I’m curious to hear what other people on this forum think about this particular crime. I was first introduced to it by the trio of ‘Paradise Lost’ films and obviously thought that the 3 convicted teens had been subjected to a heinous miscarriage of justice. However some rudimentary research since has shown me that it is such an emotive topic that has biased almost every website or forum one way or the other, and the films are no exception to this. I’m now utterly on the fence through being completely unsure what to believe or who to trust.
Aside from the crimes themselves, which are horribly disturbing in their own right, it’s extremely frustrating that a case that’s been so well documented almost from the day it happened could still remain a mystery 20 years later.
My personal opinion at the time of writing is that I am not convinced the 3 are innocent but I also think there is no where near enough evidence to convict them. I am also equally unsure of the recent DNA evidence pointing to one of the stepfathers – when the victim lived with a suspect how can you prove the DNA was left during the crime and not before? The whole crime scene itself is also a mystery, part of one that is tragically stymied at every turn, it seems.

This is a really horrible but interesting case. From what little I know of it, I think you’re spot on, james. The West Memphis 3 should probably never have been prosecuted much less convicted but that doesn’t necessarily equate to innocence. They may be the only ones who know their true guilt or innocence.

I will say that I HATE the outcome of the case as an Alford plea. It basically allows suspects to assert their innocence while absolving the legal system of any responsibility by acknowledging that they had a valid case and enough evidence to convict i.e. "if you agree that we were right about your guilt, we’ll let you proclaim your innocence and set you free". Everybody’s happy except that it leaves the case forever unsolved and gives law enforcement justification to not investigate the case further. Not such a great deal for the victims or victims’ families, IMHO.

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

I’ve watched a couple documentaries,etc on it, and they seem to point the finger at a boyfriend of one of the mothers of the 3 boys that were murdered. I don’t recall why, maybe there was DNA of some sort of his, or his statement of what he did that day did not add up.

Back then, if you dressed ‘odd’ or acted outside the norm, or were into heavy metal, you were associated with Devil worship,etc.
Growing up in the 80’s, I was a big part of my town’s Heavy metal/Rock scene,and we used to get looked at all kinds of ways. I was at my job one time when I was 16, and was on break listening to Guns N Roses. A real religious(in your face type)woman that I worked with came in and sat down and said "Oh my God, what are you listening to, they are devil worshippers". I laughed at her, and I said, Oh yeah, what band is this? She had no clue(GNR was a big party band, but certainly were not into satan worship). I just laughed her off, and excused myself and left her sitting there. These kids in this case faced the same sort of pre-conceived bias,but on a much grander scale. It’s sad, but if there was a horiffic triple murder in my town in the 80’s, perhaps my Friends and I would have been suspected because of the way we dressed

I will say that I HATE the outcome of the case as an Alford plea. It basically allows suspects to assert their innocence while absolving the legal system of any responsibility by acknowledging that they had a valid case and enough evidence to convict i.e. "if you agree that we were right about your guilt, we’ll let you proclaim your innocence and set you free". Everybody’s happy except that it leaves the case forever unsolved and gives law enforcement justification to not investigate the case further. Not such a great deal for the victims or victims’ families, IMHO.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alford_plea

I completely agree, it’s unbelievable that this kind of thing is even an option nowadays. A confusing end to a confusing set of circumstances. I have heard (and it sounds very plausible) that the reason the courts decided to take this route was because Arkansas saw just how much money was being thrown at the defendants and they couldn’t justify matching it in yet another trial. The WM3 having served nearly 20 years, it seemed like the best decision at the time, and from a fiscal perspective it is hard to argue against.

Something that’s scary about the whole debacle is the mob mentality from all parties. You had police and prosecutors whipping friends and family of the victims into some sort of lynch-mob; you then had the WM3 movement that is equally scary in its quest for ‘truth’ that involves ignoring inconvenient evidence and going as far as posing as FBI agents to question other suspects in the case, not to mention millions of dollars from musicians, actors, and hollywood directors who ‘just know’ that the WM3 are innocent. Even now, 20 years on, the usual crime forums have largely descended into childish name calling and squabbles over irrelevant minutiae whilst the likely killers of the poor children sit back and laugh at it all.

It’s one of those cases that gets people worked up I suppose, rather like Z.

I’ve followed this case closely since the 1st HBO documentary. I’m not sure who killed the kids but i would not be surprised if Echols ever did something to land back in prison. The guy has written books and is now giving tattoos of his ‘X’ to people in NYC for like $250! Several good sites with tons of info about this case. I remember on one of the PRO WM3 forums, a woman dating Jason suddenly abandoned him and the group due to something he confessed to her. If interested you can follow her and others on the archived forums, just lots of incredible info out there.

