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PARAGOULD — Most young children change what they want
to be when they grow up as they age, and many struggle with
which path they should choose. District Judge Dan Stidham
says he never did. He always new he wanted to study law. “When
I was a child, I enjoyed watching Perry Mason on TV, and
I wanted to be a criminal lawyer, and I never really changed
my mind about what I wanted to do ever since the second grade,” Stidham
said. Stidham realized at a young age that practicing law
would not be as easy as it appeared on television. “Even
at the age of 9 I was able to understand that not everybody
stands up at the end of a trial in the back of the courtroom
and confesses,” he said, laughing.
Born
in Chicago, Stidham’s family moved to Paragould
when he was five. “I consider myself a lifelong resident,” he
said. He attended Greene County Tech, but never graduated.
Instead, Stidham had enough credits to participate in a program
available to high school students which allowed them to go
to college a year early. “I opted out of my senior
year. I figured that was one year I get out of law school
faster,” Stidham said. A 17-year-old Stidham began
college at Arkansas State University in 1980, where he earned
a degree in sociology. “I started as a history major
and fell in love with sociology after I took the required
course,” he said. Stidham added that he thought his
major was a great preparation for law school and life. “Sociology
is the study of human nature as a group instead of individuals
like psychology. As an attorney and a judge, I think its
important to understand how people interact with each other.” Stidham
went on to law school at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
and graduated in 1987 with his law degree.
He returned
to Paragould, where he quickly started his own practice,
even
though in his younger days he did not want
to practice in this community. “Now I can’t imagine
being anywhere but Paragould. Its such a great community
and a great place to raise a family. I never really wanted
to practice in a big city. I came back here, and I’ve
never looked back,” Stidham said.
One of
the highlights of Stidham’s criminal law career
came in 1993 when three teenage boys where arrested in for
the murder of three 8-year-old boys. Damien Echols, Jessie
Misskelley and Jason Baldwin became known as the West Memphis
three. Stidham represented Misskelley and is still involved
with the case today 12 years later. “It’s been
a tough 12 years thinking that three innocent people are
in jail. It’s a really sad case because three young
victims lost their lives, and because from my perspective
I believe that my client is innocent beyond any doubt whatsoever
in my heart and mind. It’s just tragedy on top of tragedy.
On the other side of that coin is that there’s still
a killer out there,” Stidham said. Stidham added that
the experiences he has had with the case have changed him
in many ways. “I think this experience has made me
a better lawyer, father, husband, judge and just a better
human being, because I’ve seen a lot of things that
people often take for granted. My biggest fear as a judge
is someone being wrongfully convicted. That’s why I’m
real careful to take in everything I can about a case before
I make a decision to prevent that from happening,” he
said.
His legal
work on one of the most highly publicized murder cases
in the
state brought Stidham into the spotlight. He
has made appearances on ABC, NBC, the Leeza Gibbons talk
show and worked with HBO in the making of a documentary about
the case. “I always get asked the question, especially
by lawyers, ‘Why in the world would you want to participate
in that?’ It was the most grueling thing I’ve
ever done, but the reason that I did it was because I wanted
the world to see what was happening to my client. This was
the only way I thought I could keep the case from being swept
under the rug like so many other cases of wrongful convictions,” Stidham
said. The documentary took three years before it was finally
aired on HBO. “That was the longest three years of
my life, because I didn’t have any idea what they were
going to put on TV or how it was going to be portrayed, but
they did a wonderful job,” he added.
Stidham
was also invited to speak at a symposium for the wrongfully
accused.
HBO decided to do a second documentary
on the case and, he said the day after it aired, he had 1,500
e-mails from people all over the world wanting to know how
they could help. Even some very high profile celebrities,
who wished to remain anonymous, donated funds to help with
the case. “These generous folks have made it possible
for us to obtain the services of experts that we couldn’t
afford and didn’t have access to in 1993 and 1994.
I can’t say enough about the generosity of these people.
Some of them I don’t even know who they are,” he
said.
Since
the case began, Stidham’s role has changed dramatically.
While he is still involved with the case and will remain
so until it is resolved, there is now a whole team of lawyers
working on behalf of the three defendants. “We have
some of the best lawyers I’ve ever seen,” he
said. “I’m hopeful and optimistic. I hope we
can get that situation resolved. I just hope and pray the
appeals process will bring forth some justice.”
Stidham
began his second term as district judge this month. He
said he
thought the district court has made a lot of progress
over the past few years. “We are growing at a rapid
pace. In 2003, the district court took in $1.5 million in
fines, costs and filing fees. I’m proud to say I live
in the safest community in Arkansas, and I’m glad I
can be a small part of it,” he said.
Stidham
has been married for 20 years to his wife Kim, and they
have four
children. It his free time, Stidham loves
to go deep sea fishing. “I get to do that three or
four times a year. I would like to do it three of four times
a month. It’s a soul-cleansing experience being out
there on the ocean,” he said. While his rulings do
not please everyone, Stidham said it was the success stories
that made his job worth it. “I get letters from people
who are angry, because someone they know was convicted, but
then I also get letters from people saying thank you for
making me go to rehab and giving me a second chance at life.
Those letters make what I do so rewarding,” he said.
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