West Memphis Three

[GUT]

A bad misspelling on my part. Apparently I was channeling Batman's butler. I meant an Alford plea. An Alford plea is a plea in the U.S where a defendant pleads technically guilty on the basis that the prosecution had sufficient evidence to convict them while still maintaining they are innocent. It's basically a case of, I'm innocent, but the evidence has framed me up good, so I am pleading guilty. The prosecution proposed it as a plea bargain when their case was going to be retried and proposed if they pled guilty by way of an Alford plea they would be sentenced to time served and be released.

I frankly found it to be a total cop out on the prosecutor's part. But I can totally understand why the 3 took it.

Thanks. We don't have such a thing here. (Sounds pretty similar to what I've heard other Americans call a no contest plea).

We don't really have plea bargains here either, the Crown might agree to accept a lessor plea or even to seek a lesser penalty, but the judge can still go heavier.

[Ally]

A bad misspelling on my part. Apparently I was channeling Batman's butler. I meant an Alford plea. An Alford plea is a plea in the U.S where a defendant pleads technically guilty on the basis that the prosecution had sufficient evidence to convict them while still maintaining they are innocent. It's basically a case of, I'm innocent, but the evidence has framed me up good, so I am pleading guilty. The prosecution proposed it as a plea bargain when their case was going to be retried and proposed if they pled guilty by way of an Alford plea they would be sentenced to time served and be released.

I frankly found it to be a total cop out on the prosecutor's part. But I can totally understand why the 3 took it.

[GUT]

It's been a while since I studied the case, I think my interest pretty much dropped after the 3 did their Alfred plea and got out, but I had long thought it was an hysteria-induced frame and the real killer got off scott free.

Sorry but what's an Alfred Plea?

[Ginger]

It's been years since I read anything substantive about the case, but as I recall, there was rather more substantial evidence pointing toward Miskelley than just his confession.

Guilt or innocence aside, though, I think it's undeniable that the three boys weren't given a fair trial.

[Ally]

It's been a while since I studied the case, I think my interest pretty much dropped after the 3 did their Alfred plea and got out, but I had long thought it was an hysteria-induced frame and the real killer got off scott free.

[RivkahChaya]

I just saw the film Devil's Knot, a fact-based drama about the trial of the West Memphis Three, told mostly from the perspective of Pam Hobbs (now Hicks, IIRC), the mother of one of the victims, and secondarily of the investigator hired by the WM3's lawyers.

I don't know where I was when this case first broke, but I've been interested in it since the book Devil's Knot was released in 2003. I didn't seen the HBO documentaries until maybe three years ago, when they were released for pick-up by other stations, because we don't get HBO. But while Devil's Knot piqued my interest, made me think, yeah, there was probably a miscarriage of justice, and left a pit in my stomach thinking that someone who killed three boys close to my son's age was free, I didn't get really fired up until I saw the films.

Now, I fully admit that having seen documentary film is not going to make a person an expert, and especially in this case, as these are unabashedly slanted, I have actually gone to the library and looked up some articles from the time. Mostly, I've had to rely on things that made the national newspapers, though.

I have to say, if I had been following this case from the beginning, I would think that the boys were being railroaded. I admit to being a skeptic in general, but I'm familiar with the Satanic Panic, and was a voice alone, even at a pretty young age, saying that what was coming from California was crazy-impossible, and something else other than child abuse was going on with the McMartin preschool. I was vindicated when Ray Buckey was found not guilty on all charges, and reporters who'd been condemning him were suddenly scrambling to say they'd known all along it was some sort of hoax. Sorry, we have you guys on tape. I also thought something funny was up with the Central Park Jogger case.

Now, I'm not psychic. I sure thought Gary Condit killed Chandra Levy, and after that case, I won't be shocked by anything, even if someone else other than OJ confesses to the Brown-Goldman murder.

But I really don't think that the WM3 killed those three boys. I think Damien Echols had psychiatric problems, and I believe that Jessie Misskelley confessed, but a confession from a borderline retarded teen doesn't mean a lot. False confessions happen a lot.

However, there are a lot of good and honest people who still think the WM3 are guilty, including a few former supporters. Here's one website for a sample: http://www.westmemphisthreefacts.com/. Now, I'm not saying the authors of this website have anything on anyone else. I'm not convinced after reading it. But this is one of many.

What do other people think? Is it possibly they are guilty?

I still think they did not get a fair trial, considering the jury misconduct, and a few other things, but guilty people can still get unfair trials-- albeit, if the guilt is so obvious, you do have to wonder why there needs to be a fix.

Anyway, I'm really curious what other people think.

I'm going to try to post a poll. You can read a basic overview of the case on Wikipedia, which I read, and has some good references, and seems pretty well-done. It's slightly slanted in favor of innocence.

Devil's Knot is streaming on Netflix (in the US). Peter Jackson's 2012 documentary that follows the release of the WM3 is available on Amazon.com (in the US) for instant viewing, as are the three HBO movies. The book Devil's Knot is available on Kindle, and is voice-ready, and you can also buy a cheap paperback of it. The same with Damien Echols' autobiography Life After Death (he was on death row for 18 years).