By Eric Seres
Introduction:The government of the United States claims that the judicial system will provide justice for all. The West Memphis Three, which is perhaps one of the most frightening cases in U.S. history, proves our justice system is flawed and does not always provide justice.
Back in 1993 on the morning of May 6th, three second grade boys, Christopher Byers, Michael Moore, and Steve Branch were found murdered in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Arkansas.
The West Memphis Police Department (WMPD) was under high pressure to find the murderer, so after a month of “investigation” they arrested Jason Baldwin (16), Jessie Misskelley (17) and Damien Echols (18).The police accused them of murdering the three children, claiming that the three teenagers were Satanists, and killed the boys as a “ritualistic sacrifice.”
Although having no true physical evidence, they managed to convict the accused teenagers on 18 March 1994. Jason Baldwin was sentenced to life in prison, Jessie Misskelley was sentenced to life plus forty years, and Damien Echols was sentenced to death.
This case has been written about in countless news articles, a vast number of news reports (via television), two books (The Devils Knot, by Mara Leveritt and Blood of Innocents: The true story of Multiple Murder in West Memphis, Arkansas by Guy Reel, Marc Perrusquia, Bartholomew Sullivan) and two documentaries (Paradise Lost, Paradise Lost II: Revelations)
The three teenagers wore black and had a love for heavy metal music. This does not make them Satan-worshiping killers, and I intend to reveal to you truth behind this case that is filled with lies, corruption, and three victims of circumstance and stereotyping.Paradise Lost/
Revelations:The HBO documentaries Paradise Lost I and II made a massive impact on this case. Both were directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky.Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills brought one inside the courtroom during the case, showed viewers interviews, and even showed the crime scene (among other things).Due to the effect of the first documentary, the filmmakers who were recording Paradise Lost !!: Revelations were not allowed (by the judge) to film inside the court during the first appeal in 1997.
However, it still contains interesting footage that sheds new light on areas that were still dark.There is a third sequel on its way, which is currently (As of May 2011) being recorded.
Echols:
Damien Echols is now thirty-six years old and hasn't seen sunlight in about seventeen years. He is married to Lori Davis, and has a son (With Domini Teer, his girlfriend before he was sentenced).Although he is on death row, he has managed to write and publish an autobiography entitled Almost Home: My Life Story Volume 1 (which is available at www.amazon.com).Also, the punk/acoustic musician, Michale Graves (Formerly of the Misfits) has written music to coincide with Echols' poetry. These tracks were released in October of 2007 on an album titled Illusions.
Baldwin:
Jason Baldwin, now thirty-four years old, was Echols' best friend and found guilty of three counts of first degree murder. He and Echols had a joint trial, while Misskelley was tried separately.
Misskelley:
Jessie Misskelley, now thirty-four years old, was found guilty for one count of first-degree murder (Life in prison), and two counts second-degree murder (20 years + 20 years). Although friends with Baldwin, he and Echols were merely acquaintances.Evidence:Although no physical evidence to prove these boys were even near the crime scene when the murders took place, the prosecutors still managed to convince the general public that Satanists were out murdering children.“
Maybe for the general public, it's not quite as scary to believe that bloodthirsty Satanists were out murdering children, as it is to believe that parents were actually out murdering their own children.”-Damien EcholsThe only evidence against these boys were the false confession and the false witness.False Confession: Misskelley, who has an I.Q. of 72, was interrogated for about twelve hours straight, with no food, water, or bathroom breaks.
As a result of this psychological torture, they managed to obtain a confession out of him. Only the last forty five minutes of this twelve hour interrogation was recorded. Many statements in this confession contradicts a statement made before. One example of these contradictions: at first, he said they skipped school (even though they were all proven to be in attendance at school that day) to commit the murders, but later changing his story saying it was that night.
Also, (as shown in the documentary Paradise Lost) two professionals in false confessions, a man named Warren D. Holmes and another man named Dr. Richard J Ofshe, each analyzed the confession itself. Both agree that this confession is false.“Well, the two obvious points that bother me is the mistake on the time. You know, he's saying nine o'clock, and then he’s saying he went home at 12:00. -I just don't understand, if he was, in fact, involved in this crime how he made a mistake on the time factor and the thing that really bothers me is the ligature, what was used to tie up the victims.
Now, he certainly knows the difference between shoelaces and a rope. Those are the two most prominent things, but there’s a multitude of questions, in my opinion, he should have been asked to ascertain the validity of his confession and the first time that he came out with the wrong time factor, that should have been a signal that something was radically wrong.
That's when the questions should have been more probing to determine whether or not he was making it up or giving a valid confession.” -Holmes (Part of transcript. Transcript is of Holmes being questioned during trial in the court room. Copied/Pasted from this web address.
Read full transcript at: http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/warrenh.html)Due to the lack of consistency and facts in this confession, this must be untrue.
False Witness:
A resident of West Memphis, Vicki Hutcheson, said untrue statements about the murders.She was going to be introduced to Echols on the day of (or around the date of) 1 June 1993. Hutchesonhad police place hidden microphones in the house while her conversation with Echols took place. Hutcheson said that Echols didn't make any incriminating statements, so the police claimed the recording to be “inaudible.” Hutcheson claimed the recordings to be perceptible.
Hutcheson claimed to be at the Esbat (a meeting within the Wicca religion) that the three teenagers were also at. She claimed that at this Esbat, she heard Echols (while drunk) brag about killing three children. She could not tell the police where this Esbat took place, or who else was there.She later recanted her statements, claiming that due to the coercion from the police, she fabricated these untrue statements.Recanting these statements shows that nobody has any incriminating evidence against the three accused teens.
Possible Bite Marks:
The three teenagers lived in a trailer park in West Memphis. Near their homes, there was a lake that was very filthy and had a lot of trash in it. During investigation, the police decided to search the lake. In the lake, they found a knife that was serrated on one side, and the other side was a straight-edge blade. They claimed this knife to be used in the murder. There were dashed marks on the forehead of Steve Branch and other parts of the boys bodies, which, during the first trial, assumed to be marks from the serrated part of the knife.
Later, in 1997, they figured out that the marks on Branch's forehead were bite marks, and the other marks were caused by animals (such as snapping turtles) after the boys died. Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley submitted their teeth imprints. All of these imprints had a negative match to the marks found on Steve Branch.Christopher Byers' step-father, John Mark Byers, who had enough evidence to be a suspect, (although the police failed to investigate throughout the trial) had his teeth removed after the first trial.
He hasn't given a consistent reason why he did this, and hasn't been willing to sign over his dental record so they could verify his the bite marks to be his.Although this does not fully prove the innocents of the three, it does make the situation the WMPD wove into the minds of West Memphis citizens less likely.
Byers' Knife:
During the filming of Paradise Lost, Byers gave one of his pocket knifes to Doug Cooper, a cameraman with HBO that was filming the documentary. Appearing to have blood on it, Doug turned the knife over to the West Memphis police as possible evidence to the trial. Byers initially claimed he had never used the knife before, and therefore never cut himself or any other person/animal on it.
Later, while being questioned under oath, he changed his story. He claimed to have accidentally cut himself on his thumb with the knife. Nothing beyond this appears to have been investigated about the knife.This knife should have been enough evidence for the police to investigate Byers. However, the police still did not investigate Byers any further.
DNA Evidence:From the years 2007 – 2010, DNA from the crime scene was tested. This DNA testing showed a negative match for all three teenagers. DNA of Terry Hobbs, the step-father of Stevie Branch, was found at the crime scene (found in knots used to tie up one of the victims).The DNA testing has proved that they were never at the scene of the crime.This DNA evidence is what the three accused are using to get a new trial, set for later this year.Other
Suspects:
The three unfortunate metal heads were not the only suspects in this horrific murder case. Other suspects include John Mark Byers and “Mr. Bojangles” (among others.)Mr. Bojangles:An unknown black male, referred to as “Mr. Bojangles” during the trial, was seen in the ladies' restroom of the Bojangles Restaurant about a mile from the crime scene on May 5th, 1993 during the evening (only a day before the boys were found).
He, according to workers at the restaurant, seemed “dazed and covered with blood and mud.” Forty-five minutes after the police were called, (after the man had already left the restaurant) a female officer named Regina Meeks responded, but never went inside the restaurant. She only pulled up to the drive-thru window and inquired about the man.
The next day, after hearing about the discovery of the three boys, the manager of the restaurant, a man named Marty King, called the police so they could investigate the scene. After calling for the second time, the police finally arrived at the restaurant. Wearing the same clothing that they wore from the murder scene, they contaminated the restroom when retrieving blood samples.
