This is the autobiography from Damien Echols, the leader of the West Memphis Three. For those who don't know, they are three teenage boys from Memphis who were convicted of the murder of two young children. The problem is, according to the vast majority of the evidence, they did not commit the crime. They had alibis, and very, very much of the evidence provided was basically classmates saying things like "well, I heard from someone that they killed cats" and insane things like that. Added to that, the documentary Paradise Lost (a great film, BTW) and its sequel offer a lot of evidence that the stepfather (I think) of one of the victims likely committed the crime. They were basically convicted because they dressed in black and listened to heavy metal. In a time when people are celebrating Michael Jackson's "innocence", these guys are sitting in jail for a crime that they didn't commit.
As I said, this book is the autobiography of Damien Echols, who was considered to be the leader of the group. He's currently on death row and will face execution soon, which is a real shame. I haven't read the book, but I'm looking forward to it, and all proceeds from it are going to the continuing defense efforts of all three.
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0595357016/freethewestmemph/002-5295408-5067228]Almost Home[/ame]
The official site (lots of evidence for their defense)
As I said, this book is the autobiography of Damien Echols, who was considered to be the leader of the group. He's currently on death row and will face execution soon, which is a real shame. I haven't read the book, but I'm looking forward to it, and all proceeds from it are going to the continuing defense efforts of all three.
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0595357016/freethewestmemph/002-5295408-5067228]Almost Home[/ame]
The official site (lots of evidence for their defense)
