Lawyer Shows Tape With Confession To Fake Robbery

A trial lawyer for Jessie Misskelley says the defendant was so easy to manipulate that police would have had little trouble persuading him to confess to a role in the 1993 slayings of three 8-year-old West Memphis boys.

Former Misskelley defense lawyer Dan Stidham testified yesterday at Jonesboro before Circuit Judge David Burnett. To buttress his claim about how easy it was to lead Misskelley into error, he provided the judge with a videotape that was played in court yesterday.

On the tape, Stidham and a psychologist convince Misskelley in just a matter of minutes to say that he robbed a convenience store near his home, though no such robbery ever occurred.

The judge is presiding over a hearing in which Misskelley is seeking a new trial. His new lawyers claim that he was inadequately represented by his defense team in his 1994 trial, a claim that Stidham doesn't dispute.