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Arkansas Supreme Court Decision Allows New DNA Testing in Case of the ​“West Memphis Three,” Convicted of Killing Three Children in 1993

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On April 18, 2024, the Arkansas Supreme Court decided 4-3 to reverse a 2022 lower court decision and allow genetic testing of crime scene evidence from the 1993 killing of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis. The three men convicted in 1994 for the killings were released in 2011 after taking an Alford plea, in which they maintained their innocence but plead guilty to the crime, in exchange for 18 years’ time served and 10 years of a suspended sentence. 

Dallas DA Craig Watkins says his great-grandfather was executed in Texas

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Craig Watkins
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins made a startling disclosure today:

"People don't know that my great-grandfather was executed by this state," he said.

The district attorney offered no further details.

The revelation from the first black district attorney elected in Texas came in a news conference after a hearing to exonerate a man, Richard Miles, whose trial and convictions for murder and attempted murder have raised questions.

Before mentioning his executed relative, Watkins said exoneration proceedings offer an opportunity to examine whether Texas is "doing the right thing" by using capital punishment. He added, however, that his office will continue to pursue death cases because it is the law.

Watkins, who has in the past expressed conflicting personal opinions about the death penalty, left as the news conference continued.

He did not indicate whether he or his family believed that his great-grandfather had been wrongly convicted.

He could not be reached for comment later.

His office confirmed that the execution had taken place -- on Aug. 10, 1932 -- but released few other details.


Source: DallasNews, Feb. 22, 2012

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