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On June 3rd, 1993, Jesse Lloyd-Miskelli Jr. was 17 years old. Jesse was held back at grade

in school on two different occasions and dropped out in the 9th grade. He had a mixed reputation.

He was known to be a sweet boy who loved children. He often babysit kids in his trailer

park and even used to watch David Jacobi's kids on occasion. Most new Jesse would describe

him as simple. His father even referred to him as slow-minded in the documentary West

of Memphis. However, in contrast to Jesse's simple and sweet disposition, he also had a

reputation for being a fighter. Jesse was short and statured just over 5 foot tall,

and he loved to show people how tough he was. It was nothing for Jesse to spend the afternoon

babysitting a group of kids and then the evening picking fights. In regards to Jesse's mental

capacity, he was assessed before the trial by a Dr. William Wilkins. Dr. Wilkins spent

over 10 hours assessing Jesse's mental competence on three different occasions. Part of Wilkins'

evaluation included a standard IQ test. Jesse's results were a full-scale IQ of 72, with a verbal

IQ of 70 and a performance IQ of 75. To put that into perspective, according to the scales

derived from rising and block, only about 2% of the population has an IQ of 69 or lower.

Jesse falls into the next category along with 6.4% of the population, cognitively impaired.

The ranges of scores included in the cognitive impairment category are from 70 to 79. Jesse

miscalculated him squarely in the middle of that range. Prior to Wilkins' evaluation,

Jesse had been evaluated on at least three other occasions. His IQ scores were consistent

with Wilkins' findings, respectively 67, 70 and 73. In every instance, Jesse fell within

or below the cognitive impairment category. Wilkins stated on the record that what he considers

to be, quote, average intelligence, would be in the score range from 84 to 116. Wilkins

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