Why I support the WM3

Yes, they were convicted. But there is no evidence linking them to this horrible crime. Consider the facts.

They had no car and no bikes, and the crime scene was ten miles from where they had lived. Assuming that they could walk five miles an hour, they would have to walk two hours from their homes to Robin Hood Hills. The prosecution could not produce any witnesses who had seen Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin en route to Robin Hood Hills from Marion, Arkansas, their home. And Damien Echols with his long black hair, pale skin, and black clothes would be hard to miss. And he would be especially noticable in a neighborhood where he was a stranger.

The only evidence that could possibly be connected between the teens and the crime scene was a few cotton fibers. Even the experts could not agree on who they came from.

But What about the knife that the police found in the lake by Jason Baldwin's trailer?

That lake had public access, anybody can throw anything in. The knife found in the lake was never proven either to be the murder weapon or to belong to any of the three teens.

What about the confession?

Yes, Jesse Misskilley's confession would put one at ease. But consider other confessions to crimes. The first DNA cases in the U.S. and the U.K. freed two men who had confessed to the crimes. And consider the murder of nine Buddist monks in Arizona where four men falsely confessed to the murders. False confessions happen all the time.

So why would Misskelley confess to the awful deed? He has an IQ of 72 which is borderline retarded. He is funtional, but without the capacity to understand the complexities of the situation. In other words, when he confessed, he might have honestly expected to go home.

And if that's not enough to convice you that he may have been coerced by the interrogators, consider that he got many of the details wrong. He claimed they had committed the crime in the morning; when the three victims were in school, alive obviously. He claimed that the victims were sexually abused, but the coroner could find no signs of the sodomy that Misskelley described. That's just two of the details that Misskelley got wrong. Also, he never explained how he got to the crime scene, or why he was there. His story changed twice. In the first version, the three teens had entered the woods together. In the second, he had been just walking along and saw Damien and Jason with the three victims.

Okay, the confesssion is no good. But what about Damien Echol's connection to Wiccans? What about the things found in his trailer?

Echols had been exploring the Wiccan religion, he was not a member of a coven. Wiccans are not devil worshippers; Wicca is a pre-Christian religion devoted to nature. Until the middle ages, the image of the devil was of a fallen angel. When the Catholic Church wanted to take over the European populace's worship of pagan gods, they adopted the image of the Wiccan consort as the devil. This image still survives today.

Echols was exploring religion in his late teens, the time which many young people explore different religions and religious issues. No evidence has been found that shows that he participated in Satanism.

About the things that were found in his trailer, it was purely gossip and false rumors. One rumor was attributed to one of the victim's stepfather. A Metallica poster of a goat was transformed into an actual goat's head. Another rumour that he dyed his hair black is also false, Echols is part Native American and has naturally black hair.

What about all the people who have come forward to say that they have participated in animal sacrifices and other cult activities with Damien Echols?

Look at their stories, many of them are really outlandish. One woman claimed that she had been driven to a cult meeting by Echols, despite the fact that he had never had a license to drive or a car. One man claimed that he had seen Echols fly at a cult meeting. They spoke of animal sacrifices like goats ect. But nobody could find the bones of these animals at the sites. And nobody ever reported livestock that was either stolen or purchased by Echols, Baldwin, or Misskelley.

So why were they convicted? Have you forgotten about that?

No, I haven't. They were convicted because the prosecution used rumors of cult activities to cast a bad light on the teens. Instead of either direct or circumstantial evidence, they used the theory.

This is a strange young man. He didn't fit into our community. He wore black clothes. He listened to strange music. He explored alternative religious beliefs. Even though I do not have any evidence that shows that he committed this horrible crime, he must be guilty.

And the jury, swayed by rumors and a hysteria about Satanism fueled by religious crackpots convicted. And if Damien Echols is executed, I would hate to be them on Judgement Day when they will have to answer for this young man's death.

What about the victims? Don't you care about them?

Yes, I do care about them. They were three little boys and they were horribly murdered in the mud. But justice will not be served by railroading three other people for their murder. Out there somewhere, free to commit more crimes, is the person or persons who did this horrible deed. And he is laughing at us right now.