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'West of Memphis' chronicles the real-life stereotypes of small town, Southern justice

BY Tom Tangney  on March 15, 2013 @ 7:15 am (Updated: 9:17 am - 3/15/13 )

A horrific triple murder spawned an almost equally horrific miscarriage of justice. This sorry tale is the subject of a new documentary called "West of Memphis."

It all started in 1993 with the grisly discovery of the bodies of three 8-year-old boys. They were found naked, hogtied, and underwater in a stream that runs through West Memphis, Arkansas. It didn't take long for authorities to zero in on suspects, three teenage outcasts who were anti-social, had long hair, liked heavy metal music and sported an early Goth look.

It appeared the victims had been sexually mutilated. People believed the crimes were motivated by "occult beliefs."

Two of the teenagers were sentenced to life in prison, the other Damien Echols, was given the death penalty. Their appeals took 18 years.

"West of Memphis" systematically reviews and dismantles the prosecution's case against the three teenagers. Step by step. It seems to confirm the worst stereotypes of small town, Southern justice.

The movie takes the sworn testimony of witnesses who testified against the boys and juxtaposes it with their present day confessions they lied on the stand.

One witness said, "Just between me and you - did you do it? and he said yes and he went into detail. Jason told me he dismembered the kid."

Now that witness said at the time he was doing a lot of LSD and couldn't remember why he was doing what he was doing.

Another witness, when asked on the stand if one of the boys invited her to meeting, replied, "A cult, satanic meeting."

But now the woman who talked about the satanic meeting says she was a "just a big liar."

Were the murders part of a Satanic cult, as claimed by the prosecutors? There was absolutely no evidence for that.

How about sexual mutilation? That turns out not to be the case either.

What about the confession from one of the suspects? A case with a confession would easier as opposed to one without direct evidence, law enforcement admitted.

One of the boys, Jessie Misskelley, had an IQ of 72. He confessed to the murders, and implicated Charles Baldwin and Damien Echols. The confession was at odds with facts known by police.

Even the knife supposedly used to torture the kids turns out not to have been used at all - it had actually been at the bottom of a lake a year before the murders even happened.

Thanks to a groundbreaking documentary made a few years after the murders, a film called Paradise Lost, the case got a lot of media attention and caught the eye of a number of celebrities, especially Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder.

"I remember thinking, if we could get involved we could help get them out in one or two years - that's how naive I was," said Vedder. "It's usually on average of 15 to 20 years. If you would have told us that four years in - it could have seemed quite daunting."

Vedder, Henry Rollins, and Johnny Depp threw concerts to raise money for the defense fund of the three convicted murderers. Then "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson and his wife got involved, bankrolling a number of forensic investigations. Over the strenuous objections of the West Memphis prosecutor's office, the Arkansas Supreme Court ordered a new trial. Eighteen years after their convictions, a plea bargain was struck and the three men, now in their mid-thirties, were set free.

An outrageous case. But perhaps the most disturbing thing is this, from the lips of Damien Nichols.

"The person who killed those three kids is out walking on the street."

"West of Memphis" suggests a new suspect, one of the stepfathers of one of the victims, but the case is now so old, and was so incompetently prosecuted initially, getting a conviction against anyone is highly unlikely.

Tom Tangney, KIRO Radio Host
Tom Tangney is co-host of KIRO Radio's Seattle's Morning News and resident enthusiast of...everything. He loves books, movies, TV, art, pop culture, politic, sports, and Husky football.
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Comments (10)


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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Or ch
    March 15, 2013 9:49 am
    trying to blame this on Bush!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • wsualumn wrote...
    OR HA HA
    March 15, 2013 5:29 pm
    Blaming this on Obama on liberals.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • wsualumn wrote...
    OOPS
    March 15, 2013 5:30 pm
    Meant to say "or" after Obama.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Nervoso wrote...
    I lived in Mississippi for 6 years
    March 15, 2013 11:04 am
    the people are prejudice. That being said, they are a little late on this movie, unless it offer a lot more details, Paradise Lost 1, 2 & 3 are pretty good.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • longwayhome wrote...
    The cop and his butt buddy its me
    March 15, 2013 8:39 pm
    Must be pretty bored to try and bait me. Of course Southerners are ignorant, that's a given, look at the voter base for the republican party. It took some big $ to expose the wrong doing in this case, but it goes further than that and exposes the ignorance of conservative republicans willing to believe what their "law enforcement" people tell them they have to do. Keep trying to bait me copper boy, you will lose every time.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • BeenThere wrote...
    This case, along with many others, has changed my view on capital punishment.
    March 15, 2013 8:59 pm
    Justice is not served and the incompetance is a crime in and of itself.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • longwayhome wrote...
    Spell check again bill
    March 16, 2013 8:35 pm
    Please read your posts before you push the button, you don't have much credibility here as it is and to misspell is a serious breach for the aggressive, pompous asshole you come across as. We all know you have been around the world 18 times and have visited all the important people in the free world, but when you can't spell it casts a shadow on your credibility.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • longwayhome wrote...
    You made my day, bill!
    March 17, 2013 8:36 am
    We got 4 posts in a row within 45 min. three of them only minutes apart. Don't like it when people call you on your B.S.?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Hey longwayhome. How is your drive to get me kicked of the internet these days?
    March 17, 2013 10:01 am
    YOU don't like someone calling you on your BS!!!!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • longwayhome wrote...
    Saw you in my head this morning, its me!
    March 17, 2013 6:41 pm
    As your face was swirling around slowly, I noticed a lack of teeth as you were screaming something about parrots and dear leaders and some other nonsense about B.S.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }