Episode 50: The WM3 Case (It Ain't Over Til It's Over)
August 19, 2011.
Everyone mark that date on your calendar because it's the day when The West Memphis Three, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. finally walked free from prison. This freedom comes after 18 long years since their convictions. For anyone who reads my blogs or the WM3 website or even if you've only recently become acquainted with the case, this particular case defined a generation or two. It received national attention after Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's 1996 documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills.
Originally airing on HBO, it was marketed as another in the long line of hitpieces that were famous in the late '80s to early '90s during the "Satanic Panic" era. Those of us into wearing black, listening to metal then (that seems tame by comparison now) and practicing an alternative religion in a place where it isn't popular were now in complete shock and terror. Those of us who watched realized that these three things were all that was needed to establish a motive for murder whether it was done or not. It also didn't matter how flimsy the evidence was, we could all be painted as the evil creatures hiding under your bed, ready to eat your souls at the drop of a pin.
We all watched the emotions of every family involved. We all understood their anger. We understood their pain. We understood that lives were destroyed across the board and there was absolutely nothing that would change it in the least.
The documentary films opened the window for supporters across the nation. Before the second film, Paradise Lost II: Revelations aired on HBO four years later, a movement had begun. It began to pop up on Court TV, MTV and many other media outlets all over the country. Once the second documentary aired, it was full-blown and hundreds of thousands poured on the support, trying to get Damien, Jason and Jessie new trials in an attempt to prove that these three were not responsible for the deaths of Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Stevie Branch.
In November of 2010, the convictions had been overturned and Judge David Burnett could no longer preside over the case. At the time, the only news available was that there would be something of a hearing in late 2011.
The Free The West Memphis Three movement got a surprise when on August 19, 2011, news spread like a sewing machine needle; fast, hard and continuous. They were free. Damien was off of Death Row and his impending execution would never happen, Jason and Jessie were also released from prison and all three had been reunited with each other and their families.
How did it happen? It's a tactic rarely used in the legal world called an Alford Plea. The plea itself is a guilty plea in a criminal court. Specifically, the defendant still asserts his or her own innocence and does not admit the act. Under the Alford plea, the defendant admits that sufficient evidence exists with which the prosecution could likely convince a judge or jury to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Under this plea, Damien, Jason and Jessie were released from prison due to having time served. They were also sentenced to a suspended sentence of 21 years in prison under a 10-year probationary term. No travel restrictions, no supervision.
What this means is that they can now continue their investigation without having to worry about how long until the stays of execution on Damien Echols run out. The Three can continue their investigation with resources far more vast and at their disposal than they were while they were in prison. They still have the ability to clear their names and can have the conviction expunged from their record.
I heard about the verdict on the train to work. I felt like I'd been hit in the chest with a wrecking ball. Many of us were emotionally invested in this case and the question I posed to a friend of mine via phone was "What will we do when it's over?" It was a question I didn't think I'd ever have the answer to. I still don't.
My generation was a generation of people growing up pre-9/11 without a Great War or a Great Depression to define us. Thanks to this case, many of us learned a lot about how the law works and what our rights were should we ever find ourselves accused of anything. We had three men to whom we related and it scared the hell out of all of us. I can tell you firsthand that, while charming, the South does have it's mindset and you're not changing it anytime soon. Most of us that grew up outcasts and socially rejected by our peers found ourselves with a purpose and for all of us within the movement, whether we simply bought a t-shirt or donated money or even just wrote a letter or two, all the way up to the ones who tirelessly worked like crazy, getting advice from attorneys, raising money, writing songs for benefits and performing them at those benefits. Ladies and gentlemen: Mission Accomplished!
Some supporters and detractors alike agree on one thing; Justice Was Not Served. Now, there is the likelihood that the murderer or murderers of these three 8-year-old boys will never be brought to answer for the needless extermination of life that had been committed. Three men whose lives were destroyed have to start over from scratch to rebuild their lives and fences still have yet to be mended properly.
Now I can agree with both parties, it's jacked up. I, however, take a different approach and it's like this.
1. The entire movement was The Free The West Memphis Three movement. That was the name, that was the mission and I'll say it again, Mission Accomplished.
2. Putting myself in Damien's shoes, if I were given the ripcord to that parachute would I have pulled? You're damned right I would have. When Damien said it wasn't hard for him to make that decision at the press conference, I could tell he wanted to laugh at the issue. I would have too. If you have to ask me whether it's harder to open the chute or have that sudden impact of the ground at the end, then you need to take up skydiving and even then, I doubt you would have the understanding it takes to make an educated guess on the subject. Jason even said that he wasn't happy about taking the plea but he did it because, he knew if he didn't, his friend would end up murdered by the state.
