Jason Baldwin, one of the recently freed WEST MEMPHIS THREE attended a Nashville, Tennessee screening of the third of the WEST MEMPHIS THREE PARADISE LOST documentaries "Purgatory". PAM HOBBS, the mother of one of three murder victims has proclaimed the WEST MEMPHIS THREE (Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jesse Misskelly) to be innocent.
All three PARADISE LOST documentaries were produced and directed by BRUCE SINOFSKY and JOE BERLINGER whom also produced and directed the METALLICA documentary SOME KIND OF MONSTER.
JASON BALDWIN, JESSIE MISSKELLY and DAMIEN ECHOLS were freed last August (2011) via an ALFORD PLEA after serving 18 years in prison (Echols on death row) for the 1993 ROBIN HOOD HILLS MURDERS (West Memphis, Arkansas) with zero evidence as THE WEST MEMPHIS THREE still maintain thier innocence. DNA testing excluded the WEST MEMPHIS THREE.
The WEST MEMPHIS THREE 1993 trial provoked an anti metal, "Wiccan/Satanic Panic" yet presented ZERO EVIDENCE.
FROM www.tennessean.com:
FROM WM3 FACEBOOK (www.tennessean.com):
It was an odd scene: two convicted murderers with arms around parents of two of the 8-year-old victims, all smiles and laughs, cameras flashing, video recording.
Backstage at Nashville’s Belcourt Theatre, the unlikely group gathered for only a third time in the 18 years since the brutal murders of three Cub Scouts and friends in West Memphis, Ark.
The occasion: only the second public screening of a new documentary, West of Memphis, which brings forth new evidence that shows the convicted defendants — the West Memphis Three — didn’t do the crimes.
And parents of two of the slain children agree, and they showed up in Nashville — after first appearing at the film’s debut last week at the Sundance Film Festival — to support efforts to fully exonerate Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr.
“When you learn the truth, that they didn’t kill your child, that’s wonderful,” John Mark Byers, adoptive father of victim Christopher Byers, told The Tennessean.
“However, you know the killer’s still out there. Every time you go through this (legal maneuvering and media coverage), you have to go through the worst day of your life. However, if that’s what it takes to bring justice, that’s what it takes.”
Pam Hobbs, mother of victim Stevie Branch, at the Belcourt, agreed that even documentary screenings are painful. But she, too, believes the West Memphis Three are innocent, and she, too, expressed a deep desire to know the truth.
“Right now, I feel like it’s 1994 again,” Hobbs told The Tennessean.
And she added, “Being a citizen of the state of Arkansas, I demand that they reopen this case.”
Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley were arrested in 1993 and convicted of the brutal murders of the three Cub Scouts after police got a tip fingering Echols. The boys — Michael Moore, Stevie Branch and Christopher Byers — were found dead, naked and tied up, in a wooded area. Police then got a confession from Misskelley, a statement that implicated Echols and Baldwin.
In 2010, after much publicity, including support from celebrities such as Eddie Vedder, the defendants got new hearings from the Arkansas Supreme Court after defense lawyers pointed to new DNA evidence that implicated others. The men were released a year later on the rarely used Alford plea, which allows them to maintain innocence while acknowledging there’s enough evidence for convictions.
Parents of third victim disagree
And while families of two of the boys were at the Belcourt, parents of the third, Michael Moore, remain unconvinced of the innocence of the West Memphis Three.
Todd and Diana Moore objected to this week’s Oscar nomination for Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, the third in the trilogy of HBO documentary films separate from the documentary screened here Thursday night. The couple said the nomination brought “sadness, disappointment and outrage.”
While the Belcourt gathering is only the second time Hobbs and Byers have been around two of the West Memphis Three, they all have corresponded for a year or so. And Hobbs and Byers last night issued written statements of support for the three defendants.
“It means more than we can articulate,” said Echols, the only one of the three who had been sentenced to death. “It is an incredibly powerful thing. We all realize what we’ve all been through.”
