The West Memphis Three

I can't find an existing thread on the West Memphis Three, which seems weird, but this is a case I would guess many people have followed with interest for a long time (it's now been 17 years (!!!) since the kids were jailed). For the first time since then, there's recently been some encouraging news:

The Arkansas Supreme Court announced its decision Thursday to grant an evidentiary hearing, or mini-trial before a judge, to the infamous West Memphis Three of Echols and his friends, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr.

All three have been imprisoned for 17 years for the murders of three 8-year-old West Memphis boys.

More here...

Scary to be confronted with proof of how grown adults rush to idiotic judgments. Clearly some people's civics education was very different from yours or mine.

jesus, that real estate developer foreman dude is a real piece of work

and kudos to his lawyer for keeping a record of his statements

Huge developments today..

West Memphis 3: Two, Including Echols, Will Be Released Friday

Sources: All three will admit guilt to the crime and two will be released with time served

Steve Branch, the father of one of the victims, tells us Damien Echols will be one of the men released

(Memphis 8/18/2011) WREG-TV has learned an agreement has been reached to release two of the West Memphis 3.

Multiple sources, including the father of one of the victims, have confirmed this will be announced at a special hearing Friday.

Steve Branch, father of WM3 victim Stevie Branch: "There's supposed to be a gag order on this but they're not going to gag me. They can put me in jail if they want to. I'll go to jail to stand up for my son's rights."

That hearing is scheduled to be held in Jonesboro, AR.

Damien Echols was sentenced to death, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. was sentenced to life imprisonment plus two 20-year sentences, and Jason Baldwin was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers were found murdered and mutilated in a wooded area in West Memphis, Arkansas in May 1993.

Recent tests on DNA evidence, including material from the crime scene, was found to not be a match to the defendants.

Many say Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley were wrongly convicted because police needed a quick solution to the case.

http://www.wreg.com/news/wreg-west-memphis-3-freed,0,5347577.story

whoa waht

So, wait, they have to admit guilt though? That seems fucked up.

Yeah, that's awful. But anything to get out of death row, I guess.

DEAL COULD LEAD TO RELEASE OF WEST MEMPHIS THREE

Prosecutors and defense attorneys are working out a deal that could result in the release of the West Memphis Three murder defendants as early as Friday, according to legal sources and relatives of victims.

"It's a high probability," said Jackie Byers, 44, wife of John Mark Byers, whose son was one of three 8-year-old boys found nude and hog-tied in 1993 in a watery ditch in West Memphis. "We've been asked not to say anything until after tomorrow."

A source close to the case said the pending deal involves the immediate release of defendants Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley in return for pleas to lesser charges. All three were convicted of capital murder in 1994. Echols was sentenced to death, while Baldwin and Misskelley are serving life terms

"This deal is going to make everybody happy," said a source who asked not to be identified because of a gag order barring parties to the case from discussing it.

Byers said she, too, was told of the pleas. She said she's glad the three defendants will be released but is upset that they must plea to something she believes they didn't do.

"This means they will never be proven innocent," said Byers, who, like many other followers of the case have been persuaded of the three's innocence by new evidence, including DNA evidence, uncovered in recent years. "All of that (new evidence) might go down the toilet and be lost forever."

Recent DNA testing pointed a finger at a fourth, uncharged individual.

The judge in the West Memphis Three triple murder case has scheduled a hearing for Friday in Jonesboro, Ark., in which all three defendants will be present.

In scheduling a hearing for 10 a.m., Circuit Court Judge David Laser released this statement earlier this morning:

“The court will take up certain matters pertaining to the cases of defendants Baldwin, Echols and Misskelley on Friday, August 19, 2011. One session will be conducted out of public presence with all defendants present, and another session will be conducted in open court. The session conducted in chambers will likely begin at 10 a.m., followed by a public session, which will begin about 11 a.m. Space will be limited for the public session, first to the parties, counsel, and court personnel, then to family members of the victims and family members of defendants, with remaining seating to be occupied by media representatives and the public. There will be approximately fifteen (15) minutes between the chamber session and open session for media and public to be seated.”

http://m.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/aug/18/plea-deal-release-west-memphis-three/

That IS fucked up. Majorly fucked up. How can they insist on the imposture of a confession at this point? That's like saying "well, we all know we locked up the wrong dudes but we have no intention whatsoever of figuring out who really did it".

