Welcome to West Memphis 3 Week

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.