Not saying i believe the WM3 are guilty of the murders, we’ll probably never know for sure. However, Damien seems like a pretty arrogant dude. just check out some of these quotes from Echols book –

http://www.westmemphisthreefacts.com/

FACT – DAMIEN ECHOLS IS NUTS. HERE ARE JUST A FEW SELECT QUOTES FROM HIS WRITINGS :
"I see a perfect explosion, God’s ammunition dump, going up in the flames of righteousness, Satan storming heaven, his artillery captain, a fiercely grinning fool with red flayed cheeks, Damien by name, never to be Michael Hutchison (Echols’ birth name) again. The end is near. Kiss your ass goodbye people, it’s time to pay up. Now is the Judgment. I am the Judge." -Damien Echols

“Everyone will pay because everyone is too stupid to open their eyes. This is the final times and I am the new Messiah. Wake up and smell the crud faggets, I don’t care whether you are saved or not. Everyone pays the price." -Damien Echols

"My body is changing but that medicine is making it happen a lot more slowly than normal. I am outgrowing my skin. I am eating packs of sugar and Koolaid to give my body the extra energy it needs to make its change. Soon people will know I am the Christ just by looking at me." -Damien Echols

"Even after I die, people are going to remember me forever. They’re going to talk about me for years. People will tell their kids stories. It will be like I’m the West Memphis boogey man. Little kids will be looking under their beds before they go to bed. Damien might be under there." – Damien Echols

I’ve followed this case closely since the 1st HBO documentary. I’m not sure who killed the kids but i would not be surprised if Echols ever did something to land back in prison. The guy has written books and is now giving tattoos of his ‘X’ to people in NYC for like $250! Several good sites with tons of info about this case. I remember on one of the PRO WM3 forums, a woman dating Jason suddenly abandoned him and the group due to something he confessed to her. If interested you can follow her and others on the archived forums, just lots of incredible info out there.

Not saying i believe the WM3 are guilty of the murders, we’ll probably never know for sure.

I’ve been delving into it more myself this week, I would be interested in your opinions on James Martin? I was unsure whether rumours of the WMPD being incompetent were just that until I can across the James Martin file, for those unfamiliar with his part in the case:

– he was a convicted child molester who lived in the area.
– he inserted himself into the investigation (isn’t that in the cop manual as being a big red flag?) by offering his ‘services’, stating that only a sick child molester would understand the mind of this murderer.
– the WMPD took him up on his offer, resulting in a very long and detailed interview that is fully transcribed and available online with the original audio. It is one of the sickest things I have ever read, he is asked questions such as ‘would the perp have brought his own binding?’ and embelishes his answers with annecdotes about his prior crimes. He is literally sitting in front of a policeman and bragging about sexually assaulting young children.
– His analysis of the crime is riddled with information that seems a little too accurate for someone who is just guessing as to what happened.
– He closes off the interview by asking ‘Is it ok if we talk off the record now, I’d like to ask some questions of my own?’ ie. should I be worried with the evidence you’ve gathered?

There is a WMPD letter on file that confirms the police had this meeting with James Martin and do not consider him to be a suspect or even a POI. un-effing-believable.
This has opened up a very dark thread on websleuths about the posibility of a paedophile ring in West Memphis involving some cops as well. I’m not sure I have the heart to continue down that road but the fact he was just brushed aside from the suspect pile is very surprising, if not downright suspicious.

During a period when there were few intriguing developments in the Zodiac case, I decided to immerse myself in the WM3 case. I was certain a miscarriage of justice had occurred at the time. The best source is the Callahan site (totally neutral) with the Jivepuppi (toward wm3 innocence) site the best for an overview. Reading through all the documents at Callahan drew me inexorably to the conclusion that they were indeed guilty. However, I avoid the messageboards and community because the pro-innocence crowd is awful and blinded by their belief, and the pro-guilty crowd (despite my agreement with them) is even worse!

I was certain a miscarriage of justice had occurred at the time.

This is the crux of it really, isn’t it? I agree that a lot of the forums seem to have lost all sense of decorum, and also lost sight of the bigger picture – it is plain that a miscarriage of justice has occurred but this is not the same as the 3 being innocent. I also agree that Callahan seems to be the source to go to for the most neutral perspective on things.
I’m thousands of words further through the case than when I opened this thread and my opinion still hasn’t changed, I’m struggling to see what hard evidence there is to actually pin this on the 3 other than Miskelly’s confession. Currently James Martin is where i’m focusing my efforts, there’s a lot of worrying info about that man.

Late to the party as usual.

Just finished watching this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devi l’s_Knot_(film)

Then I thought … hmmm I wonder if we have a thread on this. Just had to type memphis into the search and here I am.

My money’s on one of the fathers.

This thing about a paedophile ring involving the local cops is quite intriguing, though.

My money’s on one of the fathers.

This thing about a paedophile ring involving the local cops is quite intriguing, though.

Over time I’ve come to actually bring those two things together, I think Terry Hobbs and James Martin make a good pairing in this.
I’m going to start a separate thread on a shocking revelation in the UK this week, one that finally got me thinking that actually, yes, sometimes these evil conspiracies do ‘go right to the top’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article … cades.html
TL/DR: looks like the UK may have some paedophiles in top government who have been conveneniently losing important case information. Extremely worrying.