Ugh. I mean, I'm really thrilled that there is a chance of them going free, but so fucking pissed at what a clusterfuck this has become, "yeah, we pretty much all know you didn't do it, but, uh, just say you did it anyway and you can go home".

So, wait, they have to admit guilt though? That seems fucked up.

^^^

this deal seems very... odd

Oh, pleas to lesser charges. Hm.

Are they trying to protect themselves from having lawsuits directed at them by the WM3 and their fams?

that's what I was thinking too

also why only two of them being released if all three are copping a plea?

All 3 will be released.

they should just keep on for the pardon. that's easy to say, but after 17 years behind bars for a crime they didn't commit they are not going to be able to function ever again as normal humans, and a big fat compensation payment will at least let them not worry about keeping a roof over their heads and will let them pay for the therapy they're going to need.

This is bizarre at the least, a strange face-saving measure. Like, if these guys were at all guilty for this horrific crime ... why would they ever be let out of jail, let alone off death row? Pretty insulting all around, given what they've had to live with.

Question: if they are indeed let out of prison after copping to a wack after the fact guilty plea, can they sue for civil damages?

it seems fairly clear to me that any forced plea for release won't be binding - this is keystone kops garbage. I'd guess somebody told somebody that if they pled, they can't sue, but I am assuming all three of them will flee as far from West Memphis as they can as soon as they're released and start looking at their options.

This is just all kinds of fucked up. But I'm not about to pretend I can know what kinds of decision someone makes after sitting behind bars for eighteen years. I mean, any glimpse of freedom, no matter the cost, might sound pretty damn good.

dude if I'd been locked up for eighteen years and they said "we'll let you out if you'll eat your hand on national tv" I would ask for a KISS THE COOK apron and fire up the fuckin bbq

they will either plead no contest tomorrow and be released soon or they will plea nothing and get a retrial

terry hobbs should be in jail.

i went back to the old wm3 forum i used to post on in the early 2000s and then in 2004, and all the same people are in there today, talking about traveling to the hearings. it's amazing.

*plead nothing

also - it's not just two. all three of them have left prison with their belongings. they're not going back.

Meanwhile...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqRyHfhP83g&feature=youtu.be

But they wore black clothes and listened to alternative music! How can they not be guilty?

As 'West Memphis 3' Eye Freedom Friday, Toronto-Bound Docu To Change Ending

EXCLUSIVE: It's just days before the directors lock their third documentary on the 'West Memphis 3' for premieres at the Toronto and New York Film Festivals. But Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory helmers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky raced to Arkansas to prepare to add a new ending. They'll bring their camera Friday morning to a hearing expected to end with the freedom of Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley Jr., and Jason Baldwin, who spent 18 years in prison on charges they brutally murderered three 8-year old boys in 1993. The first two HBO documentaries that Berlinger and Sinofsky made on the case stirred international outrage over what many feel was a miscarriage of justice and a conviction on flimsy evidence. Echols drew the death penalty and the other two received life sentences even though there was no physical evidence tying them to a crime allegedly committed when they were 18. The jury found them guilty largely on a prosecutor's scenario that the teens killed as part of a satanic ritual, citing their penchant for wearing dark clothes, listening to heavy metal Metallica songs, and reading Stephen King horror novels as proof of a dark state of mind.
Though it took three films, Berlinger and Sinofsky are about to achieve something similar to what Errol Morris accomplished with his 1988 documentary Thin Blue Line, which led to a death sentence being overturned for Randall Adams, who had been convicted of murdering a Dallas policeman in 1976. HBO's broadcast of the first two Paradise Lost led to moral and financial support for the West Memphis 3 from all over the world, including the likes of Johnny Depp, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and Dixie Chicks’ singer Natalie Maines.

