Religious persecution

Today the "West Memphis Three" are free men after spending their entire adult lives thus far in prison.  I first heard of the West Memphis Three in 2005 or 2006 during a "civil procedure" class at Parks College.  The teacher of the class brought in a VHS of the second of the three HBO documentaries about this case.

A small southern town was shocked by the gruesome murders of three 8 year old boys. It's understandable that this town was shaken and scarred.  What happened next was further tragedy. Three teen boys who didn't quite fit in because of their "dark" look, their like of heavy metal music, and one of the boys interest in Wicca, were suspects.  Why were they suspects?  Did they know the victims?  Were their witnesses? Did they behave especially odd the day of the murders?  Anything? No. They were suspects only because of the previously stated image they had in this town.

There is no evidence of their guilt except for a confession forced out of Jessie who was 17 years old at the time. He was questioned by police at the station many hours without his parents and without legal counsel. He had been tested with an IQ of only 72 which is borderline retarted. Only the last few minutes of the questioning was recorded. Jason and Damien actually didn't eve asociate much with Jessie before the incident. Jason and Damien were friends but hardly new Jessie before the arrests.
The confession was full of flaws, he was wrong about many details of the murder, such as when it took place.
DNA testing, years after the convictions, reveal that there is no trace of DNA from any of three convicted recovered from the crime scene. However a hair from the step father of one the 3 murder victims was recovered from the scene.

Today the three are free, not because their innocence has been proven but because the documentaries brought attention and support to the case. Supporters of the West Memphis Three have been donated to a legal defense fund for years now.  The attorney's were able to somehow get the three a plea bargain. The plead guilty to a lesser degree of murder, while at the same time makeing statements maintaining their innocence.  In exchange they were able to have a lesser sentence which they allready have served and they walked free this afternoon.

Justice was NOT served today. The problem with the West Memphis Three accepting a plea deal in order to get out of prison is that it leaves room to continue to speculate that they could be guilty and it keeps the murder investigation closed. That means that if they did not do it, the real killer still gets off and the murder victims families still have no justice.

I totally understand that the three spent all of their adult lives so far in prison and this was their chance for freedom. I get that they and their attorney's felt this was their best or only hope. I don't blame them at all for grasping the oppertunity, after all Damien was on death row, who knows if he would ever have another chance to get out. Damien, Jessie, and Jason were not prepared to be "martyrs" for the cause. They wanted out.  What would you do? 

This case can be, and is by some, claimed to be a case of religious persecution.  That is unacceptable in the United States. We have freedom of religion here, religious persecution is something we should all gaurd against. Against ALL religions.  We are begining *

The case of the West Memphis Three should be of as much concern to Christians as it is to Pagans. It should be as much concern to athiests, and to all people.  Any kind of religious persecution is something we should all pay attention to and stand against.


*there was more written here that somehow got cut off. See next blog post for correction.