3. All three are free. Again, Mission Accomplished. Now the work can begin to clear their names and guess what? I'm wearing my WM3 dogtags until their names are clear. I'll have that release date stamped on them (and can anyone tell me who does that?) but I'll keep going Until Their Names Are Clear.
4. Going back to my previous point. If you're a supporter, you're either in it for the long haul or you're not. The movement got them free, now we have to ensure true justice is served. It's really simple. I don't like how it happened but I'm happier that three men wrongfully convicted are back with their families and their loved ones. The prosecution's grid was smashed...we won. Now we take the battle full force to where it truly needs to go. Investigate, investigate, investigate, people. Now we can figure out just who murdered those three second graders without having to worry about whether or not someone else will be murdered in the process.
5. Our legal system is so far from perfect that it is pretty sad but hey, let's consider something for a moment. This case broke some ground. Rather than moving onto the next big thing, let's give this even more focus and try to perfect that legal system of ours. It's not perfect, probably never will be but we damn sure can ensure that this doesn't happen again. Let's start minimizing the mistakes our legal system makes and stop letting our apathy and complacency maximize them.
Ladies and gentlemen, as Yogi Berra was fond of saying, "It's not over til it's over." For Damien, Jason and Jessie, the nightmare of the past 18 years is finally over but for the families of Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Stevie Branch, it still carries on. If our concern was for finding who did this, then I think we owe it to those children to intensify our efforts and continue our support with the intensity of Darth Vader on a meth bender and the focus of Kwi Chang Kane in his zone after a nice hot cup of ayahuasca tea. Face a fact, if you sacrifice a finger or two, you can save the hand. Lose a battle and you can win the war...pick your overused cliche' now but whatever the case, we have another mission to fulfill and I say it's high time it happened.
In the meantime, though I had put my blog on hold for awhile, I felt it was important to post this instead of droning on about my typical day-to-day and for Number 50, no less! I'm also taking care of a friend's blog while she's away and you can check that out at Texas Tammi's Blog.
For those regular readers of my blog, I apologize for not writing up any more articles as of late but, rest assured, I'm writing when and where I can. Normally I'd close this with my Free The West Memphis Three "battlecry" of sorts but instead, I think I'll close with the following:
The WM3: Free At Last!
Everyone mark that date on your calendar because it's the day when The West Memphis Three, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. finally walked free from prison. This freedom comes after 18 long years since their convictions. For anyone who reads my blogs or the WM3 website or even if you've only recently become acquainted with the case, this particular case defined a generation or two. It received national attention after Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's 1996 documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills.
Originally airing on HBO, it was marketed as another in the long line of hitpieces that were famous in the late '80s to early '90s during the "Satanic Panic" era. Those of us into wearing black, listening to metal then (that seems tame by comparison now) and practicing an alternative religion in a place where it isn't popular were now in complete shock and terror. Those of us who watched realized that these three things were all that was needed to establish a motive for murder whether it was done or not. It also didn't matter how flimsy the evidence was, we could all be painted as the evil creatures hiding under your bed, ready to eat your souls at the drop of a pin.
We all watched the emotions of every family involved. We all understood their anger. We understood their pain. We understood that lives were destroyed across the board and there was absolutely nothing that would change it in the least.
The documentary films opened the window for supporters across the nation. Before the second film, Paradise Lost II: Revelations aired on HBO four years later, a movement had begun. It began to pop up on Court TV, MTV and many other media outlets all over the country. Once the second documentary aired, it was full-blown and hundreds of thousands poured on the support, trying to get Damien, Jason and Jessie new trials in an attempt to prove that these three were not responsible for the deaths of Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Stevie Branch.
In November of 2010, the convictions had been overturned and Judge David Burnett could no longer preside over the case. At the time, the only news available was that there would be something of a hearing in late 2011.
The Free The West Memphis Three movement got a surprise when on August 19, 2011, news spread like a sewing machine needle; fast, hard and continuous. They were free. Damien was off of Death Row and his impending execution would never happen, Jason and Jessie were also released from prison and all three had been reunited with each other and their families.
How did it happen? It's a tactic rarely used in the legal world called an Alford Plea. The plea itself is a guilty plea in a criminal court. Specifically, the defendant still asserts his or her own innocence and does not admit the act. Under the Alford plea, the defendant admits that sufficient evidence exists with which the prosecution could likely convince a judge or jury to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Under this plea, Damien, Jason and Jessie were released from prison due to having time served. They were also sentenced to a suspended sentence of 21 years in prison under a 10-year probationary term. No travel restrictions, no supervision.
