Exonerate the WM3 Official Blog

Vedder & Maines Release "Golden State" on 8.19, Benefits WM3 Freedom Fund

From RollingStone.com:

August 19th marks the one-year anniversary of the release of the West Memphis Three, three men who were controversially convicted as teenagers in 1994 for the murder of three young boys. About a year before Jessie Misskelley, Charles Baldwin, and Damien Echols gained their freedom, Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam and Natalie Maines from the Dixie Chicks joined forces onstage at the West Memphis Three Rally in Little Rock, Arkansas. On this new track, Vedder and Maines cover the John Doe track "Golden State," a Vedder favorite, in the spirit of freedom.

This version of "Golden State" will be available for download on August 19th on iTunes and Pearl Jam's website, but you can stream it on RollingStone.com now. All proceeds go to the WM3 Freedom Fund.

Group fights to abolish death penalty #wm3

“There are those of us who will not give up until the death penalty has ended, until this country is about saving lives and not killing people and throwing them away for making mistakes,” said Jason Baldwin to more than 100 people sitting on the rooftop of the Saranac Building on Saturday.

Baldwin, one of the West Memphis Three, was released from prison 11 months ago after being incarcerated 18 years for a crime he didn’t commit. He and two of his friends were sentenced as teenagers for killing three 8-year-old boys. Baldwin was sentenced to life imprisonment, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. was sentenced to life imprisonment plus two 20-year sentences and Damien Echols was sentenced to death.

 

Read the full story here.

HBO's 'Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory' Nominated for Two Emmys #wm3

Congratulations to Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky for their two Emmy nominations-- Documentary Filmmaking and Directing for Nonfiction Filmmaking!

Officials Expect Pam Hicks to Pay Subpoena Fees #wm3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Damien & Jason Support SAFE California Initiative to Repeal Death Penalty #wm3

Please vote YES on 34 on November 6th!

On June 1st, Jason Baldwin wrote a letter backing the state ballot initiative, SAFE California, which will repeal the state's death penalty and replace it with life without parole. The SAFE California Act qualified for the ballot after submitting 800,000 petition signatures earlier this year. The initiative is supported by innocent men and women who were wrongfully convicted, family members of murder victims, law enforcement and thousands of other advocates for justice.

Jason had this to say to WM3 supporters:

"Damien, Jessie, and I know that we are free because of people like you. You stood up and fought for us—you are the reason we never gave up and you are the reason we finally came home. Without the support of thousands of people across the country and the world, Jessie and I would still be in prison and Damien would still be facing execution."

Today we have Damien Echol's backing for the intiative:

"I spent seventeen years on death row and was scheduled to be executed by the State of Arkansas for a crime I did not commit. Please help prevent this from happening in California by joining me in supporting SAFE California's initiative to repeal the death penalty in November."

As Jason also points out in his letter, winning an initiative takes more than people power-- it takes money, and lots of it, to reach every California voter. WM3 supporters' fundraising goal is $5,000 and we've fallen woefully short so far. Please click this link in order to donate to this groundbreaking effort to repeal the death penalty in California! 

#WM3 Case – Pam Hicks’ Lawsuit

An Arkansas mother is playing hardball with authorities there. She says she’s entitled to see the evidence in her son’s murder case. So she’s filed a lawsuit, to make it happen. Pam Hicks is the mother of Stevie Branch, one of the young boys killed in the West Memphis Three case, nearly 20 years ago.  She’s here with her attorney Ken Swindle.

AR Supreme Court declares execution law unconstitutional, siding with death row inmates #wm3

From the AP

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Arkansas Supreme Court struck down the state’s execution law Friday, calling it unconstitutional.

In a split decision, the high court sided with 10 death row inmates who argued that, under Arkansas’ constitution, only the Legislature can set execution policy. Legislators in 2009 voted to give that authority to the Department of Correction.

“It is evident to this court that the Legislature has abdicated its responsibility and passed to the executive branch, in this case the (Arkansas Department of Correction), the unfettered discretion to determine all protocol and procedures, most notably the chemicals to be used, for a state execution,” Justice Jim Gunter wrote in the majority opinion.

Two justices of the seven-member court dissented, arguing that the correction department’s discretion is not “unfettered” because it is bound by the federal and state constitutions that guard against cruel and unusual punishment.

