Real Life Is The Real Horror
by Feind Gottes
by Feind Gottes
After numerous distractions and interruptions I’m finally able to sit down and write about something that I’m very passionate about. Over the course of the Memorial Day weekend I had the opportunity to not just watch some good horror from Wolf Creek 2 but also a little more dramatic affair about a real life horror, the American Injustice System. I’m talking about the West Memphis 3 and the film that got me thinking about it once again was Devil’s Knot starring Reese Witherspoon and the always great Colin Firth. If you’re not familiar with the West Memphis 3 this is an excellent introduction though it only tells part of the story. This won’t be a typical review so please bear with me.
I first learned about the West Memphis 3 with an HBO documentary in the mid-90s entitled Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. It marked the first time Metallica had allowed their music to be used cinematically (I was a huge fanboy at the time so I was intrigued). The case revolves around the brutal murders of three young boys: Steve Edward Branch, Christopher Mark Byers and James Micheal Moore. As tragic as these three young boys being brutally murdered was, they unfortunately are only the first three victims in this tale. In one of the cruelest rushes to judgement ever, police created three more victims in this story, the trio that came to be known as The West Memphis Three. The injustice was increased as the legal system proceeded in railroading and ruining the lives of three more young men: Jessie Misskelley Jr, Charles Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols otherwise known as The West Memphis Three. The three young men (teenagers when this began) were singled out for being different in a place where it wasn’t okay to be different, namely Arkansas. Sorry for anyone living there who this might offend but seriously Fuck Arkansas and the “Christians” who hold up the bible while persecuting anyone who doesn’t join their cult. Yes, I’m an atheist and yes, Fuck Christians! Sorry had to say it.
I first learned about the West Memphis 3 with an HBO documentary in the mid-90s entitled Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. It marked the first time Metallica had allowed their music to be used cinematically (I was a huge fanboy at the time so I was intrigued). The case revolves around the brutal murders of three young boys: Steve Edward Branch, Christopher Mark Byers and James Micheal Moore. As tragic as these three young boys being brutally murdered was, they unfortunately are only the first three victims in this tale. In one of the cruelest rushes to judgement ever, police created three more victims in this story, the trio that came to be known as The West Memphis Three. The injustice was increased as the legal system proceeded in railroading and ruining the lives of three more young men: Jessie Misskelley Jr, Charles Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols otherwise known as The West Memphis Three. The three young men (teenagers when this began) were singled out for being different in a place where it wasn’t okay to be different, namely Arkansas. Sorry for anyone living there who this might offend but seriously Fuck Arkansas and the “Christians” who hold up the bible while persecuting anyone who doesn’t join their cult. Yes, I’m an atheist and yes, Fuck Christians! Sorry had to say it.
For those unfamiliar with The West Memphis Three, Devil’s Knot is a pretty decent place to start but if you really want to get outraged I would suggest watching the documentary West Of Memphis that tells the story thoroughly from start to present day (at the time, I believe it came out in 2012). The movie was excellently done but really only tells the beginning of this real life horror story from the murders themselves through the first conviction of the West Memphis Three.
So how exactly did the West Memphis Three find themselves railroaded and in prison for a crime they had nothing to do with for almost 20 years? Well you can thank public pressure on a police force that makes the Keystone Kops look like pillars of law enforcement. The police needed to make an arrest quickly so instead of actually doing any, y’know police work, they set their sites on Damien Echolsthen went about gathering “evidence” to convict a young man they just didn’t like. Damien was a troubled kid who had been in trouble for some minor offenses. He was rebellious and outcast in the heart of the “bible belt” where listening to metal and reading about Allister Crowley is very nearly a hanging offense. So instead of actually looking at the evidence and trying to find who may have actually committed the murders; police set their sights on Damien.
So how exactly did the West Memphis Three find themselves railroaded and in prison for a crime they had nothing to do with for almost 20 years? Well you can thank public pressure on a police force that makes the Keystone Kops look like pillars of law enforcement. The police needed to make an arrest quickly so instead of actually doing any, y’know police work, they set their sites on Damien Echolsthen went about gathering “evidence” to convict a young man they just didn’t like. Damien was a troubled kid who had been in trouble for some minor offenses. He was rebellious and outcast in the heart of the “bible belt” where listening to metal and reading about Allister Crowley is very nearly a hanging offense. So instead of actually looking at the evidence and trying to find who may have actually committed the murders; police set their sights on Damien.
