By Mike Fleming
EXCLUSIVE: Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh last came to the Sundance Film Festival in 1993 to debut their splatter film Dead/Alive at a midnight premiere. It was that same year that three boys were murdered in Arkansas, and teens Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were convicted in a sensationalized trial in which prosecutors portrayed them as satanic ritualistic killers. Despite the lack of any physical evidence, the West Memphis 3 were sent to prison for life, with Echols given the death penalty. Jackson and Walsh return to Park City this week to introduce West of Memphis, an Amy Berg-directed documentary. Not only did Jackson and Walsh finance the film (which they produced with Echols and his wife Lorri Davis); much of the docu is based on evidence that came to light after Jackson and Walsh began quietly paying bills for DNA testing, forensic experts and investigators to force a retrial. In the face of overwhelming evidence, the defendants were finally freed after 18 years, forced a accept a plea agreement where the trio maintained innocence, but also pleaded guilty to perhaps the most notorious murders in Arkansas history.
Read the full story at deadline.com
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