Posted by Scott in Featured Articles, Headline, Popular, WM3 | 186 comments
WM3 Week: Scott Hutcheson’s Thoughts…
Let me explain my unique situation to this case. Having lived in West Memphis for a year prior to the murders, the 3 boys that were murdered Michael, Chris and Steve were all close friends of myself and my brother Aaron. We all attended the same cub scout meetings and Michael’s father Todd was our scout leader. To say we were close with the boys would be an understatement.
Being the young, impressionable age of 12 I just believed whatever I was told by the local news and police department to be true. In 2000, at age 17, I re-watched the first documentary, which was immediately followed by the premiere airing of ‘Paradise Lost: Revelations’ on HBO I was blown away when I came to the realization that they were not guilty and had been wrongfully imprisoned all these years.
Then came the guilty, gut wrenching thoughts of my mom having a hand in their convictions. Having to admit being wrong does not come easily for the men of my family, but I was determined to right the wrongs of my family. I quickly jumped to the Internet forums, and WM3.org to pledge my support for them which was a tough decision as most of the people that are directly linked to it still believed that they were guilty.
So here we are, 9 years since then and these guys are still fighting for their innocence in a battle that is getting more and more difficult as time goes on. Couple that with the fact that Judge Burnett, the original judge on the case has moved up in the ranks and still resides over any appeals case that comes from these guys. If you think its difficult for me to admit being wrong, how hard would it be to admit you handed down a death sentence and 2 other life without parole convictions to innocent men.
To make matters worse, John Mark Byers is promoting the book of his life story and jumped shipped to become a “supporter” of the WM3. I normally would welcome any supporters because every little bit helps but the simple fact of the whole thing is its very obvious this is a marketing ploy to help his book sales. The book titled ‘Untying The Knot::John Mark Byers and the West Memphis Homicides’ keeps getting a delayed release and at this point it seems it wont be coming out anytime soon, or at least not until ‘Paradise Lost 3′ comes out. The man who spent every waking moment of the last 15 years cursing the WM3 is now a supporter right around the same time a book on his life..do the math.
Let me also tell you that the front John Mark Byers puts up for the camera and everyone around him is ridiculous and should be outed. We lived about 4 houses down from Mark and Melissa before the murders happened and frequented the Moore house across the street from them after the murders happened. I have been inside of their house, hung out with Ryan(Chris’ older brother), and saw the relationship he had with Chris. I have no idea where he mustered the tears up and something that resembled grieving for the documentaries but I can tell you that as a parent of 2 children I could never treat or do the things that he did to Christopher.
I witnessed first hand the abuse and neglect that Mark gave to Chris, so for him to cry on camera about how much he loved his stepson is appalling. Lucky for Mark there were no camera’s around to capture how he treated Chris before the murders happened, unfortunately for him I am here to give you all the truth of the matter.
Its an American travesty that these guys are locked up, and have been locked up for the last 16 years based on no evidence, and a proven coerced confession. When will these men see real justice brought to their case is the real question, I just wish I had the answer.
***UPDATE***
I have since gotten a response from Greg Day who wrote the John Mark Byers book about a possible interview with Mr Byers. Here is what he initially had to say about the interview:
“Scott,I talked to Mark today and he said he has no interest in talking to you, and that in any event he doesn’t do phone interviews.If I can be of any further assistance to you, please let me know.Regards,Greg Day”
“To be blunt about it, Mark is simply not interested in having anything to do with the Hutcheson clan, and I doubt that anything would change his mind. Your mother’s recent revelations aside, without her perjured testimony and manipulation of your brother, there may very well have been no WM3 to talk about today.I’m sorry I can’t be of any further assitance to you.”
Wow, to blame 2 separate cases on the testimony of 1 person that only testified in the first case and had nothing to do with the other is absolutely amazing. I guess when you spend a significant amount of time buying into someone that you wrote their life story about it is very easy to be misinformed.
what is done is done. I think Vicky and Scott should stand by there stand on this blog to help in anyway they can. Anyway I can doesnt mean assess the situation to see if I can going to be punished for it first.
I hope these hearings are successful. They have to be because there is probably there cant be much they can do…..
I personally AM doing everything I can do. I cant take the stand as I have no information relevant to the hearings.
That post didnt make sense. sorry.
