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Shortly after three eight-year-old boys were found mutilated and murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas, local newspapers stated the killers had been caught. The police assured the public that the three teenagers in custody were definitely responsible for these horrible crimes. Evidence?
The same police officers coerced an error-filled "confessio" from Jessie Misskelley Jr., who is mentally handicapped. They subjected him to 12 hours of questioning without counsel or parental consent, audio-taping only two fragments totaling 46 minutes. Jessie recanted it that evening, but it was too late— Misskelley, Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols were all arrested on June 3, 1993, and convicted of murder in early 1994.
Although there was no physical evidence, murder weapon, motive, or connection to the victims, the prosecution pathetically resorted to presenting black hair and clothing, heavy metal t-shirts, and Stephen King novels as proof that the boys were sacrificed in a satanic cult ritual. Unfathomably, Echols was sentenced to death, Baldwin received life without parole, and Misskelley got life plus 40.
For over 11 years, The West Memphis Three have been imprisoned for crimes they didn't commit. Echols waits in solitary confinement for the lethal injection our tax dollars will pay for. They were all condemned by their poverty, incompetent defense, satanic panic and a rush to judgment.
But there's still hope for them, and you can help. For more information on the background of this case, check out the book and movie links below, then visit the official website supporting The West Memphis Three at:
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Almost Home:
My Life Story Vol 1
By Damien Echols
Almost Home is a message to you from a faraway place. It is a message from a 12-foot by 9-foot cell in a cinderblock building surrounded by coils of razor wire in the middle of a dirt field in Arkansas. It was written by a young man named Damien Echols and it chronicles his life and his experiences in a way that clearly illuminates him, not as a monster, but as a human being. For over 10 years Damien has been an inmate on death row for a crime he did not commit. He, along with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley have become known as The West Memphis Three, and though the story of their arrest and conviction is widely known, most people don’t know the real people behind the sound bites and the TV news segment clips. Damien has spent much of his time behind bars diligently maintaining his integrity and his sanity by writing. Almost Home is the product of that self-discipline, and in it you will meet someone who has survived an ordeal many of us would find impossible to live through. There are a few who still believe that Damien is a devil-worshipping child killer, but as time passes and more facts rise to the surface, it becomes even more clear that he is the victim of a peculiar species of hysteria. Read this book and know the truth about him. It is an urgent message from death row; the whole story of who Damien Echols really is.
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Devil's Knot:
The True Story of the West Memphis Three
By Mara Leveritt
NEW IN PAPERBACK! An account of a controversial trial in the wake of three child murders in Arkansas. In 1993, three eight-year-old boys were found mutilated and murdered in West Memphis, a small and tattered Arkansas town. The crime scene and forensic evidence were mishandled, but a probation officer directed the police toward Damien Echols, a youth with a troubled home life, anti-authoritarian attitudes and admiration for the Goth and Wiccan subcultures. Amid rumors of satanic cult activity, investigators browbeat Jesse Misskelley, a mentally challenged 16-year-old, into providing a wildly inconsistent confession that he'd helped Echols and a third teen, Jason Baldwin, assault the boys. Leveritt meticulously reconstructs the clamorous investigation and two jury trials that followed. All three boys were convicted on the basis of Misskelley's dubious statements and such "evidence" as Echols's fondness for William Blake and Stephen King. Leveritt, who makes a strong argument that the convictions were a miscarriage of justice, also suggests an alternative suspect: one victim's stepfather, who had a history of domestic violence, yet was seemingly shielded by authorities because he was a drug informant for local investigators.
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Paradise Lost 2
Revelations
DVD
Directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky return to the scene of the crime with this urgent follow-up to their harrowing 1996 documentary, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. That profoundly disturbing film chronicles the tragic and twisted case of three young men--Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley--who were convicted of the brutal 1993 murders of three second graders. The film suggests that perhaps their only crime was dressing in black and liking Metallica. To the townspeople, this smacked of Satanism and marked them as made-to-order suspects. Meanwhile, Mark Byars, the stepfather of one of the victims emerged from the film as a "Why-isn't-anyone-following-up-on-this?" suspect. Revelations, which, for those who missed the first film, efficiently recaps the case, and charts the trio's maddening appeals process (police browbeat a confession out of Misskelley, who has an IQ of 71, after 12 hours of questioning), as well as the efforts of a group of Internet advocates to "Free the West Memphis Three." Byers is back as well, and he is infinitely more terrifying than anything in Book of Shadows, Berlinger's Blair Witch sequel. We learn that Byers had all his teeth extracted in the years after the murders (human bite marks are among the new evidence introduced). We also learn that his wife has since died of undetermined causes. When Byers passes a suspect lie detector test, he exults, "I knew I was innocent." A further mystery is why both Paradise Lost films have not garnered the media attention or sparked the outrage that attended Errol Morris's The Thin Blue Line, which led to the release of an innocent man who was imprisoned for more than 10 years. Both films give new meaning to the concept of reasonable doubt.
