West Memphis 3

[drockilles]

Don't know how many of you have heard of this, but I think everyone should be informed. I''m only posting one link http://www.wm3.org/splash.php, but you can find anything about this case by just googling the west memphis three. This case has been going on for years, I'm just curious what you guys think of it. My wife initially introduced me to it, and almost everyday it crosses my thoughts since hearing about it. These guys lost their youth for something they didn't do, put to death for being metal fans and nothing else.

[VitaminG]

man, that's chilling to read. What happened to those poor boys, and what's still happening to the WM3 with no real case against them. I guess that's what you get for looking like an outsider in a small town.

[Thrust]

Yeah, the documentaries on this are REALLY good. I think they are named "Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Lost:Revalations". There is also a GREAT book I read on the subject a couple of years ago called "Devils Knot". I certainly believe that they should have another trial or the initial trial be declared a mistrial or such (I don't actually think you can do that after sentencing).

[St.James]

I've followed this closely since it happened. The one kid that "confessed" is slow, not retarded, but very easily lead. It was his coerced confession that convicted them all, even though they all had separate trials.

The fact is, in a bible belt town like that anyone could have been picked out of the crowd, accused, tried and convicted. 3 young boys were brutally murdered and the people wanted swift, harsh justice and who better to pin it on and get rid of than the 3 people who stood out by listening to metal and looking different?

They had no evidence to convict these kids and they certainly didn't have enough to put the oldest, Damien, on death row. At Damien's trial they even used the fact that his name means devil. They claimed it was a satanic ritual... Pretty low blow.

If you watch the documentaries you'll see one of the victims parents, Chris Byers. The father, actually his step father, stands out like a soar thumb. He changes his story many times on camera and is about the craziest bastard I've ever seen.

2 main things that stick out about him is the fact that a hunting knife was found in his garage that had blood from one of the boys on it and teeth marks was on their bodies. Conveniently he had his teeth pulled and now wears dentures. He claimed he had them pulled before the murders, dental records show it was after. Oddly it was after he started becoming suspicious to many people.

He did pass a lie detector test, but I've known and heard of that happening all the time and if I'm not mistaken that's not even allowed in court because of it's uncertainty.

The mother died a few years later, shortly after the first documentary, in what is called "suspicious circumstances".

This guy has never been formally investigated, yet there's more than enough evidence suggesting he should be.

He used to be a regular church goer and sang at his church often. He became so crazy he was asked to not return.

Interviews with the detective that lead the investigation pretty much shows he had issues with Damien, Jessie and Jason before the murders. He claims they were the suspects from the start, he has his killers and there was no need to look any further.

On a slightly different note, this same type of thing almost happened to a guy I know when he was 19. There was a series of murders in the neighborhood and he was held and interrogated many times over it. They were going to pin him for it, they just needed him to say the wrong thing.

The last time they had him in holding for 3 days, they were about to charge him for at least one murder, then another woman was murdered and the killer was caught and confessed to the others.

That friend of mine was pretty much like the WM3, in terms of sticking out and being an "undesirable".

That shit happens and I'm sure it happens A LOT more than we'd like to believe it does.

[toejam]

If you watch the documentaries you'll see one of the victims parents, Chris Byers. The father, actually his step father, stands out like a soar thumb. He changes his story many times on camera and is about the craziest bastard I've ever seen.

Yeah, that guy's nuts, most likely the one that committed the murder. He went to jail for selling drugs after that. My roomate's got the documentaries on dvd, I've watched them a couple times. Remind me never to visit Arkansas!

[axeman81]

I read Henry Rollins' books, and in "the portable Henry Rollins" he writes a bit about his effort to help the WM3 out, amongst other things he put out an "all-star artists" type record with proceeds to pay for a DNA comparison test with evidence or something, which was apparently pretty expensive and their appointed defence couldn't pay for it. Horrible story though...

[RickStar]

yeah those 3 kids got totally screwed (wm3). the father did it.

[lerxstcat]

Sad story, and yeah, you can really get railroaded in a small town. You can get railroaded in the big city too though. The small town folks are less likely to ever admit they did the wrong thing though.