Hearing Set for 'West Memphis Three'

JONESBORO, Ark. - Three men convicted in the 1993 killings of three 8-year-old Cub Scouts in West Memphis are due in court this week.

Craighead County Circuit Judge David Laser's office on Thursday said that Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin will be in court Friday in Jonesboro. Laser's office refused to release any more details about the hearing and gag order issued by Laser in April prohibits attorneys from talking to reporters.

The three men were convicted in 1994 of killing Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore and leaving their bound bodies in a water-filled ditch in West Memphis. Echols was sentenced to death while Misskelley and Baldwin received life sentences.

The three have each asked for a new trial on the grounds that DNA evidence exonerates them.

According to the Arkansas Corrections Department, all three defendants were released from prison with all of their belongings into the custody of Craighead County officers. One of the murder victim's mother told FOX13 that while she is under a gag order and unable to comment on the case, she expects Friday's hearing to "bring peace" to her family.