The filmmakers said they weren't going to predict what will happen in the morning, but widespread reports and quotes from even the parents of the victims say the West Memphis 3 will be freed shortly. A case that seemed weak in the first film has gotten weaker with the introduction of DNA evidence that doesn't match the three who were convicted. Berlinger and Sinofsky did say they will happily change their ending. “We always lamented the fact that we had to keep making sequels to this horrifying real life story,” Berlinger told me after landing in Arkansas. “It's the West Memphis 3, and so stopping at three films seems right. We have just enough time to include what happens in the ending of the film, and it’s the most incredible feeling knowing that your work had an impact.”

Berlinger said that when he and Sinofsky were hired to document the original trial, they had only been sent a press clipping about the case by HBO exec Sheila Nevins. It seemed an open and shut case. The crime was brutal--the 8-year olds were discovered hog-tied and mutilated in a drainage ditch--and since it closely followed the murder of a 2-year old in London by 10-year olds, the filmmakers went to Arkansas to make a movie about the psychology of young killers. “Based on the article, we wanted to tell a story of disaffected youth,” Berlinger said. “How could three kids be so rotten and do such a thing like murder threes three children? Then we met Damien and watched what was going on, and quickly realized we were in the midst of an incredible miscarriage of justice. It was a lethal brew. The local press found it much easier to tell a devil worshiping story than to do hard journalism, and in a Bible-thumping part of the country, a prosecutors painted this picture of satanic panic. It led to the convictions."

The first Paradise Lost created a visual record of a capital trial short on evidence but rife with allegations that police coerced damning testimony; there was also allegations of jury misconduct serious enough to have warranted a mistrial. When the documentary first aired, the reaction was mild, Berlinger said. But the internet changed all that.
“The film got glowing reviews, but never went from the entertainment page to the editorial page,” Berlinger said. “But that was just when the internet started being used as this primitive social media tool, and an international movement sprang up. Damien in some ways was his own worst enemy, he was kind of a narcissistic teen who enjoyed the attention because he didn’t think it was possible he could be convicted. He was an outsider who would have been normal in New York or LA, but in this fundamentalist religious community, dressing in black and listening to heavy metal made him a weirdo. He was actually a super intelligent kid who just danced to a different tune and rubbed some people the wrong way. The reason people like Vedder and Depp related to him, and the reason why Metallica lent us their music for the film [that relationship led Berlinger and Sinofsky to direct the Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster] was they too felt like the freak, the outsider, in high school. The idea that in the right circumstance anyone like this could be on death row was appalling. There was no excuse for what went on in this case. When you sentence someone to death, it has to be beyond all reasonable doubt. This was a weak case. We thought the first film would change things, and then we made a second one, certain it would blow the doors off the case. But the wheels of justice moved so slowly while these guys were left to rot in jail.”

The directors are crossing their fingers tonight that the trial ends with three men exonerated by tomorrow afternoon. “We don’t want to come off arrogant or like we’re patting ourselves on the back," Berlinger said when I asked if the first two films were responsible for what is expected to happen tomorrow morning. "This outcome is due to help from a lot of people. But Damien says in Paradise Lost 3 that he literally would have been dead if not for these films; he said his appeals were exhausted, nobody was coming to his defense and there would have been no funds to investigate new evidence that helped delay delivery of his death sentence. Bruce and I feel grateful to have served as the lucky stewards of a story that just had to be told. But we also believe the films kept these guys alive. Guys like Vedder and Depp funded this case because they saw Paradise Lost and were outraged.”