'Help in anyway I can' doesn't mean i'll help only if I am not going to get any punishment for what I did wrong.
There cant be many more chances left for Jessie, Jason and Damien – so if anything can still be done please do it.
This insanity has got to stop. Whether or not people want to address this issue, this is a giant team effort and we need to stop eating each other alive.
Whatever your thoughts are on how badly, or why Vicki fucked up, she will most likely still be important to the defense as we finally work our way out of the Arkansas circuit and move to the federal level.
Great strides were made by getting her video submitted as testimony – that’s a good thing. Getting Nancy Pemberton on the stand to re-iterate the finer points of Vicki’s story is also a good thing. Vicki showing up, that in itself took courage and well, she didn’t cross the finish line yet, but how is the public flogging going to help?
(continued…)
We can all sit and speculate that we would jump over hell and high water to right a wrong if we thought it would help the WM3, but frankly I think we’ve seen enough intimidation, public hysteria and flat out bully-like behavior already, and we should be above this.
Focus, look ahead, and don’t set bridges ablaze just yet.
Vicki, if you read this, my heart goes out to you. I don’t understand your choices, but sometimes I don’t understand my own. I hope you take time to sort this out and know that there are folks out here that believe you can turn this around.
-Dimmi
Well said
Miranda
Ok, I have commented on many things as I have read through this whole blog. I am going to put my 2 cents worth in, here and now. Sorry if it takes a couple of posts… From what I can tell, this site has been inundated by idiots who have nothing better to do than slam scott and his mom, and assume someone else, whether it be Byers or Hobbs or Mr. Bojangles must have been the culprit….
My idea is for everyone who knows nothing about the case to quit pretending they do. If you have nothing constructive to say… REMAIN SILENT! Name calling and bickering will not help the situation! I have followed this case, quietly from the sidelines since the boys' arrest.
Right now, we all need to focus on getting this case out of the hands of corrupt police, prosecutors and judges and get them a fair trial, at last. We can worry about who really did these heinous murders, later! By later, I mean when Jessie Jason and Damien are sitting on couches eating Big Macs! Until then, we might consider not becoming the same as those we hate within the system. By this, I mean stop trying to solve the crime with the partial information each of us has! I have seen, just on THIS blog, people who are ready to hang Byers by his body parts. Yeah, he may be a bit nuts, aren't we all? He may be a bit overmedicated… too many American's are. But is he the killer? Hell, I don't know! I have read ever line of the casefile and I don't know…neither do you! So what?!?! Worry about that later! Priorities, people.
Try to put down your own prescription bottles and FOCUS! Also, can we stop throwing the fucking bible in the conversation?!?! That damned book is a HUGE part of how this all happened in the first goddamned place! The book itself would be one thing if it were not used a crutch for so many people's lives. Put down the fairy tales and get on with it! The publicity of satan-worship promoted these convictions… No bible, no satan – no satan, no satanic panic! Keep your choices in fables to yourselves and get on with business of trying to fix the setup convictions!!!
Vicki and Scott – Good luck, you guys have a rough road ahead, as you've had behind, I'm sure. Vicki, I am happy to know you have changed your stars! Now consider going to the next step. I am not berating nor belittling you, please don't be defensive, I mean no offense! Even if you had to go to jail for your role, it's just jail, not death row. No one knows how you feel but you. You have come so far, there is only a little further to go, if you can make it. I don't know what I would be able to handle if I were in your shoes, so no judgement from me, dear!!! Remember how much better you felt having released this, this far? Imagine the release you'd feel if you went all the way? I hope you will, but know you have my respect for the changes you have made in yourself and the quaity of the children you raised! Best wishes!!!
Personally I only brought up that "book" because that was Vicky's scapegoat, oh I'm a good Christian woman, I have asked for gods forgiveness blah blah blah. I will help in anyway I can, but now that anyway I can has turned into…
Anyway I can EXCEPT take back the fact that I lied to a court, judge, jury, 3 innocent boys, 3 deceased innocent boys parents and that "book" you claim is sooooo important to you…
All because I can be persecuted for what I did wrong… OMG!! First of all you did the damn wrong so you need to pay the price I dont care what anyone says, she commited purjury she needs to fix it regardless if she's going to jail or not. At least she isnt going to be sitting on death row for it and missing out on her only kid's ENTIRE childhood!!!!
