Community Chat

[Margo Channing]

I was at a screening recently of Damien Echols' and Lori Davis' film "West of Memphis"--their film of the horrifying murder of three precious little boys and the railroading of three dirt poor young men. I could hear my husband sigh under his breath when the moderator said it would be 2 1/2 hours, but he did come with me sooo.....

The film was for me, riveting. Poor Pam Hobbs has never recovered from the loss of her son Stevie. She is the only mom who cooperated with this movie. Mark Byers is still a loose cannon.

But the real story is the absolute unfairness, indeed IMO the criminal treatment afforded the boys. Jason Baldwin and Damien were tried together and never wavered in their innocence but the police were able to crack Jessie Miskelly, who is borderline retarded and after grueling questioning and feeding him the correct information, he gave a so-called confession. Big surprise, all were convicted, Jason and Jessie got life, Damien got the DATH PENALTY.

The finger is squarely pointed at Terry Hobbs, Pam Hobbs ex husband who turns out to be one sorry arsed violent man. Mr. Channing and I believe they are implying without overtly stating} that Terry "disciplined" Stevie, as he often did, it got out of hand and he died, he didn't know he was with his other friends and they were collateral damage and hey had to die too. HIS DNA was found at the crime scene along that of a friend of his and there was absolutely NO DNA from any of the boys who were rotting in jail.

John Douglas, famous profiler from the FBI took a look at the case and decided the ong men were innocent.

Even tho I knew the outcome of the final court proceeding, my heart was pounding during the final 1/2 hour, I was so afraid something would skerew up the deal. Because the guys did an "Alford Plea", admitting the state had evidence, while asserting their innocence, they cannot sue for wrongful imprisonment after 18years in prison.

Bottom line: three beautiful boys die without justice, three sets of parents don't know who killed their children, three 18 year old boys spent 18 years on jail for something they didn't do and a sadistic killer is at large

They wa a Q&A afterward. Damien is tall, very thin and pale and deliberate in his speech. Lori is now a blonde. I think he is still adjusting to being out in society and being a "celebrity". Haven't read his book yet, wanted to get it autographed, but the husband was tired so we left.