West Memphis Three

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Arkansas Supreme Court allows new DNA testing in a 30-year-old triple murder case, overturning a previous denial.

Damien Echols filed a petition Monday (Jan. 9) with the Arkansas Supreme Court asking it to allow for new M-Vac touch DNA testing on ligatures collected in the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis.

Damien Echols has filed an appeal to have advanced DNA testing done on ligatures that were collected in the murders of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis on May 5, 1993.

Crittenden County Circuit Court Judge Tonya Alexander denied a petition Thursday (June 23) by Damien Echols to have advanced DNA testing done on ligatures that were recovered in the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis.

M-Vac is now primarily used to collect DNA in criminal cases. A man who pleaded to an Alford Plea in the murders of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Damien Echols, has petitioned the state of Arkansas to use M-Vac testing on the ligatures collected in the case.

Prosecutor Keith Chrestman has filed a motion in Crittenden County Circuit Court asking a judge to not allow advanced DNA testing to move forward in the infamous West Memphis Three case. Among the arguments made in the filing is that the advanced, M-Vac DNA testing method would permanently alter the evidence and even if other DNA was discovered it wouldn’t conclusively prove who did it.

Attorneys for “the West Memphis Three” - the three men convicted of murder in the death of three boys back in 1993 are seeking permission from the Crittenden County Circuit Court to have evidence from the crime scene retested using a new method. KASU’s Brandon Tabor sat down with investigative reporter George Jared to get the latest on this case.