The West Memphis Three

[terrie]

Is anyone familiar with this case? It has been in 2 HBO documentaries called Paradise Lost (I forget the exact name of the second documentary). Anyway, it is a blood chilling case of the murder and assaults on 3 young boys in a tiny, fundamentalist town called Memphis, Arkansas... made even more horrifying by the way the case was handled. Three young men (teens at the time, wrongly accused of being satanists because they wore black and liked heavy metal music---one with an IQ of 72) are in prison; one of them has a death sentence. The problem is, there is an enormous amount of controversy over whether they were even in the area, much less involved in the crimes. There is no physical evidence, little evidence of any other kind, and much mishandling of the case. The video made my heart break and I am convinced that these young men are innocent; the video also shows one very sick man who is NOT so innocent. I believe in the justice system much of the time --- but this case is haunting in its injustice. I'd like to encourage anyone to look into it. It is worth the time. I think the videos are in video stores for rent, as well.

[doug65oh]

The Crime Library has what looks to be an extensive article on this case at http://www.crimelibrary.com/classics/westmemphis/ ...

[Kat]

Thanks for the link Doug-Oh.
I read the first page.
My first question would be, how many people think someone would confess to something they didn't do?

[the00phantom]

The second one was titled Revelations: Paradise Lost 2.
This is another one of the many cases I have been following for a while.

Jessie Miskelley was the boy with the I.Q. of 72. It is in my opinion that the police delivered a forced confession on his part by keeping him there for hours on end and not allowing any bathroom breaks or meal breaks.
The tape recorder in which they used to record his confession was only turned on for the last (what?) half hour of the confession.

Jessie constantly kept jumping from one time to the next.. I believe at one point, he said it was in the morning.. another time, it was in the afternoon... And a third time, he mentioned it was at night.

The boy on death row (Damien Echols) was seen walking with his girlfriend (at the time), about fifteen minutes before the the murders 'supposedly' were committed.

The man that Terrie mentioned, Mark Byers, was in that part of the woods the night before the bodies were found! He has been a drug informant for the local police and has gotten out of jail many times because of his connection with the local police. I remember him being arrested for assulting his exwife with a cattle prod.

So, there's alot in this case that should be investigated before an innocent kid dies of lethal injection for something he didn't do.

[terrie]

I definately agree Phantom... according to the film, Byers also has a history of strange behaviors and some very nasty interactions with his neighbors... plus some pretty serious mental health issues... and his wife died suddenly and suspiciously, I think by some sort of poisoning/toxins. He even gave the film crew a used knife (it looked as if it had dried blood on it; I believe forensic tests were inconclusive regarding the blood) as a gift. There is a group that has put alot of time, money, and energy into freeing the WM3. I wish Arkansas would take a deeper look at this case.

[the00phantom]

Right, Terrie. Arkansas should look deeper into this.
I ended up buying a book that explains the case in great detail that you and anyone else might be interested in.
It's titled, 'Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three' by Mara Leveritt. The time it took me to find it was amazing as everyone seemed to be sold out, when it first became available.
I ended up checking it out of the library and returning it about a week later. But, because the whole case kept haunting me, I had to read it again. So, I eneded up buying it.

But the book is amazing in it's detail and was written by the reporter that was seen in the second Paradise Lost video.

[Allen]

I am putting that book on my reading list. After reading what has been posted on this thread and reading the information on the site provided, I definitely think this is a story I want to learn more about.All I know about the case so far is what I read on the link, but the opinion I have is that there was some gross mishandling of the case by law enforcement when it came the suspects and the evidence. The Judge did not seem to want to hear any evidence that contradicted their guilt, he more or less blocked the avenues to proving otherwise.He allowed some pretty questionable testimony to be admitted and did not allow it to be effectively refuted.I also wondered what would make someone confess to a crime they did not commit. But I became convinced after just reading the information provided that was a coerced confession. The only question I have about the case is, how in the world did they get convicted in the first place based on the evidence? IMO the evidence against Lizzie was stronger than that.

[the00phantom]

My guess is, if you live in a small town, you're pegged.
If, for some reason, you stand out in a crowd, people make up their minds quickly about you and it takes an awful lot to change them.

[Kat]

Well, I'm becoming converted to the false confession possibility. I still don't understand the nature of coercion that can have such an effect on an innocent person, but somehow I guess, the person rationalizes it and is willing to be sacrificed.

I just saw a case on Court TV where the man admitted he and his friend committed a rape and murder. They were tried, the jury took 7 minutes to convict and they went to prison on life sentences. After being in prison for years, the whole time the man kept reiterating that he was guilty until one day, after someone else confessed, he finally confessed that he had falsley confessed! Then we listened to him explain why. What he said made no sense to me at all, but they said in Austin now they videotape every interrogation of a suspect suspected of murder.