These blood samples, however, were lost by a police detective named Bryn Ridge, therefore this lead ran cold because of lack of evidence.Chris Morgan and Brian Hollands:Four days after the bodies were discovered, two teenagers, Chris Morgan and Brian Hollands, left from West Memphis to Oceanside, California. Both of these two boys had drug offense histories.Morgan had a small job of driving an Ice Cream truck in the neighborhood that the three boys had lived, so he is assumed to be at least familiar with the boys.
The two teenagers were interrogated. Nothing came out during the interrogation, so they were let go.John Mark Byers:Although not a major suspect in police investigation, John Mark Byers has significant amount of evidence against him in this case.One of the most notable pieces of evidence is the knife he gave to the HBO cameraman, Doug Cooper, as mentioned above in the “evidence” section of this article.
During the filming of Paradise Lost II: Revelations, he [Byers] took a polygraph test about the murders of the children and the death of his wife. He passed the test, but according to the documentary he was under prescription medication that may have affected the test results.
Terry Hobbs:
Terry Hobbs, the step-father of Stevie Branch, has new-found DNA evidence against him in the upcoming trials. He and his wife, Pamela Hicks Hobbs, are the only two parents that claim Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley are guilty (based on my research.)Currently:Because of the recent DNA testing, the West Memphis Three have been issued a new trial set for October 2011.Conclusion:Learn More at WM3.orgThank you for taking your time to read this short article, and please help support the West Memphis Three in any way you can.
Although there is absolutely no evidence against Echols, Misskelley, and Baldwin, they were convicted and have spent half their lives in prison because the three had a passion for heavy metal music and dressed in black.Just for clarification, I am not accusing Byers of being guilty, nor anybody else.
I am just trying to prove the innocence of Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley. Learn the truth. Free the West Memphis Three!(Copy and paste the URL that you want to follow any of the links below.)
Connect on Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/WM3org/325685894334?sk=infoPurchase Almost Home: My Life Story Vol. 1:http://www.amazon.com/Almost-Home-Life-Story-Vol/dp/0595357016/ref=sr_1_...
Purchase The Devil's Knot:http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Knot-Story-Memphis-Three/dp/0743417593/ref=...
Purchase Paradise Lost/Paradise Lost II:http://www.amazon.com/Paradise-Lost-Collectors-Murders-Revelations/dp/B001CDEGWM/ref=sr_1_cc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304651623&sr=1-1-catcorr
Purchase The Blood of Innocents:http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Innocents-Multiple-Memphis-Arkansas/dp/07860...
Donate:I know times are tough, but if you can donate, any amount would be greatly appreciated!WM3 Defense Fund: http://wm3.org/WM3/view/DAMIEN-Legal-Defense-Fund
Donate a book:Being in prison for years and years gets boring. Donate a book!Echols' Amazon Wish List:http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html/002-2133407-5860037?id=3...
Baldwin's Amazon Wish List:http://www.amazon.com/Jason-Baldwin/wishlist/3A1DC63OCJ0N8/ref=cm_wl_sea...
Misskelley's Amazon Wish List:http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html/104-9770006-9547969?_enc...
Purchase Shirts, Buttons, etc:Want to show your support to the world? Get a shirt!http://www.zazzle.com/free_the_wm3
Works Cited
Bakken, Kathy, Grove Pashley,
Lisa Francher, and Burk Sauls. WM3.org. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.
Berlinger, Joe, and Bruce Sinofsky, dirs. "Paradise Lost II: Revelations." Paradise Lost II: Revelations. HBO. Television.
Berlinger, Joe, and Bruce Sinofsky, dirs. "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills." Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. HBO. Television."Damien Echols." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 25 Apr. 2011.
Jason Baldwin." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.
"New Hearings Ordered for Echols, Co-defendants." Arkansas Online. Web. 30 Apr. 2011.
Paradise Lost 2: Revelations." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 25 Apr. 2011.
"West Memphis Three Seek Further Testing of DNA » The Commercial Appeal." The Commercial Appeal: Local Memphis, Tennessee News Delivered Throughout the Day. Web. 25 Apr. 2011.
YouTube - Damien Echols Interviewed on Court TV - Primetime Justice 1996." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=HOuEo1ouDOk>.
