West Memphis Three

I figure most everyone here has heard of this case, and if you haven't-- www.wm3.org
I've been reading more about it lately, and it just boggles my mind that with so much evidence to the contrary, they keep upholding the convictions on these three men, who have been imprisoned for this crime for 16 years now...
Any thoughts??

Wasn't this the case that the main evidence was that the teenagers wore black and listened to rock music?

yep. and dna evidence has now advanced to where they can test things they couldn't back in '93, and it has shown not only that none of the 3 so-called satanic boys' dna was left at the scene, but that there is dna evidence of one of the slain boys' stepfathers and the stepfathers' friend.

steph wrote:

I figure most everyone here has heard of this case, and if you haven't-- www.wm3.org
I've been reading more about it lately, and it just boggles my mind that with so much evidence to the contrary, they keep upholding the convictions on these three men, who have been imprisoned for this crime for 16 years now...
Any thoughts??

Only heard about it recently. Nate Albert and Tobe bean both have WM3 on their guitar straps.

Have to say there is something totally bizarre about the guilty verdict. Hopefully the lad on death row doesn't get executed on the basis of his original trial.

Learn the truth....

Pretty late jumping in on this but having watched both the documentaries concerning the case and the various twists and turns I find the whole thing absolutely fascinating. Mark John Byers (the stepfather of one of the boys) is especially interesting, his change in tone from the beginnings of the case to the present day has been a complete 180 and considering his overall 'aura' it's hard not to be cynical regarding his involvement.

Upon finishing both the films and reading all the information available, i am dismayed that something like this a) was allowed to happen in the first place and b) has dragged on for so long with little being done on behalf of those in power to overthrow the original verdicts.

I want to watch them again now...

shipbuilding wrote:

Pretty late jumping in on this but having watched both the documentaries concerning the case and the various twists and turns I find the whole thing absolutely fascinating. Mark John Byers (the stepfather of one of the boys) is especially interesting, his change in tone from the beginnings of the case to the present day has been a complete 180 and considering his overall 'aura' it's hard not to be cynical regarding his involvement.

Upon finishing both the films and reading all the information available, i am dismayed that something like this a) was allowed to happen in the first place and b) has dragged on for so long with little being done on behalf of those in power to overthrow the original verdicts.

I want to watch them again now...

exactly...there seems to be enough pointing in the direction of that stepfather that they oughta rethink their case and take a good hard look at him! and youre right, it is a tragedy that it has been allowed to carry on this long. three little boys lost their lives, and three other boys lost theirs in a way, too.

Totally agree - I'm not really up on the US judicial system but it's a real eye opener when one of the 'accused' is actually about 5 times more intelligent than anyone else in the court.

I'm surprised that it's taking this long to go the supreme court - it seems to have been an extremely lengthy process for what (from an outsider's point of view) looks to be a very high profile case, or at least was a very high profile case.

I think a lot covering up is being done to mask over the mistakes made by those involved during the early stages of the investigation, particularly the officer who questioned Misskelley in a rather maverick fashion. This is without mentioning 'Mr Bojangles' who's appearence on the night of the murders (covered in blood and mud and acting strangely in a local eaterie) was ignored in favour of going after the 3 local kids who wore black, loved Metallica and were bad at maths

Have you seen the films? If you haven't, i fully recommend them, though i was just sat staring into space when each one finished. I just couldn't get my head around it!

ive seen bits of the recent documentary with johnny depp that was on the news shows here in the US awhile back. and i know i either read a book or watched a documentary years ago...but ill try to netflix the ones you mentioned.

Has anyone else heard the news? They let them free today! Holy siyjrihyewosjdhwelksjh. It's not total justice, as they had to take an Alford plea, but they are FINALLY free, I am so happy on their behalf!

I am happy they are free but uneasy about the having to plead guilty thing and not being able to sue the state. Pretty shit for the state to turn around and say "we are really really sorry we messed up and imprisoned you for so long when we where clearly wrong and all but we dont want anyone to know" kinda sucks.

oh, i know. it's bullshit. i watched an interview they did and jason said that the only reason he took the plea deal was because damien was on death row. it's ridiculous that the state doesn't care about finding the real killer(s). that's the really scary part to me...

I am glad that they were finally released

I wasn't aware of this case until now. Really tragic story.

I've been following this case since sometime in 98 or so. I'm very happy that they are finally free, but the news just didn't feel as good as I always thought it would. The prosecutor's 'I hope they have finally been rehabilitated' comment made me want to puke.

If anyone is interested, I wrote a song about the WM3 earlier this year from the perspective of the real killer. If you go here: www . reverbnation . com/lastinlineva (remove the spaces because my username won't let me post links yet) and look for the song 'West Memphis', you can hear a rough mix of the recording.

ps just wanted to post this link.
this is for donating money or sending letters of support, both of which are important, in case anyone here is interested!!

http://www.wm3.org/WM3/view/DAMIEN-Legal-Defense-Fund