“In addition, Arkansas is left no method of carrying out the death penalty in cases where it has been lawfully imposed,” Justice Karen Baker wrote in the dissent.

The 2009 law says a death sentence is to be carried out by lethal injection of one or more chemicals that the director of the Department of Correction chooses. The law also says that in the event that the lethal injection law is found to be unconstitutional, death sentences will be carried out by electrocution.

It wasn’t immediately clear what the court’s ruling will mean for the 40 men on death row in Arkansas. There aren’t any pending executions, and the state hasn’t put anyone to death since 2005, in part because of legal challenges like this one.

Death row inmate Jack Harold Jones Jr. sued the head of the correction department in 2010. Nine other inmates later joined the suit, asking that the law be struck down.

The state, meanwhile, asked the court to free up several executions it had halted because of this lawsuit.

Josh Lee, an attorney for the death row inmates who challenged the law, declined to comment Friday.

During oral arguments last week, Lee said the state would have two options if the court found the law unconstitutional.

“The Legislature could either choose to stick with the 1983 statute, which everybody concedes is constitutional, or the Legislature could decide we want to amend it.” Lee said last week.

A spokesman for Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The state adopted lethal injection as its method of capital punishment in 1983. There have been legal challenges to the way the state kills its condemned prisoners since then. In 2009, in the midst of a legal battle over lethal injection, the state Legislature passed the law that the court struck down Friday.

Joseph Cordi, an attorney for the state, told the Supreme Court last week that he thought the state would fall back on the 1983 law if the court struck down the entire 2009 statute.

Prisons spokeswoman Dina Tyler said Friday that she hasn’t seen the ruling.

Read the Full Ken Swindle/Pam Hicks Lawsuit Here #WM3

Petition for Declaratory Judgment and Complaint for Violation of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act of 1967

Download HIcks Lawsuit

Jessie Misskelley Jr's Birthday is July 10! #wm3

Jessie is the last one to have his birthday on the outside since they were released last August 19. He's the one that's almost never in the limelight so please remember his happpiest of birthdays with a card or a letter to him c/o PO Box 1354, West Memphis AR 72303. You can also make a donation to the WM3 Freedom Fund plus there are a few items on his amazon wishlist so think about sending him a little something else if you are able!

Jonesboro Sun Editorial- Justice Unserved 06/06/12 #wm3

A Message from Jason Baldwin re: SAFE California

From Arkansas to California: The Fight Continues

Dear WM3 Supporters;

 

Damien, Jessie, and I know that we are free because of people like you. You stood up and fought for us—you are the reason we never gave up and you are the reason we finally came home. Without the support of thousands of people across the country and the world, Jessie and I would still be in prison and Damien would still be facing execution.

We also know that we are not the only ones. Thousands of people are wrongfully convicted in this country and many of them sit on death row. A new report shows that Texas most likely executed an innocent man, Carlos De Luna, in 1989. We know he is one of many.

We can’t stop fighting and we hope you won’t either, not until we replace the death penalty across the whole country. The next battle ground state is California. Will you help us win this fight too?

Please donate today to SAFE California, the initiative campaign to replace California’s broken and dysfunctional death penalty!

On November 6, 2012, California voters will have the first opportunity ever to replace the death penalty with life without parole. The SAFE California Act has qualified for the ballot after submitting 800,000 petition signatures. The initiative is supported by innocent people who were wrongfully convicted, family members of murder victims, law enforcement and thousands of advocates for justice.

Winning an initiative, like winning a legal battle, takes more than just people power. It takes money. Supporters of the SAFE California Campaign need to get the message out to every California voter, online, on TV and face to face. We need to make sure everyone in California knows about cases of injustice like ours and like Carlos De Luna’s.

Please donate to SAFE California today! Please help us raise the funds needed to ensure that every California voter hears about innocent people wrongly convicted of murder, like us.

The only way to ensure that we never execute another innocent person is if we replace the death penalty. We have a chance to do that in California and winning California will change the world. Almost one-quarter of the people on death row in the US are on death row in California. We can change that.

Please help today—support the SAFE California Campaign and urge your friends and family to do the same.

We won a partial victory in Arkansas in the courts. Together, we can win in California at the ballot box. The fight continues—can we count on you?

