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Has anyone been following the West Memphis Three?

John Jones said:
They have been granted an evidentiary hearing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Memphis_Three


More about the WM3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Memphis_Three

In short, I don't know if they are guilty or innocent, but they were railroaded.

YMMV.
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No physical evidence and an eye witness who recants saying the police coerced her. What's left that these kids' convictions were based on? Coerced confessions, of course. And we know from scientific evidence that eye witnesses are unreliable and coerced false confessions are sadly, too common.

There were charges of jury misconduct and the defendants lawyers were not competent to be defending someone in a capital murder case.

And with that one kid is on death row and the other two in prison for life.

Hopefully there will be enough DNA to exonerate them. Yesterday they were granted the ability to have that DNA tested and the evidence presented in court.

"West Memphis 3" Get New Hearing in Murders of Three 8-Year-Old Cub Scouts
 
I own the first Paradise Lost documentary and have checked their website once again, I am glad to see that they will get a re-trail. I know that the proceeding Judge, David Burnett, has been denying a retrail since he got elected to the circuit court Judge.

Would like to see what happens next.
 
NYCEMT86 said:
I own the first Paradise Lost documentary and have checked their website once again, I am glad to see that they will get a re-trail. I know that the proceeding Judge, David Burnett, has been denying a retrail since he got elected to the circuit court Judge.

Would like to see what happens next.
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They're not getting a retrial. They're getting a rare evidenciary hearing that could lead to a retrial.

You're right about Judge David Burnett. He was the trial judge, and later became the circuit court judge who denied the WM3 appeals. He would have been in the position of overturning his own court case had he granted the WM3 a new trial.


I urge everyone to look into this case. Look at the evidence, the lack of evidence, the incompetence, and the failure of the criminal justice system in Arkansas.
 
Thanks for the update. I saw the 48 Hours TV show about the case.
 
John Jones said:
They're not getting a retrial. They're getting a rare evidenciary hearing that could lead to a retrial.

You're right about Judge David Burnett. He was the trial judge, and later became the circuit court judge who denied the WM3 appeals. He would have been in the position of overturning his own court case had he granted the WM3 a new trial.


I urge everyone to look into this case. Look at the evidence, the lack of evidence, the incompetence, and the failure of the criminal justice system in Arkansas.
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I'll pass.
 
Yeah, I watched Paradise Lost and have followed it on and off. Thanks for the update. Interesting.
 
John Jones said:
They're not getting a retrial. They're getting a rare evidenciary hearing that could lead to a retrial.
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The Wikipedia article said they are getting a retrial. Yeah, I know, it wouldn't be the first time Wikipedia has been wrong.
 
''''You're right about Judge David Burnett. He was the trial judge, and later became the circuit court judge who denied the WM3 appeals. He would have been in the position of overturning his own court case had he granted the WM3 a new trial.''''

is not that a conflict
should not he step aside
 
I've just read my way through the details of that case.

:hb:

How do criminal justice systems get themselves into screw-ups like that?

Rolfe.
 
Wasn't there like some sort of anti-Heavy Metal Music thing going on with the case originally?
 
Professional profiler convinced of innocence of West Memphis Three

Travis said:
Wasn't there like some sort of anti-Heavy Metal Music thing going on with the case originally?
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Yep. The suspects listened to Metallica and liked black clothing. One of the teenagers had 15 black t-shirts confiscated as 'evidence'.

Yes, the case was really that weak.



Professional profiler convinced of innocence of West Memphis Three

John Douglas has crawled inside the minds of some of the nation's most notorious murderers, but he says the West Memphis Three aren't among them.
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http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/nov/07/profiler-convinced-innocence-west-memphis-three/
 
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nota said:
''''You're right about Judge David Burnett. He was the trial judge, and later became the circuit court judge who denied the WM3 appeals. He would have been in the position of overturning his own court case had he granted the WM3 a new trial.''''

is not that a conflict
should not he step aside
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It is a conflict, and he should have stepped aside. He didn't.

Burnette was recently elected to a legislative office (he's no longer a judge) , and won't be involved in the appeal this time.

I gotta tell you, after watching this travesty of justice for 17 years, I think it will go all the way to the US Supreme Court before it's settled.
 
Rolfe said:
I've just read my way through the details of that case.

:hb:

How do criminal justice systems get themselves into screw-ups like that?

Rolfe.
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I wish I could tell you.

The West Memphis Police Department refused help from the Arkansas State Police because of a judicial pissing-contest over jurisdiction regarding confiscated drugs and drug money.

The WMPD withheld evidence from the FBI early in the investigation.

They offered money to anyone who could provide evidence - this act alone brought the liars out of the woodwork.

Law enforcement agencies leaked evidence to the media, which tainted the entire investigation and made a fair trial impossible.

The Judge disallowed expert testimony which would have contradicted prosecution testimony, saying "that's up to the jury."

There was shocking incompetence at every single step of this investigation.
 
One thing which intrigues me about this is the blackening of the characters of the accused in order to support the accusation. In all the miscarriage of justice cases I've looked at, this has been a constant theme. The accused is said to have been a bad person in this or that way, thus his or her guilt is certain. Sometimes these tangential accusations are true, sometimes not, or much exaggerated.

Look at this one. http://www.justiceforsionjenkins.org.uk/ Jenkins was ludicrously accused of murdering his stepdaugter for no known motive, in the space of about three minutes, within earshot of two of his other children. To support this the prosecution pointed out that he had - exaggerated his educational qualifications in his application for his teaching job several years earlier.

This photo of Barry George, featuring George with a non-functioning replica handgun, was used to paint him as a desperate, terrorist figure. It's quite clearly a photo of an inadequate with a gun fetish playing dress-up. But it got him convicted.
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2008/06/13/barrygeorge460.jpg

It happens time and time again. It shouldn't matter if the suspect has been known to eat babies. If there is no evidence connecting him or her with the ACTUAL CRIME, there should be no conviction. This is one of the worst examples I've come across, but it fits the pattern horribly well.

Rolfe.
 
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