While Fogleman argued that a knife was responsible for the children’s wounds, the country’s leading forensic pathologists determined that a knife was not used in their murder, and most of the wounds on their bodies were in fact postmortem animal bites. As a result of his professional malpractice, Damien Echols was sent to death row, where he sits today, while the other two defendants, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin, are spending the rest of their lives in prison for a crime virtually every expert believes they did not commit. And as new evidence of their innocence comes to the fore, their unjust conviction is cast in an even stronger light.
And so, it was more than ironic when Fogleman announced his candidacy to seek the highest position of Justice for the state of Arkansas. In a report on prosecutorial misconduct and error, the Washington, DC Center for Public Integrity said that, “Former Crittenden County deputy prosecuting attorney John Fogleman took part in at least three of the 54 cases [cited in the report from Arkansas]. In one, the court found his conduct to be so prejudicial as to require a new trial. In another, a dissenting judge would have reversed a murder conviction because of Fogleman’s tactics.”
Damien Echols, one of the three defendants in the West Memphis 3 case who sits on death row as a result of Fogleman’s highly prejudicial handling of the case, has written a letter addressing Fogleman’s defeat. He expresses his appreciation to the people of Arkansas who have helped move their justice system in a better direction. In Damien’s letter, he writes:
“I just want to say thank you to everyone who went out and voted […], and made certain that Fogleman didn’t win. I cannot express my gratitude enough. There have been times when I felt that no one in the state cared about this case, or that perhaps everyone even approved of it. I do not feel that way now. I just feel grateful. Thank you very, very much. Fogleman’s ability to hurt more people and destroy more lives has been greatly limited. It also sends a loud and clear message that continued corruption won’t be tolerated. Thank you.” (Echols’s letter can be read in its entirety, along with other letters he has written, on www.westmemphis3.org).
Thankfully, Arkansans did not fall for Fogleman’s political campaign and he will not be able to bring his approach to justice to the Arkansas Supreme Court.
Rachel Silverman