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West Memphis Three Free

Kristen J

Full story here. Some of the background here.

Can you count the ways in which the kyriarchy used its power to harm and coerce innocent people during the course of a single murder investigation?

So who is going to argue this time that this was just an isolated incident, the system works, move along – nothing to see here?

21 thoughts on West Memphis Three Free

  2. Okay, clearly posting from my phone = shit. I apologize for the screwiness of the title bits. :/

  3. I was on the phone when I read it, and said to my partner “Hang on, wait while this link loads OMG!OMG!OMG! It IS them!” and then squealed for a bit.

    It is seriously good news, apart from the whole parole for ten years thing. I’m just beyond sad that these men spent more time in prison than out of it, for the crime of being different.

    In 1993 I was a 15 year old Metallica & Pearl Jam (and other grunge and metal outfits) fan. I wore black, dyed my hair, and even living in a fairly progressive place I frequently got the shit kicked out of me for doing so, as did my little gang of fellow misfits. We were frequently called to the head of year’s office to be grilled about our alleged ‘satanism’ or rumoured suicide pacts.

    We only heard about the case in an imported music magazine (no internet) and were appalled to read that our shared ‘lifestyle’ was the only apparent reason for convicting them. Saw ‘Paradise Lost’ in 1996 and was further horrified by the appalling miscarriage of justice that took place, the depth of which was further revealed in the sequel. The fact that poverty, intellectual disability and just being known as the town ‘freak’ was enough to potentially get three boys a death sentence, was and is disgusting.

    I hope they can clear their names, but I think it will be incredibly hard to ever find closure.

    1. It is good that they’re being released…I’m just still angry that its due to a plea change rather that exoneration. I cannot believe after everything that’s come to light there is any question that these men committed this crime.

  4. This has been an emotional day. So much joy that they are all out and this is over (or at least the incarceration and threat of state sponsored death is), and so much heartache that this was the only way they could achieve it. This quote from Jason Baldwin almost has me in tears at the office:

    “This was not justice,” Baldwin said. “In the beginning we told nothing but the truth — that we were innocent and they sent us to prison for the rest of our lives for it. We had to come here and the only thing the state would do for us is say, ‘Hey we will let you go only if you admit guilt,’ and that is not justice anyway you look it. They’re not out there trying to find who really murdered those boys, and I did not want to take the deal from the get-go. However, they are trying to kill Damien, and sometimes you just got to bite the gun to save somebody.”

  5. @Kristen, seems to happen a lot with cases like this. Cory Maye was finally released a few weeks ago, but had to plea to manslaughter and was released for time served.

    (For those who don’t know the case, police received a dodgy drug tip-off, and his apartment was next door to the one they were after. The police failed to announce themselves as police, Maye rushed into his young daughter’s room and shot the first man who came into the room. He was convicted of murder and spent the last 10 years on death row).

  6. @Susanna,

    That quote makes me want to cry as well. Coercion even to the last minute, hanging the death of a friend over their heads to save their own sorry asses the embarrassment of admitting they were wrong.

  7. Kristen J:
    @Susanna,

    That quote makes me want to cry as well.Coercion even to the last minute, hanging the death of a friend over their heads to save their own sorry asses the embarrassment of admitting they were wrong.

    AFAIK, they can still appeal the conviction, even having plead out. I don’t know if a straight-up guilty plea nullifies the possibility of appeal, nor am I sure if an Alford plea is any different (Jill? Wanna drop some knowledge on us here?), but the quotes I read indicate they intend to continue fighting.

  8. auditorydamage: AFAIK, they can still appeal the conviction, even having plead out. I don’t know if a straight-up guilty plea nullifies the possibility of appeal, nor am I sure if an Alford plea is any different (Jill? Wanna drop some knowledge on us here?), but the quotes I read indicate they intend to continue fighting.

    My understanding is that as part of the plea they permanently recind their right of appeal on the original convictions as well as any right to sue for wrongful imprisonment etc. But I would be very happy to be wrong on that.

