Posted on 08/19/2011 11:44:52 AM PDT by Sopater
JONESBORO, Ark. -- Three men convicted of killing three 8-year-old Cub Scouts and dumping their bodies in an Arkansas ditch changed their pleas Friday, resolving a yearslong effort to win their freedom.
Under a plea bargain, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were being freed immediately. The boys' families were notified about the pact ahead of time but were not asked to approve it.
The defendants, known by their supporters as the West Memphis 3, agreed to a legal maneuver that lets them maintain their innocence while acknowledging prosecutors have enough evidence against them. They were credited with time served, and Echols is being freed from Arkansas' death row. They were placed on 10 years' probation and if they re-offend they could be sent back to prison for 21 years, Prosecutor Scott Ellington said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
This Alford plea they took is pretty amazing. Admit guilt and we let you go. No matter if you’re innocent you have to plead guilty to get out. So whats that there for? To protect the records of judges,DA’s and cops? Oh wait,we didn’t convict an innocent man. Wonderful.
Oh and i read for a good 40 minutes on this case this afternoon which i had never heard of before. It appears a miscarriage of justice occurred. That won’t stop some on here from being convinced the cops had to be right and they had to be guilty.
“Based on what I’ve seen and read, it doesn’t appear to me that there was enough evidence to convict these three, but this is certainly an interesting turn of events.”
Based on what I’ve read it really looked like these guys got railroaded and there really wasn’t any hard evidence connecting them with the crime. If there was you can bet that the prosecutor would not have agreed to something like this. Sad, three little boys dead, the cops blow the investigation and now this. Someone got away with murder but I doubt it was these three.
Your ignorance speaks volumes.
1: An Alford plea allows someone to AVOID admitting guilt, the person literally pleads: “Not guilty, but we stipulate that there is sufficient evidence to convict.”
2. A JURY convicted these pieces of filth.
3. One of the pieces of garbage confessed.
4. The appellate courts all agreed that there was sufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict. There isn’t a grand conspiracy with the “Alford plea.”
5. It looks like Natalie Maines and Johnny Depp guide your decision making process.
6. “What you have read” was propaganda, designed to shape your thinking to get you to a certain result.
The father of one of dead boys has campaigned for the release of the Memphis 3. He’s visited them in prison. He believes they were railroaded.
Yeah, why offer an Alford plea if you already have a conviction? Why take the plea when you’re going to get a new trial? Strange story.
I watched Paradise Lost and Paradise Lost II and read many articles. I believe that the PL movies were biased, but I still think that a miscarriage of justice had occurred. I didn’t see where there was nearly enough evidence to convict.
i remember seeing the HBO documnetary “Paradise Lost” and i remember one of the kids stepfathers was really sketchy and I did not think they kids had been involved as his confession did not match the info or timeline of the abductions and murders
I don’t know enough to have an opinion here, but google Norfolk Four.
Four young men were found guilty of rape and murder, two of them confessing to it.
A DNA match was later found to another man who had attacked other women in the neighborhood and who confessed to acting alone. He knew the victim but was unacquainted with the convicted men, making it very unlikely they acted together. Other evidence also seems to rule out the four men.
So there are false confessions, even with multiple accused.
“I suppose they might not want to take that chance when they’re shown a way out of prison (and off of death row) via this Alford plea.”
Would you? Not me. Esp. the death row guy. I’d happily plead “Alford” and run like hell.
I remember this crime, but I have no opinion on the guilt or innocence of the accused.
I see the concept: I didn’t do it, but I don’t dispute you proved I did. Done.
The only thing is, it still leaves whoever DID do this heinous crime out and about, and the state has zero legal motivation to find, try and convict that person.
Father of which victim? Chris, Michael or Stevie? Those are the names of the 3 little boys who were tortured and killed by these 3 convicted killers. Gutless, spineless DA and a mob of media and celebrity whores allowed these killers to walk free.
There were 2 trials....
You guys have an awful lot of faith in Bill Clinton’s justice system.
Ah. One of those super intelligent justice never does wrong people we have running around in here. I knew at least one would make an appearance.
Search on Mena Airport for the answer.
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