While some have rightfully expressed outrage over what happened in Jena, Louisiana (particularly the racial angle), and how unfair it was that Genarlow Wilson was sentenced to ten years for consensual underage oral sex (he was released last week after serving two years – hooray), there is a case even more deserving of attention and scrutiny.
The case means so much to me that I’m not only writing this article, but am also creating a group, The West Memphis Three. The three are Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley.
The New York Times today has a great story on a new development in this case. Be prepared to be infuriated with our justice system. "The passing of time has not only allowed the defense to gather new information, but has also softened the public’s belief in the guilt of the convicted men," said Mark Leveritt, the author of Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three. “What I’ve seen in the past 14 years has been not quite a 180-degree turn, but maybe a 170-degree turn,” Mr. Leveritt said. “It all comes down to, ‘Where is the evidence?’”
I urge you to rent two documentaries – one, and its sequel. They are Paradise Lost and Paradise Lost 2. If The Thin Blue Line (my first exposure to Errol Morris) showed a documentary maker can prove someone not guilty of a crime, then these movies — which came at least 10 years later — demonstrate how three guys from Memphis are not only probably innocent, but that there was also shoddy police work and many unanswered questions.
Warning: These movies are disturbing, not so much for violent content but because of the implications, that police were more interested in making easy arrests and quick prosecutions than getting the guilty parties. Two of the men, Baldwin and Misskelley, are serving life in prison while the third, Echols, is on death row. All this in a case featuring, according to the New York Times, “a satanic cult expert with a mail-order degree” and Echols’ own lawyer criticizing his own client as “weird.”
Article comments