FREE THE WEST MEMPHIS THREE!

[bonniethomas06]

I have just spent the fourth consecutive night watching a documentary (four different ones!) about the WM3 - culminating in the new Peter Jackson documentary 'West of Memphis' (think the others were a trilogy called 'Paradise Lost'). WOW! What a misscarriage of justice!(and I say this after having researched the other side of the story, poured over the online police evidence and trial transcripts etc).

Is there anyone else here who is aware of this story? For those who aren't, three children were murdered in 1993 in horrific circumstances, three local teenagers who had been in a bit of trouble and were fairly 'outcast' were blamed, found guilty and spent 18 years in jail (one on death row) only to be let out last year after filing an 'Alford' plea (which is a guilty plea that gets them out of prison, but allows them to maintain their innocence ) and are now trying to clear their name.

What was shocking was the ineptitude of the police, and the bias of the local residents who leaped to assumptions on fairly shallow grounds. More shocking was the apparent new DNA evidence implicated the stepfather of one of the boys (a hair found in the knot of the ligature used to tie up one of the boys) and the revelation of his subsequent history of child sex abuse and violence. He is still walking the streets as the police/judiciary don't want to admit what a mistake they made.

I know we will never know the truth, but it is a fascinating case to read up on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Memphis_Three and if you get the chance to see the documentaries (especially the first Paradise Lost and 'West of Memphis' I would highly recommend it - as a study of the dark side of humanity more than anything else!


Would love to hear other ishers views on the subject.

[Maykal]

I watched the first two documentaries a couple of years ago and the final part a few months ago and agree it's a fascinating story. Certainly, when watching the documentaries, you can't help but conclude that the WM3 are innocent although after the first two, I was still aware that the documentaries were, after all, pro-WM3 productions with an obvious bias/agenda. However, I think in light of the new evidence outlined in the last part, it's almost certain that they were wrongly imprisoned.