Thanks to the work of those well-respected criminologists ,the now-split-up Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines, Pearl Jam Frontman Eddie Fedders, and the Liberals at HBO, among others, the cause celebre known as the West Memphis 3 were freed yesterday, after serving 18 years in prison.

Trutv.com presented this synopsis of the case:

On the afternoon of 6 May 1993, West Memphis was rocked by the news of the discovery of the mutilated bodies of three eight-year-old boys. Rumors regarding the nature of the murders spread like wildfire through the town. It was soon well known that the boys had been cut with a knife, raped and at least one of the boy’s genitals had been cut, many of these rumors were based on inaccurate police assumptions. By 12.00 p.m. the next day, police were questioning their first suspect, Damien Echols. Several weeks later Jessie Misskelley, an associate of Echols, confessed to the murders, implicating Damien Echols and another friend, Jason Baldwin. Soon after, following a confession by Misskelley, the three teenagers were arrested and charged with the murders of James M. Moore, Steven E. Branch and Christopher M. Byers.

The citizens of West Memphis were relieved that the monsters that had committed these heinous crimes had been apprehended and justice would be served. There was a great deal of anger in the community directed towards these three adolescents, supposedly involved in Satanic cults, who were accused of killing three innocent boys as part of a Satanic ritual. Rumors of Satanic groups had abounded in this dominantly Baptist community for decades. Details of their exploits were well known although there was never any proof of any murders actually having been performed in the past. From the time the arrests were made until they were tried, local papers fed the community’s blood-lust, with stories of Satanic abominations appearing on a regular basis.

On Wednesday 19 January 1994, Jessie Misskelley was sent to trial after an attempt to have his confession suppressed was denied. Two weeks later, he was found guilty on one count of first degree capital murder and two counts of second degree capital murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with no parole. He was seventeen years old.

The trial of Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols began on Tuesday 4 February 1994. On Monday 18 April 1994, they were both found guilty on three counts of capital murder. The next day Jason, just sixteen, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of forty years. Eighteen-year-old Damien Echols was sentenced to death by lethal injection.

…Damien Echols claims that he was found guilty long before the trial began because he was considered weird by many in the community, having practiced the Wicca religion and listened to the music of supposedly Satanic groups such as “Metallica.” Jason believes he was found guilty by association. Jessie claims that his confession was coerced, claiming he had told police whatever they had wanted him to so that they would let him go.

I apologize for the following.  However, with all the attention given to the freeing of these media darlings, I truly believe that a description of the crime scene is in order.

From religioustolerance.org:

The bodies of the three 8 year-old boys were discovered in a wooded area in Robin Hood Hills on the next day, 1993-MAY-6 at 1:30 PM. They were naked; each had had both left and right hands tied to their corresponding feet with black and white shoe laces. One child, had multiple wounds apparently made by a serrated knife, and injuries of a type often seen as a result of forced oral sex. A second boy had multiple stab wounds and indications of forced oral sex. The police believe that these two boys died by drowning. The third child appeared also to have been forced into oral sex. The skin of his penis was removed and he had been castrated. He had many cuts from a knife with a serrated blade. He had bled to death. Christopher Byers had welts on his back from the buckle of a belt. These were initially interpreted by the police to have resulted from ritual abuse by Satanists. However, Christopher’s step-father John Byers testified at the trial that he had beaten his step-son with a belt at 5:30 PM on the day of the murder.

The boys’ bodies had been dumped in a shallow drainage ditch which parallels Interstate 40 in West Memphis, AR. The water washed away fingerprints and other traces left by the murderer(s).

Damien Echols was viewed as being strange by his community, even before the murders. However, his behavior during his arrest and trial, and in a video seen on an HBO Documentary, did nothing to help his case.

From commercialappeal.com:

He [Echols] said when he was arrested in 1993, he lashed out, masking his fear with arrogance and contempt. During his trial, he glared at the victims’ families, licking his lips and hissing.

“Your average person won’t understand,” he said of that behavior. “Whenever you have your entire life destroyed and you’ve been set up, you’re in so much shock and trauma.

“That was trauma for me on a scale I can’t begin to articulate.”

When asked if his behavior could have helped convict him, Echols said: “On the surface, I would say: ‘Yes.’ ” But, he added that he believes the public had already turned against him due to pretrial publicity.

Tensions in the community were so high, police fastened bulletproof vests around Echols and his co-defendants to protect them before moving them through crowds. Echols said he didn’t know how to react to the hate and condemnation from “the mob.”

“I was a teenager sucked into a world I didn’t understand,” he said. “You’re raised to believe the police are the good guys, that you’re innocent until proven guilty. In reality, that’s not how the system works.”

During the 1994 trial, Echols said he never considered that he would be convicted. He said he thought, “There’s going to be a ‘Perry Mason’ moment where whoever actually did it will be exposed.”

In retrospect, he said, he would have censored his courtroom behavior.

Byers also said he would alter his own outrageous antics, captured on camera for the HBO documentary, including blasting a pumpkin with gunfire while pretending he was killing Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley.

“I was very embarrassed by a lot of my behavior,” Byers said during an interview Thursday. “Rage and anger and emotion had totally taken over.”

The Arkansas Supreme Court last year ordered new hearings, scheduled for this December, after defense attorneys said new DNA evidence could exonerate them. A courtroom date had been set for December, but Judge David Laser scheduled the Friday hearing without releasing details.

Recent DNA tests did not link the men to the crime scene and showed the presence of others who have not been identified.

In post-conviction plea bargain, rarely seen in a court of law, each of the West Memphis Three pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for having their sentences reduced to time served. Each continued to profess his innocence, but said their new pleas were ones of expedience; the quickest, cleanest ways to escape life sentences or, in Echols’ case, execution.

Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington said at the press conference after the 3, now in their mid-30s, accepted the deal and were freed:

I hope and pray that they have been rehabilitated. Only time will tell whether this was a right decision on my part.

Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore would now be 26 years old, and possibly have children of their own.

They remain unavailable for comment.