Were West Memphis Three Innocent - Research Paper Example

Prove that the ‘West Memphis Three’ were innocent. Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin, collectively known as the ‘West Memphis Three’ were convicted and put under trial in 1993 for the gruesome murder of three eight year old boys from Arkansas. Steven Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers were first reported missing on May 5, 1993 and a resulting preliminary search was conducted by the police as well as friends and relatives of the three young boys. The initial attempts to find the boys were halfhearted and hasty at best and nothing was located on the first day. The search was continued in the morning the next day and the bodies of the three young boys were found around midday on May 6, 1993 naked, hogtied and dumped in a ditch. One of them had had his genital mutilated; all three had been victims to knife wounds and other lacerations. Further examination of the bodies showed that the boys had been subjected to mutilation before they were killed. Cause of death was determined to be mutilation and drowning. The prosecuting party said that the murders had been committed for a satanic ritual and that Echols was the ring leader. The satanic spin given to the case by the prosecution served to really sensationalize the case in public forums and among the people in general. Echols was subsequently sentenced to the death penalty and Misskelley and Baldwin were given life sentences. The ‘West Memphis Three’ spent close to two decades in jail before a judge finally accepted their Alford plea and set them free by which time they had spent most of their youth serving behind bars for a crime they did not commit (Sharon 2012; BBC News 2011). When presented with the raw facts, how, one may ask, were three people convicted for such a heinous crime set free just like that almost two decades later? There are actually many possible concrete reasons which emerged in these 20 years and enabled Echols, Misskelley and Baldwin to walk out of the courtroom as free men in 2011. And these are precisely the reasons that I think these men were innocent. And for this reason I will further elaborate upon them in the paper below (BBC News 2011). If the evidence against the ‘West Memphis Three’ is looked at thoroughly and from all the different angles and perspectives, it can be seen that there was a severe lack of concrete physical evidence linking the three men with the three gruesome murders. DNA testing wasn’t an option back then so the police couldn’t possibly have any solid connection between the victims and the men convicted for the murders. It is also to be noted that no personal belongings, blood, skin or hair specimens from the convicted men were found on the victims and furthermore there were no eye witnesses to the crime itself. These three kids were at best fairly inexperienced rookies and would have left behind clues linking them to the murder without a doubt had they committed this crime. This level of scrupulousness in the crime where no clue was left behind indicated the work of an expert criminal, one who knew what they were doing and how to go about doing it. Somebody like that would have left no clues behind, but somebody like that did not fit the description or demographical criteria of these young men (CNN Blog 2011; Elizebath 2011). A defense attorney for the three men said that another reason the blame was pinned on Echols, Misskelley and Baldwin could have been because they were considerably effortless targets. Another reason that is very closely linked with the first one is that during the initial investigations in 1993 these three young men were the best suspects, and for the police to be able to convict them would make a neat little ending to a horrific murder case. Moreover these men were by far the police’s best suspects to pin this crime on. Also, during initial investigations the case was handled in a hasty and disinterested manner where a lot of details were overlooked in the smoked fuelled by the fire of speculations around the possibility of the involvement of satanic rituals as motive for the murders and the inclusion of the satanic aspect overshadowed the actual evidence at hand and also the overlooking of the fact that there was no actual evidence that incriminated the three men except for the police’s desire to convict them to have for themselves a neatly tied up ending to a pretty ugly case. The trial became more and more sensational because of the stakes involved, but what developed along with that were supporters of the ‘West Memphis Three’, people who thought these three men were really innocent and had been wrongly convicted and forced to spend a fourth of their lives in jail for a crime they didn’t commit (Campbell 2011; Elizebath 2011; BBC News 2011). The three men became a surging cause among a nice in the public, comprising mostly of celebrities who doubted their involvement in the murders and challenged their convictions. Some celebrity supporters amongst the most famous are actor Johnny Depp, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and Natalie Maines of Dixie Chicks. These celebrities supported Echols, Misskelley and Baldwin with fervor, by arranging concerts and book signings to raise awareness and money for the ‘West Memphis Three.’ They were defending them publicly and refuting their convictions and calling for new DNA and forensic evidence to be tested so that their story can be corroborated by indicating no physical evidence but introducing the possibility of the presence of other people on the crime scene. Such was the appeal of the case to and level of support for the ‘Memphis Three’ in Hollywood that a series backed by HBO was made based upon the events of the trial to chronicle the injustice of the Arkansas legal system which showed the whole story from the beginning, highlighting the story of the three men whose lives were unjustly crushed along the process (ABC News 2011; BBC News 2011). Another fact that comes to light is that the families of two of the boys who got murdered believe strongly in the innocence of the three men and yet, as they walked out of court as free men people shouted ‘baby killers’ at them. The fact that the victim’s families largely forgave the convicted men goes entirely in their favor because it goes to show their innocence in the sense that even the families didn’t think they were responsible for the gruesome murders. The public reaction however was a different story; the case had gotten a lot of publicity and had been much sensationalized and raw emotion ran high in interested parties. So the minor detail that the families were on the side of the wrongly convicted did not make much difference to the masses. The convicted however kept drawing their support from a niche in the audience (ABC News 2011; Campbell 2011). Another perfectly legitimate question arises here which comes up as ideas and theories develop and facts about the case are ingested and digested and processed into coherence by the human brain. How if there was no concrete connection between the three men and the murders were they ever convicted in 1993? And why did it have to be them? What was the connection? According to the statements given by the ‘West Memphis Three’ post their convictions in 1993, a wrongful confession was forced out of Misskelley who was already mildly mentally unfit. The other two were arrested by connection and implication. And later on the legal system kept failing them because during the original conviction the defense attorney did not call any witnesses. So they were never given fair representation or chances to have someone fight their war fairly. Just because they were easy targets and fit into the story for now all the blame was rested on their shoulders and they were given punishment sentences accordingly. Small things like these that amounted to huge damages when viewed collectively, made the conviction of the three possible in 1993. For all the injustices bestowed on them by the legal system and the failings of it and the people who help run it, the ‘West Memphis Three’ are mostly not angry or resentful about the whole episode that claimed two decades of their lives each. This is hard to believe because it is contrary to what human nature tends to be (revenge seeking and jealous) considering how their lives were affected due to the incompetence of the investigation team or just sheer dumb luck or circumstances one might call them. They are however jaded and tired because this murder case has gone on too long and that too unsolved because all throughout these 20 years these three men have always pleaded not guilty and the only time they didn’t was when they used the Alford Pleas. This murder case and subsequent trial has claimed a great part of their adult lives, a part which if the murder trial had not interfered with their normal lives would have been the most active and productive time of their lives. The part of their lives these men spent in jail wrongly convicted was what is called their prime years. The three are however ready to put the past behind them to a big degree and are eager to clear their names and have the actual criminal(s) caught. Moving on and doing something with their lives, taking them up where they left them in the real world, at least to an extent that can be helped would be a good move in restoring a sense of normalcy in the lives of these men. Although they have abstract plans to continue education or find work, they haven’t decided anything concrete yet. Works Cited 1. Waxman, Sharon. “Out of Prison, West Memphis 3 Ex-Con Seeks Justice.” Reuters. Jan 12, 2012. < http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/13/idUS310323918420120113> 2. Effron & Dorning. “Defense Lawyer: 'West Memphis Three' Were Originally Convicted Because They Were 'Easy Targets.” abc NEWS. Aug 19, 2011. < http://abcnews.go.com/US/defense-lawyer-west-memphis-easy-targets/story?id=14340244#.T2tMNGDxq68> 3. “'West Memphis Three' freed after 18 years in prison.” BBC NEWS. Aug 19, 2011. 4. Robertson, Campbell. “Deal Frees ‘West Memphis Three’ in Arkansas.” The New York Times. Aug 19, 2011 5. Flock, Elizabeth. “‘West Memphis Three’ freed after nearly 20 years in prison [video].” The Washington Post. Aug 19, 2011. 6. “How can West Memphis 3 walk free?” CNN. Aug 19, 2011. < http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/19/how-can-west-memphis-3-walk-free/> Read More