What this means is that they can now continue their investigation without having to worry about how long until the stays of execution on Damien Echols run out. The Three can continue their investigation with resources far more vast and at their disposal than they were while they were in prison. They still have the ability to clear their names and can have the conviction expunged from their record.
I heard about the verdict on the train to work. I felt like I'd been hit in the chest with a wrecking ball. Many of us were emotionally invested in this case and the question I posed to a friend of mine via phone was "What will we do when it's over?" It was a question I didn't think I'd ever have the answer to. I still don't.
My generation was a generation of people growing up pre-9/11 without a Great War or a Great Depression to define us. Thanks to this case, many of us learned a lot about how the law works and what our rights were should we ever find ourselves accused of anything. We had three men to whom we related and it scared the hell out of all of us. I can tell you firsthand that, while charming, the South does have it's mindset and you're not changing it anytime soon. Most of us that grew up outcasts and socially rejected by our peers found ourselves with a purpose and for all of us within the movement, whether we simply bought a t-shirt or donated money or even just wrote a letter or two, all the way up to the ones who tirelessly worked like crazy, getting advice from attorneys, raising money, writing songs for benefits and performing them at those benefits. Ladies and gentlemen: Mission Accomplished!
Some supporters and detractors alike agree on one thing; Justice Was Not Served. Now, there is the likelihood that the murderer or murderers of these three 8-year-old boys will never be brought to answer for the needless extermination of life that had been committed. Three men whose lives were destroyed have to start over from scratch to rebuild their lives and fences still have yet to be mended properly.
Now I can agree with both parties, it's jacked up. I, however, take a different approach and it's like this.
1. The entire movement was The Free The West Memphis Three movement. That was the name, that was the mission and I'll say it again, Mission Accomplished.
2. Putting myself in Damien's shoes, if I were given the ripcord to that parachute would I have pulled? You're damned right I would have. When Damien said it wasn't hard for him to make that decision at the press conference, I could tell he wanted to laugh at the issue. I would have too. If you have to ask me whether it's harder to open the chute or have that sudden impact of the ground at the end, then you need to take up skydiving and even then, I doubt you would have the understanding it takes to make an educated guess on the subject. Jason even said that he wasn't happy about taking the plea but he did it because, he knew if he didn't, his friend would end up murdered by the state.
3. All three are free. Again, Mission Accomplished. Now the work can begin to clear their names and guess what? I'm wearing my WM3 dogtags until their names are clear. I'll have that release date stamped on them (and can anyone tell me who does that?) but I'll keep going Until Their Names Are Clear.
4. Going back to my previous point. If you're a supporter, you're either in it for the long haul or you're not. The movement got them free, now we have to ensure true justice is served. It's really simple. I don't like how it happened but I'm happier that three men wrongfully convicted are back with their families and their loved ones. The prosecution's grid was smashed...we won. Now we take the battle full force to where it truly needs to go. Investigate, investigate, investigate, people. Now we can figure out just who murdered those three second graders without having to worry about whether or not someone else will be murdered in the process.
5. Our legal system is so far from perfect that it is pretty sad but hey, let's consider something for a moment. This case broke some ground. Rather than moving onto the next big thing, let's give this even more focus and try to perfect that legal system of ours. It's not perfect, probably never will be but we damn sure can ensure that this doesn't happen again. Let's start minimizing the mistakes our legal system makes and stop letting our apathy and complacency maximize them.
Ladies and gentlemen, as Yogi Berra was fond of saying, "It's not over til it's over." For Damien, Jason and Jessie, the nightmare of the past 18 years is finally over but for the families of Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Stevie Branch, it still carries on. If our concern was for finding who did this, then I think we owe it to those children to intensify our efforts and continue our support with the intensity of Darth Vader on a meth bender and the focus of Kwi Chang Kane in his zone after a nice hot cup of ayahuasca tea. Face a fact, if you sacrifice a finger or two, you can save the hand. Lose a battle and you can win the war...pick your overused cliche' now but whatever the case, we have another mission to fulfill and I say it's high time it happened.
In the meantime, though I had put my blog on hold for awhile, I felt it was important to post this instead of droning on about my typical day-to-day and for Number 50, no less! I'm also taking care of a friend's blog while she's away and you can check that out at Texas Tammi's Blog.
For those regular readers of my blog, I apologize for not writing up any more articles as of late but, rest assured, I'm writing when and where I can. Normally I'd close this with my Free The West Memphis Three "battlecry" of sorts but instead, I think I'll close with the following:
The WM3: Free At Last!
posted by Lord Genocyde at 3:47 PM
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