I am amazed at the level of access the HBO filmmakers were granted in pursuing this documentary and its sequel. It is an extraordinary film, though some of the crime scene footage is not for the squeamish.
I grew up in Memphis and was 13 when this grizzly triple homicide hit the news. My only perspective at the time was from the TV news and local paper, the Commercial Appeal. The media failed miserably to report the other side of this story. I was led to believe that these 3 teenagers were devil worshipers who ritualistically slaughtered 3 8-year-olds. In retrospect, that assertion was simply absurd. The people of Jonesboro became angry and confused and just wanted to lash out at someone. They were hungry for justice, even if it came at the price of prosecuting the innocent. Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin were the victims of misdirected revenge, convicted primarily on the hearsay of people who had long ostracized them for how they dressed. Rumor became hard evidence.
After seeing this film, I am truly ashamed of the behavior of the police, the prosecution and the media. Three children were brutally murdered in 1993, and three more children were murdered by a system out for closure at any cost. I thought we'd left the Salem Witch Trials behind us.
I grew up in Memphis and was 13 when this grizzly triple homicide hit the news. My only perspective at the time was from the TV news and local paper, the Commercial Appeal. The media failed miserably to report the other side of this story. I was led to believe that these 3 teenagers were devil worshipers who ritualistically slaughtered 3 8-year-olds. In retrospect, that assertion was simply absurd. The people of Jonesboro became angry and confused and just wanted to lash out at someone. They were hungry for justice, even if it came at the price of prosecuting the innocent. Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin were the victims of misdirected revenge, convicted primarily on the hearsay of people who had long ostracized them for how they dressed. Rumor became hard evidence.
After seeing this film, I am truly ashamed of the behavior of the police, the prosecution and the media. Three children were brutally murdered in 1993, and three more children were murdered by a system out for closure at any cost. I thought we'd left the Salem Witch Trials behind us.