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Blood of Innocents
The True Story of Multiple Murder in West Memphis, Arkansas
By Guy Reel, Marc Perrusquia
Originally published in 1995, the book was written by reporters from the local paper and has a sensational tone. It contains several inaccuracies and instances of speculative journalism. Names have been changed and obviously none of the recent developments are mentioned. An interesting look at this case from the other perspective but as far as actual facts go, should be taken with a grain of salt.
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The Last Pentacle of the Sun:
Writings in Support of the West Memphis 3
By Brett Alexander Savory (Editor)
The Seventh and last Pentacle of the Sun from the Key of Solomon is for freeing those unjustly imprisoned: If any be by chance imprisoned or detained in fetters of iron, at the presence of this Pentacle, which should be engraved in gold on the day and hour of the sun, he will be immediately delivered and set at liberty. While many artists, actors and musicians have come forward to fight this injustice, this book is the first collection of writings in support of the West Memphis 3. Collected here are case-related fiction and essays by some of the best dark fiction writers working today, as well as eight pages of black-and-white illustrations by -horror-master Clive Barker, a piece by comedian Margaret Cho, and an introduction by filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky creators of the acclaimed West Memphis 3 documentaries Paradise Lost and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations. This project is a fundraiser for the West Memphis 3 Defense Fund. Contributors have donated their stories, and all proceeds will go toward legal efforts to ensure that this miscarriage of justice is resolved.
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Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three
By Various Artists
Holy countercultural confluence! For the cause of fundraising for the defense of a trio of legally bound Arkansas headbangers--one of whom is currently on death row on the basis of hearsay testimony--Henry Rollins has resurrected the sacrosanct songs of his legendary former Los Angeles hardcore band Black Flag. Much as he first joined the popular Flag by jumping on stage and grabbing the microphone, Rollins here assigns lead vocals to a bewildering array of guests, including Iggy Pop, Dean Ween, Corey Taylor of Slipknot, Tom Araya of Slayer, Queens of the Stone Age, and Ice T. The Rollins Band convincingly serves as caustic backing band throughout. Protest music godfather Chuck D. of Public Enemy appears as well, though simply to introduce the album. Many of the singers, whether inspired by the cause itself or the muscular caliber of Black Flag's music, deliver the rebellious message with heartfelt intensity. Motorhead leader Lemmy's ripping version of "Thirsty and Miserable" is a stunning highlight, as is Hank Williams III's psychotic "No Values." Former Flag singers Keith Morris and Chuck Dukowski bring their veteran intensity, and Rollins himself shouts "My War," "TV Party," "Black Coffee," "Annihilate This Week," "Slip It In," and the title track. (Flag guitarist-lyricist Greg Ginn is notably absent, though his trademark clear Lucite guitar joins the West Memphis Three defendants on the cover artwork.) The participating musicians' anger and frustration over the West Memphis Three case, which has been detailed in HBO's Paradise Lost documentaries, is well matched with the giant fury of this band.
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Paradise Lost:
The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
VHS
This dark odyssey begins with the tragic murders of three 8-year-old boys, whose mutilated bodies were discovered in a shallow creek along Interstate 40 in West Memphis, Arkansas. The community demanded justice. One month later the police delivered: three local teenagers accused of sacrificing the little boys as part of a Satanic ritual. According to police Jessie Misskelley, aged 17, voluntarily confessed to participating in the brutal slayings. His confession implicated Jason Baldwin, 16, and Damien Echols, 18 -- fellow Devil worshippers who allegedly attended cult meetings, sacrificed dogs and cats on makeshift altars and planned the brutal slaughter of the little boys. Public opinion condemned the teens long before their trials began: For nine months, the local media released stories of blood-drinking and devil-worshipping, of homosexual orgies and demons. One local paper even printed gruesome excerpts of Jessie's confession. Naturally, much was made of the alleged ring leader's name -- Damien -- the antichrist character in the 1976 horror movie, THE OMEN. It was going to be hard to find a jury that hadn't heard that the three teens were in league with Satan. Despite overwhelming public antipathy towards them, the three defendants steadfastly maintained their innocence. Damien asserted that, over the years, the police blamed him for everything that went wrong in town simply because he was "different" -- he dressed in all-black clothing, listened to heavy metal music, and was interested in the Wicca religion, known to some as "white" magic. Jason complained that he was a victim of guilt by association -- that his close friendship with Damien was his only "crime." And Jessie, with an I.Q. of only 72, claimed that he was coerced into confessing because of police pressure. Although the trial produced virtually no physical evidence connecting the defendants to the crime, the town, the jury, and the police felt they had their killers--Damien awaits execution by lethal injection and Jason and Jessie will spend the rest of their lives in jail.
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