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.