Damien Wayne Echols (born Michael Wayne Hutchison; December 11, 1974) is an American author who first became known as one of three teenagers, the West Memphis Three, convicted of a triple murder in 1994 despite the lack of physical evidence connecting them to the crime[1] and the dubious nature of the other evidence. Upon his release from death row in 2011 under an Alford plea, Echols authored several autobiographical and spiritual books. He has been featured in multiple books, documentaries, and podcasts about his spiritual works and the West Memphis Three case.
Biography
Early life
Damien Wayne Echols was born Michael Wayne Hutchison on December 11, 1974.[2] He lived with his mother and father until their divorce, when he was 8.[2] The family frequently moved and Echols would attend eight schools before the age of ten.[3]
At the age of 13, he took a new name, with the last name of his stepfather Jack Echols.[4][2]
The family settled in West Memphis, Arkansas, where Echols attended school.[2] He was still in the ninth grade at the age of 17.[5]
Echols, with his habit of dressing year round in a long black trenchcoat and an interest in witchcraft, was considered a misfit within the local community.[6] He also wrote dark and expressive poems.[7][8]
In 1993, when Echols was 18, he was arrested along with Jason Baldwin (16) and Jessie Misskelley (17) for the murder of three eight-year-olds: Steve Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers. They were convicted.[9][10] No physical evidence connected Echols to the crime.[1]
On death row
On March 19, 1994, Judge David Burnett sentenced Echols to death by lethal injection. On December 23, 1996, the Arkansas Supreme Court denied appeals from Echols and Baldwin. In May 1998, Echols won a hearing on charges that his defense counsel had been incompetent, but Judge Burnett ruled against him in June 1999.[17]
In 2007, new DNA testing became available that was not technologically possible at the time of the crime, and produced evidence that hairs found at the crime scene did not match Misskelley, Baldwin or Echols and possibly matched the stepfather of one of the victims.[18]
Based on this, the defendants asked Burnett for a new trial. In September 2008, Burnett denied retrials for all three saying the new evidence was "inconclusive".[19]
In 2005, he self-published his autobiography Almost Home with a foreword written by Margaret Cho.[24]
Personal life
Echols has one child by his ex-girlfriend Domini Teer. Their son was born on September 12, 1993, while Echols was awaiting trial.[25]
In 1996, Echols met his future wife Lorri Davis, a landscape architect who learned about the case after seeing Paradise Lost in New York and wrote him a letter.[20] They began a romantic relationship, and in 1997 Davis quit her job, moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, and began working on Echols' case.[26][27]
In December 1999, they married in a Buddhist ceremony, held in the prison visiting room.[26]
Release from prison
In November 2010, after Judge Burnett had retired from the bench, the Arkansas Supreme Court ordered new evidentiary hearings for all three defendants based on the new DNA evidence.[28] The state's high court rebuked Burnett's 2008 decision not to grant Echols a hearing on the DNA evidence before rejecting his request for a new trial.[29]
In 2010, after DNA evidence raised the possibility that they had not committed the crime, they were granted an evidentiary hearing. In August 2011, Echols's lawyers, Steve Braga and Patrick Benca negotiated an Alford plea, which allows the defendant to maintain their innocence while conceding that there is enough evidence to possibly convict them at trial. Under the plea deals, all three were resentenced to time-served for the murders (18 years and 75 days) and immediately released from prison.[30]
In 2014, Echols and Davis co-authored a book Yours for Eternity, which consists of their letters while Echols was in prison.[36][37]
Echols has had a number of art exhibitions, showing pieces of art that he created in prison.[38][39] He has also held a number of events devoted to ceremonial magic.[40]
In 2018, he published High Magick: A Guide to the Spiritual Practices That Saved My Life on Death Row, a book that described his spiritual experience in prison.[41][42] It was followed by Angels and Archangels: A Magician's Guide, published in 2020.[43]
In 2022, Damien and Davis published their second co-authored book together titled Ritual: An Essential Grimoire, which is a compendium of rituals, prayers, and meditations.[44]
A number of Hollywood celebrities, notably Pearl Jam lead vocalist Eddie Vedder and actor Johnny Depp, publicly advocated for the release of The Memphis Three.[49][50] Vedder sat next to Echols's wife Lorri in the front row of the courtroom and embraced Echols once he was released.[51] Echols co-wrote the lyrics to the song "Army Reserve" from the 2006 Pearl Jam album.[52] Former Misfits vocalist Michale Graves also supported the case, and in October 2007 he recorded his Illusions album, featuring written content and backing vocals from Echols.[53]
In April 2020, Echols appeared as Darryl the Fish in The Midnight Gospel animated TV series aired on Netflix. His character walked the main character Clancy through the philosophy of magic.[58]
Stranger Things character
In the fourth season of Netflix's Stranger Things the character and story of Eddie Munson is closely based on Echols' life as he too is wrongly accused of murder based on his appearance. The writers reportedly took inspiration from the Paradise Lost documentary.[59]
Echols, Damien; Vedder, Eddie (2018). High Magick: A Guide to the Spiritual Practices That Saved My Life on Death Row. Sounds True. ISBN978-1-68364-134-6.