Say what you all want, at one point I commended Vicky for what she had done, admitting she had done wrong.
All I can say is, you migh as well take the damn stand Vicky they have arleady said you're more then likely going to get slammed for the purjury anyway since they accepted the video tape..
GET OVER IT! You HELPED lock them up, help fix it already!!
I am a teacher who is 38 years old. I live in MS and would like to know the TRUTH before I die. I do have a hard time believing that the three men locked up did this crime. Not because they couldn't do something this BAD but because they don't have a complete brain between the three of them. They are all below average intelligence and it had to take some smarts to commit this crime and leave no blood. I just pray the truth comes out before I die.
as maria levrett finished column on sept 3 ( its a shame) the world sees arkansass justice system as niether having, knowing , or feeling any shame.
I am very late with this… I watched the two documentaries on the WM3 for the first time just the other day, was the first i had ever heard about it….. I am in shock….. What is wrong with the world???? In my opinion the WM3 are innocent, now that i know about this case, I shall try to draw more attention to it here in the uk….. I hope that one day true justice will prevail and the TRUE killer is put away…..
M. Buyers = Nut job……. nuff said…..
I'm not about to read 7 pages of comments and back-and-forth bullshit, but I've got a couple of things to say. If they've already been said, sorry.
First, I often wonder how Aaron is doing. Let's face it – what his mom did back in 1993 is disgusting. I hope he's doing okay. And, yeah, Vicki, we all get it. You're sorry, no one can make you feel bad, nobody gets it, you've already beat yourself up and want to do whatever you can to help these 3 innocent men (no, Scott, there's no "even if they are guilty" in this case). But you had selfish intentions, and you ruined 4 separate lives (I'm including Aaron here) with your lies. AND you're NOT doing everything in your power to make things right again.
You want to help? Tell the truth now. You're still worried about getting in trouble for perjury. Well, hmmm, guess you shouldn't have lied to begin with. What's the sentence for perjury? Can't be as bad as life sentences and the death penalty. Can't be as bad as having new evidence disregarded and motions for new trials continuously denied.
You actually did the crime, so pay the time. These 3 young men don't deserve to be in prison because you wanted to be a "truth seeker," a.k.a. make good with law enforcement to clear your tarnished name. And now you want to come off as an angel with bruised wings? Yeah, not buying it.
You're right, though. You only have to answer to God. I just hope his answers aren't falling on deaf ears.
P.S. Mr. Teacher – really? You think the only reason these 3 didn't commit the murders is because "they don't have a complete brain between the three of them?" I hope to God you're not a criminal justice teacher. Really. How about all the facts? The severe lack of evidence? The prejudice, hysteria, superstitions? Poor investigation tactics and practices? Besides, have you sat down and talked to any of these guys? Sure, it's fact that Misskelley was below average intelligence, but what does that prove about their intelligence overall?
And Dimmi, I appreciate you trying to be the mature one here, but do you remember any police, investigation, lawyer, or court officials who tried to step up beyond the finger-pointing and bully-like behavior back when 3 teenagers were being accused of this horrible crime?
I really agree with you but I must also add that if they lock Vicky up then all of those lying sob's from the state need to be behind bars also.
They were all below AVERAGE intelligence ILL. And I'm starting to believe you are too.
Real clever. Hope your students learn more than this kind of crap from you.
And just because somebody lives in a trailer park or drops out of school or receives poor grades DOES NOT mean he/she is below average intelligence. These guys may not have cared much about school or education, and they may have had some behavioral or mental health issues, but that doesn't mean they're stupid. Can you produce IQ test results of each of these guys you claim are all below average intelligence?
I am far from "below average intelligence," and I am calling you out, Teacher. I am not surprised, though. You may have been educated in some regard; however, I still find you ignorant. Most "educators" in this area have blinders on, as do you.
MR teacher, I thankyou for reitterating Jesse's lack of intelligence. Would you by chance,have an explanation for the obvious lack of intelligence of Burnett?
Vicky, when you have lied to the point of getting someone on death row, why do you think that you may be of help now?
Yeah! I agree with you Jerrad ! Let them think whatthey enat ti think. as long as you know to yourself that you are dong what's right. Jesus is the only one who can judge you. God will help you with your struggle!