The West Memphis Three Are Free Men

by Dana Harris

The West Memphis Three—Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelly—are free men today.

[repost from indiewire.com]

by Dana Harris

The West Memphis Three—Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelly—are free men today.

With the promise of a new trial in December, a representative for the state of Arkansas said it would be “practically impossible to put on a new case after 18 years. The sentences would be different and appeals would ensure.” He said he feared that a trial could result in the WM3 suing the state.

He said the defendants could very easily been acquitted in a new trial and added, “I believe this case is closed.”

The terms of the case allow the judgments to stand while allowing the defendants to maintain their innocence. “This is a right decision on behalf of the state, and I stand by it.”

Echols received a death sentence, with Baldwin and Misskelly receiving life sentences for their supposed roles in the deaths of Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers, who were found murdered and mutilated in a wooded area in West Memphis, Ark. in May 1993. At the time of their arrests, Misskelley was 17, Baldwin was 16 and Echols was 18. All three have maintained that they did not commit the murders.

In court today to witness the proceedings were Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, directors of the “Paradise Lost” documentaries that chronicled the fight to prove their innocence for nearly two decades, as was longtime supporter and Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder.   CONT’D AT INDIEWIRE>>