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From The Sunday Times

December 30, 2007

Satanist case may close death row

John Harlow, Los Angeles

NEARLY 15 years ago, the brutal murder of three Arkansas Cub Scouts in an alleged satanic rite sickened a nation and strengthened the hand of death penalty champions across the United States.

Now the same ghastly crime may be the final nail in the coffin of capital punishment in an America that is manifesting a crisis of conscience over the morality of executions.

Over the next few weeks the grim saga of the so-called West Memphis Three, teenagers who were convicted of slaughtering three small boys for kicks, is expected to reach a conclusion as a new suspect is tested and fresh DNA evidence is presented in the highest court in Arkansas.

Legal experts predict that the alleged ringleader, Damien Echols, who in other more “efficient” states such as Texas would have been executed years ago, could be freed from death row by spring.

Opponents of capital punishment are poised to adopt Echols, who has grown from an angry youth into a charismatic Buddhist preacher, as a poster child for a national moratorium on “state-sponsored killing”.

It is already happening: since September last year dozens of executions have been postponed in the face of a legal challenge as to whether the supposedly pain-free lethal injection amounts to “cruel and unusual punishment”. The US Supreme Court will hear evidence next month.

Even before the de facto moratorium, the number of state executions had fallen to its lowest level for a decade. The federal government, which used to hang or electrocute dozens of people each year, has not executed anyone since Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber responsible for 168 deaths, who was dispatched with a lethal injection in 2001.

Four years ago George Ryan startled fellow law-and-order Republicans when, on his retirement as governor of Illinois, he commuted all state death sentences to life sentences. Ryan said DNA testing had shaken his faith by suggesting that as many as 70 of the 1,099 Americans executed since capital punishment was revived in 1976 may have been innocent.

Ryan started a trend. Earlier this month New Jersey became the first state for 42 years to abolish the death penalty and neigh-bouring Maryland is set to follow suit. Texas, a culture all of its own, carries out 60% of all executions in the United States.

A clutch of opinion polls suggest that while most Americans still favour the death penalty, many are expressing reservations about its inherent unfairness. That doubt is at the heart of the case of the West Memphis Three, which keeps throwing up fresh surprises and attracting the attention of Hollywood stars and pop musicians.

The case dates back to a warm summer night in May 1993 when the bodies of three eight-year-old boys – James Moore, Steven Branch and Christopher Byers – were found in a creek near their home.

The quiet city of West Memphis went crazy with grief, with mobs pulling suspicious strangers from cars. Locals started carrying Bibles to declare themselves “normal”.

At the murder scene police asked Jerry Driver, a born-again Christian probation officer, if he had any suspects. He named Echols, a bipolar 18-year-old who, Driver believed, was a satanist because he wore a black leather coat in all weathers and listened to “devil music” such as Pink Floyd and Metallica.

With public pressure growing, police questioned Echols’s friend Jessie Misskelley, a retarded 17-year-old. During 14 hours of interrogation, unprotected by parent or lawyer, the boy confessed that he, Echols and a third friend, Jason Baldwin, had met the children in the woods by accident and then stabbed and raped them for satanic purposes.

Lacking DNA evidence, weapons or a deeper motive, this statement was the cornerstone of the prosecution – even as it emerged during the trial that police had coached Misskelley with lurid details and the victims had not been stabbed but beaten and had not been sexually assaulted.

The mutilations, which had inspired local newspaper stories of devil worship, were caused by snapping turtles.

The jury, gripped by the “devil curses” found in Echols’s diaries, which had been lifted from the works of the author Stephen King, took an hour to find all three guilty. Echols was sentenced to death and his two friends to life imprisonment.

At first the distraught parents were relieved, but then the case started falling to pieces – Driver was unmasked as a fraudster and a key witness admitted that she had invented everything in a deal with police for a cash reward.

The West Memphis Three case has since become a cause célèbre. Two films have been made about it, Tom Waits, the rock star, and other music figures contributed to a fundraising album and Winona Ryder, the Hollywood actress, joined the campaign to free them.

Just before Christmas, Natalie Maines, outspoken leader of the Dixie Chicks, the country band, addressed a 500-strong protest meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas, demanding a fresh trial.

This now seems to be on the horizon. Six weeks ago Echols’s lawyer revealed that new and independent DNA tests of the murder scene not only cleared the trio but also pointed to a friend of the parents of one of the victims, who had a brutal history. The man is now being “interviewed” by West Memphis police and new hearings are “under consideration”.

Two sets of bereaved parents recently declared that they feel betrayed by police and lawyers and want an inquest.

“We can only thank God that Damien Echols has survived death row,” said John Mark Byers, stepfather of Chris Byers. “Otherwise, not only would we have lost the chance of finding the truth but we, too, would have blood on our hands. And that would have been unbearable.”

I think this is all crazy and all very sad......they were wrongly accused with NO evidence and they should not be behind bars still.......................i mean come on if u watch everything being aired on news stations and websites now u will see that even the mother of one of the 8 yr old boys killed and a father of another whom was killed.....disagree with them being behind bars ....with eveidence pointing now to the step father.....DNA evidence.....its crazy ...the system is crazy and they should all be ashamed to to ruin 3 innocent lives with absoulutly no eveidence ..just bc they litened to metallica and wore black teeshirts does Not mean they worshiped the devil.............................I cant wait till the day they are free.......and i beleve it is going to be soon ...........

brandi, hammondsville , ohio

Unlike in hollywood,Justice is often hard to find in real U.S.A. The Memphis Three Case is also well known here in Denmark. Alan.

alan grant, Jystrup, Denmark.

Capital punishment in the United States needs to be abolished for the inhumane, cruel, unfair practice that it truly is. And this is said by a 100% Republican, fiscal conservative, gun owning, hawkish foreign policy advocate.

It is better for a hundred convicted killers to escape the hangman's noose than for a single innocent to be mistakenly put to death by the State. Period. No "ifs", "ands" or "buts."

On the other hand, U.S. citizens need a federally recognized entitlement to concealed weapon carry rather than the state-to-state patchwork of laws currently in place, and a codified acknowledgement of the inalienable right to defend oneself and one's property through the use of deadly force free from a requirement to retreat as well as complete indemnification from the exercise of such right. Such entitlement must pre-empt and trump all state laws to the contrary. Every adult has the inalienable right to posses a weapon for defensive purposes and to shoot to kill in self defense.

Scott, Durham, NC, USA

Anyone wanting to know more about this case doesn't have to look very far; try the wm3.org website, the documentaries Paradise Lost and Paradise Lost II, and Mara Leveritt's excellent book on the case, Devil's Knot.

I used to think of this case as the last gasp of the "Satanic Panic" of the 80s and 90s, but as the US backs further and further away from the Englightenment and closer to medieval thinking, we can probably only expect more of the same. Scary.

Laurel, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA

I really don't think many people in the US are aware of this case. I am very interested in the justice system and I had heard of the West Memphis three in passing, but I had no idea what the case was about. In this country they keep any wrongdoing having to do with police and courts under wraps. I'm sorry, but that is the way I see it. I am shocked that I didn't know more about this case.

karla, oakland, california usa

Many people, both in the USA and abroad, are aware of this case. However it is going to take a groundswell of public outrage to persuade the SCoA to re-assess. The spotlight of public scrutiny, courtesy of the media, is critical.
What is truly horrifying to me is the way these three seemed to have been regarded as 'disposable' people - I am sure that the DA and West Memphis Police Department never thought for a moment that a large enough Defence Fund would be raised by supporters world wide in order to get where we are today.
Thanks to the internet there is a large body of disparate people who have forged a bond determined to see Justice prevail in this case.
It is marvelous that the ST featured the case rather than the more lurid tabloids! Please keep up the good work.

Miranda, Stroud, Gloucestershire

Everyone in the US should be talking about this! This case is a tragedy in every way, a damning indictment of the US "justice" system and its barbaric death penalty. Research the case if you don't know it ... it's a real eye opener exposing ineptitude and possible corruption on a grand scale.

Linda, UK, UK

"Nobody in America is talking about this"? "I've never heard about it"? Come on, Phillip (NY) and Dave Peterson (Fl) -- just Google "West Memphis Three" and you'll get over 200,000 hits from all over the US, including the national and local media.

PM, LiÃ¨ge, Belgium

those americans that wonder why people in other counties are talking about this but americans are not should type "Americans are not stupid" into their favourite search engine.

