West Memphis 3: Ex-Death Row Inmate Learns to Use iPhone

After serving 18 years in prison for the alleged killing of three Cub Scouts, Damien Echols, one of the three members of the West Memphis three enjoyed his first night of freedom and learned to use the iPhone.

Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. were released from prison on Friday, almost 20 years after they were convicted of murdering three 8-year-olds in West Memphis, Ark., in 1993. The men were set free after pleading guilty to murder in exchange for time served, ending a long-running legal battle that had sparked questions about DNA and key witnesses. The men always maintained their innocence.

They were all given 10 years' probation, prosecutor Scott Ellington said.

I was up all morning and most of the night trying to figure out how to use those iPhone things, Echols told The Associated Press on Saturday in the lobby of a posh Memphis hotel, just across the river from West Memphis, Arkansas, where the Scouts' bodies were found in 1993. One minute I'm looking at something about Judge (David) Laser. The next minute, it's on, like, some hardcore porn site.

Echols, the only one who was sentenced to death, spent Friday night on the hotel rooftop with supporters that included Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder and the Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines, who both whipped out guitars, according to the AP, which also said liquor flowed and hugs were plentiful, especially for a man who hasn't had much physical contact for 18 years.