So what did they do? Well, they picked up poor Jessie Misskelley Jr and got him to confess and name Damien and Jason Baldwin as his accomplices. I know, police would never do this right? Wrong! No offense to Jessie but he was diagnosed as borderline mentally retarded and police held him for hours drubbing the poor boy and feeding him information so that when they took his “confession” it sounded almost plausible unless you pay attention to the leading questions and the detectives “correcting” youngMisskelley as they took his confession which as pathetic as that is and sounds the giant piece of filth judge upheld it even thoughMisskelley recanted his confession almost immediately. To even the casual observer this was perhaps the worst confession ever given.Jessie was held and interrogated by police for hours without a parent or attorney present, there’s a reason that is not allowed in just about any state but apparently the geniuses in Arkansas know better than the rest of us. Continuing the injustice “experts” who got their degrees by mail order were allowed to testify as well as a “witness” who fed police information to prevent her child from being taken away, like Misskelley’s confession that witness later recanted her testimony. So in a nutshell that is how the West Memphis Three found themselves in prison fighting for their lives as Misskelley & Baldwin were sentenced to life and Echols was actually sentenced to death.
The injustice just kept coming through their many appeals as new evidence was gathered again and again showing there was little to no way the three young men could have possibly committed the crimes but to set them free and admit the killer was still on the loose was just too much of an embarrassment. So the injustice continued. It also didn’t help that the three had to keep appearing before the same judge over and over again and expecting him to overturn himself was almost laughable. In the end the Arkansas “justice” system just wanted the whole mess to go away without ever admitting that they had completely railroaded three young men and let a killer walk around free with no worry of ever being caught for 20+ years. After evidence including DNA evidence showed that it was nearly impossible for the West Memphis Three to have committed the crimes Arkansas put the final screws to the West Memphis Threewithout having to admit that they completely fucked them over by fucking them over one last time. Arkansas kindly allowed the WM3 to enter a rarely used Alford plea which allowed the state to set them free without acquitting them of the crime while the WM3 could maintain their innocence. Oh and the Alford plea conveniently prevents the WM3 from suing the state for false imprisonment or damages from their false arrest and prosecution.
The injustice just kept coming through their many appeals as new evidence was gathered again and again showing there was little to no way the three young men could have possibly committed the crimes but to set them free and admit the killer was still on the loose was just too much of an embarrassment. So the injustice continued. It also didn’t help that the three had to keep appearing before the same judge over and over again and expecting him to overturn himself was almost laughable. In the end the Arkansas “justice” system just wanted the whole mess to go away without ever admitting that they had completely railroaded three young men and let a killer walk around free with no worry of ever being caught for 20+ years. After evidence including DNA evidence showed that it was nearly impossible for the West Memphis Three to have committed the crimes Arkansas put the final screws to the West Memphis Threewithout having to admit that they completely fucked them over by fucking them over one last time. Arkansas kindly allowed the WM3 to enter a rarely used Alford plea which allowed the state to set them free without acquitting them of the crime while the WM3 could maintain their innocence. Oh and the Alford plea conveniently prevents the WM3 from suing the state for false imprisonment or damages from their false arrest and prosecution.
Still today the killer of 3 young boys walks around free while the WM3, though out of jail, are still hindered by the felony conviction for the crimes. So who did it? The truth is no one truly knows but the killer. The most likely suspect looks exceedingly like Terry Hobbs, stepfather at the time to one of the victims, Stevie Branch. Stevie’s mother played by Reese Witherspoon in Devil’s Knot finds a pocket knife of Stevie’s that he always carried with him in a box with other knives collected by Mr. Hobbs. After a DNA sample was finally secretly obtained (surprise, the police never collected a sample at the time of the murders) from Mr. Hobbs it was found to match a hair found at the crime scene that was wrapped into the bindings on at least one of the tiny victims. Also Mr. Hobbs can’t accurately account for his whereabouts during the time of the murders. I’m no cop but you’d think it at least warrants looking into but apparently not according to police in Arkansas who still haven’t. Yeah, you read that right.
So the West Memphis Three with their Alford plea (their only other option was to remain in prison for several more years and hope for the judge who kept fucking them over to die) were finally released on August 19, 2011. They went to prison as teenagers and came out just in time to turn 40. Congratulations Arkansas you effectively stole their youth and face no real consequences for it. Did I say congratulations? I meant, Fuck You! In the ass with a giant red hot poker!
