| Free the West Memphis Three |
| In 1993 three boys started home from school. They never reached their destination. Instead their mutilated bodies were found the next day. The police decided it looked like a 'satanic' killing and sought out the individual they thought was the most likely to be a satanist. They brought Jessie Misskelley, 17, in to be questioned. They questioned this mentally handicapped teen for five hours. When the tape recorder was finally turned on, Jessie 'confessed' to the murders. He also implicated his two friends Jason Baldwain and Damien Echols. Jessie's confession was unconstitutional. Only having an IQ of 72, he was unable to understand his Miranda Rights and unable to waive them without the consent of a parent or guardian. No consent was ever granted. Jessie's confession also had several other problems. He got many important details about the murders wrong. For example, he first stated that the murders happened around noon. But this was impossible since the boys had been in school at that time. So the police lead him to then answer that the murders had happened at night. It was a clear case of police coersion. Jessie was brought to trial before Damien and Jason. Even though his confession was false, and this was shown by a Pulitzer Prize winning expert on false confessions, Jessie was convicted of all three counts of murder. He was sentenced to life plus 40 years with no parole. Damien and Jason were tried together the following month. The prosecution had hoped to have Jessie testify against his friends in return for a lesser sentence, but Jessie refused. The prosecution's only evidence involved Damien's religion, Wicca, his tendency to wear black clothing, his taste in music and books, and a knife that was found at the bottom of a polluted lake near Jasons house. The knife has never been proven to be the murder weapon. It could've been put there by anybody since it was a public access lake. Some fabric fibers were also used as evidence, but these fibers cannot be proven to come from Damien's clothing to the exclusion of all others. The prosecutions weakest evidence was the testimony of two small girls that allegedly heard Damien confess to the murders, and a juvanile deliquent that testifed that Jason confessed to him. The entire trial was ultimately based on hearsay. Damien Echols and two of his friends were arrested and convicted of the murders even though there was NO physical evidence to connect them to the crime. No finger prints, hair, DNA or footprints were ever found. However, there was a bite mark on one of the boys. This was not brought up in the original trial, who knows why. When later examined during the appeal process, it was found that the bite could not have been made by ANY of the three teens convicted for the murder. Damien Echols was sentenced to death and his two friends were sentenced to life in prison. To this day they are appealing their convictions. I decided to add this to my page after only just learning about it. If you read this and it makes you angry...follow the links at the bottom and GET INVOLVED!! We must all stand together to help reverse this injustice! HBO has made 2 documentaries on this crime. Check your local video store for Paradise Lost-The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills OR Paradise Lost 2-Revelations |
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