- Can YOU name a country beginning with U?

David, London, England

The two commentators unaware of this case are missing the point. It is irrelevant whether we have heard of it or not. Are they familiar with another case similar to this one from America's sad struggle with ignorance and superstition? The commentators in favor of killing might do well to understand the Salem Witch trials.

JM Pfister, Morristown, NJ

I would not agree with Lisa from France that the US media is "notoriously unreliable"; rather, it is "picky" on which stories it covers. That behavior resembles most media outlets, with France being no different. Example: I've heard more about French governmental involvement in selling machetes to Hutus in Rwanda from non-French news sources. Simply, the media covers what it can sell best to a certain audience.

John B. Meister, London,

The problems is that even if you execute someone that has committed a crime, it doesn't eradicate the crime, it eradicates the person who committed the crime. The crime lives on, very much alive, ready and waiting for an 'open recipient' with which to engage, yet again. Thus to perpetuate itself, and it can do this because of the non-understanding of people, the non-understanding of the ways in which things actually work.
People may well be the perpetuators, but they are not usually the actual 'cause'. Do you not remember the biblical reference "the sins of the father shall be visited upon the children"? What do you think this actually this means?? Or have you ever thought about it at all? Because it does mean something.
So execution solves nothing. Getting to understand how things really and naturally work is the way ahead. Else you execute the (other) victims, not the problem.

Tarni, London, UK

to use the corruption and incompetence of police as en excuse not to enforce justice is wrong. If the police are unable and/or unwilling to find the real perpetrators, then the government must act to change this. If you just withdraw the death penalty, it just means the guilty will walk free and the innocent will be falsely imprisoned - the problem remains. The police must learn to use *evidence*, not superstition, religion, social prejudice, witness statements bought for cash, details taken from suspects without proper representation, etc. If the real perpetrator is found, hang him/her/them.

Marco, KrakÃ³w, Poland

Abolishing the death penalty is not the cure for the acts of corrupt law enforcement tactics or prosecutors lacking integrity. There is the concept, often cited in appeals cases, that the prosecution is responsible for discovering the truth, not blindly pursuing false information. Most recently, as far as national exposure presented, was the botched prosecution of three Duke University students by a corrupt prosecutor. Locking away proven criminals for life at the expense of society is neither humane or financially responsible. Simply eliminate the absurd legal rule that prohibits the prosecution of law enforcement and state officials from misconduct and put them in jail. That would resolve the problem of false testimony and fabricated evidence in short order.

Jerry King, Tampa, Florida, USA

While America claims to be the "land of the free,' the events of 9/11 have given police departments across the land the license to engage in behaviors 'above the law", all excused under the blanket of fear that has been cast across the land. There is no longer the supposition of innocent until proven guilty, for the cable news stations, desperate for audience, hope for and encourage sensation to boost ratings. America has become enslaved to fear and judgmentalism, and lives with a lack fo compassion, all in the name of safety. The mindset echoes pre-war Germany in the 30's. It is easy to blame the government, but the guilty are the cheesy cable news stations who fight for viewers at the expense of liberty.

Lorenzo Sonobuono, Huntington Beach, California, USA

Dave, Phuket , Thailand - should get out more? So in Thailand you know whats going on in the US better than we do?? I'm an attorney by the way and remember when this case first happened. Also, there have been a few local NY cases that deal with this issue that are in all the papers. We were not saying it hasn't been something that a lot of people have been concerned about - only that it isn't THE case that ends the death penalty. Not one story in the MSM press out here. YOU don't know what you are talking about. And as an attorney these stories are always very important to me. A lot of google hits doesn't mean it changing the world - google oboe players, i'm sure that gets a lot of hits too. You know any oboe players? The MSM press always has curious way of choosing which stories they sensationalize - they just haven't picked this one yet.
....and yes, any system should not decide who lives or dies.

