by Mara Leveritt
from Atria
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Editorial ReviewOn the evening of May 5, 1993, in the small town of West Memphis, Arkansas, three eight-year-old boys disappeared. The next afternoon, the naked bodies of Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore were found submerged in a nearby stream. The boys had been bound from ankle to wrist with their own shoelaces and severely beaten. Christopher had been castrated. The crime scene had yielded few clues, and despite Christopher's castration, there was a remarkable absence of blood. The police were stymied, and citizens' alarm mounted as weeks passed without an arrest. Finally, a month after the murders, detectives announced three arrests -- and a startling theory of the crime: that the children had been killed by members of a satanic cult. Detectives attributed their break in the case to a former special education student, seventeen-year-old Jessie Misskelley Jr. Although Jessie insisted he knew nothing of the crime, after eight hours of questioning, police announced that he had implicated himself and accused two other teenagers, eighteen-year-old Damien Echols and sixteen-year-old Jason Baldwin. Damien and Jason both denied Jessie's account, and Jessie himself recanted it within hours, but by then all three had been charged with the murders. With no physical evidence connecting anyone to the crime, prosecutors contended that the murders bore signs of "the occult" and that the three accused teenagers possessed a "state of mind" that pointed to them as the killers. As proof of the defendants' mental states, they introduced items taken from their rooms -- such as books by Anne Rice and album posters for the rock group Metallica. Jurors found all three teenagers guilty. Jessie and Jason were sentenced to life in prison. Damien was sentenced to death. While the verdicts were popular in Arkansas, an HBO documentary raised questions about the lack of evidence in the case, and a Web site was formed to support the inmates, now known as "The West Memphis Three." When the Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed the verdicts, state officials insisted that anyone who questioned the trials simply did not know "the facts." Now, for the first time, an award-winning investigative reporter examines that official stand. In riveting narrative, Devil's Knot draws readers into the drama of a modern-day courtroom dominated by references to Satan. In laying out "the facts" of this still-unfolding case, it offers a frightening look into America's system of justice.
Customer Reviews:
- Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
- Great Read
The author has a way of keeping the reader informed and not overwhelmed. With so many names and locations, a huge amount of confusion is likely but doesn't happen.
I feel well informed about a troubling case. I highly recommend you read this book.
- Ignorance, Poverty, and Pain
I wouldn't read JUST one book and decide if three convicted teenagers were innocent, but I could (and will) make a good judgment on all the adults involved in this case of three teenagers accused and convicted of murdering three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Ark. All the adults should be ashamed of themselves--including the police, the lawyers, the judges, the parents, and a couple of the witnesses.
And certainly the three convicted teenagers deserve new trials.
Leveritt's story is good,... more info
- Uncovered...nothing
If Damien looked like Franken-Byers instead of the lead singer of Good Charlotte, not one of these "activists" would have lifted their heads from their soy lattes to take a second look at this case. Not that they looked at the facts anyway.
- Fascinating
A must read for anyone that is familiar with this tragic story. Very well written. FREE THE WEST MEMPHIS 3 and find the real killers of these little boys.
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