Thank you,

Jason

The Truth Behind Echols v. State: How an Alford Guilty Plea Saved the #WM3

Please read Kaytee Vota's excellent Law Review article on why the Alford Plea should not have been used in the West Memphis Three case. To read, click here or Download The Truth Behind Echols v. State_ How an Alford Guilty Plea Saved .

Ellington: Money a factor in West Memphis deal #wm3

By Andrew DeMillo, The Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK — Prosecutor and congressional candidate Scott Ellington said Wednesday that future legal costs to the state and potential juror misconduct factored into his decision to agree to the deal that freed three men convicted in the murders of three Cub Scouts in 1993.

Speaking on a panel with the attorneys for the three men convicted in the case, Ellington said that he wanted to ensure that a guilty verdict in the killings was preserved when he considered the deal last year. Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were freed in August under an unusual plea deal in which their original convictions were set aside and they pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

Ellington, one of three Democrats running for an east Arkansas congressional seat, said he knew prosecutors faced a tough legal fight in the case.

“I knew it was looking pretty drastic when you have million dollar experts and million dollar lawyers that are working for free,” Ellington said in the discussion, part of a day-long symposium on the case at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Bowen School of Law. “It was going to be a difficult case.”

Ellington, who agreed to the deal as the state was preparing for a new hearing in the case ordered by the state Supreme Court, said he considered how much it would cost the state if the three men were eventually acquitted. He said he was worried about potential damages that would be awarded if the three men sued over their original convictions.

“The fact is, if these guys had been acquitted, don’t think that Blake wouldn’t have had his lawsuit ready to go,” Ellington said, referring to Blake Hendrix, Baldwin’s attorney.

Read the full story at ArkansasOnline.

04/26: Death Penalty Focus 21st Annual Awards Dinner #wm3

Tickets still on sale for this event to honor the WM3 and their respective legal teams, MC'd by Natalie Maines. $100 of each ticket is tax-deductible. For more info, visit deathpenalty.org .

 

#WM3's Jason Baldwin Visits Belmont

Jason Baldwin, one of the West Memphis Three, was on campus this week to share his story and newfound passions with Belmont faculty, staff and students.

Sentenced in 1994 for the murder of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, Baldwin and his two friends served over 18 years in prison. With the discovery of newly processed DNA, the trio was released in August of 2011 when they entered Alford Pleas stating their innocence while also noting that prosecution have enough initial evidence to sentence them as they did.

Baldwin’s message to his listeners was clear. While in jail he took the opportunity to work in the law library, learn as much as he could and appreciate all the time he had. He urges students to do the same.

Baldwin has also committed himself to a life working against the death penalty while also opposing forced confessions of individuals on trial and convictions of the innocent. In addition, he hopes to help juveniles facing a life sentence without parole.

Beginning his associate degree in April, Baldwin hopes to finish that program and work towards a law degree so he can continue his hopes of changing the legal system. He ended his convocation lecture by saying, “Every day is amazing. Every day is a blessing. I thank God for it.”

On Monday night, Baldwin was present for an on campus viewing of the 2012 Academy Award-nominated HBO documentary Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory. The film, along with its predecessors Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996) and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000), detail the story of the West Memphis Three and the trio’s ultimate release from prison. Together the films played a significant role in garnering publicity, awareness and support for the men.

Prosecutor reveals new details in #WM3 negotiations

Submitted by Kontji Anthony, Action News 5 Anchor/Reporter

Sunday, March 25th, 2012, 5:52pm

MEMPHIS, TN- (WMC-TV) - The prosecutor who agreed to free the West Memphis Three spoke to Action News 5 for the first time since he joined Arkansas' 1st Congressional District race.

In 2010, new DNA evidence surfaced in the murders of three West Memphis Cub Scouts.  Last year, Arkansas Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington allowed a rare legal maneuver that freed Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley after 18 years in prison.

Read the full story at wmctv.com .

As Ellington toured a West Memphis mobile home park Sunday, he described the soul searching that came before he joined the congressional race.

"I'll be honest with you, I spent some time praying and thinking about it, and talking with my wife and talking with some close, close friends," said Ellington.  "We decided that if this is the right time to do it, we'll step out and do it and let the voters decide."

Ellington said any speculation he was seeking higher office when he agreed to release the West Memphis Three last August belittles everyone involved.