Berlinger said the film was also the catalyst for Eccols meeting his wide, Lorri Davis, a Brooklyn architect who saw the first film at a MOMA screening in 1996. “She was blown away, started writing to Damien, visited him, and married him on death row,” Berlinger said. “She spent 14 years fighting for his life, and she was so instrumental in all this happening.”

http://m.deadline.com/2011/08/as-west-memphis-3-eye-freedom-directors-need-new-ending-for-toronto-bound-docu/

Another interesting aspect of this case is how it underscores that even all the supposed power of Hollywood marshaled behind a clearly poorly tried case in Podunk, USA, with multiple documentaries, charities, benefits, follow-ups and even a more likely suspect revealed, can only do so much. The wheels of justice turn slow even for a cause celebre; I can only imagine how frustrating things are for Joe and Jane Average Miscarriage of Justice.

I'm sure these three dudes will do OK on the outside. At least I hope so. The other two, if I recall correctly, were barely functioning as adults. Ecchols, if he hasn't already, will write a book.

AFAIK, they won't be allowed to vote or leave the country, they won't find jobs, and a no contest plea can't be withdrawn - in some ways, by taking the deal they're getting a life sentence, except it'll be outside of jail now.

When you've been inside the jail since you were a kid that probably sounds pretty good

This isn't as simple as them admitting guilt and that's it for them. It's a legal strategy that will apply to their new trial, from what I understand:

Alford plea (also called Kennedy plea, Alford guilty pleaand Alford doctrine) in the law of the United States is a guilty plea in criminal court, where the defendant does not admit the act and asserts innocence. Under the Alford plea, the defendant admits that sufficient evidence exists with which the prosecution could likely convince a judge or jury to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alford_plea

i suppose the sufficent evidence in that case would be misskelly's "confession"

Exactly - and I guess maybe they're confident that enough is now known about the circumstances under which it was extracted that it wouldn't hold up under scrutiny this time around?

dude if I'd been locked up for eighteen years and they said "we'll let you out if you'll eat your hand on national tv" I would ask for a KISS THE COOK apron and fire up the fuckin bbq

― pathos of the unwarranted encore (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, August 18, 2011 11:11 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is a great post

So who killed those boys?

imo terry hobbs

stepfather of the victim with facial wounds, DNA link to the scene, at a recent trial several people testified that he was sexually abusive (including his daughter), lied several times about his whereabouts on day of the killings, witnesses stating they saw him with all three victims at 5:30 that day, previously claimed he never saw any of them that day

Hobbs was the crazy dad (or stepdad? I can't remember) of one of the victims, right...?

lol xp

yeah that dude seemed guilty as fuck to me

you're thinking of john mark byers, who now says that the WM3 should be freed and believes in their innocence. hobbs was the "invisible" stepdad.

Theyre free dudes....or 'being processed out' and the state prosecutor refused to say they are innocent or might be and that nno one else will be convicted

live feed on CNN.com, btw

also dude admitted that yes he was letting child murders out on the street and only time wouild tell if he made the right decision but if these dudes get acquitted in a trial (most likely) they are able to sue the state of arkansas and as he says '18 times three is a bunch of years!'

update: press conference of WM3 held up because someone needs to go get 'Eddie'

oh 'laurie ' too. we need laurie up in here

chick from 'wrongful convictions' in chicago is downright giddy

how did damian get so stylish on death row?

"The tattoo on top of Jessie Misskelley's head, a clock face will have the hands of the clock put on it at the exact time of his release."

Huh, that rules but also is insane.

there is a sorta eminent logic to it as well though, 'insane' isn't the right word.
this is p moving, more the guy in the middle's silence

woah its laurie

no, at least not from the reading up on it I did last night. it was a case of "moral panic" akin to witchburning. it's kind of weird looking back on it, it's like the country was in a daze.

it's kind of tragic nonsense because one thing that happens to you when you get abused sometimes is you go crazy and need for your life to have a cleaner narrative than the one it's got - for my money the best candidate for cause of Satanic panic is somebody discovering his/her child was raped and thinking "there's no way a normal person is capable of such evil, this has to be demonic stuff" + then just casting afield for the best explanation that describes how horrific it is to personally experience sexual abuse in yr life

Stepdad seems guilty of something, to be sure. They should just try him and see what shakes out. For shits and giggles, because at this point, why not?