Phillip, NY, NY

Mankind has just one enemy who is evil and much smarter than humans.
First this enemy gets 3 boys killed, then gets a corrupt police force to frame and charge 3 innocent
youths with the crime!
However, there is a judgement day, when everyone, including this evil enemy, is held accountable for all acts, words and thoughts!
You might escape justice in this present world, but you will not escape judgement day!
Sandy,
london, England

sandy, london, England, UK

David Martin, Vero Beach , Florida- while I see how this could anger people, surely the person in question is still being punished? The fact that he has not been executed does not mean he is escaping punishment, he is behind bars and will no doubt remain there. Personally, I would rather know that someone who murdered a child is behind bars, than find out any innocent person had been executed because the moratorium was not in place. Surely the execution of an innocent individual is tantamount to murder? The death penalty is perfectly reasonable provided one has total faith in the legal system and, quite frankly, you would have to be rather foolish to have total faith in the legal system, that is why the appeal courts exist.

Kayleigh, St Andrews, Scotland

Philip and David,

No one in American is talking about this case, you never heard of it? That might show more about you than you think.

I have heard plenty of it and have been following the case for most of its history.

This case came up in the middle of the Great Satanic Child Abuse craze so you might Google that up and learn how many innocent people went to prison during that madness.

There was never any evidence to require arresting these then teenagers. It was a circus of madness that was engulfing our country, just like the Salem witch trials of old. They have been trying for 14 years to get a fair trial while Arkansas officials have been trying to bury the case.

Christopher Blackwell, Deming, NM

To Phillip and others questioning who is discussing this...
What is your point - because you no nothing about it they should die?

Darren, Montreal, Canada

Reply to Dave from Orlando:
Eye opening, isn't it? Keep reading international media. It gives a new perspective to those of us in the US.
It is time the US joins civilization and does away with this barbaric practice once and for all. This tragic case is just one of many that prove how flawed the justice system can be.

Anna, Tallahassee, FL, USA

Dave, Phuket , Thailand - should get out more? So in Thailand you know whats going on in the US better than we do?? I'm an attorney by the way and remember when this case first happened. Also, there have been a few local NY cases that deal with this issue that are in all the papers. We were not saying it hasn't been something that alot of people have been concerned about - only that it isn't THE case that ends the death penalty. Not one story in the MSM press out here. YOU don't know what you are talking about. And as an attorney these stories are always are important to me. A lot of google hits doesn't mean it changing the world - google oboe players, i'm sure that gets a lot of hits too. You know any oboe players?

Phillip, NY, NY

Reply to Dave from Orlando, i think you not hearing about this is more about the state of communications in your country, than the importance of the case. I live in country Australia and have been following this case, as a very important one, for more than seven years. I think maybe it is time for the American people A) to catch up, and B) to work out how these things are being missed in the media and education.

Olivia Sheridan, Ballarat, Australia

Before anyone thinks that overreaction by the police arresting an innocent person only happens in the US, just remember the Rachel Nickell murder.
Colin Stagg was arrested and even brought to trial before being aquitted.
Possibly in all that time there were police officers who believed he was the murderer because it took over 15 years to catch and charge the real murderer.

GJB, Slough, Berkshire

Mr Peterson should make up his own mind about whether this case is important. The Times simply describes the case and its context; readers decide whether it matters (to kill innocent people behind the mask of a shoddy legal procedure). Outside of the US this is a non-issue, I guess.

Andrew Bald, BogotÃ¡, Colombia,

Phillip from NY and dave from Orlando if you put West memphis three into your google it will generate 469,000 hits. I flicked through the first 15 or so pages and all hits related to the story perhaps you should get out more.

Dave, Phuket , Thailand

US media is notoriously unreliable so of course it's not got much coverage in the US.
Classic example though of the reasons why the death penalty is out of date and belongs to a more primitive era.

lisa, paris, france

The current unofficial moratorium on executions is unpopular in Florida because it has postponed the execution of a man who abducted, raped and killed an 11 year old boy.

David Martin, Vero Beach , Florida

Odd that the Times thinks this is such an important case, yet I've never heard of it, and I live in the US.

Dave Peterson, Orlando, fl

Anything that brings the death penalty to an end in this country is a good thing. The legal system in America is about winning not about justice. In too many cases there is a rush to arrest and convict someone, anyone, just to close the case. Just supress the evidence that may lead in another direction. In the last few years too many people on death row have been exonerated by DNA evidence.
This barbaric practice has got to stop. Better to let all the guilty live than to execute one innocent.

Bruce L. Northwood, Washington, D.C., USA

Nobody in America is talking about this. What is the author talking about?

Phillip, NY, NY