3/26: Belmont University to Host #WM3's Jason Baldwin

On Monday, March 26, Belmont University will host  both a film presentation and a convocation lecture with Jason Baldwin, one of the three men now known as the West Memphis 3. In 1994, a teenage Baldwin and acquaintances Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley were tried and convicted in the murders of three 8-year-old boys the year before in West Memphis, Arkansas.

According to the New York Times, “The convictions were largely based on the testimony of witnesses who said they heard the teenagers talk of the murders, and on the prosecution’s argument that the defendants had been motivated as members of a satanic cult.”

Believing the three were wrongfully convicted, a number of supporters worked on documentaries, books and benefit concerts to garner attention to the case. In 2007, new forensic evidence was presented, and last fall the three men were released from prison after entering Alford pleas, which allow them to assert their innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them.

Baldwin will speak on Monday at 10 a.m. in the Massey Boardroom about his arrest at age 16 and his experience serving more than 18 years of a life sentence and how those events have informed his future. Baldwin, who hopes to attend law school some day with the goal of preventing wrongful convictions, will also be participating in a private lunch with students and faculty from Belmont’s College of Law.

At 7 p.m. the public is invited to join Baldwin along with Belmont students, faculty and staff in the Bunch Library Multimedia Room for a viewing of the 2012 Academy Award-nominated HBO documentary Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory. The film, along with its predecessors Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996) and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000), detail the story of the West Memphis 3 and the trio’s ultimate release from prison. Together the films played a significant role in garnering publicity, awareness and support for the men.

For more information, click here.

LASIS Welcomes a Special Guest -- Damien Echols #wm3

By LASIS Staff

On March 21 Damien Echols surprised the LASIS crew with a visit.

It was a moving experience for us, as we’d watched the “Paradise Lost” documentaries, and researched the case that landed Mr. Echols in death row.

Our subsequent pieces about the West Memphis 3 tragedy can be found here, here, and here.

Mr. Echols was convicted and locked up for a triple murder he didn’t commit.  He spent a total of 18 years in prison; he didn’t see sunlight for ten of them.  The lack of sunlight and prison conditions took a toll on his health and his eyes. That’s Mr. Echols in the dark glasses in the photo. (Click photo to enlarge).

We will never forget the afternoon we spent with Mr. Echols, whom we found to be remarkable in every way: intelligent, soulful, honest, gracious, and somehow, despite everything he’s experienced, suffused with a healthy dose of zen.

Read the full story at LAsisblog.com

Jason Baldwin: Way West of Memphis #wm3

How a famous former prisoner came to call Seattle home.

By Erin K. Thompson Wednesday, Mar 21 2012

On August 20, Jason Baldwin boarded a flight from Memphis to Seattle. He was 34 years old and had never been on an airplane. The farthest north he'd been was the Craighead County Jail in Jonesboro, in his home state of Arkansas. The farthest south was the Varner Unit in Grady, Arkansas; the farthest west was the Diagnostic Unit in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

The geographical boundaries of his life had been prisons. In 1994, Baldwin, his best friend Damien Echols, and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. were convicted of murdering three 8-year-old boys the year before in one of the most sensational child-murder cases in U.S. history. Baldwin was 16 at the time.

Nearly 20 years later, the story of the West Memphis Three is familiar to the public, especially those who've seen Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's HBO documentary trilogy, Paradise Lost. The first film was largely responsible for raising awareness about the bizarre aspects of the trial that convicted the Three: Misskelley's forced confession, leads not followed, the conclusion that Baldwin was involved in an insidious satanic cult with Echols because he owned black Metallica T-shirts. Johnny Depp, Natalie Maines, and Eddie Vedder subsequently got involved in the cause to "free the West Memphis Three."

Read the full story at SeattleWeekly.com

Damien Echols' New Book, Life After Death, Available for Pre-Order! #wm3

Damien's much anticipated follow-up to Almost Home (forever out of print, alas) will be released on September 18 but is now available for pre-order. 

• 

• Publisher: Blue Rider Press (September 18, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399160205
• ISBN-13: 978-0399160202

Sinofsky & Baldwin to Appear at Blood on the Beach con April 20-22 #wm3

First they will screen the films at  11am on April 21st, followed by a Q&A. More case related guests  TBA. Blood on the Beach takes place in Virginia Beach, VA. Looks like this year is going to be the best ever!

