West of Memphis Page #4

that we went wrestling with Jessie."

Do you remember if you went wrestling?

Yes, sir, I did.

Okay, do you remember who went?

Jessie, Freddy.

Me and Jessie and Freddy

and James was at wrestling

that night, you know.

And that's the night that he got hurt.

And that's the night

that so-and-so only went with us.

Once. One time.

That was the same night that we signed

this register at the wrestling hall.

Do you remember seeing Misskelley?

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

You remember Jessie Misskelley?

Yes, sir.

Are you positive about that?

Yes, sir.

Looking through the juror's notes,

they hardly seemed to pay attention

during the alibi portion of it.

PAM:
You could say I sort of, like, died

myself because I shut out humanity,

and I didn't like people,

I was a hateful person,

and before this happened

I wasn't that type of person.

Words can't explain what the grief,

and what you go through...

We have found this to be

a world of its own.

PAM:
We had quite a few arguments and

stuff because I couldn't let go.

He told me I had to let it go,

I had to keep living,

and I told him I was still in that ditch

just as much as my son was,

and I was clawing my way out of it

the best way that I knew how.

I left Terry in 2002

and we were divorced in 2004.

I do think that you can meet someone

and know that there's something there.

That there's some journey there

for you.

But I think it takes a long,

it does take a long time,

and I think it's a painful process,

actually.

I was talking about it and how really

and truly stressed out you were that day.

It was the first time you'd been touched

by anybody, like, in seven years.

And I'll never forget you were, like,

so completely pale.

And you were shaking,

and I kind of thought

you were gonna pass out

at one point.

It was a Buddhist ceremony,

and we kind of wrote it ourselves and...

DAMIEN:
They had a little... We had a little

temple set up or a little altar set up,

We did. Incense burning on it.

You know, they had two guards

up there watching the whole thing.

And you could tell they had no idea,

you know, what the hell was going on.

So they just pretty much stayed

out of the way.

We'd intersperse lots of, you know,

bowing, then kissing and hugging.

I think you're supposed to only kiss

once or something in the ceremony.

We just... We made it seem like

it was a part of the ceremony.

So that was nice,

that was really nice.

But, you know, back then

it was nothing like it is now, you know,

with the people who knew

about the case.

So it was kind of nice

because it was real low-key.

RIORDAN:
I had talked to Lorri. She

had come out to talk about the case.

My attitude at the time was,

you know, we cannot do this.

They were adamant that this should be

and was a case about innocence.

"We don't want you to focus on death

versus life without parole.

This is a case about innocence."

My reaction was,

if it is a case about innocence,

what they said is that

there's all of this investigation

that has to be done on the ground

in Arkansas.

And we're, you know, a two-lawyer

partnership in San Francisco.

How are we possibly gonna get

the resources to get on the ground

and really investigate

a case in Arkansas?

Lorri Davis said,

"I'll find a way to do it."

I've quit my job, my other job,

so I that can work full-time on the case.

Attorneys for Damien Echols are

appealing their client's conviction

on Arkansas Rule 37,

ineffective counsel.

Prosecutors disagree.

It was effective, it was thorough.

It was a 17-day trial.

REPORTER:
Outside the court, supporters

unveiled a banner of more than 2500 postcards,

each pleading to free

the West Memphis Three.

VEDDER:
It was always about

free the West Memphis Three.

We were raising funds and it wasn't

even to raise money for their defense.

It was to raise money

so they had money when they got out.

Because the day was coming soon.

ROLLINS:
I decided it

should be Black Flag songs.

I called Iggy Pop, he said sure.

I called Lemmy, he said, "I'm in."

Called Chuck D from Public Enemy,

he said, "You got it."

All to help these three guys

who I'd never met.

I went to your benefit show in '03

for the West Memphis Three.

It was like the best concert

I've ever been to.

See? I can't believe that

this is still going on.

Yeah, well. I saw a little bit of myself.

Damien liked to hang out alone

and wrote in his journals

that he was depressed. Hello.

He liked to listen to weird music.

Check.

He was a wise-ass

in the face of law enforcement.

I mean, are you kidding?

It could have been me.

Could have been me.

Not everyone agreed

with Rollins' message.

The parents of the murdered children

showed displeasure with picket signs.

My baby was murdered

and butchered like an animal

and his two friends were too.

Whatever punishment they get,

they deserve.

REPORTER:
Michael's mother, Diana Moore, agrees,

telling us, "Make no mistake about it."

These three you see convicted

and sentenced did it."

ROLLINS:
I started getting very

passionate, very sincere hate mail.

Because if you are seen to be

sticking up for someone

who someone else truly believes

has murdered a child,

there's no way you can reason

with that person.

VEDDER:
I remember thinking

that if we could get involved,

we'd probably get them out

in maybe one or two years.

That's how naive I was.

It's usually on average

of like 15 to 20 years.

If you would have told us that

three or four years in,

I think it would have been

quite daunting.

LORRI:
This is the first e-mail that I received

from Fran and Peter, and it's 7-25-'05.

"What a horror story, unbelievable."

Something positive

has to come from this.

What can we do down here

in New Zealand?

Our names are Peter Jackson

and Fran Walsh.

We would like to offer financial

assistance to help facilitate, hopefully,

"a positive outcome in Damien's appeal

to the federal court."

When Fran and I first got involved,

it felt like the case

was in a holding pattern.

But it wasn't a holding pattern

for Damien's chances of staying alive.

That doesn't go into a holding pattern.

LORRI:
"Dear Fran and Peter,

your e-mail was a welcome sight"

on a very hot Monday morning

here in Arkansas.

My name is Lorri Davis

and I have been involved

in working on the case for nine years.

There are many twists

and turns to the story.

It's still incredibly frustrating.

"Appeal's taking forever

and funds always needed."

JACKSON:
I have a pathological hatred

of bullying and people in power

crapping on people who have

no ability to defend themselves.

I believe in justice. I think there are

good people and bad people.

People do horrible things

and should be punished.

Justice should be fair,

it should be honorable,

it should be decent, it should speak

to our values as human beings

that right must prevail.

And all that I could see in the case

of the West Memphis Three is

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes