WM3 Awareness Day

Today is West Memphis 3 Awareness Day. If you’ve never heard of them, here’s the deal. There’s these three guys in prison in Arkansas, for crimes they had absolutely nothing to do with. Today marks the 13th anniversary of Jesse Misskelley, Jason Baldwin, and Damien Echols’ imprisonment. They’ve been locked up for 13 years. If you’re sitting all cosy in your bedroom, like me, you can probably help them.

Before I tell you just a little bit about their case, something has to be mentioned that is usually forgotten. The WM3 were arrested for the murders of three little boys, just eight years old. At the end of this post, I’ll give you all some links to read more about the case in general, and you’ll be able to find out more about the original crime as well. Suffice it to say, it was horrible and hideous and should never, ever, ever have happened. As important as it is to get the WM3 out of prison, it’s just as important to remember that whoever is actually guilty of this crime should be found.

Jesse, Jason, and Damien have come to be known as the West Memphis 3, obviously, because of where they’re from and where the murders took place, a kind of poor and very religious area. These three were picked out because they were different, because they listened to heavy metal and wore black clothes. It may seem insane to some of us, but I guess they seemed like a threat to a lot of people. The investigation had gone on too long with no arrests and something had to happen, quick. Damien Echols, who was seen as a problem child to some members of the community, must have seemed like a sure shot. He was weird and didn’t fit in anywhere and thus must have been involved in some kind of satanic cult. Jason just happened to be his best friend, so he may as well be taken down, too. And Jesse? Well, a young man who is pretty close to being mentally handicapped is easy to manipulate, which is exactly what you need to set up a case against someone when you have no evidence whatsoever. These three guys fit the bill perfectly, and the police wouldn’t have to deal with the community panic any longer. It was quick and easy and they could all look like heroes.

Jesse was questioned, and was forced into a confession. If you don’t believe me, read the transcripts of the interrogation. When Jesse says something that conflicts with the what the police know to be true (most obviously with the time of the murders), they twist him around and put words into his mouth until he spits back exactly what they want him to say. Young and probably very scared, it didn’t take him long to figure out how to make it all stop.

With a description of a satanic ritual in hand, the police went for Damien and Jason. With evidence like Damien’s journal (with disturbing Metallica lyrics and satanic doodles written inside) and an expert on satanic cults, the trials were pretty much what you’d expect. Jesse and Jason are now serving life sentences, and Damien is currently on death row.

The case is incredibly complicated and I wouldn’t be able to give you accurate detail, so I haven’t even tried. I hope I’ve given you enough information to make you want to know more. If you’re with me on this, help them. What they need most is support and money. A lot of their legal work is done for free, by lawyers and experts who believe in them. But they still need to pay for other stuff, most importantly DNA testing that wasn’t available when they were originally tried. You can donate to any of their defense funds, but Damien really needs it the most, for now. If you can’t donate anything, tell your friends about them and maybe they’ll tell someone else, and so on.

I don’t know how to write about these guys without being emotional. I worry about them at night. I think of them when I’m out having fun at a concert because they should be out having fun as well. I think about how frustrating it must be to be locked away, year after year, and how trapped they must feel in a legal system that has done nothing but let them down. It breaks my heart. The only thing I can figure is that I can help Damien in whatever way I can, which will in turn help Jesse and Jason, which will in turn help the many others out there in similar situations. If you have the time to be reading this, then you surely have a half hour to read more about them. Please do, every little bit will help them.

Go to the official WM3 support site and find out more about the three and the case. The site is run by three supporters, who do all of the work for free, and have an amazing archive of legal information and evidence online for you to look through for yourself.

Donate to The Damien Echols Defense Fund via Paypal, which you can find out about here.

Find out other ways to help here.

Order the amazing book about the case, by journalist Mara Leveritt here (US) (though, if you order via wm3.org, they get a percentage of the total to help run the site) or here (UK). While you’re there, also pick up Damien’s beautifully written book, Almost Home, to hear his side of the story.

Watch the two documentaries by the makers of “Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster” (The first was made during the trials, the second four years later), available to order on DVD here and here (US), or here (UK - amazon has it listed as a US import, but it isn’t).