Skip to main content

Damien Echols, death row survivor, author, artist coming to Rocky next week to speak

Damien Echols
Damien Echols
Damien Echols acknowledges the anniversary of his execution date the way others celebrate a birthday.

It's been more than 20 years since Echols was sentenced to die on May 5, 1994, for murdering three 8-year-old boys in 1993 in West Memphis, Ark., a crime for which he has maintained his innocence.

Thousands rallied to his defense - including his future wife, Lorri Davis, musician Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, and actor Johnny Depp - and fought for more than a decade to free him from prison.

Several documentaries about the murders shed light on the trial, where Echols, who was 18, and 2 co-defendants were found guilty of capital murder. Echols received the death penalty and Jason Baldwin, 16, and Jessie Misskelley, 17, were sentenced to life in prison.

Echols was known as the leader of the West Memphis 3, a name the media dubbed them during the high-profile trial. A new generation of students at Rocky Mountain College, not yet born when Echols was sent to prison, read his memoir, "Life After Death," this fall as part of the Big Read project. The campus is hosting Echols next week with a free public lecture at 6 p.m. on Thursday at Fortin Center.

In a telephone interview with the Billings Gazette from his home in Harlem, N.Y., Echols, now 42, said he is excited about his 1st trip to Montana, "somewhere where I am not jostled around like I am in New York." During his talk, he will give an overview of the trial and his life in and out of prison and then open the discussion to questions.

Echols wants to tour Billings during his visit here with his wife.

"I like to look around, I like to go on foot. I want to see every coffee shop, cupcake shop and bookstore, places people would walk by and not think about."

After spending a decade in solitary confinement, Echols was overwhelmed when he was released in 2011. So much had happened during the 18 years he was on death row - cell phones, laptops, Facebook. He had to adjust to it all.

"I can't even remember the first year I was out. I was in such a deep state of trauma," Echols said.

Echols credits his spiritual practice and his relationship with Davis for helping him through the hellish years in prison and aiding him in his transition to life outside. Davis, a landscape architect, and Echols wrote each other thousands of letters when he was in prison. Their love story is told in the book "Yours for Eternity."

"Even when you are in the worst environment on the face of the earth, you have to find a reason to live, something to focus on. I think if I would have focused on the prison, I would have lost my mind," Echols said.

In a complicated legal process, Echols and his co-defendants withdrew their original not guilty pleas, entered an Alford Plea and were re-sentenced to time served. The court ruling did not exonerate them from their conviction but allowed them to be released from prison. An Alford Plea is not an admission of guilt, but an acceptance that the prosecution has enough evidence that a jury would find them guilty.

Echols has said in interviews that without the plea, he could easily have been killed in prison by a fellow inmate for $50.

Because he wore heavy metal T-shirts, had long black hair, and was "poor white trash," Echols believes he was singled out by West Memphis law enforcement and accused of the murder. He said that profiling is as much based on class as it is on race.

"If all the people on all of the bottom layers got together, it would be an unstoppable force, but they are being distracted by race," Echols said.

West Memphis is the most judgmental place imaginable, he said. He was seen as a freak and accused of worshiping the devil because of his looks.

"Almost anywhere is more accepting. You would find a place in the Middle East that is more accepting."

Echols said he knew who he was by the time he was 7, and can't understand people who are trying to find themselves.

"Read what you want, watch what you want to watch, be friends with who you want to be friends with. One thing I did learn, life is short. I'm 42 years old, and there's no time to waste on crap like what other people think."

Echols is covered in tattoos, most of which he designed himself. He is working as an artist, and views his art as an extension of his spirituality. He opened a show in Santa Monica, Calif., on Oct. 15, and has a show opening in Chicago in December, and London in April. Echols and his creative partners call their collective The Hand.

"A hand is what we use to shape the world," Echols said. "We didn't want to do art just for art's sake. Art isn't what you buy because it matches your couch."

There is DNA evidence available from the case, but Echols said the law enforcement in West Memphis continues to resist putting it in a national database to try and find the real killers. He has steadfastly maintained his innocence and tries to make up for the years he lost in prison.

"I have 20 years to make up for. I want to see things, to touch them, and taste them. You have a choice in this life whether you want to constantly sit and stew or enjoy the moment you're living in. If I sat around and thought about the people who harmed me or have beaten me or tried to kill me, I would be pretty negative."

In a recent podcast, Echols responded to the question of whether he is happy. He paused a minute, then said, "I have my own trauma, but I think I'm as happy as I could possibly be."

Source: Billings Gazette, October 16, 2016

⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; send a submission; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.


Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

Most viewed (Last 7 days)

China | Singer-actor Zhang Yiyang was executed in 2024 for murder of teenage girlfriend, court confirms

China singer-actor Zhang Yiyang was executed in 2024 for murder of teenage girlfriend, court confirms Chinese singer-actor Zhang Yiyang was sentenced to death by firing squad in December 2024 for the murder of his 16-year-old girlfriend in 2022, a recent investigation report from a Chinese court has confirmed. Zhang is said to be the first Chinese entertainer to be given the death penalty. The report from the Intermediate People's Court of Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province, which has circulated in Chinese media, stated that Zhang and his then-girlfriend started dating in September 2021. But when she would propose to break up, Zhang would refuse and often threaten her with suicide.

