Time is running out for Damien Echols, Jessie Miskelly and Justin Baldwin Jr. Three young men known as the "West Memphis Three" were injustly accused of murdering three 8 year old boys in West Mememphis, Arkansas in 1993. At the time they were arrested they were only teenagers who like many of the young students at the University of New Mexico wore heavy metal t-shirts, had long hair and liked to read Stephen King novels. There is no real evidence linking these men to the murders of these children. Except a 40 minute statement made by Jessie Miskelly who is mentally handicapped and was subjected to 12 hours of interrogation without legal counsel or parental consent. The three were convicted of murder in 1994; Damien Echols was sentenced to the Death Penalty, Baldwin was sentenced to life without parole.
Supporters and friends have set-up a website at www.wm3.org and at www.myspace.com/almosthomevol1 to raise awareness as to the grave injustice taken against these three men. If you believe in the American justice system and believe that a man is innocent until proven guilty, I encourage you to visit one of these sites. There you will find the latest information pertaining to their case. Information on documentries, books, essays and music dedicated to the "West Memphis 3".
Here is a short list of some of the supporters of the "West Memphis Three";
Wionna Ryder
Michale Graves
Henry Rollins
Amnesty International
The Cure
Metallica
Abolish the Death Penalty
Marilyn Manson
Steve Earle
and the list goes on...
Use your first amendment right and speak out! "Free the West Memphis Three"
Josephine
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3 comments:
Eye for an eye. Regardless of insanity plea, thou shalt not kill, and if you do nothing less than the death penalty will make up for the loss. You let an offender loose and usually they do the crime again.
I'm always skeptical when I see a bunch of celebrities jump on a cause - I wonder if they have researched it, or are instead having a knee-jerk reaction to a "death-penalty" case, which they may not support in any case, guilty or innocent.
But I'll check it out, and see what I think!
These young men did not pled insanity. They were wrongly accused because they happend to like rock music, read Stephen King novels, and dressed in black attire. One of these men just so happens to be mentally disabled and was coerced into a confession after 9 hours of interogation. After which only the last 30-45 minutes of his confession was video taped when he finally admitted to the crime just to end the interogation. If you log on to wm3.org and read the details of the continuing case, You will find how attorneys for these men are desperately trying to get these men exonerated. In addition there are several documentaries of this case which were aired on HBO. The first is "Lost in Paradise, the Robbin Hill murders" and a second "Lost in Paradise 2". Furthermore there is an autobiography written by one of these men called "Almost Home", by Damien Echols. There are others as well that have been wrongly accused of crimes that they did not commit. Take for instance Leonard Peltier, a Native American accused of killing an FBI Agent. He is still serving a life sentence in a federal prison. Whether a person chooses to accept the fact that our Justice System like any other has flaws is up to them, but it should be the responsibility of society to make certain that these discrepancies get corrected. These men/people may never get back the years taken from them nor will punshing an innocent bring back the life of another.
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