^Inept prosecution think.

Welcome to 2011, boys.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/35749568/Screen%20shot%202011-08-19%20at%202.54.28%20PM.png

awww..poor mcdonald's on broadway :(

So weird. So they get let out thanks to this bizarre Alford plea that allows them to maintain innocence - though falling short of a full exoneration - while acknowledging the prosecution had enough to convict them of ... something, though some parts of the old conviction still stand. And that they've now officially served time for crimes they did not commit, unofficially, but which they were officially convicted of, partly, despite being innocent. What a sad legal paradox catch-22 mega fuck up.

i can't imagine that this rigamarole will hold up in a court. i say they sue the state big time.

This rigamarole is fascinating. A lawyer friend of mine tonight - who, granted, does not deal with criminal law - was blown away that such a plea exists that allows you to admit guilt as a means of maintaining innocence. Personally, I was blown away when I researched the origins of this Alford plea, which stretch back to 1970 North Carolina, when - get this - the death penalty could only be brought against defendants who plead not guilty. Pleading guilty was the only surefire way to avoid the death penalty! Needless to say, there were a lot of dubious guilty please in 1970 NC.

Pleas, that is.

hahaha that is so fucked up

That really is fucked up!

i got the shakes

It’s not perfect, it’s not perfect by any means,” said Echols, who was on death row. “But at least it brings closure to some areas and some aspects.”

like the whole being in jail for 18 years thing

http://wm3org.typepad.com/files/0819011952.jpg

i am glad the good name will be restored to heavy metal

He's a good lookin' kid.

(lol post very much in etc)

he's 35

God, its so awful that theyve spent the best of their years fucking locked up for this shit.

best years of our lives start at 38 iirc

safe to say the best part of their lives started yesterday afternoon tbh

^^^^

all joking aside this whole wm3 thing hits pretty close to home for me - got accused in hs of trying to start a suicide cult thx to the mother of a friend of a gf of mine reading some maudlin poetry (it was crap) and some dumb mopey pseudo self destructive i listen to the smiths too much notes (even worse) i wrote. and not a ho hey this kid should prob get some in school counseling, i got hauled into the police station and interrogated and basically if it werent for my parents being take no shit logical peeps, my friends parents calling bullshit, and me luckily swallowing my natural yeah fuck you im a darko in yer face teen so what attitude (or tbh the possibility of anyone i knew committing suicide in a bad timing sorta way) my life could have gotten pretty derailed, esp since the initial push was for long-term involuntary criminal psychological commitment. i was 15 at the time. late 80s/early 90s were a fucked up time to be a kid who dressed funny.

anyway every time i see tape of echols basically going the other direction and acting up because obv in his head he assumes that since hes innocent he can indulge his bravado it makes me really really sad.

btw before i look like a total dick, i am not equating that to getting an unjust murder rap and spending half (or more) of life in prison, its just creepy to think how easy it was (well maybe is again post columbine) to get railroaded as an outsider minor.

"the death penalty could only be brought against defendants who plead not guilty. "

-- i think/thought this was true in a lot of places. which, yes, is fucked up.

part of me wonders as well how much more frequent police intimidation occurred with witnesses prior to the days of DNA. did it cause them to lean more on witnesses when they didn't have that extra benefit? just seems so many 'old' murder cases have witnesses recanting years later under claims of 'coercion'.

From CNN:

The highly technical legal maneuver also allows the three to be freed and be considered innocent. Although an Alford plea is treated as a guilty plea for sentencing, it cannot be held against the three men in any subsequent criminal prosecution or civil proceeding.

I read this as not precluding a civil suit beat down. Certainly Echols has enough time and resources at this point to sue the state's ass off. It's in this regard that I hope he and his co-defendents (one of whom at least has his own representation, I think) are not taken advantage of by the more opportunistic side of the legal profession.

i don't understand why, if the state considers them innocent, they didn't just vacate the original conviction.