Echols showed off a gift from the Hobbs family given Thursday, a pocket watch, engraved with the words “Time Begins Now” and the date he was released from prison.
FROM MYFOXMEMPHIS:
Pam Hobbs on WM3, Her Ex, and Meeting Damien Echols: MyFoxMEMPHIS.com
FROM MYFOXMEMPHIS:
West Memphis, Ark. - Pam Hobbs tries to stay busy, which helps her avoid mentally agonizing over whether the man she once loved as a husband could have been capable of committing the unspeakable crime that's torn her world asunder for 19 years.
"I'm not letting that thought dwell with me. However, I'm scared. I'm fearful...sometimes guilt stricken. I might have overlooked something…I really can't explain my emotions with that. I'm just numb to the feeling right now and praying that it's not true."
Yet with the emergence of three potential new witnesses allegedly implicating Hobbs ex-husband Terry as the perpetrator in the brutal 1993 killings of three West Memphis boys, including his own step-son Stevie Branch, Pam Hobbs has been forced to again relive the tumultuous time. That includes looking back on her often stormy relationship with her former husband and what she now sees as his strange behavior before and after her son's heinous murder. A strained marriage she reflects often found Hobbs and her at odds over his treatment of their children.
"Terry even in the beginning of our marriage it was sorta like a little bit of a jealously thing. That I paid more attention to my son than I did him."
She recalls what she felt was severe punishment levied at her son by her ex-husband, "He would take a belt...make them hold their hands in the air and would whup em. It would cause him and I to argue and he would tell me not to tell him how to discipline their children."
Hobbs alleges the relationship grew even more distant after the tragedy. As her despondency over Stevie's death grew deeper, Hobbs says Terry began to develop a cavalier attitude even before the autopsy results were divulged.
"He was telling me that I had to let go and go on with my life. And me telling him that I was as much in that ditch as may baby was..and not to tell me how to feel…I fought with him a lot. I was very angry at him and still feel anger towards him for not coming and letting me know that my son was missing."
Now firmly convinced in the innocence of Damein Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelly and with new revelations in the case arising, Hobbs declares it's imperative for the investigation into the murders to be re-opened by prosecutors.
"I am not going to rest. And I'm not going to stop screaming until Arkansas corrects what they messed up…To them it might be a murder case or something...But, this is my life. It's real. It happened. And I'm not going to shut up until they really take this seriously."
Hobbs has finally come to grips with the international interest surrounding the horrific 1993 West Memphis murderers. What she will never get over is seeing any depiction on screen or off of the graphic violence which took the life of her son Stevie Branch. During a recent trip to Utah, for a private screening of Director Peter Jackson's soon to be released movie "West of Memphis", Hobbs was assigned an assistant to help her through parts of the movie.
"When she squeezed my arm I knew it was time to close my eyes and when she rubbed my arm I knew it was okay to open my eyes."
Unlike other parents of the West Memphis victims who lobbied to exclude the HBO documentary "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory from a subsequent Academy Award nomination, Hobbs has honed a friendship over the years with the film's producers. She was given an edited copy of third film in the groundbreaking series.
"Joe and Bruce have always kept their word to me. They've been honest. I heard they've been nominated for the Oscar. I hope they win. I really do…It has caused the world to come together as one to fight for justice and for that I'm thankful."
It was while in Utah for the Sundance Festival Hobbs met for dinner with Damien Echols and his wife Lori Davis. A meeting that appeared to be therapeutic for two people who found they shared more than one common bond.
"When I met Damien it was overwhelming. He apologized to me for being...his actions as a teenager back then. I told him don't worry about it. I was a rebellious teenager my self once upon a time…When Damien hugged me and told me he was sorry for my loss. He wasn't going to give up until justice is served that wasn't put on. It was real. I felt it in my heart…I'm content in my heart that Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley did not murder my child."
Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-\m/ -l-
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