The west Memphis Three are free! Jason Baldwin, Jessie Misskelley JR, and Damian Echols have been released after 18 years of confinement for a gruesome crime that occurred in 1993. For those not familiar with the case here’s a brief overview.
May 5’th 1993 three eight year old boys went missing in the small (and evolutionarily neglected) town of West Memphis Arkansas. The children’s bodies were found in an area known as Robin Hood hills after being mutilated, stabbed, hogtied and thrown in a stream. Community fear and outrage spread through the town as people tried to understand what had happened.
Police errors and the corruption of the local law enforcement and prosecutor’s office made for an investigation that missed vital evidence and ignored substantial suspects decreasing the chances of finding the killer. Evidence included misstatements made by family members of one of the victims and police reports pointing to potential persons of interest. One notable example being the call from a local business reporting a man covered in mud and blood acting strangely and entering a public restroom. The West Memphis officer refused to enter the establishment, but rather collected blood samples from the bathroom the next day and then lost them.
The West Memphis authorities didn’t feel that a blood and mud covered man seen near the crime scene was relevant, they did however think that three teenagers listening to heavy metal music and dressing in black was a huge break in the case. In a Salem move, West Memphis decided that Echols, Misskelley, and Baldwin had committed the crimes as part of a satanic ritual.
With no murder weapon and physical evidence that was limited to a fiber at the scene that was “similar” to a fiber found in a piece of clothing belonging to Jason Baldwin’s mother the Prosecution was confident. The prosecutor felt that the “Secondary transfer” evidence of the fiber was crucial. Again, bloody muddy bathroom guy = not important; cotton fiber at the scene and the suspect knowing someone with a cotton shirt = important.
With this lack of evidence and the illegal interrogation of a mentally challenged teenager involving an amazing amount of coaching and redirection, the prosecution managed to get a conviction of three innocent people including two life sentences and a death penalty. The case was captured in the documentary film Paradise Lost. The film created outrage around the country as people saw that the Salem with trials are not a thing of the past and that people can be sentenced to death without evidence. Organizations were founded and legal professionals from across the U.S offered their services for free to help exonerate the West Memphis Three. Many celebrities such as Johnny Depp have vocalized their support of the WM3, in addition to the outpouring of support from average people around the world who believe in justice.
When all seemed hopeless, news broke August 19, 2011 that the West Memphis Three are free. In a surprising plea deal Baldwin, Misskelley, and Echols have been released. This is great news for those of us who have been following the case and wishing for something to be done about this injustice. Perhaps a greater injustice remains, however. Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley have been granted their lives back, but the eight-year-old victims will not have that option. While it is important to celebrate the justice on behalf of the WM3, we must also remember that there is still no justice for the children whose lives were taken on that spring day, and that their still-unknown killer was allowed to walk free.