They Call the Wind Mariah

June 17, 2004 : 11:43 p.m.
Murder of Justice

The West Memphis murder . The Robin Hood Hills murder. Whatever you want to call it. I should remember news coverage of the 3 8-year-olds that were murdered, considering I was in high school. Considering how brutal the crime was. Considering I am practically the same age as the "murderers". But I don't recall hearing anything about it. If I had, I would have probably thought, being my teenage self, that they did it, they were caught - end of story.

Who are they? The West Memphis Three, as they are known. I heard about them from Miss Gwendolyn , and since then have been horrified at the gross misjustice that was their trials. Innocent until proven guilty must not mean much if you are weird.

I just got through watching the 2nd part of the documentary made about the murders, trials, and sentencing. The first one is hard to find, but my library had part 2. It is heartwrenching what happened to those 3 boys. The young boys, and the older boys.

I don't presume to know 100% their innocence or guilt. Only a select few people know that, and 3 of them are no longer here to tell us. What is heartwrenching is knowing that every American's right to a fair trial was trampled by the witch-hunt that went on in West Memphis. Those young men didn't have a chance.

There is an extreme lack of evidence. Even worse, the evidence that is there tends more to point away from them than to them.

There is a very odd and troubling "confession", in which one of the young men confesses to things which never happened, and even contradicts the evidence that actually existed (for instance, saying the boys were tied up with brown rope when in actuality they were tied up with their own shoelaces).

Then there is John Mark Byers, the stepfather of one of the victims. Honestly, I don't know what to say about him. Quite a few people point fingers at him. Well, I don't know if he's guilty...but there is something "off" about him. His stepson's autopsy showed old bruises and injuries that point toward abuse. But saying that because he is odd he is the murderer is as bad as what happened to the three boys in prison.

My personal opinion asside, I have looked at the evidence and drawn my conclusions. You should do the same. I think you will be suprised how you react. I know I was.

But don't form your opinion based on someone being too odd or to weird. Do it by looking at what evidence there is. Form your opinion based on the facts. And pray that these boys, whether another trial would find them guilty again or not, get a fair trial soon.