  9. Kristen:

    I’m just still angry that its due to a plea change rather that exoneration

    Apparently (from what I’ve read on various sites) the state saying “You were innocent” is an admission of guilt, and a potential financial liability, so the plea change is a way around that. If that is true then it’s disgusting. You’re innocent or you’re not.

    I can only hope that one day the real perp is charged. The smart money is on the guy whose DNA was found at the scene, has killed someone else, and has issued several contradictory statements about his whereabouts on the day the boys were killed.

  10. Woohoo. I am so happy for Baldwin and Misskelly and so happy and relieved for Echols.

    I was a black-wearing, Metallica listening teenager when the Paradise Lost documentaries came out, myself. I remember very clearly that some of the “evidence” in the trial included the quotes from Echols’ notebook, not just the Metallica quotes, but quotes from freaking Shakespeare were also presented in court to “prove” that Echols was a child-murdering freak. No wonder the rest of the world laughs at us (USians). It’s little wonder that sometime later, while sitting in a packed van next to a fellow black-clad teenage Metallica fan on route to a Shakespeare festival to compete, I turned to him and cracked that all those things must make us axe murders.

    You shouldn’t have to pay for “to thine own self be true” with your freedom or your life if you haven’t actually hurt anyone!

  11. Susanna: My understanding is that as part of the plea they permanently recind their right of appeal on the original convictions as well as any right to sue for wrongful imprisonment etc. But I would be very happy to be wrong on that.

    Ooooo that is so infuriating. I hope you’re wrong too, but I have a sinking feeling you’re not. 🙁

  12. An Alford plea is the functional equivalent of a guilty plea. As I understand (though I haven’t practiced crim), it would seem to foreclose civil liability at the very least (a condition is you have to admit there is enough evidence to convict you).

  13. Disgusting. So instead of apologizing to these men for stealing their lives and to the families of the victims for not looking for the real killer of their children, the state is covering it’s ass against civil liability. At least they are finally free.

  14. I’m happy they’re free and angry this was thIs was the only way to do it. The state is trying to save its ass.

    Paraxeni can you provide any links to the suspect whose DNA was found?

  15. Pingback: The West Memphis Three are Free: An Amazing Day Laced in Absolute Tragedy | Menstrual Poetry

  16. I would also like to add that despite the fact that some of the child victims’ parents seemed to hate the West Memphis 3 for being different from the rest of West Memphis society almost as much as they hated the West Memphis 3 for having allegedly killed their children, I really hope that they get real justice at some point.

  17. I’m so happy they’re free but my gut just clenches at how much they have lost, and adding insult to injury the state twisted their arms for the conditions of their release. Steal peoples lives then cover liability and deny accountability. Disgusting.

    @Miss S if you check wikipedia’s west memphis three page, at the top they list a 2007 forensic report that found DNA matching Terry Hobbs (the step-father of one of the victims) and one of his friends.

  18. Thanks Gretchen!

    Everywhere I’ve talked about this I’m seeing people say “I was a black-clad teen Metallica fan too”. I wish I’d known then how strong our numbers were! Although all I would have done was write to everyone, and ask them to fly en masse to my school, and tell the teachers that black nail polish=/= satanist

  19. I moved to West Memphis in 1997. And the case was still very raw. It’s still raw today. We are pagan (although not Wiccan) and I have faced down teachers and cops alike that accused my children of Satanism. I lost one of my few friends when I came out of the broom closet.

    This is not a prosperous town. It is not a well educated town. And there is a deep abiding suspicion of anyone who is different in any way.

    I’m pleased the men are out. I worry how they will make it now, with no prospects, no higher education and the black mark of prison on their lives. I am disgusted that the state chose to cover itself in this way, but not surprised.

  20. Angelia – I was just saying that myself yesterday. Men who’ve spent more years in prison than out, who were locked away as innocent boys and demonised, do not have luck on their sides. They will be institutionalised, and will find it hard to cope in a world that has changed beyond belief in almost 20 years.

    I hope love and support is enough, I fear it may not be.

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