If a new trial had been granted, would the state even be able to submit a case against Baldwin? In looking for Arkansas law on polygraphs, I cam across this case. http://ar.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19861215_0043379.AR.htm/qx
It got me to thinking, if a new trial was granted, what corroborating evidence is there connecting Baldwin to the murders?
Carson? No.
What else is there?
This case shows how invaluable the softball girls were to the state's case against Echols and might also explain why the state made the crazy assertion that Domini isn't Domini, but rather Domini is Jason.
Even if you believe every single word of Jessie's so-called "confession", the state could not even submit a case against Jason at this point unless I'm missing something. No wonder he held out as long as he did before accepting the Alford Plea.
We have construed this statute many times, and we have held that the testimony of an accomplice standing alone is insufficient to support a conviction. See Bly v. State, 267 Ark. 613, 593 S.W.2d 450 (1980); and Gardner v. State, 263 Ark. 739, 569 S.W.2d 74 (1978), cert. den. 440 U.S. 911 (1979). Testimony of an accomplice is insufficient to justify conviction of a [290 Ark Page 498]
felony, even though the court and jury believed his testimony. Griffin v. State, 172 Ark. 606, 289 S.W. 765 (1927). The test for determining the sufficiency of corroborating evidence is whether, if the testimony of the accomplice were totally eliminated from the case, the other evidence independently establishes the crime and tends to connect the accused with its commission.
It got me to thinking, if a new trial was granted, what corroborating evidence is there connecting Baldwin to the murders?
Carson? No.
What else is there?
This case shows how invaluable the softball girls were to the state's case against Echols and might also explain why the state made the crazy assertion that Domini isn't Domini, but rather Domini is Jason.
Even if you believe every single word of Jessie's so-called "confession", the state could not even submit a case against Jason at this point unless I'm missing something. No wonder he held out as long as he did before accepting the Alford Plea.