Now why do I care you might be asking yourself? When I first saw the first Paradise Lost documentary (there are three all together, the WM3 were in prison nearly 20 years) I immediately identified with Damien Echols. His only real crime was being a metalhead in the bible belt. I had never been to Arkansas (still haven’t and no plans to) but I grew up in a small town in western NY and it really mattered little that this happened in Arkansas, what I saw was a small town reacting to a tragedy. If you’ve ever been in or around small town America it’s all pretty much the same from Alaska to Florida that’s why I left for the city. In small town America it’s not okay to be different. I heard Damien say once the WM3’s real crime was being poor and different, I couldn’t agree more. They couldn’t afford attorney’s who could compete with the juggernaut of a state attorney’s office that was out for blood and a judge that was right there with them. If you’re poor in America you really don’t want to find yourself on the wrong side of the law because you will get fucked. The WM3are not the only wrongly accused and convicted in this country, it happens more often than any of us like to think. Just a few years ago in my hometown of Buffalo, NY a man was released after over 20+ years in prison for a series of rapes for which he had been convicted for the similar reason of being poor and oh, yeah of borderline intelligence like Jessie Misskelley Jr.
So the West Memphis Three with their Alford plea (their only other option was to remain in prison for several more years and hope for the judge who kept fucking them over to die) were finally released on August 19, 2011. They went to prison as teenagers and came out just in time to turn 40. Congratulations Arkansas you effectively stole their youth and face no real consequences for it. Did I say congratulations? I meant, Fuck You! In the ass with a giant red hot poker!
Now why do I care you might be asking yourself? When I first saw the first Paradise Lost documentary (there are three all together, the WM3 were in prison nearly 20 years) I immediately identified with Damien Echols. His only real crime was being a metalhead in the bible belt. I had never been to Arkansas (still haven’t and no plans to) but I grew up in a small town in western NY and it really mattered little that this happened in Arkansas, what I saw was a small town reacting to a tragedy. If you’ve ever been in or around small town America it’s all pretty much the same from Alaska to Florida that’s why I left for the city. In small town America it’s not okay to be different. I heard Damien say once the WM3’s real crime was being poor and different, I couldn’t agree more. They couldn’t afford attorney’s who could compete with the juggernaut of a state attorney’s office that was out for blood and a judge that was right there with them. If you’re poor in America you really don’t want to find yourself on the wrong side of the law because you will get fucked. The WM3are not the only wrongly accused and convicted in this country, it happens more often than any of us like to think. Just a few years ago in my hometown of Buffalo, NY a man was released after over 20+ years in prison for a series of rapes for which he had been convicted for the similar reason of being poor and oh, yeah of borderline intelligence like Jessie Misskelley Jr.
I was not the rebel or outcast that Damien was but seeing his tale I knew we were more alike than different. He along with Jasonand Jessie are still doing what they can to clear their names and bring the real murderer to justice but it is a battle they are mainly fighting alone. Even with all the press this case has received (several documentaries, a movie with another on the way) they are still pretty much alone in their fight in our ADD “what’s new” society. I hope they get some justice at some point because few deserve it more.
I could go on forever but I don’t want to preach and bore you further so I guess I should wrap this up. If the story of the WM3 is new to you Devil’s Knot is an excellent movie that you should watch. If you want to really get outraged and learn more watch the comprehensive documentary West of Memphis (watch it online here) or if you have the time take the journey where mine began with the Paradise Lost trilogy of documentaries. I highly recommend all of these. I know this isn’t really a “horror” movie but in reality it’s more horrifying than any drivel we all love to watch and you just might learn a little something in the process.
I could go on forever but I don’t want to preach and bore you further so I guess I should wrap this up. If the story of the WM3 is new to you Devil’s Knot is an excellent movie that you should watch. If you want to really get outraged and learn more watch the comprehensive documentary West of Memphis (watch it online here) or if you have the time take the journey where mine began with the Paradise Lost trilogy of documentaries. I highly recommend all of these. I know this isn’t really a “horror” movie but in reality it’s more horrifying than any drivel we all love to watch and you just might learn a little something in the process.
The Paradise Lost Trilogy for anyone interested
Have you followed the story of the West Memphis 3? Let us know what you think of this real life horror story in the comments below.
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