the west memphis three

[degenerated]

anyone read anything about this, has to be one of the more bizarre miscarriages of justice i've ever read about. modern daw witch trials based on the accused liking heavy metal, black clothes and stephen king novels. HBO did a couple of documentaries about it, the first one from 1993 is actually filming a lot of the trial itself whereas the second one from about 6 or 7 years later looks at uncovered evidence. pretty good viewing if sometimes a bit macabre.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Memphis_Three

http://www.wm3.org/

[HibsMax]

anyone read anything about this, has to be one of the more bizarre miscarriages of justice i've ever read about. modern daw witch trials based on the accused liking heavy metal, black clothes and stephen king novels. HBO did a couple of documentaries about it, the first one from 1993 is actually filming a lot of the trial itself whereas the second one from about 6 or 7 years later looks at uncovered evidence. pretty good viewing if sometimes a bit macabre.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Memphis_Three

http://www.wm3.org/

I've been following this for years now, ever since I saw the HBO Special - Paradise Lost. I've done some reading on it and for the life of me I cannot figure out why those three "boys" are still in prison.

If I recall correctly, the first special HBO made was to cover the trial but when the film makers discovered how unjust this all was they made a second special with the intent of exposing the sham and trying to find answers.

It's a very interesting case to read about. Three teenage boys arrested and convicted of murdering 3 younger boys. No motive. No witness. No physical evidence. From memory I think the best evidence they have is Jason's confession which was made after many hours of questioning without legal representation. Jason has an IQ of about 70 which makes him incapable of representing himself or truly understanding the gravity of the situation. At least back then. I check wm3.org periodically for updates but I'm always disappointed.

[degenerated]

I had heard about it years back as the supersuckers (and a few other bands) mention it quite a bit at gigs etc but hadnt bothered looking into it till recently. I got hold of paradise lost 1 & 2 and was astounded at it, truly bizarre. I've just started reading the book "Devil's Knot" which has a fair bit more detail than the documentaries.

[sansiro86]

It's a fascinating case. Both the Paradise Lost films are on youtube if anyone fancies watching them. I can't believe they haven't been granted a retrial.

[SlickShoes]

Just watched the first paradise lost and read a good number of websites.

Its astounding that they were convicted of this with no hard evidence at all, nothing placing them at the scene, nothing putting a murder weapon in there hands.

The fact that Byres basically handed in the murder weapon and a bloody guy covered in mud at the same time as the killing was just swept under the carpet is amazing.

Don't know what else to say really, as someone who wore black and listened to heavy metal in my teens it makes you a bit worried. I knew people that drew shocking things on books to get attention too. The fact that the main thing against them was wearing black and listening to metallica is scary, this was only 17 years ago too, they seem to view people with tattoos as some kind of lesser being too. It just all seems so backwards.

[degenerated]

Just watched the first paradise lost and read a good number of websites.

Its astounding that they were convicted of this with no hard evidence at all, nothing placing them at the scene, nothing putting a murder weapon in there hands.

The fact that Byres basically handed in the murder weapon and a bloody guy covered in mud at the same time as the killing was just swept under the carpet is amazing.

Don't know what else to say really, as someone who wore black and listened to heavy metal in my teens it makes you a bit worried. I knew people that drew shocking things on books to get attention too. The fact that the main thing against them was wearing black and listening to metallica is scary, this was only 17 years ago too, they seem to view people with tattoos as some kind of lesser being too. It just all seems so backwards.

in the second paradise lost they bring in the evidence of a bite mark on one of the victims, none of those convicted have a bite mark resembling it. Conveniently Byers had his teeth removed, giving differing version of why to anyone who asked, before he could have his analysed :hmmm: