West Memphis -

Fifteen years after three eight-year-old boys were killed in West Memphis, the three men charged with their deaths are hopeful new DNA and forensic evidence will set them free.

And death row inmate Damien Echols is speaking out about why he thinks he was convicted.

They are known around the world as the West Memphis Three. Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley are serving life sentences, while Damien Echols spends day in and day out on death row.

(Damien Echols, Death Row Inmate) “Did you have anything to do with the murders of those three little boys? I had nothing whatsoever but even being asked that is something you don't get used to. I've been asked that question by a lot of people over the past 15 years and you never get used to it. Every time someone asks you that it's like being kicked in the stomach.”

Echols not only maintains his innocence, he says he didn't even know the three second graders he is accused of killing--Chris Byers, Steve Branch and Michael Moore.

So why was he arrested and convicted of their murders?

(Echols) “I think when I was younger I was pretty odd considering the small town I was from and just the way I looked. The music I listened to. I didn't really fit in to the place where I was and I think me standing out drew attention to me in a negative way.”

A high-school drop out, Echols grew up poor in a Marion mobile home park. At his trial, prosecutors used the music he listened to, the books he read, and the black clothes he wore to convince jurors he was part of a satanic cult--something Echols adamantly denies.

(Echols) “During this time you had this same thing happening in other parts of the country too that they now in hindsight they call it satanic panic. That was pretty much the only thing prosecutors could come forward with to make this plausible was to say that we were part of some redneck, trailer park devil cult that for some reason or another killed these children. And it was odd at the time considering the things they would bring forward at the time as evidence of that like the things we listened to Metallica or read Stephen King novels or things of that nature.”

(Lorri Davis, Echols' Wife) “I can honestly say from people we talked to in investigations that it was a frenzy, people were scared, scared for their lives--and scared that there were actually people running around killing people in the name of Satan.”

The prosecution's case centered on a theory that the victims were sacrificed as part of a satanic ritual, and the wounds found on the boys’ bodies were inflicted by a knife. One victim was even said to be castrated.

A serrated knife--believed to be the murder weapon--was found several months after the crimes in a pond behind Jason Baldwin's home at the Lakeshore Trailer Park in Marion.

But in November 2007, defense attorneys gathered a team of forensic experts who dispute the state's theory.

(Davis) “Without an exception, they all came back saying it was post-mortem animal predation--the wounds on the kids, except for head wounds. Meaning that after the children died, animals got to them in the ditch. They were found in a drainage ditch.”

(Dr. Werner Spitz, Forensic Pathologist) "None of the injuries were caused during life, and none were caused by a serrated knife--or any knife for that matter."

The defense maintains the marks on the victim's bodies were not the result of a satanic ritual.

(Dr. Richard Souviron, Forensic Odontologist) "Give me a break. That is the most ridiculous statement I've ever heard anybody make. To sell that to a jury is unconscionable in my opinion. These are scratch marks that are from claws from some type of an animal carnivore."

But medical examiners at the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory--where the autopsies were performed--wrote in a letter dated May 30th, “Physical examination of the penetrating wounds showed a lack of soft tissue bridging typical of wounds caused by tearing or biting. These wounds did show clearly incised edges, indicating they were caused by a sharp instrument."

But many believe it wasn't just the state's theory that helped get a conviction. In the court of public perception, many Arkansans at the time of the trial were convinced the West Memphis Three were guilty in part because of the way Echols acted--often appearing arrogant to the cameras that followed him in and out of the courtroom.

(Echols) “How do you explain the attitude you portrayed during the trial? That I was a child. I was a teenager when this was going on, and I was in a tremendous amount of shock going through an incredible amount of trauma.”

Pam Hobbs thinks that attitude is what swayed the jury.

(Pam Hobbs, Victim Steve Branch's Mother) “They didn't have a lot of evidence to get these guys. Damien convicted himself when he got on the stand and he was asked how do you think the killer or killers felt. I think Damien convicted himself when he said they felt like a God, they felt like they were in control. That's what convicted Damien and I believe that's the only thing that really convicted him. It wasn't evidence.”

Hearings to determine if Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley had ineffective counsel when they were tried are set to resume in Jonesboro before the original trial judge David Burnett.

Meanwhile, Damien Echols’ case is being appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court.

Click here to watch the KATV online documentary, 'WM3: Justice Served?'