'West Memphis Three' freed after 18 years in prison

[Gerald]

Three US men who say they were falsely convicted of murdering three boys have been freed after 18 years in prison.

Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were convicted in 1994, but new DNA evidence raised doubts.

The so-called West Memphis Three were backed by celebrities who had raised money for their case.

They were freed from prison on Friday in a deal allowing them to claim innocence while agreeing prosecutors had enough evidence to convict them.

Speaking to reporters after they were freed, Baldwin said he had been reluctant to plead guilty to crimes he did not commit, but said he had wanted to spare Echols the death penalty.

'Satanic rite'

Echols said the release was "overwhelming".

"It's not perfect by any means," he said of the deal. "But it at least brings closure to some areas and some aspects."

Although families of two of the victims had come to believe the trio were innocent, an onlooker shouted "baby killers" as the men walked free from court.

The men were teenagers when they were convicted for the brutal May 1993 murder and mutilation of three eight-year-old boys who were found nude and bound in a ditch in West Memphis in the US state of Arkansas.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14598845


Note: 19 August 2011 Last updated at 20:49 GMT

[AngusJS]

Prosecutors introduced a theory that the killings were some sort of satanic rite, and gave evidence they said indicated the three teenagers were part of a cult.:rotfl2:

It only took 18 years for them to be freed! The system works!

:nope:

[Stealhead]

Even see the documentary about the whole thing(pre this event) makes your hair stand on end that people where ok with what went down with those guys.

They where Metallica fans and I suppose to some hicks that makes you a devil worshiper.

There was a similar case in Jacksonville Fl a few years ago where the cops just grabbed an innocent black teenage boy of the street and pinned a murder robbery on him the victims wife IDed the kid.Lucky for this kid the cops messed up and there was proof that they had punched him in the face several times trying to get him to confess.The kid another lucky break when a jail house guy ratted on the real killer funny thing was the true killer was clearly very light skinned in fact he was half white the innocent kid had a much darker skin tone and was much shorter the really bad part was this kid was an excellent student but thanks to all the trial time before he was exonerated he missed tow years of school.I have a strong belief that many people want someone to pay so badly that they will ID people when they are not 100% certain and perhaps they dont even really care they just want someone to pay.

It is all to blame on poor police integration the bad ones will keep pressuring and pretty much use physiological forms of torture until you confess.

There was a tv show about police interrogations it was very interesting because it showed the video clips of interrogations and some where doing it the correct way others the wrong way likely to cause an innocent person to confess.In one the wrong ones the cops kept going at this guy from Brazil about a murder finally he confessed to being involved but wait one problem they checked his US passport and he was in Brazil when the murder occurred in Texas.

[Gerald]

:rotfl2:

It only took 18 years for them to be freed! The system works!

:nope: Yes, but what price, :nope:

[Anthony W.]

This proves that technology is a good thing.

At least it all finally worked out...

My prayers go to them that they may be able to rebuild their lives

[Penguin]

Finally! :sunny:

I do not understand the justice system where you plead gulity but get free. It seems that the prosecuters needed this to save their face and to prevent damage claims by the three guys.
It is still a shame that the authorities prefer to leave a child killer on the run rather than admitting they made a mistake. :x