I read this as not precluding a civil suit beat down. Certainly Echols has enough time and resources at this point to sue the state's ass off. It's in this regard that I hope he and his co-defendents (one of whom at least has his own representation, I think) are not taken advantage of by the more opportunistic side of the legal profession.

― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, August 20, 2011 7:05 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark

it sounds like over 17 years they have people they trust around them (including one guy's wife)

But see, the state does not consider them innocent! That's the paradox here. The judge in essence upheld their conviction while simultaneously letting them out with time served.

Either

A.) Three guys were held in prison for 18 years for a crime they did not commit, but were forced to plead guilty to

or B.) Three guys brutally murdered and mutilated three little boys and got off after 18 years (while most people die in prison for lesser crimes.)

Justice wasn't served, any way you look at it.

(fwiw, i believe (A.))

"We were at the DMV and both Damien and Jason were poking fun at each other. It's like they picked up where they left off," said Benca.

Gotta say that if the DMV is your first stop after 18 years, prison must truly be a horrible place.

They need a gradual re-introduction to freedom.

they didn't plead guilty

"I am innocent of these charges but I am entering an Alford guilty plea,"

the defendant maintains their innocence w/ an alford plea

…which is a guilty plea.

http://www.threadbombing.com/data/media/2/regis_smile.gif

I guess I'll finally watch these films now that we know where they're goin

all joking aside this whole wm3 thing hits pretty close to home for me - got accused in hs of trying to start a suicide cult thx to the mother of a friend of a gf of mine reading some maudlin poetry (it was crap) and some dumb mopey pseudo self destructive i listen to the smiths too much notes (even worse) i wrote. and not a ho hey this kid should prob get some in school counseling, i got hauled into the police station and interrogated and basically if it werent for my parents being take no shit logical peeps, my friends parents calling bullshit, and me luckily swallowing my natural yeah fuck you im a darko in yer face teen so what attitude (or tbh the possibility of anyone i knew committing suicide in a bad timing sorta way) my life could have gotten pretty derailed, esp since the initial push was for long-term involuntary criminal psychological commitment. i was 15 at the time. late 80s/early 90s were a fucked up time to be a kid who dressed funny.

this was all so stupid; I think the tipping point (since you were a relative newbie in town, what with you being here for what, all of 2 years?) was when they mentioned contacting my parents and cray woman said not to because I was your brainwashed and willing disciple and our friends' parents all went "um wait a second, that makes no sense whatsoever"

20+ years later this is all still incredibly surreal and dumb, I can't imagine how much worse it would have been had you and/or I been committed over it

Who is that comparing death rictus faces with Regis?

my parents and cray woman

a series sadly cancelled before it had a chance to really shine

I bet that grass had gotten pretty high after 18 years.

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/2140/31967410150282521949335.jpg

NY Times Magazine feature on the Damien Echols/Lorri Davis death-row romance:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/magazine/a-death-row-love-story.html

Somehow I had missed Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh's involvement in getting them freed!

http://www.deadline.com/2011/08/peter-jackson-and-fran-walsh-to-reveal-financial-support-for-west-memphis-3-freedom-effort/

http://www.deadline.com/2011/10/jackson-working-toward-a-complete-pardon-for-damien-echols-of-the-west-memphis-three/

yeah i think i read - maybe in the nyt article about the guy who got married? - about a few people who put up money - patti smith, johnny depp iirc?

you're thinking of john mark byers, who now says that the WM3 should be freed and believes in their innocence. hobbs was the "invisible" stepdad.

― obi wan jacoby (roxymuzak), Friday, August 19, 2011 11:35 AM (5 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this guys a trip. the clip in PL3 they use of him in 1999 i think doing like a solo ritual funeral ceremony & you can see his dentures move in his mouth as hes screaming is amazing

RIP Bruce Sinofsky, codirector of the Paradise Lost films.

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/bruce-sinofsky-paradise-lost-trilogy-director-dies-at-58-1201438514/

I had no idea John Mark Byers died last year in a car crash.