Woman who watched nearly 300 executions explained moment she had to give it up

Michelle Lyons' job wasn't for the fainthearted A woman who watched nearly 300 death row executions take place over 12 years opened up about how her macabre career impacted her life. For more than a decade, it was part of Michelle Lyons' job description to observe the final moments of hundreds of prisoners in the US state of Texas. She says the process never 'become mundane or normal', although she did become acclimatized to it - as she went on to watch so many executions that she 'can't recall' a lot of them.

Japan executes 'Twitter killer' who murdered nine in 2017

TOKYO — Japan on Friday executed a man dubbed the "Twitter killer" who murdered and dismembered nine people he met online, in the nation's first enactment of the death penalty since 2022. Takahiro Shiraishi, 34, was hanged for killing his young victims, all but one of whom were women, after contacting them on the social media platform now called X. He had targeted users who posted about taking their own lives, telling them he could help them in their plans, or even die alongside them. Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki said Shiraishi's crimes, carried out in 2017, included "robbery, rape, murder... destruction of a corpse and abandonment of a corpse".

Inside a Mississippi execution: Clarion Ledger reporter recounts what it was like

The visitation center at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman has no windows, just fluorescent lighting, plastic chairs and tables in a cafeteria-style room. I could technically step outside, but only through a single entrance and doing so meant going through the full security screening all over again — it didn’t feel worth it. A few friendly prison staff walked around, quietly watching us. The Wi-Fi cut in and out. All the while, I returned to the thought I was there to watch someone die.

Utah corrections officials say they’ll be ready to execute Ralph Menzies by firing squad

It’s been less than a year since Utah’s last execution — but more than 15 years since its last firing squad. State officials say they will ‘do it right,’ with date set for Sept. 5 Utah Department of Corrections officials say they’ll be ready to carry out the upcoming execution of death row inmate Ralph Menzies that’s currently scheduled to take place shortly after midnight on Sept. 5. A Utah judge signed Menzies’ death warrant last week , setting the date for the 67-year-old man with dementia to die by firing squad. That is, barring any other legal hurdles.

Tennessee death row inmate makes last-ditch effort to prevent Aug. 5 execution

Attorneys for a Tennessee death row inmate have launched a last-ditch effort to prevent his Aug. 5 execution. In Nashville 's Chancery Court, they are asking a judge to require the Tennessee Department of Correction to deactivate an implanted defibrillation device similar to a pacemaker in the moments before Byron Black 's execution. If the judge rules in their favor, such an order could potentially delay the execution until the state finds someone willing to do the deactivation.

Alabama Gov. sets execution date for Geoffrey Todd West

Ivey sets execution for Geoffrey Todd West for 1997 murder at Alabama convenience store ATTALLA, Ala. – A man convicted of killing a convenience store clerk during a 1997 robbery in Attalla is now scheduled to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia later this year, nearly three decades after the crime shook Attalla and Etowah County.

Inside Japan's secretive execution jails where death row inmates are given minutes notice before facing the noose

From the outside, the Tokyo Detention House looks much like the other tall, austere buildings native to Katsushika City, but its drab facade and tree-lined grounds conceal a far more sinister reality. It is here that Japan's most deplorable criminals are plucked from their cells and hanged underneath fluorescent lights in a cold, bare wood-panelled room.  There is a chillingly theatrical element to how the condemned are executed in the East Asian country - the only member of the G7 besides the US that still metes out capital punishment.  Shackled prisoners are led past a small gold statue of Kannon, a Buddhist figure associated with compassion, as they enter their sterile execution chamber. 

Texas death row prisoner dies after more than 30 years behind bars

A Houston-area man convicted of killing his wife died this week after more than 3 decades on death row, marking the 2nd condemned prisoner to die behind bars in the past month.  Prison officials confirmed that William "Billy the Kid" Mason was taken to the hospital on Wednesday and died of cardiac arrest Friday morning.  The 71-year-old was originally sent to death row in 1992, after prosecutors said he'd kidnapped his wife and beaten her to death under a bridge because she was playing the radio too loudly. According to court records, her body was found several days later under some logs near the San Jacinto River.

Louisiana | Mother calls for man exonerated of raping and murdering her child to go free

Wrongful convictions by 2 discredited Mississippi experts tops at least 10. A victim’s family in Louisiana is now speaking out.  Prosecutors fighting the release of death row inmate Jimmie Duncan after a judge found him “factually innocent” of raping and murdering 23-month-old Haley Oliveaux are “not speaking for Haley’s family,” her mother says.  Speaking publicly for the 1st time, Allison Layton Statham called for Duncan to go free in a July 22 bail hearing. “This innocent man is on death row,” she told Mississippi Today. “Justice needs to be done.”  In April, a judge threw out Duncan’s conviction, questioning their conclusions and citing the failures of his court-appointed counsel.