The West Memphis Three: A Chance for Freedom

The case of the West Memphis three is a very unusual one to say the least. In May 1993, three 8 year old boys were found bound and beaten to death in a wooded area of West Memphis known as Robin Hood Hills. They were nude in a drainage ditch, their clothes pushed down in the mud with sticks. Panic enveloped the town as days went by with no leads and finding no real evidence. The police soon set their sites on one teenage boy.

He was just different. Damien Echols, a 17 year old at the time, wore mostly black and listened to heavy metal music. He was considered "weird" by other youths and kept to himself most of the time. He had been in minor trouble before, but had been questioned for dozens of other crimes he did not commit. He was considered a trouble maker by the police. Soon authorities had taken on a "satanic panic" mentality about the case and word was spreading that the killings were that of a satanic cult. They questioned Damien outside his house a few days after the boys' bodies were found.

A woman whom was already in trouble for check fraud, urged another town youth, Jessie Misskelly, to go to the police and say that he had witnessed Damien take part in the killings. initially the police were going for a witness statement. They questioned 17 year old Jessie for 12 hours unknown by his father. They soon had coherced a confession out of him. He said that he had participated by running after one of the boys and bringing him back to the killers, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin. Jason was Damien's best friend. He was slight for his age and also wore black t-shirts and listened to heavy metal. Jason was 16 and thought it was a joke when the cops "busted" in on he and Damien.

HBO came to West Memphis to do a documentary on the killings. The crew was allowed into the court rooms for the trials and also interviewed the three accused, their parents, and the parents of the victims. The documentary was first meant to be a look at three cold blooded killers in the heart of America. What they found were three wrongly accused teens in the heart of a witch hunt.