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Originally Posted by glaswizz
I've seen Paradise Lost 1 and 2. Paradise 1 was actually where I first head of the case. I've been following it for about 10 years now. The book raises so many valid points, not only about their guilt or innocence, but also about the complete lack of a fair trial. I haven't read "The Blood of Innocents", though. I will have to check that one out.
A while back the stepfather, Byers, came out and supported their attempts to prove their innocence. He claims to believe that they didn't do it. It's just such a horrible story.
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I just finished reading The Blood of Innocents. The last chapter of the book really says a lot about what went wrong. One of the star witnesses admitted to making up her story about those convicted. This would be considered perjury. She told the cops the story because she wanted to get out of charges against her for writing bad checks.
Jessie Misskelley (one of the convicted) was pressured into making a false confession after 12 hours of questioning. Only 46 minutes of his "confession" are on tape. Only 46! Misskelley is mildly retarded with an IQ of 72. Studies have shown that people with Low IQ's often give false confessions. The cops were very in his face and scared him into a false confession. He just told them what they wanted them to hear because he thought he'd get the reward money of $30,000. He never realized what he got himself into.
There is no evidence that ties the convicted "killers" to the crime. No blood, no fingerprints, no shoe prints, no hairs, nothing. The only piece of evidence was some fibers, but those were called similar because the fibers didn't belong to the "killers" and many clothes have similar fibers especially if everyone is shopping at bulk retail stores like Walmart. A video about the case I watched on youtube from a CNN report said that it would be unlikely that a killer wouldn't leave behind evidence or take it with him. That is not the case with the West Memphis Three as they are called.
Damien Echols (another of the convicted) has recently written a book called
Almost Home. He seems like a very bright person, so it may be a good read.
I was looking around last night and there are an amazing amount of people that are in support of freeing the West Memphis Three or WM3 for short. Many celebrities have supported the cause and have donated to the defense fund. I found many myspaces in support of WM3. Even Mark Byers, little Chris Byers' stepdad wears a t-shirt in support of freeing them. He originally had thought the 3 teens killed his son, but with new evidence and improved DNA he has changed his mind.
Each year the convicted "killers" get a little closer to freedom, but there is a lot of legal hassles to go through. It takes so much time. These once young men have spent half their lives in prison for a crime they didn't commit. They are all in their early 30s.
It's just a horrible injustice and shows all the flaws of the legal system. This isn't just one case, there are many more that get put in prison for crimes they didn't commit. The only thing that Echols was convicted on was his looks and his personality. The scary thing is that the real killer(s) are still on the loose.