 

Sony Pictures Classics Buys Worldwide Rights to Amy Berg's "West of Memphis"

Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they have acquired worldwide rights to Academy Award^®nominated filmmaker Amy Berg’s (DELIVER US FROM EVIL) high profile documentary WEST OF MEMPHIS.  The film debuted at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in the Documentary Premiere Section to great critical acclaim.  WEST OF MEMPHIS is produced by the Academy Award-winning team of Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson, and first time producers Damien Echols and Lorri Davis.

Read the full press release at indiewire.com

$100,000 Reward Offered for New Info Leading to Arrest & Conviction in #WM3 Murder Case

$100,000 REWARD IN WEST MEMPHIS 3 CASE FOR NEW INFORMATION LEADING TO ARREST AND CONVICTION OF INDIVIDUAL(S) RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MURDER OF STEVIE BRANCH, MICHAEL MOORE AND CHRIS BYERS

CALL CONFIDENTIAL TIP LINE– (501) 256-1775

(Arkansas – February 28, 2012) In an effort to find the real killer of the three boys in the West Memphis 3 case, an anonymous donor has offered a $100,000 reward for new information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murders of Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore on May 5, 1993.

 

Billboards and radio advertising will promote the reward and encourage those with credible information to contact the confidential tip line as soon as possible. Attorneys for Damien Echols will review all calls and verify the information provided. All credible evidence will be turned over to Scott Ellington, District Prosecutor, who has said that he will review evidence presented to him from Echols’s defense team.

 

Little Rock attorney Patrick Benca, said, “There are people in Arkansas who have information about who killed these three little boys and we encourage them to come forward now. We want to bring those responsible to justice. We are not looking for theories, but for real information that can put the true criminal(s) behind bars.”

Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were freed in August 2011, after serving eighteen years in the wrongful conviction murder of the three children in 1993. Their freedom was based upon a plea agreement in which, while maintaining their innocence, the three agreed to an Alford plea. They were released based upon time served. The three, men, who unequivocally claim they are innocent, nevertheless accepted the deal to get out of prison. They have vowed to continue to fight to seek justice in the case and want the real killers to be found.

Capi Peck, founder of Arkansas Take Action, said, “We know Damien, Jason and Jessie were not involved in this crime, and that those responsible are still in our community.  It may be difficult to provide information about a murder, but it is the right thing to do. We are hopeful that this reward will motivate someone to help put an end to these tragic events.”

Confidential Tip Line 501.256.1775 or send information to PO Box 183, 6834 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, AR 72207. See www.freewestmemphis3.org.

 

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory Oscar nominee interview #wm3

MSN speaks with Jason Baldwin of the West Memphis Three and documentary director Joe Berlinger. Watch the video here

‘Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory’: Its Road to the Academy Awards #wm3

The third documentary about the West Memphis 3 is a frontrunner for the Best Documentary Oscar. Lorenza Muñoz traces the films' 19-year journey, ending with the three men’s release.

by Lorenza Muñoz  | February 22, 2012 12:00 AM EST

It was a case too sensational to pass up. With a Southern Gothic feel, three Arkansas teenagers had been accused of torturing and killing three 8-year-old schoolboys in a Satanic ritual.

So when Sheila Nevins, HBO president of Documentary and Family Programming, saw the tiny wire story buried deep inside The New York Times in 1993, she sent documentary filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky to investigate.

“Sheila saw that story as the Satanic worshipers who killed the Cub Scouts,” recalled Berlinger, whose 1992 documentary Brother’s Keeper had impressed Nevins. “At the time the country was coming off a wave of Satanic hysteria … It was a real life River’s Edge.”

Berlinger and Sinofsky were intrigued by the angle of kids killing kids. But in chronicling the case of the so-called West Memphis 3, Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols, and Jessie Misskelley, they came away convinced that the teens were innocent.

The subsequent documentaries, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and its two sequels, created a worldwide firestorm of coverage and an outcry in the public. It also drew attention from music-industry figures such as Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, the Dixie Chicks’s Natalie Maines, and Patti Smith. It prompted director Peter Jackson and his wife, screenwriter Fran Walsh, to hire forensic-evidence experts who found new DNA evidence exonerating the West Memphis 3 and possibly pointing at another suspect. After spending nearly two decades in prison—including death row for Echols—they were released in a plea deal in August. 

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, which premiered on HBO last month, has been nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary category. In the always-unpredictable category, it is considered a frontrunner.