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.

When I first got really into music at about 16 one of my favorite bands was the local Fayetteville Arkansas band Bishop Montgomery Football. I went to so many shows that eventually I asked if I could do their website. I became great friends with them all, especially Aaron(who has been known to write for us) and his girlfriend/now wife Heather. When I mentioned that we would be doing WM3 week here on the site she wanted to get involved. I asked her to write up a piece about her experience and how she came to know of the WM3. You can check out her blog here. This is what she wrote..

“I am neither a freak nor a monster. I was basically a victim of circumstance.” (Damien Echols in Paradise Lost 2 Revelations). I am about to turn 28 years old this week. On May 5, 1993, I was two days shy of being 12 years old and I was an awkwardly skinny girl (my brother affectionately called me ‘birdlegs’) with long straggly hair, big bangs and glasses in the sixth grade in Northwest Arkansas. I didn’t wear black shirts or paint my fingernails black (I was more partial to bright vibrant neons and gaudy floral prints with pink fingernail polish). I didn’t listen to Metallica nor did I have any interest in Wicca (I listened to Michael Jackson & the Counting Crows and went to youth group every Wednesday). But I certainly knew kids around me who did one, or even all, of these things and I thought no less of them as a human being nor was I ‘afraid’ of them. I didn’t paint them as mass murderers or occultists. We were all awkward kids going through awkward stages in life, just trying to ‘find ourselves’. I do not remember hearing about the West Memphis Three case until years later. I can only assume it is because as a preadolescence child, I had more important things on my mind than the top news stories of the moment. Little did I know that years later this case would broaden my entire mindset on capital punishment and our justice system.

Sadly, I did not become interested in learning more about the WM3 until the winter of 2003. I had heard only bits and pieces from random people here and there, but I naively never further investigated the case. I was looking for a good ‘crime’ or ‘drama’ novel to read at the library when my husband suggested I read the non-fiction Devil’s Knot by Maria Leveritt. I read the book from cover-to-cover twice in 4 days, making sure to analyze all of the author’s notes in the back of the book with the corresponding paragraphs I was reading. I then purchased Paradise Lost 1 & 2 off the internet and received those a week later. I found myself consumed with wanting to know any little tidbit of information I could about this case. My mind simply could not fathom how 1.) it took me 10 years after the murders to take a serious interest in the case and 2.) how Jessie, Jason and Damien were ever accused in the first place AND then sent to prison, with Damien on death row. I felt so many emotions. I felt disappointment in myself for not educating myself about this case sooner. It was simply irresponsible of me as a native Arkansan to have heard hearsay about the case and never sought out the facts surrounding what I had heard.

I believe there are many victims in the West Memphis Three case. The lives and deaths of Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore should never be forgotten or diminished. What happened to these three boys is a mother’s absolute worst nightmare, and although I can’t imagine what their families have gone through or felt, I can empathize as I am now the mother of an almost 4 year old boy. We can no longer turn the other way and ignore that there is absolutely no physical evidence tying Jessie, Jason or Damien to the murders of these three 8 year old boys. Since when does the same justice system that puts people away for hate crimes convict 3 teenagers because of satanic hysteria, essentially West Memphis’ form of a hate crime, except the law enforcement got away with it. They have not only robbed these three men of the freedom to a fair trial for crimes that I believe they did not commit, but they have robbed them of the best years of their lives. The more I learn about the case, the more I have come to question my stance on the death penalty. How do we justify such a permanent life-altering action when there are so many unanswered questions and no physical evidence? How does our law enforcement and our judicial system send three men to jail without any evidence? It is unfathomable.

My intentions for writing this is in hopes that perhaps someone else out there, like me, will decide to further investigate the facts of this case and tell those around them. As a resident of Arkansas, it is our duty to be informed on what is going on in our own state. I’ll leave you with a quote from Dan Stidham, Jessie’s Defense Attorney, from Paradise Lost 2, “We’ve got to have hope; without hope we don’t have a chance.” I hope we will all become informed citizens and know the facts before placing outrageous accusations and blame on people who are undeserving of it. This should be a good example of how we judge people in our daily lives. Small judgements can have more than a lifetime of repercussions. Being different does not make you a murderer. I hope that soon Jessie, Jason and Damien will get the justice they so deserve — their freedom.

One of my favorite dudes in “Hollywood” has to be Henry Rollins and he is a big supporter of the West Memphis 3. I asked him to do a short write up on his thoughts and experiences with them and he was kind enough to oblige. What you see below is what he wrote up and emailed to me. Enjoy..

I found out about the WM3 case the way a lot of people did, through the HBO documentaries. Like many people, I found them to be upsetting and intriguing. I wanted to know more and I wanted to get involved as there seemed to be something very, very wrong with the case and the way the whole process went.

I contacted their support group and asked if they needed any help and that led to a benefit show, interviews and other activities. Eventually, I, along with my staff, band, crew and countless good people who gave their time and talent freely put together the Rise Above benefit album and subsequent world tour with all the proceeds going to the case.

As this thing grinds on, year after year, I hope for justice. I believe we are getting closer to knowing more and getting Jessie, Damien and Jason out of prison and getting whoever is guilty of this awfulness locked away. One thing is for sure, we cannot give up and we won’t give up until these guys are free. That’s all there is to it.

You know the feeling you got when you first watched ‘The Green Mile’, realizing that John Coffey really hadn’t committed the violent crimes he was imprisoned and eventually executed for? Imagine for a second of the very real existence that the above three men have to go through everyday of their lives. Waking up each day confined to a cell knowing that as it stands right now you will never get out of prison, and for one of them execution is one denied appeal away.

Since June 3rd 1993 all three of them have been locked up for a vicious crime they did not commit. Some of you may be familiar with them and if you aren’t it is my hope that during the next week on our site we can familiarize yourself with the case, the huge community of people that are reaching out to make a difference and what you can do to help as well.

When they were arrested they were 18, 16, and 17 (in order of the photo above), Jason and Jesse (Middle and far right) were each given life sentences and Damien (pictured far left) was given a death sentence. All of these guys were handed these sentences with no more evidence than a coerced confession from Jesse (who was tried separately), and essentially being looked down upon for being “different”. By “different,” I mean wearing black clothing and listening to heavy metal music. That is enough to get you convicted of murder in West Memphis.

There have been 2 documentaries (‘Paradise Lost’ 1 & 2), and one very notable book written about the subject (The Devils Knot). From this countless celebrities have given their time, and services to the cause. Here are just a few:

Henry Rollins, Winona Ryder, Jack Black, Trey Parker, Eddie Vedder, Robert Smith, Natalie Maines, Michale Graves and a huge list of other famous supporters

The sad thing is that although everyone is reaching out for support these gentlemen are still locked up today, 16 years later. Some of you that are familiar with the book and documentaries may have heard about my Mom (Victoria Hutcheson) and brother (Aaron Hutcheson) who both played a part in the saga of the WM3.

This week, in an effort to raise awareness, we are going to have all of our columns be something related to the WM3. We will also have write-up’s from a few celebrity supporters and some of my close friends.

For more information on the West Memphis Three please visit http://wm3.org, which is run by the amazing Kathy Bakken, Grove Pashley, Burk Sauls, and Lisa Fancher.