#memphis three

Henry Rollins, front man for Black Flag 1981-1986

MY THOUGHTS: whilst initially I felt a great sense of relief and euphoria as the Memphis three are release from prison, and I’m released from the film's 146min runtime, has any, real justice been served? The Memphis three are still convicted criminals under Arkansas law for the murder of three children, the 'true' killer/s have never been brought to justice, and the parents of the dead still grieve, unresolved.

Official Synopsis: “Devil’s Knot tells the compelling story of three teenagers accused of the brutal 1993 murder of three 8-year old boys in Memphis, Ark. – two of them sentenced to life imprisonment and one to death. The film explores the lives of deeply misunderstood outsiders, their families and communities, and their darkest fantasies. The conviction of the West Memphis Three – Damien Echols, Jesse Misskelley, Jr., and Jason Baldwin – riled the American justice system, shocked a tightly knit religious town and outraged the nation.”

Special Presentations Devil’s Knot Atom Egoyan, USA World Premiere A haunting true mystery about the infamous killing of three children in a small Arkansas town. The police charge and convict three teens, aka the West Memphis Three, for committing the murders during an alleged satanic ritual, but a mother and investigator suspect that the truth may be even worse. Starring Reese Witherspoon, Colin Firth, Kevin Durand, Bruce Greenwood, Mireille Enos, Dane DeHaan and Stephen Moyer.

While new circumstantial evidence has come forth that possibly links Terry Hobbs to the murders of Stevie Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers, Yuri Butler and I are still having trouble shaking our suspicions of John Mark Byers. Our suspicions as to Byers' involvement in the murders began during our viewing of the first Paradise Lost, and continued through subsequent viewings of Revelations and Purgatory. Although Byers appears to be much calmer and less psychotic these days, and has now changed his tune as to the guilt of the 'West Memphis 3', we are not convinced that he wasn't involved. Byers did not admit to being wrong about the WM3 until the MEDIA and court systems began to assert that Terry Hobbs was a more likely suspect...in other words, until the attention was no longer on him.  He was overzealous and theatrical in his supposed hatred toward Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley, but changed his mind far too quickly when Hobbs was suggested as the potential killer. It seems he'll jump on the bandwagon of anything that takes the attention off of him. Of course, the attention has NEVER been off of him, as he has insisted on remaining closer to the case than any of the other parents, which would make perfect sense if were in fact the killer. Yes, the evidence surrounding his involvement is just as circumstantial as with the WM3, and even Hobbs, and was really for us a case of instinct. He didn't feel right...and in one horrifying moment in Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, Yuri and I turned to each other in astonishment, because Byers pretty much comes out and admits his guilt. During a scene in which Byers builds a false grave for Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley, he addresses the camera, explaining that he's using pieces of the crime scene tape on the graves that "I cut off what they stretched in front of me when they found my babies out here."  Yes, BABIES.  Talk about fucking creepy. Byers has always referred to Christopher as his baby, but in this moment, a moment of psychotic passion (the dude is burning a fake mass grave, for pete's sake), he refers to ALL THREE boys as his 'babies.' Now, as far as I know, Byers wasn't close to the other boys in any way...so to refer to them as such, for us, was a horrifying sign of guilt. So, check out the video that Yuri and I put together, and come to your own conclusions. Do you think John Mark Byers is guilty?

I am not generally one to closely follow high profile murder cases, but I know a lot of my friends and family from Memphis followed this one and are not very satisfied with this outcome. I have to say that this doesn't seem right to me. New evidence has come to light that means it is highly unlikely the three boys would have ever been convicted if the evidence had been there at the time of the trial so almost everyone seems to now believe that the boys are innocent, but instead of the State admitting that fact or going through a retrial, the boys were forced to a guilty plea deal leading to release for time served. WTF? Does that seem like justice to you? Yes, being free is a hell of a lot better than being locked up, but having felonies on your record aren't really good for your employ-ability and other freedoms that most Americans take for granted. The US justice system seems to be riddled with more and more of these unjust compromises that don't really provide justice to the innocents that have been locked up or the victims whose murder has apparently gotten away with it.