I have been following the WM3 case for several years. For those who aren't familiar, this is the murder case of three 8 year old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1993. Three teens were convicted of these murders under very questionable circumstances. One was sentenced to Death, one to Life + 40 years, and one to Life. None would ever be eligible for parole.

The essence of the prosecution's case was that these teenagers were Satanists and killed the children in a cult ritual. There was never any evidence whatsoever that this was true, although one "witness" testified that she had attended a Satanic ritual with one of the suspects (later, after the crimes but before he was arrested). She later recanted her testimony, stating that she was pressured into falsely testifying by the police who promised to "help her" with *her* legal problems (a history of writing numerous bad checks). The police apparently told her that they knew the teenagers were guilty, but needed more witnesses to convict them. Note: You may recall that 1993 was the first of the Clinton years, and Tipper Gore was on the Witch Hunt of the century. She's the one who pushed for ratings on "Heavy Metal" records, and is just one of the many who were caught up in the Satanic Panic that was sweeping through the Bible Belt at that time.

There were no hairs, fibers, skin cells, saliva, footprints, or finger prints from any of the defendants at the crime scene. After 15 years in prison, DNA evidence from the case was finally tested (no such tests back in 1993), and it excludes all three men who were convicted. Even so, the State of Arkansas refused to let them out until they copped an Alford plea (proclaiming their innocence, while acknowledging that evidence against them may convince a jury of their guilt). The prosecutor said this was in the interest of "finality" and would save the State from possible lawsuits totaling millions of dollars when the Supreme Court heard the new DNA results (and would therefore throw out their convictions). They were finally released after spending 18 years in prison. They each also received a 10-year suspended sentence. Although the Governor of Arkansas (Mike Beebe) has granted over 400 pardons while in office, he refuses to even consider a pardon for these men until their 10-year suspended sentences are up. That makes a total of 28 years served for a crime they (probably) didn't commit, and then they will probably be pardoned.

HBO has produced three separate (2-hour) documentaries about this case over the past 10 years, and it definitely looks like a horrible miscarriage of justice. Many people are infuriated by the case; the men convicted have over 18,500 supporters on their Facebook page!
If nothing else, I feel it would be appropriate to Occupy either the Arkansas State Capitol building (to show support for overturning the convictions) or the Circuit Court building in Jonesboro where they were (most likely) wrongly convicted. There should be a clear message sent to the West Memphis Police Department and circuit court that they cannot wrongly convict innocent people based on how they look. These men, although now free, are convicted murders (although most likely innocent), and the Governor of the state needs to see a group of voters protesting this horrible situation.

If you are interested in learning more about this case, visit their official site at www.wm3.org.

"To sin by silence, when we should protest, makes cowards out of men." -Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 1914.