Shortly after three eight-year-old boys were found mutilated and murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas, local newspapers stated the killers had been caught. The police assured the public that the three teenagers in custody were definitely responsible for these horrible crimes. Evidence?
The same police officers coerced an error-filled €œconfession€? from Jessie Misskelley Jr., who is mentally handicapped. They subjected him to 12 hours of questioning without counsel or parental consent, audio-taping only two fragments totaling 46 minutes. Jessie recanted it that evening, but it was too late€” Misskelley, Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols were all arrested on June 3, 1993, and convicted of murder in early 1994.
Although there was no physical evidence, murder weapon, motive, or connection to the victims, the prosecution pathetically resorted to presenting black hair and clothing, heavy metal t-shirts, and Stephen King novels as proof that the boys were sacrificed in a satanic cult ritual. Unfathomably, Echols was sentenced to death, Baldwin received life without parole, and Misskelley got life plus 40.
For over 12 years, The West Memphis Three have been imprisoned for crimes they didn€™t commit. Echols waits in solitary confinement for the lethal injection our tax dollars will pay for. They were all condemned by their poverty, incompetent defense, satanic panic and a rush to judgment.
But there€™s still hope for them, and you can help.
Learn about the WM3 here.
Any mindful correspondence will be sent to Damien from here. Any messages on his book or to him. It will passed along to him.
Educate your friends.
It is in fact a part of the function of education to help us escape, not from our own time -- for we are bound by that -- but from the intellectual and emotional limitations of our time.
T.S. Eliot
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free,
in a state of civilization,
it expects what never was and will never be.
Thomas Jefferson
Education should consist of a series of enchantments, each raising the individual to a higher level of awareness, understanding, and kinship with all living things.
Author Unknown
Upon the education of the people of this country,
the fate of this country depends.
Benjamin Disraeli
Write to Damien at:
Damien Echols ..SK931
Varner Unit
PO Box 400
Grady Arkansas 71644
Please remember his prisoner ID number (number SK931) must be included in the address. The prison mail rules are here, and we strongly suggest everyone take the time to read them.
http://www.wm3.org/live/faq/faq_category.php?id=4..faq5
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Hi Folks, NOTE: This website is NOT run by Damien Echols. I am a friend of Damien's and I do send him all emails/comments from this page. However, the messages WILL NOT reach him quicker than you sending your own letter/message via snail mail. Thanks!
ALMOST HOME: MY LIFE STORY VOL. 1 has been published. The book is available amazon.com. Buy via skeletonkeyart.com and a portion of the proceeds go back to the WM3.
Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, Jr., Jason Baldwin