A little late, but I just thought about posting this here

[Psycho Bass Guy]

About f***ing time.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

I'm probably a youngster around here by a much larger margin than most of you might imagine and the West Memphis Three hit REALLY close to home for me. Where my parents were on the far edge of being Baby Boomers, I am on the tail end of of Gen X.  Rather than a relatively happy era of the 60's or 70's (which even during Carter's tenure was better for me), I did most of my growing up in the 80's and as the Baby Boomers collectively tried to exorcise their ghosts of free love and anti-authority by taking up reactionary politics and flirting with facism and ultra-conservative religion, it was a shitty time to be a kid who didn't quite fit in and liked bands who were deemed a little too "dangerous." I can't tell you the number of times I have been 'busted' for things I didn't do (thanks Waylon) just because of the way I look(ed); black t-shirts, long hair, and a 'just leave me alone' attitude. I remember vividly almost being arrested in a Walmart in 1999 when I had to buy batteries on the way to a gig and I had a Nashville Pussy t-shirt on (the one in my avatar)... at around 10:00 at night on a Saturday.

 Needless to say, I identify with the WM3's plight rather strongly and even without the two documentaries that made it clear they were convicted of being murderers on absolutely ZERO direct physical evidence and blatant prosecutorial and judicial misconduct, I pictured myself being put behind bars by the same types who did that to them and for the same reasons, and let me assure you guys, there HAVE been those who tried. It would blow your minds to find out just how 'not-to-type' this seriously pissed off metalhead actually is (aside from apprenticing in electronics at age 14). Since it's preaching to the choir to discuss this issue with my immediate friends, what do those of you who maybe don't relate to the WM3 so much think of their situation?

[nofi]

i agree totaly. i watched several shows about these guys and remember the initial arrests. i was stunned at the lack of any real evidence as well. the jury was no prize either. it was a witch hunt pure and simple, plus lazy police 'work' and a zealot DA. thank goodness they have been set free.

[SKATE RAT]

i agree with everything you said and i too grew up in that same time under those same conditions.

[Dave W]

Since it's preaching to the choir to discuss this issue with my immediate friends, what do those of you who maybe don't relate to the WM3 so much think of their situation?

I think it was horrifying. Unfortunately there are a lot more out there like it that have gotten little or no publicity. Too bad more people aren't aware of the Innocence Project and crusading writers like Radley Balko.

[uwe]

I hadn't heard of this before. Had to research it first. Now I'm flabbergasted. Do I understand correctly that after 18 years of imprisonment beginning as teenagers, two men, who were sentenced on flimsy or no evidence at all and who have now DNA analysis speaking for them, have to plead guilty and waive civil claims against the state for wrongful imprisonment to get the third guy off death row, whose DNA could also not be confirmed with the victims?  

That is gobsmackingly perverse. If someone had told me that story, I would have laughed it off as brainless propaganda against the US judicial system. Michael Moore couldn't have made this up.

[Denis]

If this had happened in Texas, the DNA evidence would have been ignored AND all three would have been executed, doubt be damned.

[uwe]

If he hurries, Johnny Depp could still play Echols credibly, they have a similarity. I hope he does, the film is a stunning success and Echols turns millionaire over it. What a nightmare.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

Uwe, there are two documentaries, "Paradie Lost" and "Paradise Lost II", which I own, with another forthcoming that makes it pretty clear who the real killer was AND that he killed the mother of one of the children after the first movie and will never have to answer for any of the crimes. This is the kind of stuff the US likes to sweep under the rug and pretend doesn't happen here until the next case of hysteria hits and a scapegoat is needed for something else.

. Do I understand correctly that after 18 years of imprisonment beginning as teenagers, two men, who were sentenced on flimsy or no evidence at all and who have now DNA analysis speaking for them, have to plead guilty and waive civil claims against the state for wrongful imprisonment to get the third guy off death row, whose DNA could also not be confirmed with the victims?

Yes.

[clankenstein]

you might like to read this-http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/opinion/5505162/Editorial-In-Jacksons-sights

[Freuds_Cat]

Sounds like the same kind of judicial logic given to Australian ex Guantanamo inmate David Hicks.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/vic/latest/a/-/newshome/10081283/ex-guantanamo-inmate-takes-australia-to-the-un/

[Dave W]

If this had happened in Texas, the DNA evidence would have been ignored AND all three would have been executed, doubt be damned.

Depends. Thanks to a conscientious district attorney, Dallas County now has exonerated 22 people in the past few years.

Unfortunately there are very few bright spots anywhere in the country. DAs usually fight tooth and nail against testing that would prove them wrong. Despite the increasing number of DNA exonerations, most don't want to find out how badly the system is broken.

[uwe]

It's grotesque. That the state could even be in the legal (if not legitimate) position to barter a guilty plea of one man against the release of another man on death row ist morally corrupt to the bone. That sounds like Red China, not the US of A.

Also, the whole train of thought "we can't release the possibly innocent ones until we have found someone really guilty" is deeply disturbing. Last I heard something like that it happened during medieval times when some poor innocent woman had to be burnt as a witch so you could blame the outbreak of the black plague on someone. The mind boggles.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

That sounds like Red China, not the US of A.

There increasingly has been a LOT of that in recent years, which has helped to fuel anti-government sentiment and the rise of groups like the Tea Party, which helps explain how they could attract otherwise reasonable people.