October 20, 2005

Free the West Memphis Three Most people are already familiar with the case of the three teenage boys who were convicted of the 1993 murders of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis, AK. There are two documentaries about them which are well worth watching. The first documentary shows that the prosecution's case rested on a confession elicited from the weak link among the accused, a mentally diminished young man, and the filmmakers offer an alternative scenario, skillfully turning the righteous onscreen anger of one of the victim's stepparents against him to suggest that authorities ignored this more likely suspect. The boys are still in the process of appealing their cases, and you can help.

I feel this case, and the JonBenet Ramsey case, are perfect examples of how local (especially rural) police are unequipped to handle homicide cases, and should seek state or federal assistance before completely botching crime scenes and effecting the convictions of innocent people and worse, allowing murderers to roam free.

posted by Koko 19 years ago
  • I just want to second the documentaries, Paradise Lost 1&2. They are very well done as films, not just sensationalized crime porn. The first one lays out the crime, investigation, and trial. The second follows up with the boys after their convictions, and further explores the possibility that they were wrongly accused. And the most revealing thing about the second doc is that it illustrates how really young and naive these teenagers were when they were accused and convicted... their forced maturity once in the prison system (not to mention fighting for their lives) is striking. Margaret Cho has been very active and vocal in her support of the WM3, along with numerous other celebs.
  • A bit of warning... the first 10 minutes of PL1 are pretty graphic. They show the crime scene, including the corpses of several small children. I say this now, because I had suggested this documentary to a friend, who's wife was pregnant with their first child. She was pretty upset after watching the beginning.
  • Minor nitpick: West Memphis is in ARkansas, not AlasKa. Those boys have gotten more press around here than you could possibly imagine.
  • Whatever, Mr. I-Know-All-the-State-Abbreviations!
  • You damned pseudo-Canadian! Why don't you go get some socialized medicine and say something nice about the Queen, hoser!
  • Take off, you wannabe Texan!
  • A small collection of articles on the WM3 from the Arkansas Times, for some local reportage. Of course, there's a much larger db of articles on Koko's link. You damned reverse carpetbagger!
  • The stars at night are big and bright *clap-clap-clap-clap*
  • You take that back right now, ham-eater! HAM-EATER!
  • I think I'm going blind! Hey, keep it clean!
  • I donated myself. IMHO, with the mounting evidence in their favor, it's pretty clear they are going to have to be freed at some point in the future.
  • This thread died because it was posted by someone who lives in America Lite. *ducks*
  • This thread's death confirms that no one cares about Arkansas.
  • Holy Shit! JonBenet's murder...solved? This kinda whalloped me out of nowhere. I never was obsessively interested in the case (thought it was bad, horrible, such a tragedy, weird stuff with the pageants and the dad and all), and when it dropped off the 24-hour intensity cycle I pretty much stopped thinking about it. So I was surprised when I heard about this and I got a real emotional reaction, like shock and horror and relief and fear all rolled up. Strange. Now if someone in Alaska would just confess to the WM stuff...
  • It's so incredibly wrong that the guy being arrested is an elementary-school teacher and has been for years. I wonder what other hidden secrets he's been carrying around.
  • Hmm...there's apparently some doubt surfacing about whether he might just be a flake confessing to something he didn't do...though maybe not...nobody knows yet... He sure looks creepy, though.